Will fitting a de catted exhaust void my warrenty?
What is the price range for the full system, and can anyone recommend any makes.


Thanks
Steven

 

Taken from SIDC FAQ

"4.11 Warranties and the effect of modifications
From the Subaru Passenger Vehicles Service and Warranty Book:

What is Not Covered
A. Defects, malfunctions or failures resulting from misuse (e.g. overloading, rallying or racing), negligence, modification, alteration, tampering, disconnection, improper adjustment or repairs, accidents, installation of parts not equivalent in quality and design to parts supplied by SUBARU (UK) LIMITED, add-on parts, improper maintenance or use of fuels, oils and/or lubricants other than those recommended.

The key phrase here is "resulting from ... modification". If you fit a non-standard air freshener and then the rear axle falls off, chances are the warranty claim will be allowed. If you rewire the lights and then you find you keep blowing bulbs, chances are it won't"


Have a ScoobySport Downpipe & Magnex centre and rear


J

 

What sort of BHP did you gain from the change?

 

Went from 222BHP & 218Lb/ft torque up to 243Bhp & 235lb/ft torque.

Also much best noise, whilst still not being too loud.....

Downpipe accounted for about 14BHP of this

Now have Tek2 ECU with 270BHP & 260lb/ft


J

 

Scoobysnack, what downpipe/exhaust was this??

 

At that time for the 243Bhp & 235lb/ft torque

ScoobySport (Scoot & Hayward) Downpipe
Magnex Centre with resonator
Magnex 3.5" backbox

No breathing mods or ECU trickary

Heres a comparison graph a month ago when I went for the Tek2 upgrade. Torque was up on my average that day. Previous numbers were an average of 4 rolling roads.



J

J

 

Ragnarock,

I've been in Scoobysnacks car ... sounds good - not overly loud, but a deeper, richer tone. The turbo spool up is quite different too ... I too have the TEK2 on a MY00, but standard exhaust (at the mo) ... mine hits max boost around 2,800 in fourth, Scoobysnack's is there by 2,400! It's very noticable how J's car breathes much more freely than mine. My RR figures (also from PE) are 263 and 254 torque, so a few percent down on J's car as you would expect. But it's not the extra power that I noticed, but how the power was delivered - very pleasing.

Hope this helps ... If I can sort the cash, I'll have the same exhaust system as Scoobysnack soon!

Steve

 

What is the TEK2 upgrade, and how much does it cost?

 

Steven,

Check out
www.ecutek.co.uk

TEK2 is a remap of an 800/801/802 ECU (the ones in a MY99/00 car). Essentially its performance is similar to a Prodrive ECU, but I'm lead to believe, better - Better fulelling, Smoother and more powerful. Certainly it has transformed my car - 263 BHP and 254 Torque is a big increase over the original figures !

I'm not sure there is a mod that could be better VFM and with all the effort thats gone into it, it seems to be a very SAFE mod too
Steve

 

Thanks for the info Steve.

 

Hi Steve,

I am interested in the Tek2 upgrade that you have.
Search does not work or will search scoobynet for more info.

What did your Tek2 upgrade consist of ?

The site leads me to believe that they connect their PC to the existing ECU and re-program it. I thought that they would have been physically write protected. Do the changes come up if its connected to a diagnostics tool during services etc (if you know)?
Where did you get it done and what did it cost ?
Ta...MKC

 

MKC,

That's about it.

Power Engineering in Uxbridge are your people.

They plug in to the ECU in your car and remap a very small section. This means all other aspects of the ECU control is retained. I don't think this is the case with some aftermarket / Piggy Back ECU upgrades. As for write protection - I can't comment, suffice to say, what they do works

I beleive you can request a mail order service too ... they send you a remapped ECU, you unplug yours and send your old one back to them. To unplug / replug your ECU takes about 30 seconds!

Cost is £500.00 plus a Dyno run if you wish at about £50.00.

I'm no expert, but it is very good VFM IMHO

Hope this helps.

Steve

 

Do Subaru fit this or is this done by a specialist garage?

 

UK300,

The TEK2 is NOT a Subaru piece of kit. The only people to supply are ECUTEK (www.ecutek.co.uk)

ECUTEK (as you will see on their website) are three guys who understand our cars remarkably well, but are NOT linked to Subaru. Mervyn and David are from Power Engineering who have been modding cars to get serious performance for a long time. Stephen Done who writes the software is a very clever man who has found a way to get into the working bits on the MY99/00 ECU (800/801/802's only) to great effect.

As far as I know (and I'm sure you know this already, so forgive me if I'm teaching my Grandmother ....), the only ''Warranty Acceptable'' mods one can do to our cars is via ProDrive in Banbury Oxon and their ''Performance Pack'' - ECU, Exhaust and Air Filter for a cool £1950 inc. VAT. This is a very well balanced package that is safe and gives good, if not outrageous gains, but it a little expensive

Arguably one of the best bits about the ECUTEK products is the fact the ECU when plugged into a Select Monitor or similar at your local Subaru garage shows no change to the standard unit ... well it would, it's still the original unit that your car was manufactured with if you've been to see Mervyn and he's done the work on your car ''While U Wait''

I hope this helps.

Steve

 

The best thing to do is speak to your Dealer. Some are more happy with mods than others.

The warranty book does not say that ANY mods will automatically invalidate your warranty, however if any failure is a direct result of the mod, then this will obviously not be covered i.e. your K&N air filter screws up your MAF.

Some Dealers will try to use the mods as an excuse not to fix something under warranty, so if in any doubt ask them if they're happy with your changes.

Stefan

 

Thanks for the advice guys.
Do they do the TEK2 for the 2001 model?

 

UK300,

If yours is a UK300 (new shape) - unfortunately not. The TEK2 is only aimed at the MY99/00, last of the classic shape.

There are many other options for chips, but non are ''warrantiable'' apart from the Prodrive package

Steve

 

Just to add, many dealers seem to be tightening up on mods.

Been one or two reports that people have asked a dealer about doing a minor mod, say new zorst and the dealer saying the warranty on the whole car will be void.