Mkhan

Last Monday I had the ECUTEK ecu upgrade from Power Engineering. After seeing the results of 262bhp from 247bhp I was a happy chappy. Unfortunately due to Heavy traffic on the way home I didn’t get to give her a good blast but when I could put my foot down I did and it felt gooooooood. Also on the previous Friday I had a Forge recirculating dump valve installed which I was running with my Dawes device and the car felt fine.

I took the Dawes off after the ecu upgrade.

Anyway I didn’t drive the car again until the Wednesday when I was doing a run to Manchester, that’s when I noticed not all was well with my motor.

To try and describe what was happening to the car I will use the term "Hesitancy" with this I mean that the car felt like its going forward then loses a bit of power then picks up again. To show you how bad it felt everyone in the car notices when it happened and their bodies got throw forward a little bit.

What I noticed is, lets say I am driving in second gear, booting it and taking the car to 5000rpm's then I notice a car pulling out or something that requires me to slow down, So I take my foot off the accelerator to let the car slow down and I get this "Hesitancy" motion.

Or lets say I am on the motorway doing 80mph and I put my foot down, now I am doing 120mph so I decide to slow down, I take my foot off the accelerator and I get this "Hesitancy" motion.. I never get the "Hesitancy" if I boot it and changing gears only when I take my foot off the gas to slow down a bit.. oh and it happens in any gear.

So of course my first reaction is, it must be the ECU upgrade.

So I sent a mail to Steve Done explaining my problem and straight away he asks me to bring the car back to PE so we can see what’s happening. So this evening at 5.30pm (Tuesday) I took the car back and met Mervin and Steve and they started to do their stuff.

Four hours later (remember this is in their own time) they had me run my car with a standard 802 ecu a 801 then a different one of the upgraded ecu’s that I already had (just to make sure my hardware wasn’t faulty) and finally I tried their under testing top secret baby which I must say made my car fly ..lads as soon as that is ready I want it please , if you need a car to run some test with it on I am your man….. Oh and all of the testing, monitoring and computer work was all done on the road, not on the R.R.

Basically my problem happened with each ecu so we knew that it must be something else causing the problem..

Steve and Mervin asked me to try and put my old dump valve back on to see if it’s the dump valve causing the problem. They did go into some techno talk but that went above my head, something about a spring being too stiff blah blah blah Zzzzzzzzzzz

So I left there with my upgraded ecu back in (a new one just in case) and the thought of trying my old dump valve.

I finally got home at 12.40am and I couldn’t wait until daylight to see if the dump valve is the problem, so off I went with old dump valve and tools to the local shell garage where I changed over dump valves. I then drove off to see what the coo was and f**k me the problem has gone!! I drove around all my favourite spots lifting off and back on again and the car was smooth as before, now I can start to enjoy my new mod… Not sure what to do with the new dump valve but that’s another story..

I typed this long essay because I wanted you all to know that these guys not only care about the product and service that they are selling but they also care about our cars.. they spent a lot of time with me tonight and in the end they were spot on with my problem..

Thank you very much guys and I will be back for the new mod SOON….

Mark


[Edited by Mkhan - 3/20/2002 2:48:54 AM]

Jza

Nice story!!

Good to see people who are really interested in their customers.... nice one PE!!

Bet they'll kick your **** about it being the dump valve tho

Jza

ShaggyMan

Just wondering why you removed your Dawes device, I take it you mean the manual boost controller.

Having had you ECU modded the boost could be increased to above 16psi hence keeping the device on to enable you to do this. Tell me if I'm wrong someone???

Nice to hear a good report on PE, so many people are quick to slate these guys in the trade.

Chris

nom

The mod doesn't raise the fuel-cut, so the Dawes couldn't be set any higher. And once the mod is done, the Dawes is far less necessary.

john banks

The Dawes is not as smooth on part throttle so if you have access to change the OEM duty cycle and boost achieve maps that is obviously superior.

Markus

Mark,
I know you said the DV was a recirc, but did u mean recirc dv or vent to atmosphere? reason I ask is that recirc is what you normally have on an impreza and I'm never sure what upgrading to another recirc dv does. I am guessing you meant VTA, for that fast and furious sound the other reason I guess this, is the talk about the spring, because i know there are at least 2 springs, think it's a green and red one, and one is stiffer than the other.

hope I've not offended you, not meant to, it's just that in my idiot mind I can't see how an aftermarket recirc dv would cause a problem over the standard one, but a VTA one could.

Mkhan

Hi Marcus

The Forge dump valve was a recirc like the standard one but has a lovely waste gate noise, it goes sssssssswing and it looks shinny (TART) Anyway the spring in it is much stiffer than the standard scoob one and as I am still running 1bar boost it wasn't enough to open the spring which caused my problem above.

The nice gents at BRD have changed my dump valve for another Forge recirc one with a soft spring and now I have the power from the ECU upgrade and the sound from the Dump valve added with my new K&N induction kit

my car sounds just how I like it and it has the power that I need ... I am one happy customer Thanks again ECUTEK (PE) and BRD

Marcus I am not that techie when it comes to motors so if you want to know more about the differents with a standard DV and a Forge DV talk to BRD..

see you at Bedford ... I will be the one who looks like this



[Edited by Mkhan - 3/20/2002 6:20:53 PM]

Mkhan

oh ShaggyMan

I removed the dawes because I didn't feel safe with it, plus I didn't want the hassle of lowering it if the weather was cold rasing it if it hot etc..

Plus a top mechanic and I trust his opinions told me to remove it. He did go into to details but hey I just wanted to try it and see how it felt..

I know loads of you have the Dawes device and are happy with it so I am sure I am the one who's missing out..

btw I have one for sale if anyone wants it, only 3 weeks old £10 just send me a sae well you better make it a padded one and I will send it to you.

Markus

Mark,
Thanks mate, just wanted to clarify things. Trust me, you know more about engines than I do!

Mkhan

Marcus I probably know about as much as you but I am starting to learn...

Fitted my own BRD Quick shifter, Dump valve and K&N induction kit over the past couple of days. And anyone that knows me will know that I usually get help to change a headlight bulb I must say I did get Tarty Tango to put my new Momo gear **** on for me as that was tooooooooo hard..



Mark

SSE

Hi Mark!
Assume (from the ECU types you're running) that you have a MY99/00.
Question:
Do you know what type/colour of DV spring you are running now?


I also get what you describe as 'hesitancy' (I perceive it
as an extra kick/leap forward although going off accelerator) some
times but mainly in 3rd around middle revs.
Not a big problem, but it seems like the same thing.
But I have standard DV (Plus Dawes @ held 1,15 when properly warmed up.)

Regards,
Simen.

[Edited by SSE - 3/22/2002 9:22:45 AM]

Markus

Mark,
you're a big woos! all in jest of course mate. hope to see you soon.

Mkhan

SSE

If you mean what colour spring was in my standard Dump Valve then I believe it is the red one.

But now that I have put the Forged dump valve on I have no idea what colour the spring is mate, all I know is it's a softer spring.