MOTEC WILL I OR WONT I ???????



Hi all. Ive got a second hand Motec M48 ecu and my friend has the M4 and was
all set on fitting it until people started telling me about how bad the idle
is and when its cold the car wont start etc etc. So I was wondering if
people running Motec could tell me if this is true or what. Its a daily
driver and need it to go to work each day so dont want to spend an hour on
the driveway trying to start it. Please tell me that what is suppose to be
one of the best ECU's on the market cant even get the idle right :>(

 

For an everyday car... forget it.
(coming from someone who supplies them )


Andy

 

Motec is a motorsport ecu....not an everyday ecu
you have mail

 

So realisticly should be renamed DISASTERTEC SO........

 

Horses for courses LSTi...

Andy

 

 

Ive a Motec aswell. What exactly do you have to do, hold your foot on the throttle till it warms up or it keeps cuting out ? Are they hard to start up on a cold morning

 

Sounds like you have mapping issues. I have none of these issues on an M800.

 

I reckon the M800 has the idle speed controll and all the other ones like the M48 dont. I dident think it would be as bad as Im hearing though.

 

M800 is a little different to an M48 Harvey.

M800 is the dogs.

 

Fuzz what exactly is the problem with m48 and the idle. Is it starting the car or just cuting out when cold or what is it ????

 

think just turning over 5 times before starts is it?????? does it idle proper after that?

 

My M800 idles and starts from cold perfectly thanks mapped by BRD.
As Fuzz says the idle control strategy has come a long way since the M48.

Dan.

 

With regards to the turning over a few times before starting, the Motec will always do this because it won't inject any fuel before it has got a cam and crank reference, which will take atleast one revolution of the engine.
The OEM ecu appartetly just spays fuel randomly into the cylnders at start up to get it going quick before it has a proper cam and crank reference signal.
My M800 generally takes about 2 turns of the crank to fire then all is fine.

Dan.

 

It isn't difficult to get a higher idle speed when cold , I fitted a switch and a resistor on to the idle speed controll valve to get the valve to open a bit . When the car is warm switch it off , 10 min job max to fit . I ran a M48 pro on my classic road car for 3 1/2 years with no issues at all.

 

Thanks Bear, Do you mind me asking what Ver car it was, Apperantly the 99-00
use stepper motor idle control and the resistor thing wont work.

Cheers

Renno

 

I'm running a M800 on a MY99 with no problems

 

Daves car uses linear motor control. There is actually no real problem getting the M4 or the M48 controled cars to warm idle, if MY98 and earlier then its possible to crank the idle valve open using an aux out put when cold that sorts the cold start etc, stepper motor cars can't have this though so its a matter of setting up the warm idle a bit high to allow things to cold idle (just). I used to find that my M48 needed help for may=be a couple of minutes when cold then it would idle at about 600 rpm fairly quickly rising as things got warm.

The M800 has no idle control issues if properly set BUT the stepper motor settings still need a little help from careful throttle setting.

Its nonsense to suggest that a Motec is not suitable for a daily driver, attention to detail is all thats needed.

cheers

bob

 

Thats great and puts our minds to rest, thanks Bob.

 

Not nonsense if you like to spend your money wisely.

Hell, if you have a goal for the car further down the road, then yea, it would be a great investment (well an M800 would be anyway)

But for the spend thrift, to get a road car / daily driver mapped to your current mods then I'd rather ECUTEK it at £600 instead of an ECU install + loom install + mapping at around £2500 !!
Oh and probably have to add logging and lambda control options on top of that as well.




Andy

 

Did you buy that of a lad from Mayo by any chance? Out of a white Type R ver.4?

I had a m48 pro in my old Type R and it ran fine. She was slightly lumpy idle at first + took 2 turns to start some cold mornings but then got the cold start looked at again and it was fine, never had a problem. Great ecu!

 

Good to hear

Yeah is that Gizmo. M4 was bought from over that way and m48's in the East. He has a BM and Cossie now.

 

Andy the question related to Motec not oem ecu's, and yes it is nonsense given the guys have them. (would still be anyway). As far as oem remapping is concerned I've taken that further than anyone and the relative merits are obvious (both ways). If you want to start a value for money debate then great. Separate thread though I think. Oh and you haven't heard of the oem range of Motec ecu's, available for all model years (pre 1999 custom fit).

Come on, your employer (Powerstation) is a Motec dealer.

Get with the advertising program if you want to plug.

cheers

bob

 

Ive been running ECUTEK for a good while which has been fine but fancied the Motec now at this stage.

Can anyone confirm that the Motec can do the different boost profiles ? As an example say 1.8 bar peak mid range and taper back down to 1.5 bar or whatever at higher revs. Or can I only do this with an AVCR ?

Renno

 

I'm not trying to plug them, that's not the reason I post. (and the last reason to want to, for fear of getting banned as I'm not an authorised advertiser)
Just my personal opinion, that's all.

My opinion is still that I'd rather have the OEM ECU over an M4 or M48.
being as the guy has the MoTec already then, if it were me I'd sell it and get a more up to date one like the M800 if you have the cash spare.


Andy

 

Lol ... now which ecu depends on objectives etc, as many know I would personally use the oem ecu over anything else up to a very significant level, my comment was simply made to challenge your statement that a Motec can't be mapped to be as good ... it can.

You can map Motec boost control to any shape you like provided you use the 3D boost map and not the 2D one most stay with. Change one for the other via ecu setup. It won't have the in gear compensation of the AVC-R though.

cheers

bob

 

Cheers Bob. Will the Apexi Map sensor work in the same way with a Motec ECU as the likes of a GM 3 bar map sensor ? So rather then geting new map sensor and 3 port solonoid id just use the AVCR kit ????

Thanks for the help

 

Sorry I must have had a M4 pro so coz it was Gizmo that bought the car from me!

If your going to get it remapped, as far as I remember I think you might need a password to access the ECU. Cathal in TTM did all the work with it so if you give him a call he should be able to help.

 

Cheers mate. I spoke to Adam and he is sorting the loom so it will fit Ver 5/6 so ill ask him about the password. I dident think anyone locked them out.

Renno

 

yes you can use the Apexi map sensor, you will need to sort out the callibration with an accurate boost gauge, easy to do, ecu has custom map sensor scaling available. Some dealers password protect and some don't. I have known one or two insist the ecu is returned to them to release it, and then return it with no map in it ... ho hum.

cheers

bob