Ecutek remapped, should I get some sort of licence paperwork and another question
 

Hi folks. How do I know for certain that my car has been remapped? I had an Ecutek remap done I believe but I find it odd that if you are buying a licence for it that you don't get some sort of official paperwork to go with it, expecially for getting the cheaper future remaps. What did you guys get when you had yours done? I simply got a reciept from the tuners stating that it had been done.

Second question. At a guess what do the mappers tend to raise the fuel cut to? The reason that I ask is that for the first time ever o9n this car I believe that I hit fuel cut this morning in fifth, not good. Boost is peaking at 1.4-1.5 BAR.

Cheers,

Nick :).

Me too. I had an EcuTek map but no paperwork,presume you would have to go back to the place you had the car mapped as it would be on there data base?:wonder:

The license is a software license, it becomes coded into the ECU upon the first flash with Ecutek software. If the car is hitting boost cut, take it back.

I am 99% certain that it was fuel cut based on my many previous experiences of this on my old STI2. I have also bought a brand new MAF today as after I picked her up from the garage and ran the diagnostics on her for the sheer hell of it, error 23 was staring me in the face. I don't remember ever querying the ECU before so god knows how long that has been flagging as faulty. I will stick the MAF in, reset the ECU, drive her for a few days and see how it goes. Despite the error code the car has always seemed more or less ok but would this have affected the mapping at all despite 'seeming' to be working even with the error?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the replies guys :).

As mentioned any Ecutek mapper will know the car has been done by logging onto the ECU, dont worry about paperwork as there isnt any.

Right, well I got a new replacement 'green dot' MAF for the sheer hell of it which I fitted today. I thought I had followed the reset instructions correctly the first time, but I started getting the 'NORMAL' flashes after about 20 seconds (instead of the 60 seconds above 11kmh) of starting up/driving so wasn't convinced. Unplugged green/black and for the first few minutes the car wasn't going about 0.5 BAR boost, then after another minute and a bit more speed she went to 0.8 BAR boost. I then got onto some dual carriageway and she figured things out and now went repeatedly to 1.6 BAR when giving it beans, no fuel cut yet but I will need to monitor it for a week.

However when I got back to work and checked the readout (didn't have time to originally as darling was with me) I still got the error 23... I have done another reset, driving for about 90 secs after the 'NORMAL' light started flashing. unplugged, driven the minute back to work and checked again and no error 23 this time. I will have to spank it a bit on the way home tonight to train the brain back up and see if error 23 comes back. If I start experiencing the fuel cut again then I will indeed be taking her back.

Cheers,

Nick :).

1.6 bar does sound a little high, even 1.4bar is high depending on what turbo your running.
If the MAF was on it's way out during the mapping it may well effect the map if it's changed. Although it shouldn't effect boost control.

If your still running the standard STI VF28 then anything much more then 1.35bar (squirting into a 2.0 litre, not a 2.2) is running at it's limit.

They did map it with the iffy MAF on there as they said that it didn't appear to affect it. I haven't got any errors logged currently since fitting a new MAF today anbd resetting again but didn't get a chance to really stretch her legs this evening. She is still on a VF28.

Right, as stated yesterday there were no errors logged in the ECU. Fired up this morning and commenced my dual carriageway run to work once warm and I was foot to the floor picking up speed in speed, I got a mild cut out/carry on, later when foot to the floor in 4th I got the standard issue violent cut/carry on. Yey. I had reset the Defi's and got the same 1.6 BAR peak diring the drive in.

Checked the errors at work today and error 23 is back. Now, last night I actually bought some alu bar that I am going to make a brace with for the induction kit as although it is in pretty damn solidly, I am wondering especially with the fuel cut shaking through the car if that is setting off the MAF error.

Should I make the induction braces, fit them in, reset and drive her for a couple of days first before taking her back to be sorted out properly?

Cheers,

Nick :(.

Due to the 1.6bar and the 2.2litres, you may be maxing out the MAF Voltage hence the fault being logged.

I would look at getting the map corrected to prevent the 1.6bar in the higher gears. You may then find the fault goes away.

I only run my VF28 at 1.35/1.4bar peak in the higher gears on a 2.0, so personally would advise that you get the target set to around 1.3bar (thats what most people map a VF28 to run).

Is the 1.6 bar particularly bad for the turbo or the engine? I was contemplating getting a VF34 and sticking that on but with all the problems following this remap and the added expense of getting another turbo, fitting it and having to be remapped again, it seems a bit mad tbh. Would upgrading the turbo have any effect on the MAF voltage possibly being maxed out in it's current setup? Being me I want as much power as poss for what I alter, but I don't want the engine blowing up the next day or this god awful fuel cut :(. Tell me if I am wrong but I believe that I shouldn't have to pay a penny to get the current problems sorted, yes? The other half is barking at me big time after all the current expenditure and the fact that the car is playing up whereas it was 'fine before you had to get it played with' in her words.

Thanks guys for the all the input.

Nick.

I'd say 1.6bar is a tad high for a vf28. I'm running my vf28 to peak at 1.5 'ish (22psi) and level out and hold at 1.4 'ish (20psi) all the way.

your running a 2.2 so 1.4bar on a 2.2 will be pressurising more air then 1.4bar on a 2.0. Hence why I recon runing 1.6bar is maxing out the MAF.

IIRC my MAF voltage is around 4.6V running 1.4bar with a VF28 and 2.0 litre.
MAF's run off 5V.
I'm not sure what (or if) the CEL triggers at on a MY99/00 but on a WRX01 it's 4.58V

I think you should ask your mapper what i's mapped to. If he mapped it to 1.3/1.4 bar then 1.6 could be very dangerous, not only to the turbo but the engine.

Defi boost gauges over read so you can knock 0.1 bar of the readings you see, 1.5 bar is fine on a VF28, it won't hold that up above 6k and naturally dies away to abut 1.3 ish depending on how it was mapped, the fuel cut is simply set too low, thats why you are having problems. If it was mapped on a dodgy maf then you have a dodgy remap now, amazed anyone would say that to you. I balk at tuning a car if the maf looks the slightest bit iffy. I do keep em handy though for these occasions. You won't get anywhere near maxing te mad=f on a VF28 whatever boost you run, its good for 460 bhp of air flow scaled properly. There is no CEL maf based alarm on a Jecs, just a complete failure of the maf itself if you over volt, no warning, it just completely fails and the engine dies. Had enough do it on my own car.

For info I map the VF28 to kiss 1.4/1.5 as it comes on then hold 1.4 (if it will). No issues with that unless an engine is "picky".

Its not unusual to see a code 23 historic btw, that does not mean the maf is failing, its a bug.

A EcuTek tuner can simply plug in and ask the ecu if its been remapped and by who btw.

cheers

bob

Nice one Bob....didn't realise the 99/00 MAF's were so capable and you seem to of crept the boost up on the VF28 over the years (might push mine a bit harder now ;) with the PFC)
Always good to know a little bit more about the 99/00 JECS.

So grateful for the top information guys, thanks again :thumb:

Fluffy is going back sometime within the next couple of weeks to hopefully have the remap-related wrinkles ironed out, but this has me thinking if I should change the turbo one time and be done with it? I was contemplating a full decat dp change anyway and I have had more than one person refer to my VF28 as being 'piddly' :o :D. I am thinking of either a VF34, TD05H-Big16G, TD05H-18G or a TD05H-20G.

No probs Scott, what its all about.

VF28 is a "smallish" turbo, don't bother with a 20G you might get better results with the 18G.

bob

Thanks, the 20G does seem like the wrong choice for my current setup and I thought that the 16 was perhaps not enough of an upgrade to justify it. I will concentrate my research on whether or not an 18 would suit me/the car I think.

cheers,

Nick :).

Nick

Bob Rawle mapped my car with an 18G , as he did with Ninnybobs :D :D

He might have some road dyno info to help you choose LOL


Shaun