paul-h

i was under the impression that changes to the ECU were not visible to a dealer and their computers (diagnostic etc) but after reading a thread where Mike Wood claimed it wasn't hard for SUBARU to spot a mapped ECU i was wondering which is the truth??

can a dealer see changes to the mapping without the use of ECUTEK sotware/and/or having the purchased licence?

obviously this is a warrenty voided issue so would like to know where i would stand if i did this.

anyone with any thoughts on this?

Bat-Fink

Have you got a link to Mike's post?

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

As far as I understand, unless the dealer has its own mapping software (which it won't), they will be none the wiser!

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Hmm,dont know but having a guess id say no they cant,like anything computerwise, without the software/kit it doesnt work, so if they dont have the software or the kit to read ECU mappings then no.

reading fault codes is a different thing to mapping

Tone Loc

iTrader: (1)

It should be pretty obvious from how the car drives (other wise the remap was pointless).... and most tuned cars will have at least a boost gauge which will not be reading 0.9bar anymore .

Tony.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Well if my dealer found out by driving my car at full boost, i'd want my blo^dy money back.
Most of the 18 year olds that work at dealerships wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.

paul-h

https://www.scoobynet.com/general-te...st-re-map.html post #7, pretty vague comment, might be to put the wind up people?

tone-loc :- if there's no boost gauge to show an increase i guess the guy taking it out on the test run would only be guessing? hopefully they would not be driving it to the point where it would be noticeable?

Varboy

probably not possible via any of the instruments they have at the dealer.

they would probably need to send the ECU back to SUbaru if they wanted to establish for sure

BMW used to have a nasty habit of flashing the ECU if they suspected a remap was in place (nice of them)

bob r

iTrader: (46)

Me = tuned Impreza and no boost gauge(or any aftermarket gauges)

haroldhettaturbo

iTrader: (2)

Last time i was at the clinic i was speaking to andy about mapping.

He said that to find out if the ecu was mapped they then have to map it.

sort of a 1 way door, once u are into the map thats it u gotta map it.

Hope that makes sense.

paul-h

thank you for the replys

so i assume that if my engine blew up and my dealer had doubts if the car had been remapped he could send the ECU to SUBARU and they would be able to tell? it would just be the dealer that would struggle to see it?

Rill

Personally I wouldn't worry, especially if you took it to the dealer I have just bought my 9 month old STi from. Upon removal of the belly pan it transpired that they couldn't even perform an oil and filter change properly.

Spot a remap.........yeah right!

superdan

a dealer would be able to see boost pressure, ignition advance etc on the data display function of the diagnostic tool but unless it came into the dealer with any running faults it probably wont be checked with the base settings

Hungrytang

This is of interest to me as I have almost all of my warrenty remaining......
And want a remap.
Has anyone on here had there warrenty voided due to mods??


Wouldnt they be able to see the aftermarket exhaust that would be need for a remap???

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

my old subaru dealer said they check any slightly modified subaru for remaps before engine warranty work

not sure how but they were a reasonable dealer who in their time fit a few decats

Andygreer

iTrader: (4)

I spoke to Andy F About this,..... They can only tell if they have the ECUTEK Software (thats if u gace a ECUT map) or if they send to back to the Subaru UK..... Get a Dual map so when it goes to the garage it goes back to standard boost ;-) Wahoo

Bob Rawle

Using the EcuTek software I can easily check if a car has been remapped or not without having to map it, thats nonsense, all you do is ask it. I'm talking about a prior EcuTek remap here.

If I can any EcuTek dealer can.

Select monitor is cute.

bob

Sprint Chief

Is that the one where you press the rear heater switch while at wide open throttle?

If so, what is to stop them doing that and then testing?

The latest select monitor kit (Subaru Diagnostic System) connects to the car via a laptop which is connected to the internet via a wireless link in the garage, and I believe is mandatory for Subaru dealerships. I don't know how it works, but I would imagine a Subaru engineer anywhere in the world could immediately access your car once the spotty work experience mechanic has plugged it into the OBD-II port.

It may be possible to hide some aspects of the ecutek system on certain ecus (I don't know how they've done it), but there will always be a way of tracking it down. Would they bother? Dunno. Probably not, in most cases, if the car has no other mods.

scoobyboy

dealers do have access to a cartridge for the select moniter which allows them to alter the map if need be, so they can see if any remapping has taken place.
with the new select monitor it displays about 4 separate readings for each sensor including an "actual" and "desired" reading. i don't know if it is remapped if it will change the "desired" reading different to what it should say if it was running the standard map. if so it would make spotting remapped cars a lot easier and as posted above it is able to connect to the net to access the new manuals and also let a bloke sitting at a computer a million miles away look for that slight missfire under acceleration!

billythekid

And to add to all that subaru read this forum so they will know if you have posted about remapping your car!

Marky9074

Considering nowdays the EcuTek license locks out the ECU to anybody other than a EcuTek dealer, I would assume it would be very easy to see it has been mapped i.e. when Subaru cannot view the map! Granted they still have access to the OBD-II / SSM fault codes etc...

MikeWood

Just remember that Subaru have EcuTeK software (albeit a unique Prodrive version) and have probably reprogrammed more ECUs using it than everyone else in the World put together.

If they have a warranty claim on ANY Impreza with a turbo they are quite likely to check the ECU either in the field or back at Subaru. It's very straightforward to tell if it's been reprogrammed or not, really doesn't matter what's been done so the fact that the released version of EcuTeK software doesn't allow the ROM file to be read is irrelevant. If there aren't any comments in the ECU you can't even tell what's in there if you've programmed it yourself other than by doing a ROM compare with what you think may be in there.

Mike

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

not that i would EVER think of mapping my car #

i hav'nt BTW

but would a spare ECU to swap over be the answer????

Steve

X30NGO

if you're worried about the warrenty, would it be worth to just wait till it expires before you do the remap??? Or is that forever away?

Marky9074

I see what you mean (forgot that late PPP is EcuTek map), so what you are saying is that a dealer would not be able to distinguish between the maps, as it would look for all intense and purpose that it could be a genuine PPP map....

Though surely a quick look under the bonnet etc would confirm if it was a genuine PPP or third party map i.e. looking for the silicon hose etc.

Heard it all before

Is the problem that it has been mapped wrong and hence blown up?

If so hardly fair [Perhaps even illegal] to try and get Subaru UK to pay

What has the cars mapper got to say about it?

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

No, I think the poster's car is fine and he was simply wondering if dealers could tell if the car had been re-mapped (for mod planning purposes).
Of course now, he knows, I'm sure the car will go to Prodrive if he wants to maintain his warranty.

We may not like it, but its entirely fair that Subaru should stipulate that remaps other than Prodrive packages void your warranty; they can't be held responsible for the work of others, which may be of variable quality.

If your car blows up after a remap, then its for you to negotiate with the mapper, but it could well be a case of "tough *******" as few that I know of will officially warranty their work, which is why you need to choose your mapper very carefully!

Ns04

DeWALT

I went back to superchips at demon tweaks to ask about chipping a classic import i jus bought.
where I had my gsi remapped and what a difference n I still got it
they said they had stopped doing them cos of failure on piston heat failure
on No 3 piston.

they said if you do do it somwhere defo have pistons changed.

this may be true or may be c**p
I would like to know for sure tho.

cheers Neil....

paul-h

thank you again for the replies, they've been very helpfull and it was good to read responses from some people with technical/dealer experience to help me get the answers i needed.

to answer a couple of questions,

no i have not had this work done to my car

i have over a year of the manufactures warrenty left

i've come to the conclusion it isn't worth the risk of invalidating my warrenty, but i won't be going down the PPP road either (purely because of cost to keep just over a years warrenty) i will just have to be patient and wait!

i think i will be speaking with my dealer to see what i can do to the car and remain within the boundries of the warrenty (maybe a backbox change for example) and go from there.

thanks again

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Wouldn't touch a superchip with a 10 foot barge pole!

Scoobies, especially JDM scoobies, need setting up properly, which means a bespoke map. Putting something generic on them generally results in lean running and then its only a matter of time before you melt a piston. IIRC no 3 is usually the first to go because of its position on the fuel rail.

I think Scoobyclinic can offer mapping on pre 99 scoobies either that or its an aftermarket ECU like Power FC and bespoke mapping from someone like Andy F. Not cheap, but the car will run MUCH better and, most importantly, safely!

Ns04