ECU tables modification
 

Hi All,
I notice a lot of people on here with an electronics background and a lot of threads dedicated to fooling the ECU.
I wonder has anyone changed the ECU prom values to change the way the ECU operates under different conditions so that they dont have to fool the ECU. I have heard of many people changing their ECU values to increase performance so i know its possible and relatively common.

I am particularly interested if anyone can point me toward a eeprom value mapping for particularly a mazda 626 91 model or if anyone has "decoded" their cars eeprom to understand what the different values do.

...remember the saying: "...not nice to mess with Mother Nature (or old-man OEM)."?

...the good thing about "tricking" the ECU is that you're usually only effecting one parameter at a time, but with an eeprom you're screwing with everything all at once.

Thanks for the warning, it will definately be risky but i plan to get a ECU from a wrecker and start modifying that one so that i can always go back to my current ECU if i completely mess everything up.
Also if i can find an explanation of the values in the eeprom it should be much easier, I dont think ill attempt anything if i am just guessing what each value does

ecu hacking.. vs ecu piggybacking - aka superuser overide
 

I'll have a go and hack anything if I think it's worth it :-)

The problem with ECU hacking is just the time it would take.

Any setting you want to make involves replacing an eprom - yuk
and so not practical.

It is probably easier to replace the ECU with an aftermarket
ECU that you can configure on the fly via a serial or usb port
from within the cabin.

The other option, is ECU piggybacking. Use an arduino to
read what the ECU is doing and then make decisions that
override whatever the ECU said.

:rolleyes:

Yah, the legal discussions are not usually productive, and for one car that might not be in a testing area (in Austrailia no less) it may be moot. Certainly we can discuss the technical details legally without getting into a legal quagmire.


My concern is that he has a narrowband o2 sensor and his ability to deviate from stoich with feedback is going to be hampered.

The truth is if the car passes emissions it is legal, if the area he is in has no requirements it is legal.

Also a better question is not if its legal but if its MORAL, is it moral to use more fuel and make more emissions or moral to use significantly less fuel and make less overall emissions but more of one type that only affects massive city's?

Most nations excluding the US allow lean burn as Nox is really only a smog problem in big city/massive urban centers, on its own it usually reacts into harmless compounds.

The question I have always had is how many ticks past stoich can a narrow band O2 see?

Also he may already run a tad leaner than the US counterpart anyway as I don't believe Aussies cared too much about Nox like most civilized countries.

Cheers
Ryan

Do they even HAVE laws in Australia?

emission laws.. not really
 

Hi DCB,

there are some laws about some things, but not many relating to emissions.

I haven't heard of emissions tests being done on vehicles. In the 80's
they used to check that you didn't disable the pollution controls on
carby motors.

Actually, we have pretty much the same freedom as in the States
to chop up cars and do what we like. No problem gutting the cat.
It's certainly more liberal than europe where you need an engineering
report just to install a new air filter.

Actually.. nobody really cares what we do, except for things like
flashing coloured lights. Pollution is fine - lights are illegal.

I am not sure if there are any communities that modify that ECU but if you know assembly and have the time it can be done. You would need to read the original program them map out where the Operating system starts and ends then run the lookups for each table and figure out the table width and scales.

For reburning the ECU you will probably need to replace the Eprom chip with one that can easily be reconfigured.

It can be done and it may have been done already I would recommend going to delcohacking.com it is a group in Australia that has done this to some of the Holden cars and they might be able to point you in the correct direction or live next door to you and can help.

its a comon misscomception that its hard to tune an ecu its infact extrmely easy with the right tools the right now how u can do it inside 10 mins u need an eeprom programmer earser one can get here
arlabs google it cant post urls yet (pre obd2)

the only problem is getting the file to witch to tune with....u can try winols but its extremly hard to figure out u almost need to be a rocket sientist or a computer engenieer to figure it out u just stare at a bunch of numbers not knowing what they are.....lol have to goole it cant post urls

or if your lucky enough it will be here alientech-to look in up in goolge
this is the most comon program used by ppl today with popular cars they use drivers u just in put how much power etc

never buy tuneing files of e-bay biggest scam out there also never buy those "power boxs"

Powerboxes are the mother of all evil in this world. I am sure they were developed in a secret facility by satan himself and that is putting it mildly. With chiptuning your change ALL the needed parameters that run your engine. A powerbox just lies to your engine management system, throwing it off balance and feeding your engine the wrong amounts of fuel etc. Very often you will see powerboxes on ebay, which are basically two plastic plugs, a small box and a 5 cent resistor poured into black resin. If you want to get rich quick with an astronomical profit margin you should start selling powerboxes, because the company logo sticker on the outside is the most expensive part of it. Do they give you a noticeable effect? Yes, you will get some more performance, accompanied by a tail of black smoke and an engine that hates you forever. Still want to buy a powerbox? Read this paragraph again.

any questions about it pm me ive been doing ecus and other stuff for quite awile now

Thanks to all that replied,
captinkill sounds like the programs you have put forward are exactly what im looking for.

I am an elec / embedded software engineer so i have access to eeprom burners, and i might be able to work out the winols program, either way ill give both programs a try hopefully they have mappings for my car as it is a 91 year might be a bit too old.

If the programs suggested can do what im after and support my car I will get a ECU to play with (so i dont kill my car accidentally) and start programming in changes. If all works well i shall post methods and benefits to modifying the ECU information

For other people following the thread, I know there are plenty of aftermarket and DIY ECU options around however for my application they look like they are too expensive or time consuming. Hopefully a few number changes in my ECU eeprom will give me better efficiency with not too much effort

Hi captinkill,
Firstly thanks for your post regarding programs for ECU tunning. I tried to PM you but im still 2 post short of 10 posts until i can PM :).

Well I looked both suggested programs up. as you suggested winOLS is very hard to use. I have not yet read in the eeprom file of my mazda 626 91 year so there is only so much i can do with winols at the moment anyway but from what i can see it looks like it may not have map for my car. In the select car section mazda's are not listed.

So i also tried to get the programmer from alientech called ECM titanium. they dont seem to allow a download of this, it seems it can only be purchased, is this correct?
I downloaded what looked like the program but it appears to be only a management tool.
Do you know of any way to get this tool free?

Basically i can get the existing eeprom contents the only issue i have is understanding what all of the numbers mean. So either i need a table that explains all of the memory locations or i need software (which i hopefully dont have to pay for) which will create me a new customized eeprom file according to my preferences which i can then burn onto the eeprom and try out.

Any ideas?

Thanks

You can get it for free but doesn't have alot of drivers post dumps of chip and I'll c what I can do also I need to kno year modle any info on car there are guts on how to use winols but it's guess work beeing that u use the auto mapping feture

And all the data on the chip verry from make to model etc there is some sort of computing encryption course u can take to figure it out I'll c what Luther info I can dig up to help

Thanks
I may have a problem with my specific car though,
I opened up the ECU yesterday and found no eeprom at least i cant identify an eeprom on the board.
I attached a picture of the ECU PCB (it is only single sided)
for reference this is an ECU from a mazda 626 91 year
the ECU details on the box, Delco, F2H2

I searched for datasheets for all of the chips and the only memory chip i could find is on IC605 which is a ram chip so it cant hold the data after power down so this cant be it.
the IC601 appears to be the processor however i cant find any data on it, i assume its a custom IC.

So even if i can get the tuning program it may not be useful

captin if you have tuned cars previously can you identify any eeprom in this ECU, if not have any idea if there is a programming connection for the ECU. I figure i am not going to have much luck due to the age of the ECU and the limited information around.

For others following the thread hoping to tune your own ECU i also found a free tuner which looks fairly good, doesn't support all cars though
TunerPro and TunerPro RT - Professional Automobile Tuning Software
A website i found with tutorial on chip tunning
ECCS • View topic - A long tutorial for tuning nissan's ECUs

as captin said previously from what i have found it loks fairly easy to tune your own ECU as long as your ECU has an eeprom or a programming connection, Newer ECU's can probably update values over the ODB2 connection
And a eeprom burner or programming cable

For my car, if i cant find an eeprom on the board or identiy a programming connection looks like i will be forced to adjust inputs and outputs on the ECU to fool it into working the way i want.

i can say almost for sure its the chip ive shown u but im not 100% will find out have to look at schematics its allmost allways that type of chip tho

You could run lean most of the time and switch back to stoichiometric every once in a while to check the settings. But that would require a firmware redesign.

ECU reprogramming
 

Sounds like you need a program like Chem and Dcal to reprogram your ECU.

WinOLS is easy to use
 

ECM titanium is easy to use while WinOLS is not that easy to use but works. You will find some tutorial clues on chiptuners.org

I hope you don't actually think this is true. It's illegal to modify any factory emissions equipment (read the code). Pod style air filters are completely illegal for example. While there's no routine smog testing in any state that I'm aware of, you can be EPA spot checked and sent to a testing station, $2000 fine if you're in breach, last I heard.