Which ECU is Right For You? - REFLASHED OEM vs STANDALONE ECU
d4a live: superpeer.com/driving4answers
Infinity 506: bit.ly/D4Ainfinity5
In today's video we're talking about ECUs and comparing stock OEM ECUs vs aftermarket. We will see the pros and cons of both and we will see what can be achieved with reflashed oem ecus vs standalone ecus and which approach best suits which type of end-user.
What is an ECU? Well ECU stands for ENGINE CONTROL UNIT and it's the key component of every electronically fuel injected vehicle. Sometimes you will also hear the terms ECM or PCM which stand for engine control module or power control module all of these mean the same thing. An ECU is basically a computer that receives inputs from various sensors on the engine which basically tell it how much air is coming into the engine and then based on these inputs the ECU will control the injectors to inject the correct amount of fuel and instruct the ignition coils to fire the spark plug at the correct time with the goal of extracting the maximum efficiency and/or power from the engine. This controlling of injection and ignition is done using what is known as maps. The most important of these are fuel maps and ignition maps.
An OEM ECU is technically not designed to be tampered with. If evidence of tampering with it is found this will obviously void your warranty if you have one and tampering with the OEM ECU obviously risks engine damage. But tampering with anything engine related obviously carries a certain level of engine damage risk, however these risks of tampering with things have never successfully deterred humans from tampering with them...so we tamper.
So how do we even tamper with an OEM ECU? Well, the first step towards this is actually reading what's inside the ECU. Manufacturers are not keen on giving anyone with a laptop easy access to what's inside the ECU, which is why the data in the maps and other features of an OEM ECUs isn't really straightforward to read. But people have encrypted anything and everything and OEM ECUs are no exception. Once the contents of the ECU are encrypted an interface that reads and displays them in a meaningful manner on a pc is created. There are countless different interfaces out there. A few examples are: HP tuners, hondata, ecutek, k-tag, versatuner, etc. Some are open source and free, others must be purchased. All of these interfaces or software packages cover different makes and models and many overlap with each other. Obviously popular vehicle platforms will be better off here and will always have access to more community, aftermarket and software support, whether it be paid or free.
The final step will be acquiring a special USB cable which will connect your vehicle's OBD port to your laptop's USB port and then you will be able to see and modify the MAPS stored inside your ECU.
So this sounds great right? What more could you ask for? What is the purpose of a standalone ECU if re-flashing already let's you modify your stock one?
Well, reflashing, just like anything else has it's limits and depending on your vehicle platform, goal and desires these limitations may make a standalone a ECU much more sensible option.
The reason behind this is that your stock ECU is designed for your specific engine. In contrast to this a standalone ECU is infinitely more flexible. For example the AEM infinity 506 that I'm holding in my hand can run any engine with up to 6 cylinders. It doesn't even care if the engine is two stroke or four stroke, the injectors can be either high impedance or low impedance, the engine can be turbocharged or naturally aspirated, the throttle can be dirve by wire or cable, it can control nitrous, compensate for flex fuel or the amount of ethanol in your fuel, it can control boost based on rpm, vehicle, speed, gear, ethanol content, it can even perform traction control and launch control, it can protect your engine based on coolant temperature, oil pressure, oil temperature, knock, intake air temperature, fuel pressure, air fuel ratios, it can even control stepper motors and log data for your.
But there is a catch. A standalone ECU may be almost infinitely flexible...but as such it is also a blank canvas. When you read the data from your OEM ECU you will have a starting point, a setup that is known to work. A standalone will have no values in its maps unless you type something in. This lack of a starting point and large amount of features and settings my make a standalone ECU seem more intimidating than it really is.
So to better see the pros and cons of both setups let's go through a bunch of typical user scenarios to see which setup shines where and which category of user do you see yourself fitting the best.
A special thank you to my patrons:
Daniel
Daniel Morgan
Pepe
Brian Alvarez
Jack H
Dave Westwood
Joe C
Zwoa Meda Beda
Toma Marini
00:00 What is an ECU
00:59 Map basics
02:12 Features
06:13 Just the tip
10:31 Getting hooked
12:15 Totally addicted
16:00 Racing
#d4a #ecu #reflash #aem #standalone
d4a live: superpeer.com/driving4answers Infinity 506: bit.ly/D4Ainfinity5 Digital dash display: bit.ly/D4Acddash Support the channel: driving-4-answers-shop.fourthwall.com/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/d4a
I’m a mechanical turbo diesel kinda guy. But Your animations and presentation are fire Brother man. Keep it up. Do a video on variable turbos!!! They are incredible!!!
i prefer no ecu
You're hilarious 😂
The "just the tip" guy just wanting some pops and bangs and mostly getting an aftermarket exhaust and also being portayed as driving a Golf Gti is priceless
I'm slowly turning into the "just the tip" guy, and I drive a Hyundai Sonata 😂. At least it has a turbo!
Don't forget the IG posts
This man does absolutely one of the best jobs of explaining these topics. If I would've seen this video back in 2008 and knowing my intentions for my 86 Grand National I had just bought, I would've definitely forked over the cash for a stand alone ECU. Probably the only benefit now, is the technology has gotten even better, in microprocessor performance, and there is a plug and play stand alone ECU for the Grand National. This stand alone will allow you to add some nice features, like COP and get rid of the coil pack, and say better control of the wastegate solenoid should you elect to keep an internal wastegate and want more precise control of it. I am at a point where I have rebuilt my little 231 v6 and it's a fragile little fellow and the power has to be extracted safely. Any presence of knock at the boost level I am planning on running, will put the crankshaft in the oil pan. I also have another Buick Regal, but it's from 2000 and it appears the best way to go about getting power from this guy is perhaps reflashing. With the ABS and other modules and this car being a daily driver, I don't want to necessarily lose the ABS feature, especially when traction control can be disabled. The VE tuning, well that does sound a lot better than providing an injector PW for a given RPM and load point. Also nice that I am getting some exposure to working on a dyno at work. Normally I wouldn't be involved with such work, but as an embedded C programmer, I am between projects at work and there is a shortage of engineers for running/managing the dynos. Although, the technicians running the dynos seem to know far more than the majority of the engineers, for some reason my company wants someone with the title engineer in their job description in front of the customer. As always I tend to post too much and have much more to say above beyond the topic at hand that a person told me I needed to take up another hobby. However, I was posting about boxing at the time. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK D4A. Got to go back and watch your video about the Mazda with EGR Cooler that is allowing Mazda to run much leaner AFR when running forced induction and improving fuel mileage.
I know right! I hope he has similar video’s about superchargers.
I think stand-alones are also great for improving reliability of old platforms with limited parts availability such as the Porsche 944, regardless if you want more power or not.
The Toyota 1UZs are also longer lasting than their ECUs
Dude you are amazing ! Tons of useful information in an interesting and fun way. " Vehicle modification is the biggest financial mistake you can make " This sentence is sooooo freaken true on so many levels ! 😅😅 Keep on doing what you do 🤘
In the early 90’s, I had a Buick grand National with a reprogrammed eprom “chips” that you simply plugged into the ecu When I ran 23 lb boost and 104 octane Sunoco unleaded fuel…I plugged in the 105 octane chip. Very very fast
Sounds rowdy 👌
Salute, that grand national was a serious car back then. Nevee knew about that car till I got smoked by one when I had my 99 civic si on 15lb of boost.
@@Altezza447 Haha no replacement for displacement and AWD I guess eh? I'm currently building an 04' Civic with a D17a1 in it. Gonna build the shit out of the motor and see how she rips. Might even fuck around and AWD swap it someday haha. Cheers bud 🤟
@@lj3912 lol. i had full race turbo kit i had the block built piston and rods. I could hold more boost but capped it at 15lb of boost. I valued my life more than the speed
Well I bought my GN in 2008, it is an 86. It was and still is a nice example, but the first thing I did when I bought it was upgrade the stock turbo and add alky injection. Since I didn't do the initial upgrade to my GN, I didn't know about needing the PROM or EPROM burned. Recently I rebuilt my engine and it cost a more than I thought it would, I did order a new chip to match the turbo, bigger IC, injectors, etc., but I have yet to really jump on it. The tune appears to be ok, but with running 25 psi of boost, along with 93 octane and alky I am afraid to go WOT. I figure if I spent as much as I did rebuilding the engine and transmission, I should probably go to an aftermarket ECU. Although, when I first bought the car and upgrading it to a TE44 turbo it seemed to be tuned pretty good as I was able to run an 11.88 at 115 with a 1.79 sixty foot time. The person who did my initial modifications, also replaced the fuel pump. There just so happened to be an issue with the fuel pump and on my 5th and final run of the night, the fuel pump died mid run and the cylinder leaned out so badly that all that was being injected was the alky and it burned so hot that the head gasket melted at a water jacket. When I took it to the person who originally modified it, he even said that the jacket where it blew he'd never seen before. Well that's because I lost the fuel pump mid run and alky can burn really hot. Hot enough to burn through the stock head gasket. Initially though, the guy working on my car said I let the alky run too low but then he called me and said the fuel pump had died. It wasn't until years later that I figured out that it was dead fuel pump that caused the head gasket to blow and I also later found out that at the same time my fuel pump was replaced, there was an issue with the 255LPH Walboro pumps. Luckily I told the guy not to replace it with the same type of pump, in case there was a generic flaw, but it didn't really matter because my engine never really ran right after that. Even with the head gasket replaced and new ported heads put on the car. There was never any point of putting ported heads on it at that point, because it still had the stock cam and really none of that air flow available with the ported heads would be utilized because of it using a stock cam. Also, the ported heads were using the stock rockers with the stock rocker shaft. Boy was that a disaster waiting to happen. It didn't take but a couple of thousand of miles for that damn stock rocker shaft to break and I lost all oil pressure immediately and it wiped out the cam lopes. Then I let the guy replace the stock cam with another flat tappet cam and the car ran well for a time and then the knock sensor started triggering even during normal driving. So I threw in the towel and had the engine rebuilt. Instead of using the original block, I went ahead and bought another one and had it machined and rebuilt. I pulled out the original engine and transmission. I sent the transmission off for a billet rebuild and I took the engine to my engine builder. He took it into the shop, took it apart and cleaned it. Well, the block, crank and some of the rods were no longer reusable. The bulkhead at main cap 3 was cracked and the cap had been walking, that in turn chewed up the crank and still don't know how the rods got bent. Surprisingly the cam shaft was still usable as my engine builder bought it off of me and used it to rebuild his 87 T engine to stock. Hopefully this spring and summer I'll finally have my GN tuned with an aftermarket ECU and I can see how fast she is with the setup I currently have.
This man always speaks to my heart, he is like some sort of oracle that solves the mysteries of my life.
I do really like and actually laughed at the jokes in this video 😂🤣! Keep up the good work and thank you for all the information and knowledge you give to us. 🙏
HUGE FAN bro! From Philippines with love. You have made me more knowledgeable with cars than I ever could have. Other channels don't expound enough on the nuances of the machines, but you are one hecl of a tutor. Keep it up
where in ph are you from?
Ang ingay mo kuya!..
@@daveanthonysalalima1128 KUYA!
Im moving to Cebu! I have a swapped integra haha
Standalone ECUs also are able to bring modern engine management features to good old mechanics. For example, upgrading an engine from benzin batch injection + rotary ignotion to full sequential e85 injection and ignition with flexfuel sensor and knock sensors, enhancing car performances, fuel economy, car emissions and giving direct access to sensors states to quickly identify the issue when something starts going wrong. Obviously standalones can also manage big mods like turbo setup on originally N/A engine, etc. The only con to standalones is specific communications to other car modules like those often found on modern vehicles, that can be tricky to impossible to make working.
For the SW20 and ZZW30 world, Marc at Frankenstein motorworks does lots of reflashes for 2ar and 2gr swapped cars. Possible to get 300 hp out of the 2gr on one of his reflashes, N/A. Pretty cool what you can do with just a reflash.
What about 3SGE?
@@sneez9461 3sge is as old as the 4age. Stock ECUs for that car are too old to be reflashed. Only option in those cases is to use a standalone.
@@inaNis_ Oh okay, i was thinking about one, do i need completely new harness, or could i use old?
@@sneez9461 I think the D4A channel has some videos on that, look for videos on the harness or the ECU that he uses.
@@sneez9461 all you need is a plug and play harness adapter
This channel just keeps on crushing. Love the content, always excited for a new video
THANK YOU for breaking topics down to teach when and why we should take things to which level.
Even though I live in Germany and the question "can I do XYZ to my car" is met with "HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! NEIN!", your videos are very interesting and informative.
Huge Bulgarian fan, but living in Spain. Your videos helped me be more savvy and made me enjoy more my Megane RS 225. Thank you, Sir. Hats down to you. Keep like this 💪💪
just love how you have detailed whatever topic you're on
Thank you once again 🙂 Your talks provide the best technical explanations I have found anywhere to date. (I have found a Maf sensor will adjust to exhaust and intake mods without the need for a re-flash as long as the timing table isn't the limiting factor).
The humour and animations are as awesome as the info. Bravo Sir! 👏
Thanks for making it easy for a bone stock home mechanic to understand the more technical aspects of ECUs and aftermarket ECU options..
You have got to be one of my favorite KZheadrs I’ve been listening to you talk about different parts of cars it for about a year now i usually play video games and listen to your videos and I find it very very informative keep up the good work man
God how i love the fact that i can go onto your channel a month after the last visit and have a whole holiday worth of intresting content. Have a good day sir!
Your drive and information are beyond awesome!!! Keep up the progress!!!
Awesome video! It's great to recognize (and laugh at) the practical futility of the hobby.
Been a fan for a while. This might be best vid yet. Keep up the great content 🙏🏽
This video was really informative but way funnier than the previous ones, I loved it !
I love your vids. They should be made mandatory to watch for all of the gearheads in the world.
These videos are usually very informative but this is also the funniest yet. Thank you
Excellent video. I learned more in 20 minutes than researching for days.
Great video fam. Huge insights and a sublime sense of humor. You just earned a new fan. Keep up the good work, it's really appreciated.
Oh thank God you have a video on this. I'm beginning to look into aftermarket ECUs and its so complicated.
My Buick 96 Roadmaster sedan has a PCM-Powertrain Control Module that controls the engine and transmission. I had it reflashed to delete all emissions and anti-theft, change shift pressures and optimize the timing and fuel curves for more power. For around $150 it's a pretty good investment
Who did it?
No doubt. The most informative and logical guy out there.
Very useful information colleague
Great timing once again. Now that I'm doing some heavier mods on my engine this is exactly the video I needed
This episode was amazing, bro. Love the humor and the info.
This guy takes his job seriously! And I appreciate it
Dude the knowledge you possess is incredible!
Keep Up The Good Work 🤝🏾🇯🇲
I'm an average Aussie who loves a beer with a 2017 Camry. I love your channel. Thanks.
The stand alone aftermarket ecu would be perfect practice on kei vans and kei truck awesome information right here, thanks bud.
Nice job on this one too. Funny and really good sharing knowledge, good work!
Listen to you gives me a feeling of getting smart!
Went with TunerPro RT (free), reprogrammed my PCM (and snagged a spare from Pick-a-part), bought a $200 laptop from the local university, and hired a remote tuner that works on older vehicles (even tipped him for his awesome service and education). Great intro experience for a newbie. 93 half ton GMC pickup that has a little more pep than factory. TunerPro is awesome for helping me keep this thing running.
Bro, I really FW the videos man. I really wanna see this channel grow!
Fantastic episode. Been thinking about buying a stand alone for my 2zz swapped Corolla.
Very interesting again, keep up the good work!
Thanks man i was looking for a video to compare the two for the longest
Love it Once agin U hit the nail with great humor as well. Keep Up the good work !
I was really into tuning when I was in my twenties. I went through 3 Miatas, all had some ammount of suspension & brake upgrades (mostly mild), two got turbos, and one had a Megasquirt standalone ECU. Boy that was fun playing with those things and I learned so much in my quest to do as much as possible on a budget. Im 40 now, but I hope to have the opportunity to own another miata one day ..
Amazing explination as usual thank you for your efforts
Dude, you really know how to explain stuff! great video!
This is my online class now. Every time you upload, thats the time for my class
A great intro into the ECU world.Thanks
I love your videos bro, and I think this is your best yet. I have an Evo X running around 400AWKW on the stock (reflashed) ECU. Having watched this, I'm now considering investing in a stand-alone, especially as I have almost reached the end of the stock trans' life and need that rebuilt to go with my rebuilt engine. Keep up the good work my friend, regards from Australia.
Haltech is the name of the game, and its Australian-born. Absolutely killer ECUs, man.
One of your best videos, thank you! I've been exploring these very issues recently as I ponder what I might want for my next project car. There's an issue I'm having a lot of trouble finding the answers on, however. What are the limitations on legality of stand alone ECUs on a street driven car? Is it OK as long as you maintain the functions of cat converters and other emission control devices? Is there a model year limitation beyond which you can't legally use a stand alone on a street car?
Appreciate the video and thanks for the plug ins for the tuners. I need to seek out some help and those will be a good start. I got an old chevy s10 pick with a 4.3L v6. It was equipped with an old poppet "spider injector" style fuel delivery system which I updated with a the newer individual injector system design that makes it more closer to a true multi-port but it is still designed like the primitive orginal unit. For awhile the fuel injector worked fine until recently it's starting to act up causing misfires and I feel that it's also an unreliable unit. Therefore I end up buying a marine intake unit which is a true multi-port system that is made out of a heavy cast iron intake, equipped with it's own fuel rail, pressure regulator, and fuel injectors which are externally mounted. Now the issue I have been having is trying to find some who can reprogram the orginal ecm so it can run the new intake correctly. I don't want to install this intake until i know for sure that i can find someone or a company that can do this. So far after contacting a couple of these tuners, they don't want to touch it. Technically this intake and fuel delivery unit is ment for marine applications so I am not aware of the ecm parameters that those have verses the auto ones.
Absolutely Top video I’m in my late 40s and I’m loving this new way of tuning Very very interesting. Cars are very clever today and this highlights the importants of engine management ❤
Excellent video, thanks. It's very precise information and interesting.
I've used a couple standalones. Granted I went low cost, 1973 triumph spitfire with a toyota 4age running ITBs, and full sequential with coil on plug using a megasquirt 2 v3. That one was a DIY kit that required assembling the ecu. My 78 yamaha is running a microsquirt. With tunerstudio it's very easy to tune and adjust things. Flashing a factory ecu works for some changes, but it's much more limited most of the time.
Too informative plz continue creating vedio for ecu , continue to place it on playlist
Exelent explaned stand alene is the way to go. Allways good content on this channel. Thanks and have a Nice sunday.
Thank you for another tuning info
thank you bro your video convinced me to go with a stand alone for my s13/kaT love from LA
Very informative, thank you for that.
I love my 2002 RSX-S! Great ECU, great engine, and still looks pretty good!
Incredible explanation 😊😊
Another fantastic video bro! 👍 I'm like a 2.2 on the 1-3 poser to professional racer scale... I've only dabbled in ECU tuning, but I could nearly build an OEM car with all the parts I've taken off. 😂
I am pretty sure that I will be going with a standalone unit because I want to do coil near plug on my 68 Barracuda, 360LA small block. Crank trigger, distributorless ignition and coil packs mounted over the valve covers. And a pair of Edelbrock AVS2 carburetors on top of a tunnel ram.
That was so much fun! laughing all the way through.
Is fueltech also based on VE target maps like AEM & Haltech? Great content... keep it coming 👍
Great information and much appreciated. However, I see that you have joined the majority and incorporated a blast of noise sound effect with each sideways scene change. To your credit, this was the only one I've seen so far that wasn't startling enough to trigger an adrenaline release and much elevated heart rate but it was still distracting and detracted from the video. You do wonderful stuff here and like Project Binky, I think the content will suffice very nicely without an extreme effort to "enhance" it.
This was so well explained and hilarious !!!
Great advert for AEM. Well done!
Another great video!!
awesome cant weight to see this one as i a curious , i had to go full stand alone because my stock ecu was not possible to mod flash or nothing sadly but i do want to know as i have more builds to come and newer than the boosted 91 miata lol peace n love bro as always im sure this will be a ost knowledgeable video
Nice this info is just what I needed, I'm building a z22se with a lsj blower kit forged everything internals, hoping for 300-350hp
Full of info keep coming.
you are amazing 👌🏻 thanks for the video
Love your use of graphics.. always.. :) :D
The cameos by Dominic Fauxretto had me dying. 😂😂
As a Speeduino user, great video! (‘90 NA)
Good coverage! Btw, I do reverse engineering for Honda ECUs and I can do speed density conversion + turbo with new map sensor without requiring any extra tools but myself. I can create and extend tables to accept boost to my liking. I can rescale the MAP sensor for higher boost. And there are many things that can be done! The Honda reflash game has just changed, at least for me and for people around me. Turbo on automatic ecus can be done fine! I'm partnering up with people around the world to show the world that the time has come for Honda. We shall show the world that the reflashable stock Honda ECUs are powerful! And it saves a lot of money for car lovers who want to have fun with their street cars! Cheers!
Excellent video! A scratch build or kit, would also be a candidate for a stand alone ECU.
This is amazing video. Thank you so much. Btw, I am new to learning ECU tuning. How does ECU learn when it has already programmed from the beginning?
I'm new to this car things. I just stumbled upon this video. Basically the tuning is as PC Overclocking. Better cooling, better OC settings, benchmark tests (driving) etc. As highly experienced overclocker, i think stage 1 tune is the best for most people to not fk up everything. If you want more hrsprs, get a bigger engine, most probably, another better car.
I simply LOVE his sense of humor!!! 😅
Thanks for great info!
What I would like to see is a reasonably priced stand alone ECU that controls the transmission and gauges, eliminates unnecessary bs like going into limp mode because of a loose gas cap, or an unnecessary sensor losing its ground, and comes with a manual with installation instructions and programming parameters for popular engines and vehicles.
Great explanation!!
I followed your advice and asked myself honestly, how much am I into tuning and vehicle modification, and came with an answer: enough to watch KZhead videos but not to pick up a wrench. ;)
Like that one time where Nissan said that the GTR ECU can't be hacked
Everything gets cracked eventually, , but it seems it's becoming more and more difficult
They had hard time cracking it, took almost a year before they managed to do that. Example golf 8 first tune was 2 days after the first sales in Germany 😂
Sure wish it was more feasible to either replace or reflash the ECU for the Toyota 3F-E engine (1988 - 1992 Land Cruisers). To this day I'm convinced there's a lot of efficiency to be recovered with a better turned ECU. Especially if you can tune it to take advantage of desmogging, any performance work (exhaust, larger throttle body, larger valves after a cylinder head job, etc.), and just finding the ideal ignition curve for the engine's configuration and application (performance versus economy).
Amusing, yet informative commercial 👌
I loVEd it, great, great’ great. Off to buy an ÉCU thing, see you soon. ❤
I don’t have a project but you’ve made me thirsty 😂😂 learnt so much from you guy , thank you so much
***Input please*** Great video and just like many videos on this channel it gets thinking about my future as an automotive tech. I'm in my 30s so I have about 30 years of work ahead of me. I've been working as a dealership master tech for the better part of my life. As many brands are moving to EV, dealership service departments are going to slow down with the "gravy work" fluid flushes, tune ups, belts, filters and even brake jobs will be few and far between with regenerative braking. This gets me to thinking that a niche service will benefit. I'm interested in getting more in to performance and tuning, especially if working on ICE vehicles becomes more of a specialty like current guys that work on carburetors and setting points. I know all the fundamentals but not the fine details that will make me a master (I know experience will play a huge role in mastering performance and tuning.) So with this being said, are course like HP Academy or other online programs worth the money?
Awesome video.
Great video 👍
Edit: I thought I posted this comment on the previous video (the Ford Hidden Boost Tank) 😂. Damn! so good memories watching those WRC footage... Besides all that you say the most important piece for the performance of a the brand is the pilot
Your user stereotypes are on point lmao
I honestly hope they're not 😂