Tweaked ECU Options

[thespacepanda]

I've got a question for you guys/gals. A mechanic friend of mine that owns his own shop said that one of his mechanics can tweak the ECU of any car to give it substantial horsepower/torque gains. He has an Integra with ~175 whp that is completely stock save the modified ECU.

He says he can probably get about 40-50 more power to the wheels with proper modification out of my 7A-FE. Any of you guys ever done this or know anyone that has?

Need to know before I pay him a couple hundred bucks for it.

[presure2]

not going to happen, period.
(on a 7a/5s/3s toyota ecu anyway)

[thespacepanda]

In your experience, how much power gain would someone get off of a mostly stock 7A with an ECU tweak?

[Bitter]

none since you can not modify the ROM's on these toyota PCM's, not as of yet. and they do not make replacement roms either. all you can do is change out a crystal to raise the rev limit.

[lubu]

not going to happen, period.
(on a 7a/5s/3s toyota ecu anyway)

Cant you flash the ROM and reload it with new data?

[Kwanza26]

Cant you flash the ROM and reload it with new data?

ROM = Read Only Memory = NO new data. Like a CD-ROM... you cannot simply "reload" different data once data is finalized onto its memory.

And to the OP... these are basic 4 cylinder engines... no matter what your friend claims... the physics involved with these engines simply cannot make 40-50 more horsepower with ecu tuning alone. That's impossible given the stock engine. You also cannot compare this engine versus that engine because the engines are NOT the same in terms of making peak horsepower.

[thespacepanda]

Thanks everybody for the info and heads up. I'll make sure not to waste the money on an implausible claim.

[Bitter]

Cant you flash the ROM and reload it with new data?

ROM = Read Only Memory = NO new data. Like a CD-ROM... you cannot simply "reload" different data once data is finalized onto its memory.

And to the OP... these are basic 4 cylinder engines... no matter what your friend claims... the physics involved with these engines simply cannot make 40-50 more horsepower with ecu tuning alone. That's impossible given the stock engine. You also cannot compare this engine versus that engine because the engines are NOT the same in terms of making peak horsepower.

well.....there are many PCM's where you can flash the ROM's right from the scantool. GM, Mitsu, Chrysler, and im sure others allow this from their scantool, aftermarket handheld, or even a laptop with the correct software and cable. infact theres a place called openecu which has a big base of support for flashing pcm's. cali spec 3rd gens and evo's with a certain pcm that uses a certain cpu are big in the flashes now since you can load an evo rom to a 3g pcm, make a few minor changes, and run a boosted 3g with the stock pcm and no piggyback/standalone needed. it'll run like an evo as a matter of fact. heck you can even just edit the pcm values and for those cars pickup a bit of power from adjusting timing and fuel maps to suit what you've added or done.



sadly, this doesnt exist for the 6th gen celica.

[95CelicaST]

Our celicas do not have EEPROM, so we can't flash, alter, or modify the interworkings of the ECU for HP gain.

[lubu]

ROM = Read Only Memory = NO new data. Like a CD-ROM... you cannot simply "reload" different data once data is finalized onto its memory.

Actually you can flash ROMs but it depends on whether its EEPROM or PROM, I wasnt sure if the semiconductor in the stock ecu is EEPROM or not hence the question.

[808celica]

notice he said integra..............lol that explains everything

[Kwanza26]

Actually you can flash ROMs but it depends on whether its EEPROM or PROM, I wasnt sure if the semiconductor in the stock ecu is EEPROM or not hence the question.

ROM is not the same as PROM or EEPROM... whose acronym's specifically say they're writable... but doesn't necessarily mean they're rewritable... PROM's are typically not rewritable... the P in PROM only means a program is "written" in after the chip's manufacture and once written cannot be unwritten because a physical process occurs. EEPROM, depending on the context is a fairly vague term that can refer to old style physically rewritable chips or current flash type electrically rewritable chips. Either way, EEPROM technology is fairly new in the mass market (remember when the first 32-64 mb flash drives costed hundres of dollars?) and although the technology is growing exponentially, they came about en-mass only recently. EEPROM type chips, or flash based chips are very new in ecu's... and 6gc's certainly don't have them built on-board. That however doesn't mean a flash based chip couldn't be installed over the factory chips and thus making a "programmable" ecu... but that's a whole new can of worms.

[frosty]

Now with the 3s-ge BEAMS motor, similar gains can be achieved. Seen places where they achieved almost 30 more hp. If any toyota motor could do such a thing, I would put my money on this one.

[lubu]

ROM is not the same as PROM or EEPROM...

I did not say ROM is the same as EEPROM or PROM, I said it can be flashed depending on what ROMs it is.. Funny how I flash BIOS all the time and the BIOS i flashed are from 94+, I thought the ECU semiconductor would be flashable and some sort equilvalent to EEPROM but its not...maybe Blitz Acess ECU is the answer.