OFT...to purchase or pay for Ecutek Tune
 

I had my car tuned by someone locally that uses Ecuflash and after the tune, I was still getting the P0420 CEL code. He states that he has removed the CEL code from existence and is not sure why it still pops up. I have taken it back to him to fix twice now and on the second trip, it would read my VIN and ECU, I think, but then would stop there. He thinks that his cable may be going bad and said to be ordering a new one and will try again once it comes in. Nevertheless, I am at the end of my nerves with this issue to the point that I may go to another recommend tuner that uses Ecutek and just pay $600 for the license and tune.

Since I do not plan to track my car or turbo/sc it anytime soon, would I be better off to save ~$100 and purchase the OFT? If I purchase the OFT, do I need the tuner to flash the ECU back to the stock rom before I use the OFT? Lastly, are the OFT maps specific to certain bolt-ons (IE: UEL, OP, FP, Perrin) or are they generic?

You can flash an OFT over an Ecuflash tune. Should not be a problem at all. I've not even heard of a professional tuner who uses Ecuflash on this platform. OFT maps come in a handful of flavors. So you'll find a UL, a UEL, and a header tune. Then you'll find e85 versions. The UEL tune is, I believe, set for their own UEL header. Beyond that, you can tweak the tune yourself to suit how the car runs.

I think EcuTek is a half-assed solution. Ecuflash and OFT get the basics done for cheap. EcuTek adds the possibility of flexfuel, but that's coming soon to OFT and Ecuflash. Beyond that, tuners like it because it can do all sorts of custom maps. However, if you're going big, you probably want a standalone.

With OFT, you can always sell the unit later, if you end up going FI. They seem to go for about $400 used.

Does an OFT map have P0420 CEL disabled already?

Since when? From what I know, your cars tune need to be all stock to be able to tune/flash tunes with the OFT. If you have a Ecutek-tune, you can only do datalogging and read codes etc.

Yep.

Hmmmm

This sound a bit suspect that
1. the guy reckons hes diabled P0420 but the code is still active
2. the guy can no longer access your ecu for read or write



i hope i am wrong but its looking like he may have used an incorrect definion to edit or flash the tune. This would explain both the P0420 issue and the issue of now not being able to read or write to ecu.

he should be able to test his tactrix on another car or his own car, by doing a ecu read.

Maybe he used an oft tune as a basis for his tune and may not be aware of the calid changes that oft guys do to some tunes. Or hes just used an incorrect definition not matched to rom calid or something.



If your ecu is ok you will have no problem using either ecutek or oft as tactrix ecuflash does not lock ecu.

unless the guy was uning brzedit with tactrix as this locks ecu.

However if your going oft it may be better to get a stock tune flashed back to car, such that if you want to unmary oft somtime it will return a stock tune to car.

As long as the ecu is not locked oft will read in the rom file, even if its not stock.

It just wont auto generate tune files from a non stock rom.

All you need to do is manually download the tunes from oft site and upload to oft device.

The only other issue is that when you unmarty oft to sell it you will end up with whatever tune the oft originally read back in ecu.

Ah, so that's how it works on an already Ecuteked car, thanks for the info :)

yes as long as a "stock" ecutek rom has been flashed to ecu then ecu is unlocked, and oft or other tune system can use ecu. The stock ecutek rom has the licience embedded in it. Oft reads in this rom , then when oft is unmarried it returns original rom , and then you can use ecutek again :-)

I was talking about Ecuflash/Tactrix, like the OP, not EcuTek. EcuTek tunes can lock the ECU. Yet another reason not to use them. Too much "trust us" from the typical tuner for me to handle.

Yeah, my bad :)