How to tell of my car already has a tune?
 

Hey guys new to the forum and got my car a week ago. I got it used from a dealership but whoever owned it had already done some mods. Trd exhaust and Springs and K&N filter. I don't feel the torque dip that this car is notorious for so I'm wondering if he did a tune of some sort. How would I find out if there is already a tune on my car?

Read the rom and compare it to stock. Though, the best tune in the world won't remove the torque dip without headers.

Sorry for my ignorance, but like I said I just got the car and have no clue how to check the rom

Is this the first time you have owned an FRS? How do you know what you're feeling is the torque dip and not just a general lack of power (if you come from a more powerful car)? the torque dip in a dyno graph doesn't necessarily feel like it looks in real life.

I don't think there's a way to check the ROM without actually purchasing anything such as an OFT or EcuTek cable/software.

Damn it well that sucks. Ya this is my first frs and my other car is a E55 amg. Two totally different beasts.

I used to have just the TRD exhaust, and even with a tune I could feel the torque dip. It's pretty noticeable.

Ok well I guess I will assume I need to spend some money then. Now I have to choose oft or ecu

When you start the car cold, what RPM does it rev up to and sit while it warms up.
Most tunes modify this to rev to lower RPMs to not be so annoying.

The OFT stage 1 tune almost completely removed the torque dip on my car (at over 1 mile high, 91 octane, etc. results may vary)
AND the ROM ID is the same as it was before the tune.
So you would have to pull the ROM and do a digital compare against the factory ROM to tell if it is different.
OR open them both in ROM raider and do a compare.

It idles pretty high. Not exactly sure but I'm guess 1500rpm. I have a lot of reading to do so I can understand this romantic stuff and rom raider

well, I think this might be a way to see if you have OFT: 1st gear clutch in and rev. see if the rev limiter is at 5500 (this is the stock OFT launch control RPM). if it is, then you have OFT. if not, then try using the cruise control stalk to select a map. if that works, then you have EcuTek. here is a guide for the map selecting for EcuTek: http://blog.perrinperformance.com/ho...-perrin-tunes/

Thanks I'll try that in the morning and let you guys know. Appreciate the help

After driving for while, check to see if rpm drops under 700rpm while idle.
Correct me if I am wrong but stock tune does that shit and feels like car is going to stall by itself.

If the previous owner flashed it with an OFT, unless the owner is an idiot, he or she wouldn't flashed it back to stock and unmarried the tablet from the car. Otherwise, s/he'd be stuck with a useless tablet with no resale value.

Where are you? I can read it with open port.

Their is no easy way to know 100% unless to read the rom from the ecu and compare it to stock.

If you cannot read the rom from ecu then that may also indicate its tuned as some tuning systems ecutek and brzedit disable read.
You will also need a device to read ecu , or access to someone who has one

Some tunes have distinct features some do not.

Nope not a good indicator. Mine idles at 600 and is solid as a rock with no tune.

Which is a very real possibility, especially given the shit I see owners post on Facebook....

Hey jsimmon7777 I'm in Fairfield. I just tried to see if I have ecutek and nothing happens with the cruise control. 1st gear Rev and let's me go past 6k so pretty solid evidence I don't have a tune. Which makes me happy in the sense I can get more power

Even if the torque dip was gone I would still feel it if my other car was an E55 amg.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...de&oe=56B8324B

Yea she's kinda slow too

Well, you're not going to gain much from a tune unless you get a header and/or run e85. Also, to save you some searching:
+35 9" wide wheels on stock suspension
+45 with camber and coilovers
yes, RPF1 are still the standard
the car actually understeers at the limit stock until you put down the accelerator
yes, you need an oil cooler to go to the track
yes, you need track brake pads front and rear. Most people go project mu. I am one of the few who like PFC 08.
yes, you need to replace the brake fluid with something higher temp. I like ATE.
No, those coilovers are crap, and that anti-rollbar probably is too
Yes, you want front crash or camber bolts - you'll get about -2 degrees, which is enough for most people
You can adjust the clutch downwards. You can remove the spring. I'll be replacing the cylinder with a smaller one.
SBD makes the cheap turbo. Full Blown makes the drag turbo. PTuning makes the track turbo. Jackson makes the track supercharger.
OFT does pretty much everything that EcuTek does and has a screen for real-time data. It's also not beloved by many tuners who want to lock up their tunes.
The thread about helping the guy find yoga pants for his girlfriend is really just an excuse to post pictures of scantily clad women.

There, now you can leave the forum now. :) Though you might want to check out the yoga pants thread before you leave.

Lol well thanks for the information overload. I don't really plan on tracking this car but wouldn't mind having her ready to do so. This is how she sits now, I think I'll stay around the forum for awhile. Thttps://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...g=eyJpIjoidCJ9

:drool:

Everything you said above is pretty good info except in red.

OFT is not a proper way of tuning if going FI and/or E85. Custom Ecutek maps are required to properly tune an FI 86 and flexfuel for E85.

So I can't buy a turbo kit and get it tuned for 93 pump only with OFT ?

You can get it tuned, yes.

I am talking about doing things right, having the proper safeguards in place etc....

With Ecutek you get electronic boost control with CC stalk, you get overboost protection with several parameters, you can input a real wideband into the ECU to be able to properly tune the A/F ratio of the car, different timing/gas maps for different situations, Speed Density for when your MAF is no longer able to provide you a window for tuning because it's maxxed out, etc.

You can get turbo/supercharger kits tuned with oft, but its limited to the specific kits offered by either the OFT guys or the Speed By Design guys (SBD).

Other tuners are reluctant to use opensource as their work can be copyed.

you will find that the oft and sdb kits are limited to about 10psi boost as after that you start to need some of the fancy add on features of ecutek software like boost cut, flex fuel, hybrid speed density ect.

However see here ztan has already implemented overboost cut and speed density patches for opensource. Shiv/OFT is now using the overboost cut patch on their OFT 350 turbo kit.

In the not too distant future opensource flex fuel may be done and the gap between opensource and ecutek will be much less.

Their is already a guy in australia "throttle happy tuning" who has flex fuel running without ecutek, its not open source though he uses brzedit and has written his own flex fuel code for 86/brz

although you will still run into the problem of many tuners preferring to use ecutek due locking of tunes and that they dont have to manually patch roms ect, ecutek software does it for them.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94751

The biggest hinderance to FI with OFT is that when you go FI you generally want a proper dyno tune and those guys won't touch OFT if it doesn't let them lock the tune.

I know a major drawback on Ecutek is the "locked tunes", but you just need to get with the proper tuner. My tuner, HRI Tuning (James Martin, @jamesm banned from the forum) does NOT lock his tunes, he tunes your car and gives you your open tune so you do whatever you want with it.

I'm all up for open source and have flashed a friend's car with it, but I wonder if it will ever get out of "beta" and be more stremalined like it is for other Subarus.

That's why I said, "pretty much". OFT can totally do FI tuning. It just can't do flex fuel.

EcuTek may be easier for tuning FI. It has all those custom tables and fun stuff. Still, if I were going for a seriously high-HP build, I'd go for a standalone ECU anyway.

Being in the Bay Area, we have Shiv and Works nearby plus many others.

Can't do speed density either, can't get an input from a real wideband, can't do ecu boost control, can't do overboost control on any FI kit and a few other things.

I am at 550 whp 470 wtq and do not need anything that Ecutek can't provide.

yep its always going to take a long time and probably never going to be a "polished" as ecutek as guys are working for free or very small "donations".
If I was going serious FI id go ecutek as its simply easier and everything is done for you and if your spending 10k plus on an FI build then another 1k or so for ecutek software is pretty small price for full support and plug and play flex fuel map switching support ect

If you're rocking 550whp, are you also rocking aero and slicks? In that case, isn't the stock ABS ruining you on the track?

For a typical turbo build, OFT is just peachy. For a serious track build, Hydra EMS or AEM are probably the way to go. For everything in between, there's EcuTek.

That's part of the beauty of Ecutek, 4 different boost maps, don't need to be at 550 whp all the time.