used FR-S with Ecutek

[slowautoxr]

I bought a '13 FR-S with Ecutek software. I have the cable and dongle. I'm completely new to ECU software but have been trying to understand what to do with it.


I've downloaded the EcuTek software and was able to connect to my car. After doing that I had a pop up warning about securing my tuning work. Clicked okay and queried my ECO. That resulted in an error about the chosen ROM (General BRZ Auto (ZA1JA00F)) is incompatible with this ECU (US BRZ Manual (ZA1JA00C)) and cannot be used.


The car runs fine and I think it has a tune on it as is does have the downshift blip.


I want to add launch control and the soft rev limit. Not sure what my next step should be.

[steve99]

Originally Posted by slowautoxr

I bought a '13 FR-S with Ecutek software. I have the cable and dongle. I'm completely new to ECU software but have been trying to understand what to do with it.


I've downloaded the EcuTek software and was able to connect to my car. After doing that I had a pop up warning about securing my tuning work. Clicked okay and queried my ECO. That resulted in an error about the chosen ROM (General BRZ Auto (ZA1JA00F)) is incompatible with this ECU (US BRZ Manual (ZA1JA00C)) and cannot be used.


The car runs fine and I think it has a tune on it as is does have the downshift blip.


I want to add launch control and the soft rev limit. Not sure what my next step should be.

have a read here
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117520


If you have auto blip and your manual then yeah you almost certainly have ecutek tune


If you connect ecutek and do a "query ecu" it should say something like "ecu contains standard tuner licience"




If your car is USA car and manaual it will ned to be flashed with a "C" series rom ie last letter C


If queery ecu shows its an A00C rom then that's an old rom and you would be much better flashing a B01C rom to the car im pretty sure ecutek will let you flash that as it will be in ecutek compatablility list.


note that you cannot save the current tuned rom in ecu. you will lose that if you reflash. theirs no option to read it and save it.


You will need to add "racerom" patch to the rom if you want to add features like auto blip launch and FFS.


The roms that come with ecutek are stock.

[slowautoxr]

Thanks for the link. I had read that previously but it's good to read it again.


I followed this how to video: https://ecutek.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/...ead-a-ROM-file to attach the computer to the car. I did not get the responses that I was expected. See my attachments.


The car indeed is a manual transmission car.

[slowautoxr]

As far as mods go, the car came with a Perrin cat-back exhaust and an Injen cold air intake.

[steve99]

Ok you need to select a compatavle rom file ie a B01C not a A00F as you have selected

Use the box at the top left to select a compatavle rom file like B01C from the c\ecutek\......???.. rom files directory.

Then it will stop complaining, or just remove the A00F file from the box.

Its blearing about securing your work as you have bot added racerom, it not necessary but ecu is not locked unlesx you add racerom so can be read with other tools but not ecutek.

You should then see

Ecu contains a standard tuner licience or similar in the comments when you query ecu

[steve99]

Best to remove the injen intake, they are a pain to maf acale especial
Y early versions an
D they produce minimal gains on a tuned car

Message me if you interested in an ecutek tune

[slowautoxr]

Well it looks like I made a mess of things. Attached is the screen shot of the query. That went pretty well. Next I clicked on the file with the B01C name. I suppose I should not have clicked onprogram ecu. Car runs but it is obviously not what it was. It's downright slow. The down shift blip is gone as well. Is my tune gone?

[steve99]

Originally Posted by slowautoxr

Well it looks like I made a mess of things. Attached is the screen shot of the query. That went pretty well. Next I clicked on the file with the B01C name. I suppose I should not have clicked onprogram ecu. Car runs but it is obviously not what it was. It's downright slow. The down shift blip is gone as well. Is my tune gone?

ok looks like you have reprogrammed ecu with a stock A00C rom now, without racerom features.

As i warned you a couple of posts back, their was no way to "save" the original tune that was in ECU. so it is lost, whatever it was.

Go to the ecutek help files read those

You can add the racerom features back

In ecutek open a B01C rom (not an A00C is way outdated rom) when rom is open select add racerom features, select correct racerom patch files for B01C.

then edit the racerom tables to add the features you want

save the updated rom as a new name

flash that rom to car

[slowautoxr]

Looks like I'm going to learn more than I wanted to.

[slowautoxr]

Here's what I've learned.

I thought I could add some Racerom features to my existing tune. That's not the case. So what I was trying to do (add launch and soft rev to my existing tune) is not even possible.

When you click on the "Program ECU" button, it starts doing just that. No confirmation that you're overwriting the existing tune. I thought I was still setting up for installing the Racerom features, when I saw what it was doing ....... well crap.

The car ran very poorly with this new canned tune - initially. I guess it took a little for it to relearn whatever it needed.

Steve is helping me out. Hopefully the car will be fast after I get this new tune

[steve99]

Originally Posted by slowautoxr

Here's what I've learned.

I thought I could add some Racerom features to my existing tune. That's not the case. So what I was trying to do (add launch and soft rev to my existing tune) is not even possible.

When you click on the "Program ECU" button, it starts doing just that. No confirmation that you're overwriting the existing tune. I thought I was still setting up for installing the Racerom features, when I saw what it was doing ....... well crap.

The car ran very poorly with this new canned tune - initially. I guess it took a little for it to relearn whatever it needed.

Steve is helping me out. Hopefully the car will be fast after I get this new tune

the "tunes" that come with ecutek are just the stock roms, so what you have done is reprogrammed the car back to stock :-)

Any time you reflash ECU the ecu looses all its learened parameters for fueling and timing correction.

It also needs to recalibrate several sensors when its reset like the cam position sensors, throttle position sensors, knock sensors etc.

After you reflash always let car idle for a couple of minutes so ecu can do its initial calibrations.

then drive smoothly for a few miles so it can learn some initial settings. It can take 150 miles or so for the ecu to fully calibrate everything depending on type of driving.

[slowautoxr]

Thanks for helping me out today Steve.

[RJasonKlein]

@slowautoxr, have you chosen a tuner yet? Because you overwrote your previous tune, as you found out the only options you have in the EcuTek ProECU software are to re-flash your ECU with the default OEM tunes that they provide in the 'ProECURomFiles' sub-folder. You could contact the previous owner and have him e-mail you the previous tune, or you can start a relationship with a new tuner, which is what I personally would suggest you do. I use @DeliciousTuning and have been exceptionally pleased with their service - you can reach out to sales@delicioustuning.com directly and he'll get you set up with a base tune specifically for your vehicle based on the modifications you have, and then you can data log to have him make successive tunes that will really bring your car to life.

I personally wouldn't recommend using the auto-blip or launch control options. I, too, have the RaceROM features added to my ECU, but at the recommendation of @CounterSpace Garage (another great source for you moving forward) I opted not to activate those features due to increased wear and tear with very little real-world benefit.

You're lucky that your car came with an EcuTek license - it's tied to the ECU and is a great way to get a lot of performance out of your car, especially if you choose to add headers. Have fun and good luck!

[steve99]

Originally Posted by RJasonKlein

@slowautoxr, have you chosen a tuner yet? Because you overwrote your previous tune, as you found out the only options you have in the EcuTek ProECU software are to re-flash your ECU with the default OEM tunes that they provide in the 'ProECURomFiles' sub-folder. You could contact the previous owner and have him e-mail you the previous tune, or you can start a relationship with a new tuner, which is what I personally would suggest you do. I use @DeliciousTuning and have been exceptionally pleased with their service - you can reach out to sales@delicioustuning.com directly and he'll get you set up with a base tune specifically for your vehicle based on the modifications you have, and then you can data log to have him make successive tunes that will really bring your car to life.

I personally wouldn't recommend using the auto-blip or launch control options. I, too, have the RaceROM features added to my ECU, but at the recommendation of @CounterSpace Garage (another great source for you moving forward) I opted not to activate those features due to increased wear and tear with very little real-world benefit.

You're lucky that your car came with an EcuTek license - it's tied to the ECU and is a great way to get a lot of performance out of your car, especially if you choose to add headers. Have fun and good luck!

Ecutek stock settings for auto blip and especually flat foot shift are very agressive.

Its possible to adjust the settings both can work well amd cause minimal wear or shock loads on drivetrain.

Although pro drivers like mike at csg will prefer to blip throttle manually, but a lot of people like the features if set up correctly and its also easy to have different mzps to switch them in or out depending on preferences