Before I bought this WRX, my fun car was a turbo'd Miata. It had over 200 hp at the wheels and ran a best of 13.6 at 108mph. I used it as a track car and had a great time with it for the last 8 years.

Recently I decided to move toward a car that was more capable in stock form so I wouldn't have to mess with it too much in order to really enjoy it. That turbo miata was reliable but I always had to mess with it and worry about it because I had pretty much doubled the HP.

The WRX seemed like the perfect car. Excellent daily driver and great fun car too. It's fast enough to be enjoyable in stock form (at least engine wise) and I wouldn't have to mess with it at all to enjoy it....................

................then I read this

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...7&page=1&pp=25

What the hell? It almost seems like I have to go in the opposite direction than what I wanted. It seems like I have to go and modify it in order to keep the engine safe rather than the other way around. How ironic is it that you have to take actions that would void the warrenty in order to ensure a long engine life.

It's pretty lame you have to re-flash the ecu in order to just get the car to perform up to stock levels (compared to the 02-03s).

I wish I had found that stuff out before buying. It's just funny because I moved from a car that was not turbo charged in stock form to a stock turbo car because I was tired of worrying about AFR and EGTs and WB02s and all that crap. I figured a factory turbo charged car in stock form would run well within safe parameters so I wouldn't have to obsess about fueling and timing all the time like i did with the miata.

I'm guessing getting the ecu flashed is not something that would go un-noticed by the dealer even if you set it back to stock right?

 

I've never seen anything like they're mentioning, and I've logged quite a lot pre-modified and modified.

 

You've logged a lot of 04s and 05s and not seen that delay in fueling?

Do you have any logs you could post there? That post on that board sure makes it sound like it is every car from 04 and 05.

 

I've logged a lot on my '02.

 

This has nothing to do with cars older than 04.

 

Ok. Since I never had the problem, I disregarded that thread.

...Now. Are you going to sell your car and stamp your feet based on something you've read on an internet forum? Have you personally met any of the 'experts' who posted in there or validated their credentials?

I'm not at all trying to be critical nor defend this car, but basing your opinion of a car you've just purchased on heresay seems pretty rash. Didn't you research before you purchased? Hadn't you came across Nasioc during your shopping/research period?

 

Actually, I have not met and do not know much about anyone that posted that stuff save one person....Shiv.

Shiv's response on page 6 is pretty clear.

I did research WRXs in general. Much like it did for you it seems, this little issue went un-noticed by me. I suppose in the future my research will include "delay period for open loop switchover" as a google search on any car I may be interested in.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

Any chance you could borrow someone's Delta Dash for a week or two?

 

I don't know what a Delta Dash is and I'm pretty confident none of my car friends have one. It this what people are using to datalog with?

 

I just looked at the Delta Dash stuff. I'm sure no one I know has something like that. I know a lot of people doing a lot of things with cars but most of my circle are running replacement ECU's on older cars. TECII's and IIIs and the Link on the miatas.

 

Shiv sells them, but they're not a worthwhile investment on a stock or mostly-stock car. I doubt he'd let you borrow one.

As to logging, I'm sure there are many options available, but the DD and the UTEC are all I'm familiar with. The DD logs EVERYTHING that can be logged. The UTEC mainly records that which affects timing, fuel, and boost.

Here's something that sounds similar to the DD: http://www.autoenginuity.com/order.html

Here's a free one, but you'd have to buy the obdII to serial cable. http://www.tari.co.za/cgi-bin/yabb2/...latestreleases

From what it looks like to me, after re-reading, is that the consumer (in this case YOU) got fracked! Might as well start modifying the crap out of it now.

 

I feel the same way as far as getting screwed a little......or a lot depending on how things play out.

 

you will be happier with up/downpipe and reflash anyway

do it ASAP

 

First off im not a big fan of Shiv. No one in the bay area is actually. My 04 was detonating real bad when i was uaing shell 91. I switched to 76 unical 91 and it helped a lot. But like subie OCD said get a up/down pipe and a re-flash. Should put you somewhere around 215-220 whp IIRC. And you shouldn't have anything to worrie about if tuned correctly.

 

It's not really a matter of being a fan of shiv or not. The only reason I referred to him in that post is that he is well known and that like him or not, you have to admit if someone is going to about and be able to confirm the fact of this issue with the stock car, he is surely one of those people.