Who has hacked the stock ECU?
 

Hello All,

This may not be the appropriate group to post my question to. If it is not, please direct me to the appropriate knowledge source.

I don't own a WRX, but have the opportunity to purchase one as a project. I am evaluating the feasibility and value of starting such a project based on the amount of money I have to invest to get the horsepower I will be satisfied with.

The limiting factor in my evaluation to this point is the Subaru engine management.
I have noticed the popularity of "piggy-back" engine control units and their ungodly cost for what they do.

Who is the manufacturer of the Subaru engine control (Kokusan, Nippendenso)? Who writes the software, and who builds the hardware? What is the memory storage method for the control program (EEPROM)? Is the WRX OBDII or OBDIII?

EcuTek [url]www.ecutek.com[/url] and Cobb [url]www.cobbtuning.com[/url] have both hacked the stock ecu with their reflash technologies. ecutek reflashes (you have to send your ecu in or take your car to a tuner with this software) can be purchased from many of the vendors on this site, and the cobb reflash can be purchased by cobb as an access ecu (you send it in to get flashed) or the access port (they send you a module that allows you to reflash to any of their pre-made maps).

Wtf?
 

From ECUTEK's website:

"Note that DeltaECU is a tool purely for the experienced commercial tuner, and will not be supplied to individual enthusiasts or clubs."

Is this true?

I have years of mapping experience, but I am not a "commercial" tuner.

Where can an individual purchase a DeltaECU?

sadly an individual doesn't have access to such software yet. The package from ecutek is ~$4k and is meant for commercial tuners only. Cobb has been saying they will release such software to the end user, but still haven't and its not looking good for the future.

The ECU is made by Denso, and I believe it uses a microcontroller... not sure which. If you think you're up to trying to crack the ECU, I'd be more than willing to work with you on it.

-- Ed

[QUOTE=Turismo]From ECUTEK's website:

"Note that DeltaECU is a tool purely for the experienced commercial tuner, and will not be supplied to individual enthusiasts or clubs."

Is this true?

I have years of mapping experience, but I am not a "commercial" tuner.

Where can an individual purchase a DeltaECU?[/QUOTE]

This is called "bull****". Its a way that they can get a royalty on each car that's tuned with their equipment and software. Each "commercial tuner" must re-sell a license to the end user. A license for what? Its a scam. The end user doesn't actaually receive anything tangible. At least in the high performance computing world when you run software across a large pool of processors, [i]you actaually get the software, and often you get the source code too[/i]. With the ECTEK, The ECU is modified, you get nothing tangible... oh wait, you get a receipt so that you don't get scammed twice in a row. All that should be paid is the cost of the time and expertise to the tuner. You get an ECUTEK, you support the greedy scam.

Why can't My Knowledgable Friend Joe Amature Tuner get ECUTEK tuning tools? Because *gasp* he might help his friends for free and a tuning community like the UTEC one might evolve and then what wold ECTEK do?! TurboXS must be ready for the poor house!

Even if I did not like my UTEC (which is awesome), I wouldn't support the ECUTEK scam.

If Microsoft was really smart, since my copy of MS Office is in my name, every time my wife uses it Microsoft should have me charge her and send a royalty back to MS. Surprisingly, ECUTEK thought of this before Microsoft.

jason

[QUOTE=mmboost]This is called "bull****". Its a way that they can get a royalty on each car that's tuned with their equipment and software. Each "commercial tuner" must re-sell a license to the end user. A license for what? Its a scam. The end user doesn't actaually receive anything tangible. At least in the high performance computing world when you run software across a large pool of processors, [i]you actaually get the software, and often you get the source code too[/i]. With the ECTEK, The ECU is modified, you get nothing tangible... oh wait, you get a receipt so that you don't get scammed twice in a row. All that should be paid is the cost of the time and expertise to the tuner. You get an ECUTEK, you support the greedy scam.

Why can't My Knowledgable Friend Joe Amature Tuner get ECUTEK tuning tools? Because *gasp* he might help his friends for free and a tuning community like the UTEC one might evolve and then what wold ECTEK do?! TurboXS must be ready for the poor house!

Even if I did not like my UTEC (which is awesome), I wouldn't support the ECUTEK scam.

If Microsoft was really smart, since my copy of MS Office is in my name, every time my wife uses it Microsoft should have me charge her and send a royalty back to MS. Surprisingly, ECUTEK thought of this before Microsoft.

jason[/QUOTE]


I agree.. what ecutek is doing isn't great for enthusiasts who want to take their tuning into their own hands. On the other hand, the Subaru ECU is very complex, and handing over control to someone who is not trained isn't a great thing to do either. Either way, Ecutek will continue to do this until some form of competition arises. Cobb was full of promisses for this, but have not delivered.

-- Ed