PhoenixINX

The ever made question of DOES resetting the ECU make more power?

The answer is no...

Sorry for the let down.

I ran 8 - 9 dyno runs tonight, and the last two were after the ECU was reset. These runs made near IDENTICAL power to the runs earlier in the session. Honestly, before the reset my air/fuel was near perfect... running 13.3 across the board. Once the ECU was reset it was far more staggered, then on the second was back on par.

... hate to say it but people are starting to "tease" their own butts dynos HOPING to feel more power.

msink

What are your mods? The point of reseting was to get back lost power from increased air flow that the ECU didnt like. Without mods, your ECU probably never had a reason to reduce power, so you never lost any to begin with. If you have mods, you should post that info as well.

VandyZ

iTrader: (2)

He has plenum, cats, and no resonator. So yes he has mods.

xZlr8

Our car has a solid state ignition. It does not use a distributor cap. As a result the computer takes readings directly from the engine to always adjust for optimal air/fuel ratios (hence optimizing power) and to reduce knocking (from predetonation). So if you add a CAI for instance, the MAF will know, will add fuel and increase your HP. It's as simple as that. The ECU mod will up your rev limit. But that's about all the good i can see in it. All this BS about retarding timing from adding mods is just crap to get your dollars. But it's your dollars, so spend it as you will. I just ask you to be informed before you do.

ZON

iTrader: (2)

The power of suggestion is very prevelent here. And your right, it does absolutely nothing for performance and as God is my witness the ECU does not compensate for mods either, period.

That's my story and i'm sticking to it, until someone can prove me wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt with cold hard test data.

apex locator

iTrader: (5)

so the perfect a/f for n/a mods is 13.3?

isnt the technos ecu set at 12.5?

which is better?

Traffic

Like Richard Gere? That's fcukin gross

VandyZ

iTrader: (2)

OMG!!!

That was a good one!

PhoenixINX

12.5 is WAYYYY too rich.

Unless you're going to be sustaining EXTREME high speeds for prolonged time ...

Even the Crawford Z Track Prepped 240 is only running 12.8, which is ideal for it. We need to be 13.0+

Zaphod 350z

I don't believe that the ECU will gain power if reset. If anything I would think the contrary. ECU programming from the factory is dynamic. There are value ranges and reactions to said values. If MAF = X +/- 5 then fuel = Y +/- 5. Which is why power from a mod will be fully realized after the ECU has adapted to it's new constant values.

Buub

iTrader: (1)

While in general I agree with you, there are a few places it can probably help a little.

First, Nissan is going to program the ECU to run with the widest range of gas for the tards who insist on filling with 87 octane. A tuned ECU can be set up to be much pickier about, and take better advantage of, higher octane gas.

Second, there have been allegations that the stock ECU starts to retard performance (runs rich or something) at the highest RPMs to minimize the effect or repeatedly hitting the rev limiter. Don't know if it's true or not, but if you removed that high-RPM limiting that could help.

Finally, upping the rev limiter will allow racing shifts closer to the Nissan-designated redline. With the current limiter, it cuts in as soon as you hit the redline. There is no cushion. So you have to shift before the redline to not make the engine cut out.

But yes aside from minor things like that, an upgraded ECU might not help a lot until you put in hotter cams are move to FI.

jesseenglish

Buub, this thread is talking about resetting the stock ECU not upgrading to a custom ECU.

sojourn

Ok, I’ve got $0.02 to though in here, unfortunately it’s not specific to the Z so I’ll only charge ‘ya $0.01.

In my old Talon (98 Tsi) the ECU would “learn” as you drove. Finding the optimum gas mixture and maximizing timing. If you pulled your battery the ECU would reset and for a while the car would run richer than normal and the timing may be pulled back a bit. Not really enough to notice “seat-o-butt” meter, but dynos have shown it to be true. The same effect could be found if you increased boost (creating knock), or added other mods that the ECU may not like. Its as if the ECU thinks your running crap gas or something and tries to save itself. The ECU would automatically re-learn when cursing at highway speed.

Soooo... like Buub said, your mods maybe "freakin" out the ECU to the point where it feels necessary to go into safety mode.

Buub

iTrader: (1)

Um yeah... nevermind. But at least xZlr8 did make a passing reference to modded ECUs!

I'm with most of the folks here on several points. The stock ECU will never "negate" mods. It will adjust for mods, however. This should not rob performance. However if the mod would have, by itself, pushed some variable out of spec, which would normally have given more power than running it within tolerance, then yeah the ECU will adjust that.

The ECU will sense the changed conditions, then adjust to continue providing the optimum air/fuel ratio, as it determines "optimum" to be. But the very definition of doing that supports mods adding power if they are beneficial mods.

I think the biggest problem here is that the engine is already very free-breathing and highly tuned, meaning your average low-cost mod, that would benefit a lesser car, aren't going to add much. You need to get a bit more radical to improve the car beyond stock tuning.

ttheisen93

My friends BMW resets based on how it's driven, according to him at least. i.e. it gets more aggressive when driven hard, and it can be reset to drive hard using the gas pedal and the ignition, sort of like the way the Z ECU is reset. Assuming his story is true, does the Z adapt and go into an economy mode if we're driving "wussy" most of the time?