As I stare at the remaining NA mods I have sitting in my home office, I begin to think ahead to a TS reflash as soon as I get these last pieces installed.

I did some searching but it seems there has been little in the way of recent TS reflash info. I had read of a couple of unhappy campers that got a reflash for the 2004.5 like mine. What's the latest, any succcesses out there?

As you can see in my sig, I will have UR pulleys, K&N Drop-in air filter TopSpeed headers, helix cats, Fuji y-pipe and exhaust and a plenum spacer. Oh yeah the ever important ground kit is there too! lol.............

I figured all this will need the reflash to get the most out of the mods.

So I would appreciate any reflash info thats current whether its Technosqaure or AAM if thats the better option these days.

Thanks in advance...............................

 

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I have a 2003 car so i obviously dont have the 2004.5 issues with a reflash. I have TS. Love it. Really not sure why i waited so long to get it. The car feels better throughout the rpm band and idles good now. Having the 7100 rpm redline is great.

 

So the reflash for 2004.5 cars is out already (both AAM and TS)?

 

If your 2004 is an ecu rev of R5 or less the reflash is available. I had just read a few posts where the early adopters were very unhappy with the results. That is why I am seeking some current feedback.

 

I don't get it???????????????

Everyone here is always saying how you gota get a reflash once your bolt-ons get to a certain point, to get most power and also prevent a detremental lean condition. A lot of folks on here are at or very near that point. Yet there are no recent re-flash commentaries??????????????

 

i keep reading about people having to return their ecu back and forth to TS. very inconvenient for us canadians.

down-time is in the order of months if we have to do this a couple times..

is this true?

 

Is it possible to buy a stock computer, send it to TS and have it reflashed...and swap it out for warranty work?

 

Yes it can be done, but from what I understand the dealer can't tell it has been flashed.

 

If I recall correctly, this will mean you have to reset the immobilizer code each time you switch the ECU. Basically, there is a code that prevents you from starting the car with the wrong ECU. Once you set the code on one, the old one is no longer valid. When that ECU comes back, you'd have to reset it again.

I'm not sure if this is something you can do in your garage or something Nissan has to do, but it is another step in the ECU swap process

 

No, use Fedex 3 day shipping there and back.. A little over a week down time.. Takes only 1 day for reflash at TS. I'm sending mine today for my Procharger flash. Reflashes are cheaper, $150, compared to the first price of $595.

 

If you have to get it refflashed because because TS did not get it right I don't believe you have to pay for it....just the shipping.

 

Please keep us informed of your progress and experiences.

 

Couldn't any major shop do a tune and reflash for you? I'm kind of confused as to why everyone talks about TS as if it's the only place to get it done. Wouldn't a reputable shop be able to dyno and tune your car?

 

The equipment to do the flash is expensive. Currently, there are two shops in the nation which flash VQ35 ecus: Altered Atmosphere in MD and TS in CA.

 

Alright gotcha... I guess I will be driving to Tennesee then. I would think they would do it right the first time if they can do it in their own shop. I'm assuming they have an in-house dyno and all the rest..

 

IMO, I think if you are pushing close to 300whp NA the TS or AAM flash will help - it'll get your A/F better and better timing maps, but the emissions regulations side of it will still detect the car is beyond the safe emissions zone and pull power and fuel to lean you out.

For a few bolt ons, it's probably ok with the flash, but I think with a lot of bolt ons the TS and AAM fuel maps will be fighting against the emissions regulator.

an EMS I think is the only real true way to bypass all that crap and grab the ECU by the *****. Or find a way to fool the sensors that feed the emissions controls - like the cat bung spacers people with test pipes have been using to avoid throwing a CEL

 

So even with a reflash the ECU will be a bastard? Man, I was hoping this would be a non-issue with a reflash. So a piggyback ECU would bypass the emissions control right? I just would rather not go full out standalone ECU as it is expensive and annoying, piggyback seems like it should be fine.

 

Are there any reliability concerns with the TS reflash, especially with new the 7100rpm redline? Wouldn't reliablity be affected since the engine is being revved faster, and the engine was designed to rev to 6600rpm in the first place? For the 05 track with 300hp to rev to 7000rpm didn't some engine internals have to be upgraded as well?

Also, will it be worthwhile for me to get the reflash? Will it help optimize all my mods? The folllowing are all the power related mods I have now and plan to get:
- popcharger
- HF cats
- y-pipe
- plenum spacer
- crank pulley
- 3.9 final drive (far in the future)

Also, is the reflash permanent? Will it get "erased" at some point? I've read for other cars that the ECU upgrade got wiped out after a while.


Thanks,
Baron

 

This is all my theory:

no piggyback would also fight the ECU AFAIK with what I've read

you need actual control of the timing maps and emissions regulations yourself

only way to do that is a standalone EMS and custom tuning

It coincides exactly with what that nissan engineer was saying in that really old thread from a couple years ago. That you need a way to bypass the ECU or fool it into thinking emissions is just fine.

The ECU has a couple parts to it. You can make the fuel mappings really aggressive and good A/F with a flash.

but when the emissions regulator senses that you're using up way more fuel than you should be, it'll cut power and/or fuel.

I have dynos to prove this. 1st dyno my A/F is lean, but not super bad. Next dyno run - 3 min later the A/F is 1 bar leaner but same power. How does that happen without the ECU trying to lean things out to make emissions happier?

It's really just a theory I have, but from everything I've read it makes sense.

I'd be curious to find out for FI people that have blown engines if they were running a piggyback and not a EMS. It could be that the ECU sensed bad emissions and tried to lean things out. A piggyback will only work in relation to what the ECU's fuel mapping is - add x amount or subtract x amount of fuel based on that mapping. If the ECU changes the original mapping to run leaner, the piggyback won't solve this I don't think. It just knows you want x amount more or less fuel at a certain RPM.

So to sum up, I think TS and AAM flashes are fine for people minor to medium bolt on mods

But when you start getting into lots of NA mods - it'll still run ok, but when the ECU tries to adjust for emissions or change to another of the 3 timing maps, it might mess you up.

My car drives much better every time I reset the ECU because you're resetting the emissions info.

And actually, I might be wrong on this point, but the TS reset procedure is one part of reset procedure. The real full procedure is in the service manual. Then you also do the TS reset procedure. I haven't had my SES go on for 4 car restarts whereas it usually is 2 and the light pops back on when I only use the TS reset procedure by itself

every time my SES light goes on my car drives like crap. It chugs, it's shakey, it stalls easier, I lose about 10whp, and run leaner etc