ulovemybenzo

ill have someone contact u on monday morning

ylretep

Thanks benzo!!! Got my ecu tuned on friday... Noticed a big difference!!!

maverik259

i'd prolly subtract 5-10 hp from what they claim and that will be actual...although I've heard from a few that have them and they said you can feel it in the low end and mid range...but i have an '05 c230k and it was impossible to remove the ecu. I tried for an entire weekend and with help and I oculdnt get that last screw out so...

ao125

OK - so just got off the phone with Powerchip.

$30 return overnight shipping - not bad.

I'll let you know what I "feel" tomorrow night, when the ECU is back in the car.

ulovemybenzo

hahha dont trip
damn that sux... try goin to a raceshop in your area see if they can help...
30 bux!!! nice!!!

maverik259

haha ya but i alrady spent the money i would've on the ecu on a new cf front lip! came in today

ao125

Got my ECU back today and plugged it in.

Thoughts:

1.) It REALLY helped to take painters tape, and mark the order of everything that had to be plugged back in. Took less than 5min to put everything back together.

2.) Maybe it's the fact I've been driving a Buick since Friday, but the car DOES seem to have a bit more punch to it. It feels a bit more responsive "off the line", though I don't notice much if anything "at speed".

3.) Was it worth it? Only time will tell, but if I get improved fuel economy at part-throttle as they claim - and a bit more punch off the line, it was well-worth the $350. I don't think I'd do it for $690 on a NA car.

mtnman82

I wound up having to take the airbox completely off mine to get the ECU out. Should be back here tomorrow. I only got the 91 octane tune, as that's what we have here in CA (didn't want to mess around with additives - wifey drives the car too). I'll let you guys know after I've driven it for a few days.

W203E35

Off the line responsiveness is due to the ECU resetting. When you pulled it off the throttle got reset. It's the same when you do a "sneaky ECU reset". Mine was real good until recently when I had to do a reset again. You should see an improvement on fuel economy. 350 is definitely a good deal.

W203E35

Hey man, when are you getting yours done so I can teach you a lesson

ao125

What is this "sneaky ECU reset" of which you speak?




Indeed. If the economy goes up, the $350 will pay for itself.

W203E35

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...set-works.html

ao125

So the "sneaky ecu reset" just resets the adaptive transmission and not the ecu itself? That's good to know.

W203E35

I know on the 722.9 transmission it doesn't reset the transmission adaptation. It only resets the throttle. When I reset the tranny adaptations with SDS I really felt a difference.

mtnman82

Minorly bummed over one thing that's probably not a big deal. They actually removed the cover to the ECU to reprogram - I thought they could do this via the regular connectors. So the computer has a bunch of heavy duty RTV around the cover to re-seal it. Should be fine, but definitely doesn't look OEM. I think you might have a hard time at a dealer if something ever did go wrong.

It did start right up and does seem to have a little more oomph off the line, but it probably is due to the throttle reset. It also does seem to have more oomph running around town, but not a night/day difference. I'll report back after a week or so.

Midnight Koop

interesting... yours is an m271, right?

do you have any other mods?

i'm tempted because coupecrazy did this and we have very similar mods and he seems really happy with it.

keep us posted!

ao125

It's November... is the group buy still going on?
I thought it ended at the end of October.

mtnman82

I've only put like 15 miles on so far (not driving it today). I did take it out on a highway type road and it felt good - dare I say better than stock(?). I'm going to give it some time and see. It certainly doesn't feel any worse than it did before. Yup, I've got the m271 with no other engine mods.

W203E35

You should definitely feel the power. The power will always be there, only thing you might notice with time is the throttle becoming not as responsive. This is normal, all Mercs have this because of the BS Adaptation. All you have to do is reset it and drive hard for a couple of minutes (press gall all the way couple of times-on highway) and you teach the car your new aggressive driving habit. Then couple of weeks later it's the same old thing again.

mtnman82

OK, it's been a tad over a week, ~150+ miles and I think I'm ready to report... There is definitely an increase in power. It's not a night and day difference, but definitely there. The car seems a lot more eager to 'get up and go', especially driving around town. Most noteably, more grunt in the 2K~4K range (I know the dyno graphs show increase all over, but to me it's most noteable here). Not sure if they do anything about it, but the gas pedal doesn't seem as dead either - seems to be more than just the reset, as usually it gets numb after a week. Almost like the tune includes a pseudo sprintbooster. Not sure on the gas mileage yet - the computer shows about the same as normal, but I'll wait until I fill up a couple times and work it out. I have to believe the mileage is a little worse now, only because my right foot is 'getting into it' more than usual . Right now I'm very pleased and would have to recommend it. Not sure if I'd bite at the $690 price, but at $350 I'm happy (wound up being a little over $400 after CA tax and shipping both ways). The website states $690, but the brochure you download calls out $490.

Anybody else with a m271 have this done and want to chime in to compare notes?

ao125

I too have something to report!

I managed to hit 28mpg in my C320 4Matic



A bit blurry I know, but the most I ever got out of it was around 23mpg before.

Midnight Koop

any report on gas mileage? and do you have any other mods? thx

mtnman82

I posted a 2 month review a couple weeks ago, I'll re-post here. Car is bone stock except for suspension and brakes. Gas mileage seems to be the same as before the tune, no worse and no better. Definitely more ooomph and I'm still very pleased with the tune.


Well it's been about two months since I had this done. I've gone thru several tanks of gas and had a few out of town trips so thought I'd share my impressions with you guys. I know there's some bad will going around with Powerchip right now, but would appreciate this thread not being about that.

Bottom line is I'm still very happy with the tune and would do it again. I've only noticed one little quirk, which is sometimes (only 2x so far) a very hard shift when going very slow around a right hand turn. This happened after getting on it for a while, so I think the shifting was adapted to a sportier mode and then I was driving like a grandma when this happened. It was hard enough to bounce the car back and forth a couple times (!). I was actually impressed with how well the car stayed in the low gear for an automatic.

Everything else has been awesome. There's definitely more power and also the car is more responsive (for example, it doesn't take as long to match rpm's when downshifting). I drove up/down to the Bay area from Southern California a few weeks ago and had a big grin on my face the whole time. Traffic sucked on the way up, but on the way back with the higher speed traffic I got to take advantage of the tune. Definitely more get up and go at highway speeds (60~80). I never felt the 'need' for more power in any situation I encountered (driving alert and aware of the traffic helps too) and I made really, really good time.

I've also made a few additional ~300 mile trips over the holidays and was equally pleased with the tune. Driving is definitely more fun. Both around town and on the road.

I can't say my gas mileage has improved, but I don't think it's gotten any worse. Around town seems to be about the same. Highway is also about the same if not maybe just a tad worse - but that could very well just be me on it a little more too.

Just my observations, for better or worse. As I said earlier, if given the chance to do it all over again I would especially at the sale price. Matt has been extremely helpful during the whole process and I would have to give two thumbs up for the service.

If there are any questions, fire away and I'll do my best to answer. Safe driving you all!!!

ao125

So now that I've been living with this thing for almost a year, found that the Costco between me and work sells 93 octane, and adjusted my driving habits, I definitely can't complain.

If I keep between 55-65mph (which is easy since there are a ton of MD state troopers), I can actually hit close to 31mpg... which is kinda insane to me w/ AWD. I can throw up a cell phone snap if people are going to be all "Pics or it didn't happen".

Power increase? I don't really think so. Marginal at best.
Better throttle response? Definitely. More prolonged than the throttle reset trick.
Better fuel economy? Absolutely. The pinch from 93 hurts a bit, but 29-31mpg isn't anything to sneeze at either.

FraKctured

I jumped on this groupbuy deal, emailed Mat at Powerchip (very nice, professional), got immediate response to all my questions and sent my ECU to Costa Mesa on Monday. I went to a Pack & Mail outlet, told the guy I wanted the insurance. He quoted me $105, so I went with 2nd day for $60 instead. I was really po'd at the >$100 price, so when I got home I googled FedEx and UPS Markup and read that the secondary sites can charge markup of over 30%. Wish I had taken it direct to UPS/FedEx. Also, the P&M guy didn't give me the extra insurance (I reviewed the receipt after googling) so I was sweating it watching the tracking to make sure my ECU arrived in one piece. I don't mind paying extra for the convenience, but 30%? Really? Lesson learned--I will never, ever set foot in a Whack & Flail store ever again.

I should have my ECU back within a day or two, and I'll post on the results after a few hundred miles.