ECU Upgrades-Detectable By Dealers?
01-13-2012, 11:59 AM
#51
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2013 Chevy 427 Torch Red
Regarding "Spare" ECU's:
I purchased a spare ecu last year to assist in the trouble shooting of the misfire issue that my car was having. The intent was to see if the car ran properly with a never tuned ecu that I could then keep for the same purpose for any future problems. My dealer knows about the tune since it's hard to hide the long tube headers. They also recommended not flashing the original ecu back to stock as they have had several " brick" during the process rendering the ecu useless. The new one was married to the car which would operate but the misfire problem remained. After the issue was traced to a faulty O2 sensor and resolved, I decided to have the new ecu loaded with a street tune from MHP which would allow me to have a track tune loaded on the original. When the new ecu came back, loaded with the MHP tune, the car would not start. This is where the "rolling immobilzer codes" conversation began and supposedly applies to the newest ecu's and specifically targets spares. Keith has the same issue with his spare at this time. With my warranty expiring later this year I would like to have the newer ecu tuned as well since I dont need a stock one anymore for trips to the dealer. I would really like to see some of the tuner reps add their perspective to this issue??
I did take the ecu to Keith's mechanic who has access to STAR, he then reflashed the new ecu back to stock and the car will run with it installed but it is not really compatible with the LT's. He was also the one who figured out that an O2 sensor was having erratic voltage issues and while not throwing a specific code, it was causing the misfire issues.
I purchased a spare ecu last year to assist in the trouble shooting of the misfire issue that my car was having. The intent was to see if the car ran properly with a never tuned ecu that I could then keep for the same purpose for any future problems. My dealer knows about the tune since it's hard to hide the long tube headers. They also recommended not flashing the original ecu back to stock as they have had several " brick" during the process rendering the ecu useless. The new one was married to the car which would operate but the misfire problem remained. After the issue was traced to a faulty O2 sensor and resolved, I decided to have the new ecu loaded with a street tune from MHP which would allow me to have a track tune loaded on the original. When the new ecu came back, loaded with the MHP tune, the car would not start. This is where the "rolling immobilzer codes" conversation began and supposedly applies to the newest ecu's and specifically targets spares. Keith has the same issue with his spare at this time. With my warranty expiring later this year I would like to have the newer ecu tuned as well since I dont need a stock one anymore for trips to the dealer. I would really like to see some of the tuner reps add their perspective to this issue??
I did take the ecu to Keith's mechanic who has access to STAR, he then reflashed the new ecu back to stock and the car will run with it installed but it is not really compatible with the LT's. He was also the one who figured out that an O2 sensor was having erratic voltage issues and while not throwing a specific code, it was causing the misfire issues.
Last edited by hhughes1; 01-13-2012 at 12:05 PM.
