Good morning everybody.
Ny name is Jonathan and I am a returning forum member. Used to have a 2006 CLS55 AMG. Loved it, sold it. Fast forward to this year and I've now sold my 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Qaudrifoglio, and am awaiting arrival of my new baby... a 2021 C63s AMG Coupe. Due to arrive in June. Very excited and can't wait to get behind the wheel. While I'm waiting, I've pored over all of the forum topics I'm interested in, and there is, as always, lots of information out there. I have a few specific questions, and if anybody could/would be so kind as to reply to my questions, with current information, then that would be super-helpful.
here are my questions..

1) Regarding an OBD2-style tune, such as Renntech "ECU+" or other, would they be detectable by dealership if refreshed back to stock prior to bring the car in for service? Does MBUSA have the capability to do perform flash counts, look at file sizes, as they would relate to such a tune? Some auto manufacturers have this ability and some do not. I don't know how it is for Mercedes AMG.
2) Regarding secondary cat delete, I live in Fresno, CA. Love the weather, detect the regulations. Other than a SMOG visual inspection potentially identifying this as a visual 'fail', would the absence of the second cat trigger any other SMOG test failures? Would a dealership consider removal of secondary cat an aftermarket modification and su sequently likely exclude exhaust issues from warranty-covered services? Alternatively, would dealers be willing to perform the secondary cat delete?
3) At owner's request, would a dealership remove the top-speed limiter? If not, and I'm not looking to actually tune the car for more power, would a professional tuner be the place to go fo removal of top-speed limiter? If so, does anybody have any recommendations for either Central or Southern Ca?

Thank you all in advance for your guidance and recommendations!

 

Congrats and welcome back ....

1) Yes the dealership has the ability to detect, but typically unless something seriously goes wrong, they dont look that deep... ( our cars log tons of crap that cannot be erased and or removed and they can see it )

2) I highly doubt a dealer would even listen to you asking to do a cat delete since in CA its illegal... Cali being the MOST strict of all states, and more so, if its a CA delivered car, that is documented.. I remember back in my MC days, that bikes sold in Cali actually had more crap on them, that made it so we couldnt just hack it off.. so every purchased out of state bikes..

3) Heck NO they wouldnt , again.. laws and regulations...

 

I imagine a tune with a file size specifically for only deleting top-speed limiter would be small, and likely ignored/overlooked, unless they were to do a deep dive for significant engine/CPU issue. Any recommendations on reputable folks that can offer that service?

 

Speeddoc - Curious as to why you sold the Alfa? Alfa had closed its dealer network where I live and as a result I purchased a 2018 C63S coupe.

 

I dis love my Alfa, but ultimately some it for multiple reasons. One of them was that the service center closed in Fresno and it was no longer practical or reasonable for me to drive anywhere from 150 to 250 miles for service and/or warranty issues. Also, unfortunately in my experience, FCA is not a good company when it comes to service g warranty issues.

 

Thats a wrong assumption to make per say , any time you touch the ECU with code or CANBUS programming, it can/could be an issue .... ( it always just depends on if it is ever needed to be investigated or other reasons )
Lets say you are doing 200mph, get in an accident, and the person sues you, and MB for reckless driving and endangerment etc etc , MB would look at the logs and see you made the changes, and you would then be held 100% liable etc etc

Thats the logic and reasoning.. now most people on this forum have MODs on there cars, and tunes.. so its a known entity, but again, just depends on the WHAT, WHO's and WHY's.

Curious, do you hit the top speed limiter often ?? or whats the push for removing it ? ( if I read correctly, you dont even have the car currently, so ?? )

I drive the living hell out of mine, and have yet to be in a position that I needed that limitation removed ... ? and I have been on some seriously fast tracks with my car....

 

Thank you for the feedback. I like to plan ahead, and in all of my prior cars, I've either found airstrips friendly to top speed driving, or I've been to World of Speed Week at the Salt flats in Utah. I have hit top speed limitations in the past... Nissan GTR, subaru STI (heavily modified), CLS55 AMG, Mazda RX-7. And... at the end of the day, I detest being artificially limited by anybody for any reason, especially when the reasons appear arbitrary, such as this particular situation.

 

Cool and understood.. I dont make the rules.... lol

I just replied with my opinion...

 

I have a 2020 coupe, I was not able to remove my speed limiter until I had my cpc and tcu tune. My tuner (eurocharged) said it was not possible to remove with an ecu tune alone.

The warranty issue with tuning has been covered so many times as well. Yes they can tell, don't tune if you are scared of warranty issues.

 

typical EuroCharged , that is incorrect but hey ...
there are several single HHD that will do a removal without a full tune or tcu tune .

 

I can answer #2 for you. I live in California for reference.

This is when I only did only a secondary cat delete. My insurance requested me to do a smog check for some reason, so i complied. As long as you don't tell the smog people you've modified the car in anyway, you will pass. I got turned down by the first two smog testers because I was honest. The second guy said not to mention anything to the next smog guy and it worked.

 

Thanks for the Info! I certainly appreciate it. Where did you do secondary cat delete?

 

No, you misunderstood. I just meant that I don't like limiters in my cars. For the money and energy we put into our cars, my opinion is that they should be our cars, to do with as we please, so long as we take responsibility for the failures as well as the success when we modify them.

 

I just got off the phone with Renntech. They told me that it would cost me $2,940 for them to replace a CPC module, simply to remove the top-speed limiter. This would be separate, and unrelated to any ECU tune via the OBD2 port, such as their ECU+ tune.
To further clarify, he confirmed for me that all the extra power I would be paying for, related to their "ECU+" tune, would not put me even 1 mph over the top-speed limiter, unless I also spent the additional $2,940 for their extra module. Crazy and excessive $$.
Aren't their reputatable tuners out there that will incorporate removal of the top-speed limiter when they are providing a tune with power increase?

 

RennTech is one of the TOP tuners on MB, ... so ...
You can ask around and get some HACK to do something, etc etc but then your playing with trouble.

 

My old c63 limiter was 176mph from the factory what is the limiter on the w205?

 

You sure? Renntech also says the same thing. What company specifically can do it without doing the CPC? I'm talking specifically the facelift model

 

I have Pre Facelift... so I will do some looking around for the FL models...

 

Thanks. Please let me know what you find out.

 

When you get the car, then it can be looked into more, dont even know which dash you have, or what MPH calibration etc etc.. I am not going down that rabbit hole , without more details and specifications.. and that can only he had, when the car is sitting in front of you.

There is some CAN BUS coding that can be done, but thats a bit tricky as well..

So let us know when you have the car, then can look at it..

 

Sounds good. Will keep you posted. Thank you.

 

As an owner of a facelift, I've done my fair share of looking around and came up with nothing. I believe for now atleast that eurocharged and renntech are correct in saying the cpc needs to be replaced/cracked in order to remove the speed limiter. Once my cpc was replaced with a cracked one the speed limiter was gone

 

although i am new to Can Bus programming i have been coding for many moons, so nothing new to me, i have done this with other models etc without issue, but there are so many variables that i need , and without the car its impossible to debug.

 

Well if you figure it out be sure to share you secret lol, seems like no one else (major tuners included) has been able to figure it out. But maybe you know something they don't.

 

In going thru this fairly quickly, I can see how it can be done fairly simply, but would be HIGHLY ILLEGAL , since it has side effects attached to it, that the government would not approve of at all...

Its possible to "apply some hacks" that will remove the limiter, although it also opens up "stopping" mileage from posting to car, rollback, etc etc etc etc...

I will look at it more for Informational and educational purposes only.... that's my disclaimer....