What's the difference between CHIPPING and ECU Re-Flash
 

...or is there any diff? Can some please elaborate for me? Would appreciate it :bowdown:

I hear things like... an aftermarket exahsut, intake, etc wont make the proper gains untill you "tune it".
So just wanna know how that ties into chipping or reflashing and whatnot.

Help a n00b out... thanks!

im not an expert on this but when you add an exhaust n intake your taking in much more air that the engine isnt used to so it wont let it all in or out..

the ecu reset would make the engine read as if thats normal or something like that..

correct if im wrong..

n chippin is more for a turbo

I dont mean ECU reset that anyone can do... i mean like the Technosquare ECU flash, or even replacing the ECU with another one (chipping?)

Guess not alot of ppl come by this section. I should post in general section. =p

I think what you're referring to are:

1 "chip" - Piggyback ecu unit, like the PROcede for the BMW 335i. It doesn't require reprogramming the actual ECU, it just plugs in to the ECU & takes control.

2. ECU Reflash - That is when a tuner will actually reflash the factory ECU with their settings / programming. That will be more tuned towards what mods you have done to your car etc.

Chip = an actualy microchip gets attatched to or replaces your current ECU

Reflash = when you overwrite the program on the OEM ECU

ECU reflashing is a type of tunning where they clear out the settings and tune the current ECU to the current mods you have. The good thing about reflashing is that it will help the ECU adapt to your new mods and you can do this without taking the car to the actual shop. You can just send it out and they can do the reflash and then send it back. The downside is that everytime you get a new mod, you have to get another reflash if you want the ECU to take the mod better.

No one really uses or makes (that i know of) a performance chip for the VQs. The only ones I honestly know of are those bad ebay one (DON"T EVER GET THOSE).

As far as the best thing for Forced Induction, the way to go is to get a piggy-back ECU. With that you're able to tune the ECU and change the bosst accordingly with a controller or timer.

For the mods you have, the best thing is a reflash. But if you're planning to get new mods soon, I would wait to do the relfash to save time and money.

Oh wow... thanks for all the responses. That is GOOD info.

So i guess ECU reflash is cheaper, but then u hafta keep gettin it tuned with new mods or over time... and will prolly involve DYNO runs to get the power readings and A/F and all that.

But chipping prolly makes more gains, and is more versatile to new mods. Like... u just buy the piggyback, install it, and ur set. (prolly more $$$ than reflashing too)


None of this exists for the 37 tho i guess, but good to kno in case technosqaure or who ever gets their act together.

Yeaa, always a waiting game with this car... gosh! =p

If you're not going to go FI, I would suggest to just get the reflash. With the mods that you have, you don't really need a to change any settings to often (i.e. boost or timing). Plus, some shops might give you a better price if you multiple reflashes from them.

A piggy back still needs to be tuned. With a piggy back, you actually have to be more involved than a reflash. With a piggy back you need to get it profesisonally tuned at shop. To get the fullest out of a piggy back ECU it needs to be tuned usually on a dyno.

ahh ok. makes sense. thanks for the info and responses, appreciate it!

ECU Fun
 

Ok...its actually pretty simple. The ABSOLUTE BEST THING TO DO:

1. Buy a fully stand-alone ECU. Albeit those are the most expensive (1k and up depending on company). They are bitches to tune, but give you the best results if you have serious mods (turbos, larger injectors, better internals, etc...)
2. A piggback ECU just that, it piggybacks your ECU. It allows your "rob" certain functions of your ECU. (A/F, Boost, timing,...etc...depends on company). still needs to be tuned and adjusted, can be done by yourself if your pretty savy, but should still be professonally done.

*note: The top 2 should be PROFESSIONALLY TUNED. I lost my R33 skyline for a week in Japan when they tuned it. They took it to the track, the highway, dyno, city driving...but had a fully stand alone Apex-i Power FC with FC commander. BUT YOU WILL GET THE BEST RESULTS!

3. Reflashing the ecu just allows you to alter some the ECU parameters. But nothing too major. and will basically give you a cleaner run from intake to exhaust on basic mods or bone stock.

All companies try to restrict their cars a little so they aren't tuned as perfectly as they could be (this mainly applies to vehicles that are massed produced).

So, If I have intake, exhaust, HFC's, headers and I send my ECU off to technosquare for a flash, what exactly am I getting? People make it sound like I'm just removing the restrictions put into the stock ECU, but how will the flash allow me to gain HP/TQ?? Does the ecu learn and set its parameters fresh with my mods after a flash? Also, and most importantly, I read flashes can be detected by dealerships and thus voids your warranty, and flashes can be erased by your dealership. is this true?

AZ, the ECU is the brain of the car so it can restrict performance on the car if designed that way so a correct reflash should give a gain in performance. I don't know if it still learns after a new mod or anything like that so someone else might be able to answer this. But I hear after you get a new mod that you should do another reflash for that mod. The way I think about this is like a computer. If you upgraded the graphics card in your computer and started it up it would most likely work with the default driver that your system has but you would want to download the updated manufactures driver to get the real performance out of the system. An ECU reflash for your mods is just like putting the updated manufactures drivers in the system so it runs better. ;) And yes the dealership could reflash it back to factory specs.

Why would the dealership reflash it back to factory specs? What pleasure do they get out of that?