CE Lancer ECU tuning

Robby

New Member
Mods: Hoping to create a sticky discussing ECU's and ECU tuning options for CE's as the info is very scattered. Perhaps focusing on the 4G93 for a start. Eg:

Which ECU's can be re-flashed?

Re-tuning the factory plastic box ECU, software, limitations, cost, complexity, skilled tuners, dynoing, turbo conversion friendly?...

ECU swaps such as flashed EVO ECU conversion, difficulty, approx cost etc...

Adaptronic vs....

Would be great to have centralised info and discussion.
 
Ramblings. Not all of this is accurate, and I've probably gone over myself a couple times.

So, to keep things relevant, only the plastic case ECUs can be reflashed. The metal case ECUs (to my knowledge) can only be read, and not written to.
To do so, you need a few things:
- Tactrix cable
- Reflash plug: this is a white plug located just above the OBD plug (often tied in with the loom), which is a single wire that goes to the ECU
- Software to flash (ecuflash is a very popular one, i think theres a couple others, but I'm not familiar with them)
- Wideband AFR sensor and gauge
- Plastic case ECU (i think it may be from 1998 onwards?)

Essentially, turn the car to ign, and plug in the tactrix to the laptop and to the OBD and reflash plug. Open up ECUFlash, and click read. Bam, you now have your ECU's ROM file.
The ROM is a "text" document of just hex code that your car's ECU reads to control fueling, timing, rev limit, and a couple other things ill get to below. ECUflash will use another file called definitions to decode this ROM and put it into something that we can read and modify.

Oh wow, this is amazing, I'm going to be able to do so much now!
Yeah nah, hang on a minute. The stock ECU doesn't allow for a whole lot of adjustability.

- You CAN change the injector size (to upgrade to larger injectors), but you need to know the flow rates, and then measure/add in latency (depending on battery voltage). I do not know the upper and lower limits you can input.
- You CAN change the AFR values, but keep in mind it may not respond the way you want it to without that wideband to confirm. I do not know the upper and lower limits you can input. Your fuel map is a 3D table: RPM v LOAD v AFR. From memory, your AFR ranges from 14.7:1~ to 11.6:1~ (ive muddled my stock map as practice, so i dont exactly remember) but remember your ECU's input for this is the stock narrowband o2 sensor, which has a range from like 15:1-14:1, so its not really accurate by a long stretch.
- You CAN change timing; map reads as 3D table again, RPM v LOAD v Degrees. I do not know the upper and lower limits you can input.
- You CAN change the Rev Limit; something higher around 7500 rpm may suit your fancy, providing your upgraded valve train can cope. This is a simple single cell to edit.

This is basically it for the stock ECU. No fancy launch control, no super duper dual mappings, or anything like that. Plain, simple, economic ECU like the car was designed for.
 
Stock ECU
Pros:
- cheap and plentiful
- relatively easy and cheap to reflash
Cons:
- very very limited in abilities
- relatively slow; ECU has remained the same since 1996-1998 - thats 8-10 years old, your phone is literally more powerful than your car's ECU

Piggyback ECU
Pros:
- cheap
Cons:
- limited in abilities - a piggyback intercepts the stock signals, and either adds or removes current to modify the signal going to the ECU. Its an ECU for your ECU, why complicate things more?
- annoying/difficult to tune correctly
- bandaid solution

Full standalone ECU
Pros:
- Most are usually known world/australia wide by many many tuners
- Fairly easy to tune - some will come with a generic tune to suit 80% of cars, 80% of the time
- many many abilities; launch control, dual/multi fuel maps, customisable inputs (for example, have a switch that when its active, power pump for meth injection for 15seconds)
Cons:
- expensive
- can be tedious to setup with a custom loom



All standalone ECU manufactures offer moreorless the same functions and feature for the $1k and under category. Some ECUs are cheaper, but you must build the PCB, loom, and tune it yourself . Others are more expensive, but they contain their own plug and play loom with a tune to suit.
 
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Stock ECU does plenty imo. You can add dual maps, but they must be manually triggered, so you can run a 98 map, and if you get E85, you can flip the switch for the different map settings, it's not the best as you will take a tank to flush out the other fuel already in the tank, but plenty people still do it.
The only reason i can see people needing things beyond the stock ECU capabilities (Read ..... NEEDING), is for better data logging, like all temp logging, wheel speed logging, steering angle sensors, brake sensors....... all this mostly for track work.
 
Just a side note, Brendan and I were able to flash the CM5A map onto a plastic case 4G15 ECU, and this started and seemed driveable (I only ever used it for a brief putter around the street and for moving the car up and down the driveway), though seems to have intermittent problems like stalling after starting and thus was switched for a 4G93 ECU. I would not be surprised if all plastic case ECUs are capable of being reflashed due to sharing the same/similar chip, however other differences in the circuitry may cause the car to behave unexpectedly, so be aware of this.
 
Just a side note, Brendan and I were able to flash the CM5A map onto a plastic case 4G15 ECU, and this started and seemed driveable (I only ever used it for a brief putter around the street and for moving the car up and down the driveway), though seems to have intermittent problems like stalling after starting and thus was switched for a 4G93 ECU. I would not be surprised if all plastic case ECUs are capable of being reflashed due to sharing the same/similar chip, however other differences in the circuitry may cause the car to behave unexpectedly, so be aware of this.

I was under the impression that the CM5A ECU (tune) used cells that weren't available on the 4g93 ECU, for the positive engine loading (i.e. boost)?
 
Not sure what you mean? One of the reasons you need to reflash the CM5A tune onto the 4G93 ECU if you want to boost is it has those cells.
 
Not sure what you mean? One of the reasons you need to reflash the CM5A tune onto the 4G93 ECU if you want to boost is it has those cells.
Exectly, i thought that the 4g93 ecu didnt have enough cells available to use for those cells. As in, i though the cm5a referenced cells (memory) that didnt exist on the 4g93 ecu.

Edit: You can use the 4g93 definitions and flash on a cm5a rom to the 4g93 ecu? Haven't touch this stuff in a while
 
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So generally the ECUflash software is not able to be tuned live? (ie: adjustments made and uploaded with the car not running)
Is it easy enough to work around and what's the method for working out where in the maps to making adjustments?
 
So, i fiddled last night, may have bricked the ECU. I managed to read my ROM (.srf file). I changed the rev limit to 1600 to see if it works. Clicked flash to ecu, and it got about 80% done and said "failure to erase address at 0020000" or something close to that.

Tried again, it managed to flash the stock ROM (lucky i saved it before i did anything) without issue, but the car doesnt fire anymore (it still cranks), and all the relays in the engine bay click constantly when on Ign. Suggestions?


Edit: Its not possible that i've flashed an incorrect rom type back is it? i pulled the rom and it was a .srf type?
 
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No, it can't be tuned live. They were working on that few years ago, but it never came through.
 
Does anyone have a stock ROM and definition file for the MD360479 ECU that they could send me? My openport 1.3U doesn't want to read my ECU.
 
Q: Will a (AUDM) 4G93 Definition correctly read a CM5A ROM, and allow the rom to be modified?
Q: If you pull a CM5A ROM off a metal case ECU, can you flash this ROM to another plastic case ECU?
 
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