ECUFlash 1.01

[Aaron@English]

I have been asked to start the FAQ for flashing the stock ECU here on Evo-Tech. For those of you that spend alot of time in the ECUflash forum on EvoM, I use the sign in name "JohnBradley" over there.

If I miss anything please dont hesitate to post it and I will incorporate it into this FAQ and other tech articles to follow.

What do I need to flash my car?

1. An Evo 5-9

2. A 1.3 or v2.0 cable from either www.tactrix.com or www.limitless.co.nz

3. Datalogging software from www.Aktivematrix.com called mitsulogger or EvoScan from www.limitless.co.nz. A note on this is that there is no logging software currently compatible with the V2.0 cable. This is a drag since Tactrix no longer offers the 1.3 cable.

4. A copy of ECUflash that is compatible with the version of cable you have. v1.38 and down still use the v1.3 cable and 1.40up require the use of the V2.0 cable. I personally use vintage v1.30 Ecuflash for my car and customer cars as it seems to be the least buggy.

How do I start now that I have everything?

After the software has been installed (and the cable too), you need to go out and connect to the car. If the car is cold and/or the outside temp is less than 40* it is a good idea to start the car up and let it warm up. Something about temp and voltage directly affect the flash process and ECU communication. It is possible to have problems if its not up to temp or voltage.

Next with the car connected you will see at the top of the ECUflash screen 3 arrows, one pointing up and two down. The first should be illuminated blue if the car is ready to read. Press this. If the car is running it will kill the car but dont worry this is normal. It will take a minute or two to download the ROM and be viewable. The software will indicate that the download is complete and there is a status bar at the bottom you can watch as well. AS SOON AS IT IS DONE SAVE THIS FILE AND MARK IT "DO NOT MOD". This will be your control file in case you fail somehow later.

Under the header "Current ROM metadata" you will see 2 +boxes, one titled "ROM info" and one titled "Parameters". Clicking on parameters will open the full list of what the xml (more on that later) currently has listed to modify.

The headings will read (not necessarily in this order):

FUEL
TIMING
LIMITS
TURBO
MISC
IDLE

Newer versions of ECUFlash might have things organized differently but everything will be there to play with.

[Aaron@English]

The next most important thing is that you understand how the datalogger works. Yours might be anyone of quite a few versions and revisions, but they all operate the same. Opening EvoScan (I dont use Mitsulogger) you will see the headers across the top that read: File, Logging, etc.

Open logging and make sure that the following are selected:

Logger SuperSpeed
Log Data to File
Log Data to Screen

Anything else that is checked can be left for now.

EvoScan exports in .csv or more commonly known as Excel files so you will need a version of Excel to view the files the easiest though you can look at as a graphic interface without the software. I find it easier to use Excel, but use what works best for you and you get most comfortable with.

Things to log

RPM
TPS (Throttle Position)
Load or LoadCalc
Timing
Knock Sum
O2 voltage #1 (this is the Narrowband O2 sensor)

There are many other things that you can log and use to help tune with, but these are the primaries. I mention the NB O2 in the event there isnt a wideband in the car. If there isnt we can apply an old DSM trick of watching the voltage and approximate AFR (air fuel ratios). This in no way replaces a wideband but can be used in a pinch.

.9174 is roughly equivalent to 11.2-11.5 AFR
.9365 is 11.2 and richer
.897 is 12.0 or leaner

I suggest targeting .9174 or richer if you must use this method or if you are a novice tuner.

[Aaron@English]

If you are really uncertain on what to change, DONT CHANGE ANYTHING. This will preserve your engine and sanity until you have a professional or have read and hopefully managed to learn from my ramblings.

I suggest leaving the fuel tables alone unless you have a WB or already understand the principle behind what you need to change.

Timing is the next most dangerous thing to adjust and in most cases the worst thing to play with if you dont understand it. However Mitsubishi has a very complex and fast acting knock control system that as soon as you understand it and can see whats affecting things will allow you to tune safely and effectively.

The first job is take the car for a drive and change NOTHING. Just log the car and see what the tune from Mitsu looks like. I doubt there are very few used Evos that havent been flashed but I do find them from time to time so I know they are out there.

When you look at the log and compare RPM to timing and knock you might see something like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/Hurrikain/27psi.png

[Aaron@English]

Zero in on column AB for a second, this is the one labeled "Knock". A trick in Excel is to go to the heading "windows" and then select freeze panes and the labels will stay at the top. I didnt know this at the time I was making this log, which appears to be 5/21/2007. This was my car personal car with an FP Green, 27+psi of boost on 92 octane and no meth injection or other secret fuel adders.

You can see though in that column there is one solitary count of knock. Trace over from there and you will see some of the data that correlated to that knock event.

2 byte load was 248% (column directly to the left), coolant was 167* which is cooler than it should be for me ripping on it, vehicle speed was 39mph +/-, boost was only 13psi and the rpm was 3750 and timing was 7*.

I am now going to show you how to use that data to make changes.

[Fathouse]

Aaron, are you sure about the cables and the versions of ecuflash? I run version 1.40 Ecuflash and I use the older original 1.3 cable. Never had a issue or error when flashing my car.

Fathouse

[Aaron@English]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/Hurrikain/ignition.jpg

Look at this map and trace down from the nearest point of 248% load and 3750 rpm. You will quickly notice that its half steps between these points. This map doesnt match that log but we can use it to illustrate whats happening inside the ECU.

[Aaron@English]

I might be wrong on the cable/software change but this is actually the beta FAQ anyway :) Corrections are welcome though, so thank you for pointing that out.

[Aaron@English]

The ECU uses the law of averages in calculating so any point that doesnt directly coincide with a set value is a result of the averages.

Example:

If 240 was set at 8* and 260 was 4* at both 3500 and 4000, it would mean that our value at 250% load and 3750 (halfway between both the RPM axis and the load axis) would end up at 6*. Because its 3D though this can get confusing and doesnt always end up being a number that we can easily figure in our heads. Thats why these are just markers really.

[Aaron@English]

Knock in counts has a direct connection to the architecture in DSM that we see in DSMlink and other logger software. In the Evo every 3 counts will pull one degree of timing up to a maximum of 10*. The scale goes to 36 counts which doesnt make sense compared to timing pull, but there are some hidden tables that Mitsu played with before these cars got released.

Scattered 1s and 2s as long as they arent consecutive are not much to worry about. A car will never be 100% knock free in all situations and be any fun on pumpgas. A little is okay as long as its not a repetitive value at the same rpm and load. If its consistent it needs to be changed.

Evos will pick up "shift knock" between shifts and this is just how it is. The knock sensor can pick up the BOV, clutch issues, engine noise thats not knock, and multitude of other noises but it is by and large very accurate. If it says there is knock while the car is accelerating its generally not exaggerating on a stock bottom end car.

[Aaron@English]

This concludes chapter one for now. I am going to go through some logs and maps and have some screenshots that more directly correlate and show issues and how to resolve them. Hopefully for those that havent started tuning their Evo this was helpful and for the rest of us, some good reference material.

[Mysterio]

nice write up Aaron!

[antilag_200]

great info
should I wait for you to get into the Periphery Bits discussion, before I ask questions.?

[Dennis F]

Very well written.

Can we make this a sticky?

[Aaron@English]

My thought is this one will be a sticky with all the How To's and then we might do something like the EvoM ECUflash forum and sticky some main topics?

On the periphery bits, go ahead and start a new thread and I will jump in with my "map" of what everything is connected to and all the codes I have discovered in the last year or so of messing with them. They are all pretty well covered in other forums but we can have them organized here as well.

[antilag_200]

ok I will go ahead and start a new thread on the periphery bits

[Fast_Freddie]

I would also like to mention that on quite a few cars you will see spool knock for some reason or another when transitioning from closed/open loop...

[admin]

This thread has been stuckified!

[The Wookie]

Has anyone found or figured out the WOT trims in the 9 yet?

[danl]

Does the evo 9 have WOT trim? I am aware of the octane value which allows the car to drift to the low octane maps. Also there is a real time knock value that oh so slightly richen's up the AFR. I believe stock its something like 10 counts is approximately 0.1 or 0.2 AFR richer. That's all I can think of. If you can narrow down the symptoms I might be able to come up with more or an explanation of why it is happening.

[4G63 Steve]

Good Writeup Aaron, provided to be very useful.

[4G63 Steve]

Tried to Re-edit: Also Aaron Ive gotta question reguarding the timing. When referring to "high octane ignition map", I presume the number 0 means the stock mitsubishi timing number whatever the rpm the factory sets it too, in stock form at that rpm...then adjusting +1 or -1 will take away 1 degree or add 1 degree from mitsubishis oem timing maps at the given rpm?

[Marco]

Who is the manufacturer of the EVO ECU's?

and is there simialar cars with discovered maps in them?

[Aaron@English]

Its an SH7052 chip...Motorolla I think?

[Fjo]

Renesas Technology makes the chip.

[The Wookie]

Motorola chip division was sold to Freescale a few years ago. Renesas is the former chip divisions of Hitachi and Mitsu Electric. Both make a SH7052 RISC 32 bit processor. Same chip? Probably.

[burchellricky]

Does anyone have a 2003 Evo 8 stock ECU map they would share? I bought an evo 2 years ago and the person I bought it from said he had it "tuned." I have a misfire at idle and it sucks. I want to reflash back to stock and start again.

[logic]

Pick your year and market (http://evoecu.logic.net/wiki/Downloads). :)

Alternatively, I have an old HTML dump (http://esm.logic.net/public/evo/ROMs/96940011.html) of an '05 ROM, if you just want something you can scan visually.

[burchellricky]

Pick your year and market (http://evoecu.logic.net/wiki/Downloads). :)

Alternatively, I have an old HTML dump (http://esm.logic.net/public/evo/ROMs/96940011.html) of an '05 ROM, if you just want something you can scan visually.
So I'm new at this but I can select my year and market from there and use Evoflash to put my ECU back to stock, or will those just give me a visual rendering of the Map?

[burchellricky]

I have a 2003 Evo 8 USDM but it doesn't list 03 for USDM is using a 2004 USDM the same? and what is the difference between 91470008, 91470014, 91470015?

[logic]

So I'm new at this but I can select my year and market from there and use Evoflash to put my ECU back to stock, or will those just give me a visual rendering of the Map? Make sure you make a backup of your existing ROM before you do anything. Save it in two places. Seriously, go do that right now, before you read the next paragraph.

Okay, now that you have a backup of your ROM, go to Options in EcuFlash and set your user mode to "Developer". Open your backup ROM, and find your immobilizer value. Write that down. That's the magic number that will make it possible for your car to start.

Next, go to the link I posted above. Pick the year and market for your car (or, look at the ROM version you're currently running, and select that one), and click on the link. On that page should be a zipped ROM you can download. Download it, unzip it, and you should have a .HEX or .BIN file. Open that up with EcuFlash, find the immobilizer value, and replace it with the one you wrote down from your original ROM.

From that point, you should have a ROM that your car can run on. Now, you get to spend the next few weeks reading about tuning. :)

I have a 2003 Evo 8 USDM but it doesn't list 03 for USDM is using a 2004 USDM the same? and what is the difference between 91470008, 91470014, 91470015? I believe the 94170008 ROM might be mislabeled; I think that's the 2003 version. Aaron or someone else, could you jump in here (since I think you've seen those more than I have)?

The last four numbers tend to be a "version number" for a given ROM series; for example, you'll see people refer to "9417", and they're usually referring to the latest release of it, 94170015. Similarly, there 96940011 for '05s, but 96940013 was recently (a year or so ago) released as a dealer reflash. Basically, a bigger number in the last four positions usually means a more "recent" release from Mitsubishi.

[Aaron@English]

They have been mislabelled since the beginning, all the 9417 are called 2004. The only one that crosses is 0015 that I am aware of. I know 0008 doesn't, that one is 03 specific. 0014 I havent seen too much but all the stuff I do now is based off the 0008 for MAF cars and 0015 if its an 04 (MAF or SD) or if I am doing SD to start with.

[burchellricky]

So Logic, since I"m super new at tuning you said "spend some time learning how to tune." Where are you talking about exactly? There are tons of write-ups online on what not to do, where do you or Aaron suggest to get all learned up?

[Lucas English]

ECUflash forums until the best of it can be composed into more of a primer. This is how to use this software, tuning basics aren't hard to teach. The thing is the experience of knowing when something is screwed up what it can be and how to deal with it effectively.

[logic]

Learning (http://forums.evolutionm.net/ecuflash-179/).

Reference material (http://evoecu.logic.net/).

[burchellricky]

So, I got my cable today and I had ECUFlash and EvoScan downloaded ahead of time. When I connected my cable v1.3u and tried to read my ROM it kept saying "unable to connect" So I found ECUFlash v1.38 and downloaded it now it just freezes everytime I try to read my ROM.
I need some help and guidence, anyone have any idea whats up?

[burchellricky]

Oh and EvoScan works fine I can read my ROM fine, and log fine, ECUFlash just wont connect.

[logic]

First, make sure you have a 1.3U cable, and not the "1.3R" or "1.3D" versions that Hamish (limitless.co.nz) sells. ("D" only provides datalogging capability, "R" doesn't provide a license to use EcuFlash, only EvoScan.)

Assuming that's not the problem, make sure the battery on your car is fully charged. If necessary, hook up a battery charger while trying to use EcuFlash.

Yes, I'm serious.

The schematic for the 1.3U cable provides the gory details, but essentially, the flash pin needs 16V applied to it. Your battery, on a good day, puts out a little under 12V, which means the cable has to do a bit of work to present a 16V signal. If your battery is even a little bit low/weak, or can't sustain a high enough voltage because of some other device in the car creating a drain, it can't do that, and EcuFlash will refuse to work.

Now, that all said (as those are the two most common problems people run into), we could use a slightly better explanation: when you say "Evoscan works fine I can read my ROM fine", what exactly are you doing that "works fine", and what exactly happens that isn't working correctly? Step by step, please; assume we can't see what's on your screen (because we can't), and assume we have no idea what you're doing or clicking on. :)

[burchellricky]

Ok so now that you said the 1.3u or 1.3r I bought the "R." So now how do I get the lisence to use ECUFlash? I sent a support ticket to Hamish about it.
Thanks for the help so far I would be lost without EVO-TECH

[logic]

Contacting Hamish is about all you'll be able to do at this point; he might be able to do something for you regarding the cable (swap for the difference in price, etc).

(Essentially, it's a serial number bound to the cable, which EcuFlash verifies prior to use. His website (http://www.limitless.co.nz/cables) has the details.)

[Marco]

If I ever have a problem connecting with ECUflash, I usually uninstall it and reinstall it, then I'm golden

[91TSiGuy]

When's the next chapter available, Aaron? :)

[Aaron@English]

I need to get on it. There has been much that has transpired in the last year. Now we have Speed density, dwell control vs rpm, forced emissions pass, etc. The problem is where to begin :) Like my Grampa used to say I probably need to start in the beginning.

[Marco]

Forced emission pass? What's that one? Start a new thread for each!