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For anyone who is considering getting an aftermarket EMS, I highly recommend MegaSquirt Plug'N'Play from DIY Autotune in the US.

To be completely honest, the unit I bought had a fault in it. But it was a rarity.

After many attempts at fault-testing on my car, and many emails back and forth to Matt Cramer at DIY Autotune, I sent it back.

It took them less than a week to fully analyse the unit and to send it back, ie. They received my MS last Tuesday and it is on its way back Today.
It was just a simple loose wire.

All postage costs borne by me has been refunded in full.

For the price (you can check it out on the website) IMHO, there is nothing that comes close to it, and the functionality of the MegaSquirt is very comparable to Wolf, Haltech et al, and most of us know how much they go for.

Matt's service has been nothing short of outstanding.

http://diyautotune.com/

Matt, if you are reading this: THANK YOU!

It strikes me as a little odd in recommending faulty products. Suppliers to OEM's are expected to measure defects in ppm's. The supplier has at least done the right thing-many insist that all warranties result in the buyer paying freight

When did you purchase it and how much delivered? Did you need to purchase anything else to get it running?


Any noticeable differences in power and driveability and did you need to adjust the base tune? Fuel Economy better or worse?

mr_rotary wrote:When did you purchase it and how much delivered? Did you need to purchase anything else to get it running?


Any noticeable differences in power and driveability and did you need to adjust the base tune? Fuel Economy better or worse?

Firstly, just allow me to assert the fact that it ran perfectly well and started first time after a VERY simple installation. It is truly a Plug and Play device as a few forumites can atest to.
The loose wire caused it to shut itself down on the odd occassion, and "faults" like these are VERY rare.

Mr Rotary, in answer to your questions:
- I bought it mid-April this year, and at the exchange rate at the time, it ended up to be $1,080 AUD. This includes: MegaSquirt Plug'N'Play unit, LC-1 wideband lambda sensor, and air-temperature sensor.

- You can buy the MegaSquirt PNP just by itself @ $725USD, and it's all you need to get your car up and running. If you are wanting to get the best power possible, regardless of your setup, then you will need a wideband O2 sensor. The LC-1 @ $199 is very sharply priced.

- Power improvement was surprisingly immediate! my car is mildly modified and when my mate and I went for the first drive (with half a tank fuel), it accelerated like I was alone with a quarter tank. No exaggeration.

- the base tune is very efficient, so there is no need to play around with the fuel and ignition maps in order to get a tangible difference. But of course you ARE encouraged to have a play with the tuning software which is user-friendly to say the least.

- Fuel economy has not been quantified.

Just another question does anyone know any tuners around the place that have the equipment to connect up?

tbh i havent heard of this make of ecu before thats all

Glad to see it was a simple installation once you worked out the product was faulty. There seems to be a few threads where people have been trying to modify and trouble shoot these units.

It it simply the case that they're upgrading their units (and thus having issues) or was there some modification required on your ecu too?

It's promising news to hear these units are getting closer from moving from the electronics enthusiast market to something I could recommend to a general club member. I don't know any local tuners who've touched the megasquirt so it's hard to get a professional opinion regarding them.

DIY AutoTune's service is definitely top notch. They're great people to deal with and very active within the MegaSquirt community.

I'm glad the unit's sorted

Okibi wrote:It it simply the case that they're upgrading their units (and thus having issues) or was there some modification required on your ecu too?

They do keep us updated as to upgrades such as different or new capacitors, but mine did not need anything, so I assume the wire simply popped off a solder.

Of course no product out there is perfect, that is why I always had complete confidence in their product as mine was just a bad apple in a the bunch.

Can't wait to get it back.

jcs86 wrote:Just another question does anyone know any tuners around the place that have the equipment to connect up?

tbh i havent heard of this make of ecu before thats all

Sabretooth, zoomzoom, Saboteur (used to), and myself all have the MegaSquirt.
Tinscfi in WA has one, as well as a couple other forumites dotted around the place.

Not sure what you mean about "...have the equipment to connect up?" If you mean is there anyone who installs these units, then the answer is no, as there is no need to as it is literally a matter of unplug the stock ECU and plug in the MS. The only thing you have to do is splice into a vaccum line which is very easy.

I was extremely impressed with the PNP Megasquirt after installing one on a customers car last week. This was reinforced once shown the flexibility of the software by Saboteur & Sabretooth. Consequently, I will also be purchasing the PNP with wideband when my NA8 goes FI in the not too distant future.

This is the PNP unit as installed (prior to the wiring being tidied up).




Cheers,
Danny

orx626 wrote:I was extremely impressed with the PNP Megasquirt after installing one on a customers car last week. This was reinforced once shown the flexibility of the software by Saboteur & Sabretooth. Consequently, I will also be purchasing the PNP with wideband when my NA8 goes FI in the not too distant future.

Cheers,
Danny

Can't get a better endorsement than that I reckon

jcs86 wrote:Just another question does anyone know any tuners around the place that have the equipment to connect up?

tbh i havent heard of this make of ecu before thats all

I think the enquiry is more with regard to having the megasquirt tuned on a dyno locally.

I don't know about the base tune being too efficient.

It definitely pays to dyno it. My current base idle timing is 20 degrees as on the 14 degrees base that it has is a little too safe IMO.

Obviously my in boost cells are scaled back so my engine doesn't go 'pop'

Since the timing map has been dialled in I am back to an average of 10l/100Km (boosted) compared to my original figures of 12.5l/100Km

I think Okibi was referring to those of us who have built the MS as a project rather than the plug and play units which you can buy assembled.

Disclaimer:
That tune was achieved using a knock sensor and closely monitored oil pressure guage to detect the onset of knock, then pulled back a few degrees.
I am not responsible if you blow your stuff up.

I have also bought the MSPNP and have had no drama's. Simply plug into existing wire loom and connect a couple of extra items such as EBC and IAT sensor. Started 1st time after I spent about 2 minutes inputting my basic parameters.

For those people who live in Adelaide and are contemplating buying a MS either to build yourself or as a PNP we have a tuner!

For 4-6 weeks I have had my car at Bell's Automotive on Main North Rd at Blair Athol. He has been familiarising himself with this ECU and has been impressed with it's offering of parameters to play with. He can tune for emissions or can tune for power or tune for whatever you want...

I've just ordered mine, so hopefully I can join the Megasquirt fun.

Cheers

Dave