OEM ECU swap

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 2:22 pm

I have been offered a chipped oem ecu from another SE with similar mods to my car to try out in mine. I have done some reading on doing this and it appears there's more issues than I imagined with exchanging ecu's.

So I just wanted to verify what, if anything, is possible.

Can I just swap the ecu's around and drive the car at all, or will it just not work? Will my car even start with my key? If it is possible, am I likely to muck up any of the programming in my car by running another ecu?

... and yes, I know I know ... why bother? Just go aftermarket ... :roll:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:12 pm

KevGoat wrote:... and yes, I know I know ... why bother? Just go aftermarket ...

Are you ever going to make any further changes to your car again? Maybe.... Then go aftermarket!
Will your car be identical to the car that the ecu was tuned for? No? Then go aftermarket!
Will the car not start due to immobiliser issues? Then go aftermarket!
Will a reflash be as capable as an standalone? No! Then go aftermarket!

Are you wondering what I'm going to do with my SE?...... Go AFTERMARKET! :mrgreen:

Postby **beavis** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:49 pm

keep the stock SE ecu, its awesome.

said nobody ever.

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:01 pm

Have a look here:
http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/index ... #msg176859
http://quadesl.com/pdf/immoblizer.pdf

Seems like a lot of mucking about for an ecu that may or may not give you a performance gain. I'm loving my Adaptronic.

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:13 pm

Thanks smy0003 just what I was looking for ... as I thought, just too hard. Shame, as it would have been an interesting trial.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:15 pm

Cost is a reason to keep the original ECU. Cost of the new ECU, any wiring and tuning. Tuning alone is over $500. Plus, you hear horror stories of a poor tune, etc.
Also legality. Emissions testing via an Engineer. Further cost.
If you want heaps more power, you have to go aftermarket.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:01 pm

From memory, a JDM ECU allowed a simpler work around.

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:42 pm

It's ok, I don't actually "need" to change the ecu. Mine's working fine. It's only that a chiptorque chipped ecu from an SE with virtually identical mods to my car was offered to me as a trial for me to see what I thought. We didn't realise that the ecu couldn't just be swapped car to car until I started reading up a little on it. As it stands, the trial is just not worth it :wink: