Please help me to start with my 06 WRX

[sql_dev]

Hi!

I don't even know where to start... I have a 2006 WRX, VIN starts with JF1GG79646G.

Does EcuFlash support my car? What cable do I need [for read-only access and for reflashing/remapping]? What are the steps to tune up the engine? Are there any ready to use maps/files available?

How is OpenECU better that Cobb's Accessport? I assume I can do everything Cobb can, right? It is just a little more hassle, right?

Maybe, I can help by extracting some files from my car and uploading them?

Thanks in advance.
Alex.

[Cabal]

Hi!

I don't even know where to start... I have a 2006 WRX, VIN starts with JF1GG79646G.

Does EcuFlash support my car? What cable do I need [for read-only access and for reflashing/remapping]? What are the steps to tune up the engine? Are there any ready to use maps/files available?

How is OpenECU better that Cobb's Accessport? I assume I can do everything Cobb can, right? It is just a little more hassle, right?

Maybe, I can help by extracting some files from my car and uploading them?

Thanks in advance.
Alex.

Yes, EcuFlash supports you car.

You will want a cable from Tactrix. If you're only interested in flashing your car, you only need the $79 drive-by-wire model. If you think you might want to use it for earlier years for a friend, consider the $91 package that includes the two plugs needed to flash those.

There are a lot of freely available maps on Open Source ECU Roms. Check out the other downloads available here, especially EcuExplorer for logging.

The open source tools can do most things Cobb can for straight map flashing. Things like realtime tuning are not available yet, but being worked on. For some good FAQs, do some reading here and here.

Edit: Forgot to add, I don't consider the open source ECU tools to be more of a hassle than Cobb, just different. Whether I'm carrying a laptop or an AccessPort out to my car to flash with, it's not a significant difference to me. More than a couple people have said they prefer some of the maps available on the OS ECU Roms site to the Cobb off-the-shelf maps, as well.

[sql_dev]

Thanks, Cabal!
I'll be back with more questions after reading your links...

Alex.

[sql_dev]

Edit: Forgot to add, I don't consider the open source ECU tools to be more of a hassle than Cobb, just different. Whether I'm carrying a laptop or an AccessPort out to my car to flash with, it's not a significant difference to me. More than a couple people have said they prefer some of the maps available on the OS ECU Roms site to the Cobb off-the-shelf maps, as well.

Wow! This is exactly what I wanted to hear! Open Source all the way!

[sql_dev]

OK, I am back.

Enginuity FAQ says:
________________________
In addition to logging, proper gauges are required when tuning. These include, at a minimum, an EGT gauge, boost gauge, wideband O2 sensor and a knock detection device (such as TXS' Knock Lite).
________________________

I suspect that in case of mild tuning I don't really need all these gauges. I agree that knock detection is important. But O2? Please advice. Which gauges do/did you personally use?

How much should I expect to change a base map downloaded from Open Source ECU Roms? Is it safe to just flash one of these maps and log my data for some time (without any of the gauges mentioned above)?

How aggressive are the changes in "A8DH201X - MY06 WRX MT Stock" map? There is no description in that zip file... What was changed?

What should/should not I do with my car after the flash? What gas to use, for example? Any other things to know?

Thanks you very much,
Alex.

[sql_dev]

OK, I am back.

Enginuity FAQ says:
________________________
In addition to logging, proper gauges are required when tuning. These include, at a minimum, an EGT gauge, boost gauge, wideband O2 sensor and a knock detection device (such as TXS' Knock Lite).
________________________

I suspect that in case of mild tuning I don't really need all these gauges. I agree that knock detection is important. But O2? Please advice. Which gauges do/did you personally use?

How much should I expect to change a base map downloaded from Open Source ECU Roms? Is it safe to just flash one of these maps and log my data for some time (without any of the gauges mentioned above)?

How aggressive are the changes in "A8DH201X - MY06 WRX MT Stock" map? There is no description in that zip file... What was changed?

What should/should not I do with my car after the flash? What gas to use, for example? Any other things to know?

Thanks you very much,
Alex.

OK, my mistake was to think that "stock" in "A8DH201X - MY06 WRX MT Stock" refers to the mechanical state of a car, not the ROM itself. So, I thought that ROM is modified/prepared for stock cars. Now I see that it is just a stock ROM with no mods, hence no description file. Stupid me.

I still want to know if ecuExplorer logging is good enough and can replace all those expensive gauges.

Thanks,
Alex.

[merchgod]

Depends on how safe you want to be and what and how far you are going to tune and what your mods are. If you are stock going stage 1 or you are going a basic stage 2 and are using one of the available osecuroms.org maps, then ecuexplorer might work fine by itself. But you are not always logging, so these gauges will help point to an issue that might crop up in the future. Plus the fact that each car responds differently to mods and tunes, so you won't have a complete picture of how safe your tune is without these (in addition to logging). Think of a stock car without any coolant temp gauge or coolant low/overheat light. You could say when there's steam coming from the motor, then you know that you are overheating. But by then it might be too late.

[sql_dev]

Well, I got my cable today. I saved my ROM, it's 200x. What do I do now? Can I flash 201x modified?

[merchgod]

Keep a back up copy of your stock rom in a safe place. Yes, you can flash a modified 201x map.

[Cabal]

Well, I got my cable today. I saved my ROM, it's 200x. What do I do now? Can I flash 201x modified?

Yes, it also wouldn't hurt to flash the Subaru 201x unmodified rom too, if you want to have the latest stock code. Or ev8siv3's stage 1, it's very nice.

[sql_dev]

Well, I got my cable today. I saved my ROM, it's 200x. What do I do now? Can I flash 201x modified?

Yes, it also wouldn't hurt to flash the Subaru 201x unmodified rom too, if you want to have the latest stock code. Or ev8siv3's stage 1, it's very nice.

Thanks, Cabal! I admit that was a stupid question. I do flash new firmware versions regularly in my electronic toys like iPod, DSLR, or a DVD-RW drive. I just thought that 201x is not a new version, it's for a different WRX modification... But I already found this page and it opened my eyes.
http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/ ... bilityList

But now I have one more question. I bet it is answered somewhere, I just could not find it today. It's about MY02 WRX, for my friend. That page above has several new ROMs. I grabbed the latest one. I also downloaded the same A4SGE01C version from http://www.plasmatize.com/osecuroms/viewforum.php?f=12. Guess what? They are different, size is different also! But Enginuity shows both of them as A4SGE01C... Now I don't know which one to use...

[sql_dev]

One more set of questions here.

What params to log? How to understand the logs? What does tell me that something is wrong?

Thanks!

[Freon]

If you really want to understand you need to educate yourself. I suggest picking up a few books.

http://www.amazon.com/Induction-Perform ... F8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Modify-Management ... F8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Boost-Tur ... F8&s=books

Also, there is a lot of information here, on NASIOC, and on wrxhackers.com. Just start reading! Read, read, read.