Dealership Unlock ECM ?

[dustylax]

long story short i know a tuner that just tuned an exige which was owned by a dealership via trade-in and they wanted to change the pulley as well as a few other things and they unlocked the ecu for him to dynotune it. Is this something people just dont know about or is this possible and dealerships just dont do it for people ?

[charliex]

There's no such thing, at least not at a dealership level.

[dustylax]

thats what i thought, so unless you were in Arizona a month ago and let someone do this i didnt know it was possible. The tuner has very little experience w/any lotus' so i am taking his word for it because i know him personaly and all he does is tuning so i dont know why it would be missinformation on his end. I figured i'd ask incase it was something i just never knew about. He used some sort of ecu flash program, im going to give them a call now and figure this out.

[charliex]

You can reflash the ECU obviously, since thats what i'm doing, but there is no 'dealer unlock', the dealers don't get anything more advanced than a J2534 reflash tool which is available to everyone and it can only reflash what lotus gives you anyway, and they don't give out the mapping tool.

[cokey]

any one wanting tunes should try and contact SCT. They have a flashing device and soft ware where you can change anything and everything off of a stock ecu.. i don't know if they have one for the lotus ecu. I'm guessing, if some of the "big dogs" on this site contacts them, and there is enough interest, they might start trying.. it took 3 years for us (srt4 ecu) to get one.. it's working great.. worth a shot...

[charliex]

they don't, i've chatted to them a few times

[dustylax]

Originally Posted by charliex

You can reflash the ECU obviously, since thats what i'm doing, but there is no 'dealer unlock', the dealers don't get anything more advanced than a J2534 reflash tool which is available to everyone and it can only reflash what lotus gives you anyway, and they don't give out the mapping tool.

would it be possible that they have the mapping tool and did let the tuner use it ? it was a dealership owned car so i figure anything is possible if they want to do it for themselves. This was all pretty unbelievable to myself as well since you have been the only one around for years now doing this, i didnt think it would have been possible but i'll look into anything, these days anything is possible.

i called and left a voice message trying to get exact details from him. I'll let you know what i find out when he calls me back.

[charliex]

There is a dealer car in arizona that has an EFi standalone, my guess is it's that car.

The dealers don't have the mapping tool, or the adapter to do it.

[cokey]

heres their link.. SCT Automotive Performance Products someone get on it


edit: ah i didn't see the other post... damn

[Scrumpot]

Originally Posted by cokey

heres their link.. SCT Automotive Performance Products someone get on it

WHY?

Sure as heck, I'm not "getting on" anybody who's clearly had NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, History or Track Record with the Lotus ECU, to now convince them to somehow TRY and do some sort of either tune(s) or flash to my baby!

How are they gonna do this? Trial and error? Hit-n-miss? No sir, not for my $$. Not (even remotely) worth it. Why would you even suggest this?

In case you haven't noticed, and have lived under a rock or something somewhere - there already IS a PROVEN, TRIED AND TRUE - and in my book the ONLY "valid" option tune - and IT ALREADY IS AVAILABLE out there. It's called the Gotham265. Go ahead, look it up sometime.

P.S. - Charlie!

[dustylax]

I think you might be right Charlie, he got back to me before and said it was called ECU technologies software ? i forget the name but i think thats the efi program ? an easier way to check would be if that dealerships car was blown up haha...he had it on the dyno and it floated a valve....this is why i tell everyone to buy valve springs.

Scrumpot: i dont think he meant go and give them your car to try until they get it right, i think he meant try and push them to do it. We have used plenty of SCT programs on the new SRT8 cars for dyno tuning. Companies like that dont take peoples cars and just try and try and ruin them in the process, they know what they are doing like Charlie who also had to try and try till he got it right for a while, so why do it ? because Charlie's software isnt available for anyone to buy and he cant be everywhere all the time to let people use it or have him fly in to tune their car. Reflash programs like the ones SCT and many MANY other companies offer are usualy great tuning devices because they can utilize all the options built into a stock ecu just like Charlies software can do and doesnt require people with custom setups to have to fly him in each time they make a change.

[charliex]

Yeah its EFI Technologies Software, Power to Win.

Sucks he popped the engine though, wonder what rev limiter he had. I have a feeling it might not be so easy to find out if he popped it though

If memory serves its an Exige S, but i might not be remembering it right, it was a while ago i chatted to them about it.

[dustylax]

yeah i dont have full details, he just said they changed the pulley and a few other small things and basicaly just kept on pushing him and pushing him to push the car further and at one point he said enough and they werent happy w/the number so they told him to go further and of course it popped....so they sent him a letter from their lawyer a couple weeks later and wanted to sue him....a third party tore down the motor and told him it wasnt his fault basicaly and that it must have floated a valve....my guess is they are right or the valve shaft broke at the top like other ones have.

[charliex]

Nice, i'm glad i didn't get involved in that one then and they went with the EFi standalone instead.

[dustylax]

yep, sounds like one of those customers/shops that is better off not getting involved with at all.

[Kris from DRS]

Originally Posted by charliex

Nice, i'm glad i didn't get involved in that one then and they went with the EFi standalone instead.

I think I talked to these guys a while ago and I was talking to them about coming out to do some tuning, but never ended up happening. Poor guy who was mapping...I guess he was just doing what he ws told. Either way it sounds like a mechanical failure. Maybe overrev, maybe not?

Kris

[dustylax]

yeah they said it must have been a floated valve or something along those lines when they tore it down, expensive mistake but thats part of the game.