I done a little research into my options for getting the remap locally. Most options were agents for other companies and just programmed the map with no rolling road or customisation. Even though I knew it would cost a little more I really wanted a rolling road before and after the remap to make sure that the engine was in good health and that the map had delivered the expected results. I found a company in Glasgow called Ecotune that offered this exact service and seemed to be highly regarded with excellent reviews online.
I called and had a good chat with the owner Stan on the phone, he was friendly and took the time to answer my questions and he booked me in for a Saturday morning - Which was perfect as I work Monday - Friday.
I turned up at 10am on the Saturday morning of my booking. Ecotune operate from a unit in an industrial estate in the Hillington area of Glasgow. They have a nice reception area with viewing windows into the workshop where the dyno is so you can see exactly what is going on. There are screens in the reception area so you can see all the power and torque stats from the dyno runs that are in progress. Stan carried out all the work on the car and made me a nice cup of tea before we got started.
My z4 was first on the dyno for the day for it's initial pre-remap run. It generated 193.3bhp @ 5020 rpm and 235.3 ft.lbs of torque at 3610 rpm (plot picture below). I was thinking at this point that the dyno might be a little over optimistic but my z had a full tank of 98RON fuel and I had flushed 3 tanks of the good stuff through in preparation. Next Step was to get the new map loaded to the ECU.
Unfortunately the N20 ECU in the e89 is one of the few cars that can not be re-flashed directly via the OBD port. It can be done in the F-series cars, but in the e89 the electronics are a bit of a frankenstein with the e-series platform mated to an engine ECU intended for the F-series cars. So the ECU needs to be removed to re-flash it (This might change in the future but with the e89 being the only BMW in this ). So my car came off the dyno and the ECU was removed.
A small hole is drilled in the case of the ECU (Bosch MEVD17.2.4) in order to enable access to the serial boot pin on the Microcontroller (Infineon Tri-Core 1797). A harness is then connected to the ports on the ECU from the reflash/tuning tool and the ECU is powered up in serial boot mode to enable the map to be flashed. The small hole is then sealed to ensure no moisture can get into the ECU. As I plan to use the car for long road trips (first road trip write up coming soon) where I can not always guarantee I will get higher octane fuel I asked that the car be setup safely to be able to run on both just incase - I will put the good stuff in where possible. So the ignition timing was relaxed slightly from the most aggressive remap setting (I think it was relaxed by 1.5 degrees). This means I will probably not get top results on the dyno but I have the flexibility I requested with reduced risk to the engine if I can only get low octane fuel.
While my ECU was getting removed, flashed and refitted I watched other customers cars go on the dyno, get remapped quickly via the OBD port and see their results. It was very enjoyable to talk cars with the other customers in the waiting lounge and see their performance gains. I seen a A5 2.0tdi, RS3 and 330d and they all seemed to pull exactly factory bhp fugues on their initial run which give me confidence in the accuracy of the dyno.
My car then went back on the dyno (picture below) for some test runs. It consistently pulled about the same figures on each run 270bhp @ 5610 rpm and 310 ft.lbs of torque @ 2560 rpm (Pre and post remap bhp and torque plots picture below). Stan then took the car off the dyno and I was instructed to take it for a test drive to check I was happy before coming back to pay my bill.
The difference is substantial - you really feel it to start with then start to get used to it. It is easier to drive with the additional torque, pulls away better, its much smoother, pushes you into the seat a little when you really give it the full power, much easier to over take etc. I am much happier with the car now than I was before. It really puts a smile on my face. If you have not done it I would recommend it. I have driven it for a month post re-map and jump out of bed every morning to drive it to work now. The diesel 5 door is not getting used much!
Post remap dyno run (Sorry I never washed it before hand!):
- IMG_0035.jpg (184.14 KiB) Viewed 1527 times
- IMG_0044.jpg (277.86 KiB) Viewed 1527 times
MyZ is white too, different wheels tho 
