Did Dinan just brick my ecu? Advice please

[mcbutler]

I think this is just one very good reason to get it done by a professional on a dyno.
Sure Dinan (never heard of them before) will sort it for you today, keep us all updated....

You do realise cars can have their ECU's bricked by "professionals" on a dyno too? It happened recently to a friends car, car had to stay with the tuner for a few days while they attempted to source a new ECU.

As R.E92 stated MHD is the best bet.

Agree completely, although never heard of it
Difference is a pro is less likely to do it - obviously. And if they do, as with your chum, they fix it.
As for which maps are the best everyone has their own opinion.
Mine is that if its not done on a dyno then you dont actually know what you are getting...
You cannot print the result on the box as every car will be different.
When Celtic stage one mapped my 35 on their dyno it showed 18 BHP UNDER the quoted figures but 21 Lb/Ft torque more! Obviously I want torque more than BHP so I was super happy, even happier when they tweaked the map for more power (23 BHP) free on the dyno after i fitted catless downpipes..

[R.E92]

I think this is just one very good reason to get it done by a professional on a dyno.
Sure Dinan (never heard of them before) will sort it for you today, keep us all updated....

You do realise cars can have their ECU's bricked by "professionals" on a dyno too? It happened recently to a friends car, car had to stay with the tuner for a few days while they attempted to source a new ECU.

As R.E92 stated MHD is the best bet.

Agree completely, although never heard of it
Difference is a pro is less likely to do it - obviously. And if they do, as with your chum, they fix it.
As for which maps are the best everyone has their own opinion.
Mine is that if its not done on a dyno then you dont actually know what you are getting...
You cannot print the result on the box as every car will be different.
When Celtic stage one mapped my 35 on their dyno it showed 18 BHP UNDER the quoted figures but 21 Lb/Ft torque more! Obviously I want torque more than BHP so I was super happy, even happier when they tweaked the map for more power (23 BHP) free on the dyno after i fitted catless downpipes..

The benefit of a tuner is that they already have proper power supplies for flashing so are less likely to have failed flash but that's where the perks end. I'm not aware of a single bricked ECU from using MHD (a failed flash isn't a "brick") and the app has been downloaded over 100,000 times on the play store for the N54 engine alone. Sometimes people have failed writes but once they plug back in or charge their battery properly it will always recover.

The tune that Celtic supply is very generic, I have a folder full of those kinds tunes and they are all virtually identical and only utilise the limited tables available at the time they were being developed. They are also further limited by the fact they use the standard factory program. MHD are the only company still actively working on modifying the logic so features like boost limiting are only something that MHD is capable of along with fixes to several torque limiters and the boost limitation at 18.6PSI.

There is very little variance in how engines react to tunes, the error that they saw on your dyno looks suspiciously like something that would result from non standard tyre circumference or from heavier non standard wheels. Dynos are a really poor way to measure engine performance, the numbers have to be corrected depending on who makes the dyno which is a bad sign in itself but then add into the equation all the correction factors that need to be applied to the operator and all the room for error in the setup regarding vehicle gearing and wheel rolling radius you have a recipe for some really useless data.

[Starman]

Ok, I bought a Carly ODB2 and Ill give it a shot, thanks to all who gave advice in this thread!

[step_change]

Geeezuz...... An object lesson in not f****g about with stuff unless you are 100% familiar, know all the wrinkles and know how to back out if it goes tits-up.
I hope you get it sorted OP

[Marcoose]

Dunno about that. It implies no room for learning and discovery. Advancements, improvements, betterments don't come from being in the comfort zone.

[Starman]

Thanks again all, I bought a Carly and it should arrive from Germany in a week. Ill clear out the check engine light and have the Carly take a deep look.

The car runs perfectly and I can feel the added power. I like the throttle response a hell of a lot better. The stock throttle response felt extremely slow, press the peddle at a stop and it felt like there was a 2 second lag to start moving before. But then again, Im used to driving Honda's and Acuras, this is my first BMW.

I've owned over 20 Honda (mostly new) in my life and this is my first German car. This includes 3 Honda S2000's and sportier cars like the CRX, del Sol (VTEC, 160 hp model in 95), MDX, TL Type S (v6), TLX (v6), RDX (300 hp V6), etc... and others like a Lexus IS350 and Subaru WRX Sti.

I really love the performance aspects of the BMW (feels a lot like the Sti),. this is obvilously their strong point, but a lot of people sell the idea of "German Engineering" and the BMW has a lot of annoyances that I never had in a Honda like fit and finish issues (squeaking hard plastic interior pieces, lower then expected quality all around), subpar ergonomics of controls and terrible infotainment (although arguably, a lot of people bitch about Hondas but I'm an IT guy and I find them amazingly functional). There are times I wish the $70,000 (new price) Z4 was built as well as one of the several Honda Accords I owned at $30,000 (or the Lexus IS350), it feels more like my 2005 WRX Sti in build quality.

[Marcoose]

Happy to hear things are on the mend.

[Starman]

I seem to have a few issues with the Dinan flash. A few times now when I really punched it, the engine at high RPM feels like its misfiring. It was so bad yesterday that it popped the check engine light and then behaved really odd for a while. I could feel it rumbling any time I accelerated and the car wobbled like I had a flat tire. I drove it slow for a good 5 minutes and then the light popped off and it drove normal with no issues since. Any ideas?

[Marcoose]

Wow. That’s awful. So sorry.

I know next to nothing about these flashes. But a while back I’ve tried a bespoke MHD flash that wasn’t working well. I’ve removed it and reinstalled a few times. The misbehaviour would only appear with the flash. Then I bought a standard off the shelf package, flashed, and it’s all fine since.

So, have you isolated the problem?

[R.E92]

I seem to have a few issues with the Dinan flash. A few times now when I really punched it, the engine at high RPM feels like its misfiring. It was so bad yesterday that it popped the check engine light and then behaved really odd for a while. I could feel it rumbling any time I accelerated and the car wobbled like I had a flat tire. I drove it slow for a good 5 minutes and then the light popped off and it drove normal with no issues since. Any ideas?

You need to have a log of engine data to work out the reason for any problems. Does the dinan tool give you the ability to do that?

[Starman]

No, the Dinan tool looks like it was created for Windows 95 and is extremely basic, this is why I had a lot of these issues to start with. While I have a dedicated 1.2 gig internet connection that's flawless, when I flashed the first time, their app error'ed out at the beginning and bricked the CPU, a second attempt (After having to call them and get it unlocked) worked fine but took over 45 minutes of having to have the car on and battery charger attached and I think its charge barely even made that. This is because the basically flash stream it over the internet and one hiccup will error it out (so, you also gotta trust their internet connection). Its TERRIBLE.

I do have a Carly now with adapter and I'll run it while driving next time.

[Starman]

I just ran Carly and it tells me I have a cylinder 6 misfire. It probably the error from that last event, when I clear it, the error goes away.

Any ideas at this point?

I figure I need to put the stock flash on run Carly again.

I just bought this z4 and it has a warrentee on it, Im wondering if this issue wasn't already here when I bought it.

If I put the stock flash back on it, would they be able to tell I had placed a different flash on based on its date?

[R.E92]

Misfire probably happening because of the tune. The normal causes are weak plugs or coils, warranty won't help you there, they are maintenance items and probably won't cause a misfire on the stock tune until they are really neglected.

I personally wouldn't run any tune without having a proper data log from the car giving me information about the fuel, boost, trims and cylinder noise.

A dyno chart or scan for error codes doesn't really let you know much.

[Marcoose]

Starman, MHD say that when you remove and restore the OEM map, that no traces of third party maps are left behind. Does Dinan have that option?

I think you’re in Portland, and it would be overkill to drive to San Francisco just for that, but the trusted indy down the street works on this kind of problems. Look up Ottowerks on 80 Welsh St. If you cannot get through, we’ll exchange his contact info via PM. He might be able to help you on the phone. If it wasn’t for bloody Covid, you could even stay with us while your ride is being fixed.

FYI, MHD gave zero problems.

[Starman]

Misfire probably happening because of the tune. The normal causes are weak plugs or coils, warranty won't help you there, they are maintenance items and probably won't cause a misfire on the stock tune until they are really neglected.

I personally wouldn't run any tune without having a proper data log from the car giving me information about the fuel, boost, trims and cylinder noise.

A dyno chart or scan for error codes doesn't really let you know much.

My Z4 is a 2013 with 35K miles on it, would you suggest replacing the plugs or coils yet?