Trying to sort out truth and BS on ECU chips

W

Wa'ya

Active member
Hello everyone, I posted this in the newbe section, but was thinking it might be better to post such a question here instead.

I have bought a 2007 3.0i Z4 Roadster, and I'm trying to figure out how the car's computer chip works. From past experience with a different animal, a fuel injected Harley Davidson any performance upgrades required an oem ECU re-flash. My question is the Z4 computer system et up on a closed loop format so that the system learns the settings required to perform its best?

Harley Davidson's stock computer system is s__t needing to be reflashed and dyno-ed after each upgrade, so on my 07 Harley I installed a Thundermax ECU which operates on a closed loop set up which learns from the data received from the O2 sensors so that it never has to be remaped or dyno-ed. the Thundermax also readjusts itself for changes in altitude so that I always get the best performance out of the bike.

So I'm wondering does the Zed's system work in this way or would it be beneficial to look into a ECU upgrade. I've seen a bunch of chips on the market claiming crazy BS, but anything that piggybacks off the OEM computer is just plain junk and is a good way to screw up a cars system. Sooooo is there anything on the market which will help a 07 3.0i Z perform better or has BMW already worked this out?

Thanks for any advice.
 
Short answer, BMW have already done pretty much the best with what is there, any performance or piggy back ECU 'upgrades' will deliver very little increase for usually a huge outlay.
 
I simply don't believe the bullshit claims of 25bhp increase from a remap on a 3.0i NA motor.

The tuning establishment that performs the remap will always rig the dyno results to show a gain? Why? Because you'd never part with £250-£400 if the dyno showed a 2bhp gain. It's in the tuners best interest to show a chunky gain.

There was a forum member that had 2 dyno runs with NO changes between. The "after" results showed 14bhp gain (ish).......

Make what you will of that

Remap might restore some lost horses and smooth flat spots. However, unless you have forced induction you're wasting your time IMO



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Maybe its time to switch to an M if the 3L is too boring! MIght work out cheaper than the chip + extra modified insurance + blah blah blah....

I would agree with the above, BMW have done a pretty good job of getting the horses out of that block! (I drive a 3.0L as well!)

I'm sure if you fiddled with intake, exhaust, fuelling, ECU etc etc (I'm not a proper mechanic) you could get 15-20 BHP out of it, but is it all worth the effort and more importantly ££.

I'm sceptical that a chip could do it on its own, but also quite interested to see if it could! Show me definitive dynos!
 
I'm with you Adamski, it would be crazy to think that just adding a chip to get HP is just dreaming lol. More of what my question is if anyone knows how does the the BMW oem ECU react to upgrades such as intakes and exhaust?

See my experence with my Harley is they set up thier system to require a remap for any changes to stock, if you change the back pressure to the exhaust or increase the air flow into the intake the bike Will Not run right!

With the Thundermax ECU I installed on my bike, the Thundermax remaps itself eleminating any need to dyno after any performance upgrade.

I understand that BMW has done a good job with whats there, but how well does it deal with changes to the stock set up?

BTW there were several options with Harley to change mapping for upgrades, reflash the ome ECU, piggy back ECU(which is total rap to me), the Power Commander which required dyno tuning, and the Thundermax which remaps itself on the fly more or less
 
It's not a 'learning' ECU if that's what your asking. Its mapped to the standard specification of the engine, it wont adjust itself to any 'mods'. The only thing it will adapt to potentially is running crap petrol for example, detects knock - retards the timing, I would think anyway.
 
Thanks Andy, yeah thats what I was wondering, the auto tune feature is a nice feature on my bike that I have really enjoyed. Started out with just an intake and exhaust upgrade when I added it to the bike and later installed a mild cam which would have required another remapping with out the Thundermax..... Do you know if there is any type of ECU on the market for auto's with auto tune?
 
Not sure to be honest. What mods are you thinking of doing that might benefit from a remap? I only ask as any mods on the 3.0 are again kinda pointless as far as performance goes, a lot of money for very little gain, BMW pretty much got the best out of the engine as it is. Unless you go forced induction, stuff like intake/induction, exhausts etc. won't require a re-map.
 
I think you'll find that the ECU will adapt to basically any changes you wish to make (as long as the MAF stays in the same dia pipe).

The same ECU is used in a variety of cars in a massive variety of locations, from up mountains to deserts.

exdos is the guy you need to speak to regarding this, he's modified the intake and exhaust of his MC and is seeing sizeable performance increases on the standard map. I wouldn't touch it personally unless I was going FI or AlphaN.
 
Thanks again Andy, I'm kinda playing with the idea of changing out the intake system upgrading to a 3 stage manifold off of a 330i with dual DISA's, adding an AFE cold air breather and porting some outside air from the lower front end similar to something I saw on here that a member was doing.
 
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