ECU Modification

[midi-fighter]

okey sorry i didnt want to grab his reprog data let us forget this please, thats not what i want

i only need a tuned ecu for my volvo 460 is it still available ?

[kissato]

Glasgowjim I agree with you. My point it's simple, a lot of people are interested in get this mod but it looks like that Robou don't have the time/materials or will to make then anymore and he has all the right to stop doing it.

It's a chame that this probably won't be available anymore and the know how to do this eventually disappear...

Anyway if this is still available I'm interested in get one for a orange ecu that I will gladly send to Robou and pay for the service.

[Robou]

I solemnly swear that at the moment of writing I am not deceased nor having any plans to stop modifying the EZ210K ECU. Any news about these facts is premature.
My post from August 15, 2014 in this thread is quite clear.
The bad news, well, not for me, is the stock of ECUs with two printed circuits is running out and from April to July and Septemberto November I will not be able to work on the matter because of more pleasant pursuits.
And please, before reacting by PM do read the tread and save me answering over and over again the same questions about price and what the modification is about. If the email address is stated there will be an answer including the manual as attachment, which contains all there is left to say.

[Robou]

The post of jifflemon on Fri Mar 03, 2017 in the thread http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/forum/v ... 9&start=40 woke me up.
About the availability of mods, well the above post may lighten things up.

The remark about Manual Boost Controllers needs a more complicated reaction.
When installing such a device the original boost control solenoid has to be rendered inoperative. Clearly at least the connection to the wastgate actuator got to be removed.
The EZ210K ECU still tries to regulate the boost but its build-in pressure sensor signals unexpected results, whether or not it is still connected to the manifold.
The ECU will react in different ways. When no pressure is received the full load ignition curve is selected in the mapping. When pressure exceeds a set value at 2000rpm it stops sending the speed signal to the injection ECU which in turn stops injection.
In both cases the knock protection (reducing boost when ignition retarding is not enough) is inoperative.
We have a well thought out motor management system. Don't change it's setup by exchanging parts without considering the influence on the whole.

Ade mentioned later a company in Coventry, who supposedly made changes to an eprom in the Jetronics ECU. This awakens my curiosity, the eprom holds only one address, it runs completely hard coded on signals from sensors, EZ210K, throttle position and, mainly, the MAF. Would it be possible to provide me with an url from this company?

[jifflemon]

Ah, thank you for the explanation.

I guess the obvious question is: Can we still get ECU's from you?

[Robou]

By "above post" in the second line I meant the post in this thread, not the one I was referring to.
After having terrible thoughts about people not reading I realized my indistinctness and apologize.

[jifflemon]

I don't think that this was the company Ade was referring to, but these apparently offer a modified ECU for £39

http://www.efi-parts.co.uk/index.php?productID=167

[glasgowjim]

WOW I wouldnt touch this with a bargepole but that is a personal opinion. You cant compare this with either a rich or robou mod. The last few lines of the advert indicate that to run this you have to invest in some other hardware.

If like ADe you are adept at working with engines and high performance ones at that then ok but for the average joe I would suggest therein lies the road to ruin.

[jifflemon]

Oh don't worry Jim, I'm going nowhere near it, merely highlighting it as I'm fairly sure Robou will explain why its such a bad idea. (Complete removal of boost limit ? )

Then hopefully, when someone else stumbles upon this thread, they too will have the understanding.

[Ade]

Yeah, that's not what I was on about! Could be dangerous if you were overzealous with the boost control without taking lots of extra precautions to prevent it knocking itself to bits, like the stuff mentioned. I might be tempted to have some fun with that mod and a big turbo if I had a spare engine lying around and the time to think about how to make it run anywhere near reliably

Fuel cut's there for a reason (I'm assuming it means it takes away fuel cut at OTT boost levels)

I can't actually remember the name of the company, they do have a website though, I'd have to do some googling and memory jogging. I came across the place some years ago, I went there with a mate of mine to have his MX5 rolling road tuned after fitting a supercharger and adaptronic piggyback ecu and apparently they can play about with putting different maps on eprom chips and fitting them to the EZK in these systems. There's people out there that can do LH/EZK eprom tuning in the Saab world for the older ones like my Carly too, pre Trionic and Motronic days. Same system essentially, the Carly has a similar boost control system to the 480 too, they call it APC and on the Carlsson it is ECU controlled (not to be confused with APC on C900 which is kind of a 'glorified' manual boost controller from what I gather, sadly I've never owned one to properly find out how it works but I understand it's purely pneumatic. It is something I may try to learn more about to see about adapting it, or its principles to the 480), so the knowledge and the tech is out there for both ecu mods and workable, if not perfect manual systems.

By the way, Robou- I'm not in any way trying to undermine your work or trying to say I, or anyone else knows better, we probably don't and I don't suppose any other mod has had as much effort and research invested in it as yours, I have massive respect for your knowledge and ability and would love to get my hands on one of your ECU's for my lovely new rebuilt 480! I wish I had the same prowess with electronics as mechanical stuff, alas.... it may never be. I do also realise that installing a MBC into the system will confuse the ECU and will always be a compromise and that the APC, to coin the Saab jargon, is a much more elegant system and can be used to much better overall tuning advantage that the cruder alternative if one has the necessary knowhow with the electronics. I am still curious to find ways of refining and modulating manual boost control though, if for nothing else but the gaining of knowledge, having a bit of fun and for some cheap thrills in the 480 while working on other projects (the saab conversion on the now turned 'engine donor' blue one). As long as I don't go silly with it and hit fuel cut, it's gonna be a bit quicker still , it's something to play with and refine and can always be reverted to standard ecu boost control with or without a modded ecu at a later date. Happy days.

[jifflemon]

Ah, the Saab APC! I'm assuming you've found this?

[Robou]

Thanks for the kind words and the efforts in letting me know the url.
The one produced only manupulates the ECU in making it believe the boost is much less than actual or, the luxury fashion, never exceeds a certain value. For the latter 2 resistors and 1 zenerdiode are needed, value 40 €-cents. A layman can do the soldering. The ECU will act accordingly by keeping the wastegate closed when power is asked for. And, as claimed, the ignition map is not changed, but if this is meant as a warning or an advantage is not clear. Neither is the advised addition of hardware, because the car will run without it, be it with less control of the boost. But your right foot may take care of that.

More to Ade's effusion. APC is very similar to what we have, only Volvo changed the original design to being more suitable for it's aimed buyers i.e. by reducing the maximum boost. Luckily the hardware was not changed, this is why tuning of our engine is possible without too many demands of it.
As an example of how the ECU is programmed to react on a knock sensor signal:
Irrespective of a signal the ignition is retarded 3° when full throttle suddenly is applied. It takes ½ second to return to the map.
When knocking occurs in an individual cylinder the ignition point for that cylinder is retarded by ±3° until the knocking stops, then advanced by 1° each 120 rpm until knocking occurs again. Then the value of the no-knocking point is saved in RAM.
When knocking occurs in all cylinders the overall ignition point is retarded by 1° until the knocking stops. Then it is advanced after a set time at 1° each 1000 rpm. Finally the safe point is saved in RAM.
The saved values together will not exceed 10°. Until a reset these saved values will be used. In a former post I reveiled more precaution measures.
When driving in places where petrol is low quality it is obvious that knocking will occur, especially when boost is raised. A reset is needed when the car is running on quality petrol again. Hence I supplied a reset method with my mod which takes a few seconds instead of the standard >20 minutes. I am forced to do a reset when driving in Eastern Europe places or after a series of spikes.

What I wanted to prove is that there is more to our motormanagement than expected and grabbing at a different system may be entertaining to check that out but is usually less efficient to improve our car. Unfortunatly like in our system the microcontroller holding the program and, in the absence of an eprom, the mapping, is factory mask programmed and shut off from writing and copying so no way to make any changes here. This in our system is why a mod without a second printed circuit board to hold the eprom never will be what it seems, because the mapping has not been changed, it is inside the microcontroller. This can be told to look outside for certain addresses, for these an eprom is needed which in turn needs a extra PCB. Once being that far an eprom able to hold 16 different mappings can be used, switchable. About testing....

Playing in this field also is fun, all needed is a little knowledge of soldering and resistors and what sensors are about and what influence they have on the management. If you make it believe it is colder than actual it provides a richer mixture, the contrary can be achieved by suggesting a lesser airflow. I remember the time I changed the shape of combustion chambers, welded spaghetti exhausts, corrected the diameter of SU carburettor needles, I can assure I am getting as much fun out of fiddling with the non-mechanical stuff. And it is not that much of knowledge of electronics, it is knowing where motor management is about and practical thinking of where it could be improved confirm your wishes.

For those brave at heart and able to hold a soldering iron I can provide a recipe for raising the boost as described in the first paragraph. Just PM me with an email address, I do not think it should be made public as clearly I can not take any responsibility with my name connected to a reliable mod...

[jifflemon]

Hi Robou,

I've heard you're planning a batch of new ECU's? If so, can I get my name down for one please?

[Robou]

No problem. Just send me a PM with your email address and state the color of the ECU you want to be modified. I will return an email with a "manual" as attachment and answer questions you may have..
Prices are as on page 2 post 7-20-2015.
Beginning of July I'll be back home and start working on it.

[Robou]

The demand for modified ECUs has decreased sharply in the past year, to be understood from the facts that fewer Turbos are left, most owners already are provided and, for some reason or another, some are rejecting the improvement or want to leave their car in its original state.
Anyway, the as regards current electronics redundant material needed to effect the modification takes a lot of unprofitable space on my workbench. This is why I decided to stop as per end of 2017.

I have enjoyed this issue not least because of the many (international) contacts and responses that were very inspiring. And it made my Turbo better than when I would have done it for myself alone.

Occasionally a modification may be ordered after, but not at the current costs and delivery time, some consultation will be required as setting up the workplace needs extra effort. Take into account an increase of at least € 50,--.

[WhiteWolf]

I would advise anyone who has a turbo and hasn't ordered the modded ecu to do so. Even just to improve fuel economy. Many smiles per gallon.
Even with the added €50 the mod is worth its weight in gold.

[dragonflyjewels]

I would advise anyone who has a turbo and hasn't ordered the modded ecu to do so. Even just to improve fuel economy. Many smiles per gallon.
Even with the added €50 the mod is worth its weight in gold.

I'd be interested to know what sort of mpg you get White Wolf ? We have 2 turbos - hubby's has a Robou but mine hasn't YET (must get that sorted asap) We followed one another to a meet in Belgium, and I got about 4 mpg more than himself, who had his in economy mode. Perhaps he has set his maf wrongly.

[WhiteWolf]

Hi.
I must admit I do like the power side of it. One of the joys though is you can drive around with minimal revs. When I feel like it I like to drive changing at about 1000/1200 rpm. On the rare occasion I drive normally I would get high 20 low 30mpg. Instant mpg I've seen in the high 40 low 50mpg. That would be in 5 with the slightest of revs. Every car is different though and mine is by no way perfect or the norm. My car also has the oxygen sensor disconnected so this increases fuel by 5%. My car had the red ecu.
I can easily drive at 30mph in 5 gear.
Expect 0-60 times of around 6.5 seconds and a top speed of 147mph

Regards
White wolf.

[frenchfries]

Is it worth looking at it for an auto Turbo?

[WhiteWolf]

I would personally get it yes. It just plugs straight back in. It will be the best thing you can do to improve a turbo whilst keeping it safe.