NLC - friends Subaru problem

[whaleys]

Hi all,

I thought I would ask here as many people have experience of many cars here. I have a mate that had his Forester 2.5 XT remapped, it was fine for ages and then he started getting an intermittent issue where it would cut out reporting code P0607. He took it to a Subaru dealer who couldn't find anything wrong with it but said that it "might" be the ECU so you should replace that at more that £1k. While the Subaru dealer was on the phone inquiring about an ECU they were told that the problem was a known one and there was an updated mapping to change the threshold to prevent the occurrence of the P0607 fault. As a result Subaru flashed the ECU with the new map and it failed half way through, they have now "bricked" his ECU and are saying that he has to buy a new one and they take no responsibility for it, as it was "faulty" (that was their guess because they couldn't figure out the problem but it may not have been) and because it had been remapped.

Does anyone have any thoughts, advice or a place to get a new ECU? The part number is 22611 AK710.

Ta,
Graeme

[David]

If it was 'faulty' then why was it being updated to cure a known software issue? I would cut your losses and send the ECU to one of the specialist companies out there who, no doubt, will repair and load the correct map at a much lower cost. If it has been fried beyond repair you at least will then have the evidence to pursue a claim against the dealer for damages if you think it is worth the hassle.

[whaleys]

Hi Guys,

For anyone interested, as a result of my friends bricked ECU we decided to buy some parts and follow the Tactrix guide on making an interface and connecting it to the ECU.

End result was an unbricked ECU, flashed with the most up to date software!

A pic of it in action:



The ECU is out of its casing and is the board in the middle, the board on the left is the DLP usb to serial connector with a bunch of resistors, capacitors and 555 timer chip. It's then fed 12v direct to the ECU board and also gets 5v from USB.

Friend now very pleased with the result!

[BiggestNizzy]

[graeme]

Nice job.

Who's the Christopher Ward fan?

[whaleys]

Who's the Christopher Ward fan?

That would be the friend, not me, I don't own fancy "time piece" just a watch

[philthy]

The tactrix folk have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to ECUs, I had one of thier cables for flashing my evo ecu.

Top effort for getting it un-bricked

[Rich H]

Nice heath robinson solution

[Dark]

Excellent result! However..............

Did your friend's Forester 2.5 XT have any other mods apart from the remap?
For most turbo Subaru's a remap by itself will yield limited performance improvements due to the very restrictive exhaust system.
As a minimum most remaps are done in conjunction with a free flowing sports exhaust to adjust the fuelling and keep the boost under control.
If your friend is running a standard ECU map with a sports exhaust the car will probably be over boosting with potentially dire consequences for the engine (the 2.5's are notoriously weak anyway!)
If he's got any engine modifications then a remap is almost a necessity!

Andy Forrest in Port Seton is the man for Subaru ECU remaps using the ECUTEK software.
http://www.andyforrestperformance.co.uk

Or I guess you could try one of the open source alternatives!

Cheers, Mark

[whaleys]

Thanks for that Mark, I'll pass the info on. He does have a sports exhaust but I am fairly sure he was going to be getting it remapped again (although I don't know who did it, but it was a chap from down south). The thought of opensource engine maps scare me slightly!

[Dark]

Note that by free flowing sports exhaust system I meant a turbo back, larger diameter system which removes or replaces one or both of the OEM cats.

If he's just got a replacement back box to provide a bit of burble and the OEM cats are intact then there should be no need (and no benefit) for a remap.

Cheers, Mark

[whaleys]

Yeah he has replaced the whole system not just the back box, he didn't really want the noise just the performance. He has the larger diameter system with the second cat removed but the first still in place so that it still passes emissions tests.

I mentioned to him what you said and he mentioned that it should be fine for the time being. He said the 2006 2.5 forester engine is more reliable than they Impreza 2.5?