Flashing the ECU

I talked with a guy last night. Very experienced with the toyota v6 and V8 . He said that I could have the ecu flashed and achieve the same thing or even better than the urd device. He said he could change the fuel/ air mixture and anything else I need. He also said some of the dealerships should be able to do this. If I have him do it, I will have to remove th ECU from the truck, and don't know how hard it is to get to it. Has anyone removed there ecu? This is for a 07 Tacoma

 

Just remember if you get aggressive with the timing in the V6 or A/F ratio you will need to use 92 or 94 octane always as the motor is 10:1 comp.

 

yeah, with as high as our compression ration is, i am not planning on messing with my mixtures. If i do, i'm gonna make sure i pay someone who knows what they're doing to do it. I'd be careful if i were you

 

Reflashing the ECU with what? - A new set of A/F ratios? Where are they getting the ratio table from?

 

Well I work for Toyota Motor Manufacturing people, ANd it would be a QC guy that does all the dino test. We build the 4.0 V6 and the 5.7 Tundra Engine. I believe he knows what he is doing.

 

Once the flash is done then my ecu will be ran on a new 4.0 engine to make sure it is set right, and runs correctly at different RPM's

 

However I probably have said to much. And will let everyone know how it works afterwards.

 

hmmm... good luck with that, sounds pretty odd to me though. As soon as you make changes to intake, exhaust, etc. you'll likely have to keep "reflashing" to achieve correct settings again. Although i dont know how they're accomplishing it in the first place.

 

The only way to do it properly would be with the truck (yours) on a chassis dyno using a wideband oxygen sensor and dial the A/F ratio in that way. That is what I had to do for my mustang. And you would be amazed at two identical vehicles on the dyno how much they can differ in A/F ratio and even HP produced. That’s why the manufactures leave such a large safety margin. (rich fuel mixtures)....Yes there is HP to be had but...you will pay a price if not done right.

 

That is very correct. Thus why there is a wideband installed in my truck permanently

 

Spyder,

Sorry I need to pick you brain again after your last statement. Would I realistically need to permanantly install the wideband in my truck to prevent damage? Or would a once and done be safe? Assuming of course that the once and done was completed after all the engine and exhaust mods were finished, and provided that I ran the same gas all the time? Last question, (atleast this time) I live and drive primarily, and would tune in South Jersey (near sea level). I would not risk damage to the engine if I drove up to the mountins for the weekend? Correct me if I am wrong, but if I tuned at sea level in winter and drove up to the mountains in summer the thinner, warmer air would just take me back to a running rich scenario?

Thanks again

 

nah you don't have a huge need for a permanent wideband. The reason i have one is because i have URD's Supercharger kit. A good tune should pretty much stay at that same AFR for you and you wont have to worry. Of course, like you said, you'd want to do it after all your mods are completed, because each mod can throw around the AFR a bit.

As far as altitude, what i would recommend you do is tune it at the area your at (obviously). I'd say if you're going to change altitudes big time, you can just put back the stock fuel map and us that for your trip and then just put back on your tuned map when you return.

 

That makes perfect sense. I hadn't even considered just reverting to stock for ski trips and such. It is so simple and makes so much sense I feel stupid now.

Thanks again Spyder. I am sure I will come up with more questions still before I pull the trigger on this completely, but I am tapped out of questions for now. I do owe you a beer or two though should we ever find ourselves in the same location.

Thanks again

 

Deal!

Just let me know if you have any more questions

 

Heh caglezxj, would be interested in yr friends reflashing program as I'm keen to fit the TRD Supercharger but TRD Australia is a closed shop in letting out tech specs.
Phil.

 

How much power do you figure your going to "unlock"? Not much I would imagine. Why not just get a TRD CAI and be done with it? Your likely to gain just as much with the CAI as this "reflash".

 

Old thread but we need to get enough people on the tacoma threads to have a tuner like powerchips make a ECu flash that tunes the ECU for most peoples cars. They do offer extra tunes for those who run more parts like headers and pullies ECT.