I'm not sure if this subject has been brought up yet. It probably has been approached, but I did not find anything on it.

I am thinking about keeping my stock ECU, well, stock and purchasing an additional ECU and getting it flashed, for warranty and maint reasons. Has anyone done this?

Will this work as I am intending or will the system recognize that another ECU has been in it if I need to have warranty work performed?

Where can I purchase a new ECU through other than mitsubishi themselves?

How much $ do they run?

I'm looking for more power without risking a confrontation if warranty work comes along.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

Get a Cobb Access Port....It plugs right into your ecu and gives you a nice safe tune and you can also have it custom dyno tuned and if you need warranty work you simply plug it back in and it takes a minute or so to download the stock maps back and the dealership will never know you did anything. Defnitely your best bet

 

A new ECU means reprogramming to recognize your car key, radio etc. Depending on where you live, probably only the dealer can do that. They won't do it for free and Mitsubishi will have a record that you replaced your ECU. Put $1-2K in the bank for insurance and while it earns interest mod away and enjoy your car responsibly.

 

Alternatively, if you have a laptop... you can buy a Tactrix Openport cable 2.0 ($170) and backup your ECU's stock maps using ECUFlash (there's a huge thread about it under tuning forums). Then you can either have your X professionally custom tuned or you can try out Gunzo's shared maps for starters (I suggest the 90oct generic for safety reasons). If you ever need to go back to the dealership for service, flashing back your stock maps will only take about 10 seconds. This is the path I took. My car has no mods (bolt-ons) and getting warranty work done shouldn't be a problem. Cobb AP was a bit too expensive for me, but the advantage is it is much easier to use compared to ECUflash.

 

The answer to your question that can save you money lies in this post. Besides, if you go to the dealer to buy a new ECU, they know what you're going to do with your original ECU and can probably just put a note to void your warranty right there. GL

 

If you're going to do nothing more than a drop-in air filter, maybe a uicp (can be swapped in a minute) then something like the Cobb is probably a good bet. If you decide to mod beyond doing exactly what the program is for then you'll want a custom tune.

Buying a Tactrix and heading to a performance shop for a custom tune might give you the best of both worlds. $170 for the Tactrix (plugs into a laptop), around $300 for 2 hours on the dyno, and you'll be able to swap back and forth between stock and a custom tune. Let the tuner know up-front that's what you want and it shouldn't be a problem to accommodate.

Not sure what you have for shops in your part of WI but we have a few good ones in the Cities. Bought my car a few weeks ago in Milwaukee--was worth the drive!

 

I thought that I heard some where that, the X could record that there were alterations to the ECU even if the stock maps were flashed back. Is there any truth to this or is this just mitsubishi propaganda? I was planning on getting the vishnu tune and a drop in. I just want to keep this one simple. I got a little carried away on my last car (supercharged mustang). Should I also get the tactrix to record my stock map and then the mail in. Where can I pick up the tactrix? Thanks for your help guys.

 

Looks like the Cobb AP maybe my best bet. Does it contain stock maps as well? Anyone know how their tune differs from the vishnu tune?

 

TTP can help you with the Tactrix cable. I've been told that alot for maps and custom tunes change the rom file name of the stock flash and Mitsubishi can only tell if the names been changed, There are some tuners who will make sure the rom file name stays the same but when it comes to backing uo the data we all know what windows does with same names, maybe put them on a flash drive and label it?

 

You can buy the cable here, I got mine in just 3 business days.

http://tunertools.com/proddetail.asp?prod=OpenPort2

Uhmm, you can backup your stock ECU image (or "ROM") using ECUflash and name it whatever you like, it doesn't matter since it is only a windows filename. Just make sure you make multiple copies... so you don't run the risk of losing your stock ROM (since this is what you will need to program back in for warranty work) Once you flash it back to the ECU, it will only retain whatever binary information is contained in the "hex" image file, and the windows filename will not be included. If you are not a bit computer savy, I suggest going the AP route, since this is the easiest way to go. But the tactrix cable has a lot more uses aside from flashing (Evoscan mode23 logging + virtual gauges=checkout my sig, etc.)... and cheaper too (assuming you already have a laptop).

 

We keep all stock roms of every reflash customer we have on file. If a customer needs to go back to stock, all they have to do is send us a message and we will send their stock rom back to load to their ECU.

We also have the only remaining Tactrix 2.0 cables left in the USA for a month until they come off backorder.

We are reserving them for our remote reflash customers whom purchase a reflash from us.

 

I know this is off topic, but is there a Hanes Manual (Ford, I know) or the like for the evo x yet?

Thanks for all of the comments guys. I think I will prob be going with the AP, since it can also pull codes. The price is about what it would cost for other tunes and a code reader.