i think the knock control capabilities of most stand alones are actually more sophisticated and if anything at least well understood. since they're understood they're able to be programmed exactly.

not to mention you can address many other types of fail safes that the stock ecu cannot, alkie, nitrous, multiple injector banks, lalalala

not to say that the stock ecu isn't wonderful but the reasons you cited aren't what really make it wonderful...

 

AEMPro's knock control capabilities are more than enough. Just have to fully understand how-to use and implement them

 

After taking the time to read each of the 227 posts in this thread I'd have to say that if this thread is any indication of how this forum is, I intend on sticking around for a long time. The different approaches to tuning here have been very well described and backed in most cases by adequate information.

Now, my question here is how have things progressed? Do the same rules hold true that were posted originally last year? Are Malibu and Smoggy still around and how are their cars configured now?

Lastly I think it's amazing how far you can take an evo with very little modification. My goal would be 350 awhp, 27 hwy mpg, and to maintain all of the WA state vehicle codes. I really think there is room here to put this all together thanks to threads like this.

 

mj is still around and still on his stock ecu, still developing cool stuff for mitsulogger.

 

I'm still here with my original '03 Evo that still runs the OEM ECU. I'm considering going to the AEM, but I'm loving all the developments in logging and tuning with EvoScan and ECUFlash.

 

My hat goes off to you bro, that's some incredible **** to be running for over a year like that. A true testiment to what these cars are capable of.

 

For me, my concern is that of failure. On a car I helped build, the EMS actuallity kept corrupting the map on it's own causing catastrophic failure. This happened three times. At first, we thought it was the tuner, until it happened again after the last rebuild. A randon map kept taking over our map, and no one has any
clue where it came from. This was on a brand new unit.

I've also had a a buddy of mine with a supra had one completely quit on him at the track midrun. It simply stopped working, and it was only a month old.

I love the capabilities of a stand alone system. But frankly, the durability just doesn't seem to be there. THis is the only thing that has kept me from crossing over.

 

That is not possible. A random map cannot just pop up in the ECU and take over. There are MANY things though that could cause a problem that may seem like a random map though. IF that's the case you will need to figure out what is triggering this problem and either turn it off OR find the trims that are being added/taken away and turn them off.

The car shutting off at mid track is more than likely something in the factory wiring. To be honest, there does seem to be someting in the AEM unit that will shut it down, I do not know what it is. That is a known problem and I believe it to be 100% AEM related but it is killing the power and shutting the car off on random cars.

Our black car did this for 2 years or more. We finally completely rewired the entire car/engine harness and it has never happened again. The question at that point is "Was it the harness in the car or was it something in the AEM shutting off a relay or something?" I guess we will never know, the problem is fixed at this point and that makes me happy enough.

 

You can tell me it's not possible all you want, but I was there when it happened. It was as if the AEM remapped itself completely. Timing and fuel resembled nothing like the map we put into it. It would take a couple of days for it to do it, but it would happen like clockwork. We just got it back from AEM and are going to give it one last try.

On the Supra, the issue was a defective AEM. It was replaced through warranty and had no further issues.

 

Yes, a very interesting thread here. You may not find the entire forum as mature and civilized as this thread, though, soundline

Back OT, I can see both sides of this argument clearly:

On the one hand, the stock ECU and it's software is a nice piece of engineering. The basic functioning of it has been reverse-engineered well enough to make it a good choice for straightforward upgrade situations. This assumes that stuff like the MAF sensor, etc, have been upgraded where necessary, as malibujack points out. Of course, that isn't really an ECU issue per se.

On the other hand, there ARE some limits to the understanding of this ECU. Mitsu hasn't released the source code to us. Without deeper understanding of what is really going on (for example, with the knock sensor algorithms), I completely understand why a tuner wouldn't want to take a risk making more extensive "hacks".

It would really be cool if someone could put together all new code (like an open source effort) that runs on the factory ECU hardware. I bet a lot of people on this forum (including me) would pay real cash for that.

 

We've done a lot of AEM EMS's and NEVER encountered this. We've had cars brought to us with Auto EE [OFF] which reverts to the original calibration before changes were made with the laptop. Closest thing I have had to this. One EVO 8 I tuned. I tuned a Honda on an AEM EMS right before it. When I connected to the EVO 8 box the Honda calibration was still on the screen connected, displaying live parameters, etc. Rebooted the laptop. Cycled the ignition. Problem solved. Davidbuschur says it's not possible because there is ONE main eprom chip that stores the calibration data. It's possible there was a problem with the type of cord you were using or something similar to the EVO 8 problem I mentioned above

 

Well. I had a very similar issue today while tuning an EVO 8. I dont know if it was a fluke with the software and/or operating system again as I didn't reboot. I only spent about five minutes on the issue. Turned the HKS turbo timer off and everything was fine

 

Afraid not. Used two different laptops and two different cords. THe last time we tried it was with a different laptop that had never been used for tuning of any sort before. The suggestion about the type of cord being used was given to us, which is why we switched it and the laptop just to be sure. It was definitely the AEM and not user error.
I hate to say this, but I've heard it all as to what the user possibly did and what settings possibly weren't changed, but like I said in my earlier post, it happened and on it's own. If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes on all three occaisions, I would probably be wired up for an EMS on my own car now.
On the opposite side of things, I've seeen EMS's on cars that have never failed and worked wonderfully. It's just the flukes that can happen that cause me to hold back from making the switch.

 

I understand fully where you're coming from as far as making the switch. Just I have yet to encounter that specific problem. I would say we do a couple AEM's a week. We have AEM EMS on all but one of our shop cars. No problems. I've had problems but 98% of the time it's an engine harness issue. That's a VERY odd problem you're describing

 

I know. We sent the unit back to AEM and got it back from them, and hopefully the problem is resolved. I guess we're suckers for abuse but we're willing to give it one more go.