xupkid2

Just bought a 2001 turbo and the car has a tune. I haven't been able to figure out what tune it has on it so am thinking of having it flashed back to stock. Anyone aware of the best way to flash back to stock or figure out what tune I have? Just concerned down the road that not knowing the tune will hurt me.

Thanks
Brian

dprantl

Most dealers should be able to reflash the ECU back to the stock program.

Dan

manimal

I'm in a similar boat.

The PO didn't think it had a tune but I see 0.9-1.1 bar boost at WOT, and I don't have an X50.

My plan has been to have Kevin @ UMW work his magic, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

champignon

My 2003 has a Softronic Stage 1 Tune. I knew this when I agreed to buy the car, and the seller (who was the one after the guy who got the tune installed) gave me the Durometric device and the tune on a USB key at the time of purchase.

The seller had the car into an independent shop that specializes in Porsche tunes and upgrades for racing, for extensive work that included replacement of the hydraulic system and needed the engine dropped. He had the owner of the shop check out the tune, and he confirmed that the ECU was flashed. He liked the tune, and so do I, so I'm not planning to do anything about it.

What you might do is call around and see if there is an independent, race-oriented Porsche shop in your area, and ask if they are able to check the car out to tell you what is flashed on it. You might find someone knowledgeable who could tell you what is on your car, and it might turn out that you would want to leave it as is. Also, if the car came to you from a local sale, you might be able to figure out where it was tuned by calling around and seeing if anyone doing these tunes has a record of your car and its VIN # being in their shop.

Tunes can be relatively expensive, so if you could figure out what is on your car, and could convince yourself that it is not injurious to the car's future, you might just want to leave it as is.

petron5000

Most dealers charge an hour later to return to stock.

I had an unknown 1.2 bar tune when I bought my car.

911mhawk

Best bet would be Kevin at UMW.
His penchant for reliability and tuning that does not jeopardize your wallet are well documented here.

champignon

Softronics says on their website that due to "privacy concerns" they won't give information out regarding any specific car, if questioned, however they will replace lost software for a fee ($75). Don't know if the other tuners do that.

So what you could do if you don't know, is to call around to tuners and tell them that your seller told you the car has an XXX tune on it, but lost the copy of the file; could they please replace it for you? Then have them look up the VIN #, which of course, if the tuner has records, will give you your answer plus for a fee like that, I'd get a copy of it given what these things cost.

ECU Doctors

Returning a unit back to stock is easy.

We can also make a copy of the existing tune of the unit in the case that you want to load it back up for later use.

Let me know.

champignon

There's another thread here that I started dealing with using a tune designed for 93 Octane fuel with 91 Octane fuel, the best available in many parts of the country. In that other thread people have stated that there is a real risk of engine damage from running a 93 tune on 91 fuel with a 996 TT. Granted, there are presumably variations in tune aggressiveness, however given that, what are your thoughts, generically, about a 93 tune in a car where only 91 gas is available? Do you feel there is any impact of the altitude at which the car is driven?

In addition, when you state it is easy to return a unit back to stock, how do you propose doing that? In my case, I do have the tune and original "files" that were given to me along with a Durametric from the owner I bought the car from. Unfortunately, he was not the owner who installed the tune, and he never did anything with it at all other than transferring these materials, files and Durametric, to me.

Softronics does have software for flashing the ECU and I could certainly use that to try to return the car to stock. On the other hand, I have already been told by Softronics that the tune file was renamed from what it was when they sold it to the buyer, 2 owners ago. Given that, I personally have a little bit of concern that perhaps the files' integrity has been compromised, and this could extend to the original tune file as well.

Thanks for any information you can provide, I do appreciate it.

r0nd3L

Why not log it with Durametric to verify it's running nice and safe before jumping to flashing tunes? If it runs well, logs show nothing bad, does it matter?

champignon

I am separated from the car for the next week as I left it at our "business" house and I'm back at home, 2.5 hours drive away. When I did hook up the Durametric to the car briefly last week, there were no error codes. I didn't see any obvious way to get the sort of information you mention, but I'm sure that is because I am unfamiliar with the Durametric and its software.

Do you have any recommendations on how to proceed to determine if it is "running well?"

Thanks very much!

dprantl

Never used a Durametric, but you probably just need to plug it in and set it to log a few parameters (knock sensor outputs, O2 sensor outputs for air-fuel ratio and maybe throttle input, ignition advance and fuel pressure). Then go for a drive, first taking it easy. Review the logs and see if there is anything bad going on. If not, repeat but push the car more.

Dan

ECU Doctors

champignon,

Sorry for the late response but here's my answer...

We have the capability to read the ECU's memory and save a copy of what's in it for later use if needed.

Then, we can re-flash a OEM stock tuning into the computer for you to start from. We have stock and virgin files from all the Porsche makes and models.

We also can use an original Porsche scanner to reflash the ECU back to original configuration.

It's a very straight forward procedure, but it does take a couple of hours because it's a slow process.

Any other questions?

manimal

So we'd remove the ECU from the car and send it into you?

Oak

yes, jorge is the real deal check our his website. it's simple and easy. early programs from tuners locked the ecu so it could not be written over. jorge will get your stock tune back.