Tutorial on ECU's

[Vishka]

Hey,

Just interested to know a bit more about ECU's - Basically I know f**k all about them.

I have a 172 and wanted to know whether you can simply get a software upgrade to the standard ECU to just improve fuel economy etc?????
I might sound like a right t**t askin this, but i'm positive some people get there cars done and not only to they gain more BHP but they have better fuel economy, is this true????? :S

Any help appreciated.

 

[GordonD]

i'm positive some people get there cars done and not only to they gain more BHP but they have better fuel economy, is this true?????

No.

I'm sure many people think its plausible that if you can get more power by changing the ECU settings then you've made the engine more efficient. So by not using that power you must get better fuel economy. But it doesn't work that way. The setting used to produce more power achieve it by sacrificing efficiency and economy.

You probably could get better fuel economy by moving the settings in the other direction and do other things that that sacrifice some power, ie, effectively detune it from being a 172 to more like the standard Megane 2 litre engine but keep the higher compression.