Caldina GTT ECU upgrade (tiptronic)

[Rager]

Hi All

I am looking at various options etc regarding ECU upgrade or even just tuning of the factory ECU if that is even possible?

I know NZ fuel is pretty bad etc. So if I could tune the ECU to suit I may get a little better performance.

So my questions are.

1) Can you upgrade / tune the factory ECU?

2) If 1 is not possible what other options are there for the a Caldina GTT (tiptronic) and what is the approximate cost? I would prefer plug and pray.

I have been reading the forums and Fivebob and Mr Revhead need there brains downloaded and sold.

Any information would be great

Thanks

[Rager]

Nobody got any information? Even a little?

Thanks

[Mr Revhead]

sell my brain? doubt youd get much for it


fivebob has answered this one a few times.....
i really should faq some of his answers

basicly, its a rather major job involving a very good ecu....
iirc he is/was working with a motec and going grey doing it....

[fivebob]

There are some Japanese plug and play ECU's but I don't think they're programmable by the end user, and I doubt they'd have an English software interface anyway, even if they were

The other choice is piggybacks. E-Manage Ultimate, which can be programmed by the user but requires you to hack the loom, and HKS F-ConS, which has adapter looms but requires some special software that very few people have access to. Either of these would be ok for street use on a midly modified engine. In fact if I could program the HKS myself it'd still be on my car.

After that point you get into the terrority of standalone ECU's and making your own plug and play adapter. Not too much of a problem with a manual ECU, as you can just biff the stock ECU and plug an aftermarket one in it's place.

However the Tiptronic ECU also serves as a transmission computer, so you either have to replace those functions with another computer (about $1200 for a dedicated Transmission unit), or continue to run the stock ECU in piggyback fashion, which is where it get's ugly. Not all aftermarket ECU's will happily share inputs and you need to duplicate some sensors as well like the temp ones. Even then I don't know if it will work without throwing a check light and going into limp mode because the engine isn't getting the correctly timed return signals from the ignitors or some other seemingly insignificant problem which cases it to fail. Then there is the issue of the interface to the ABS/VSC/TRC computer

[Rager]

Ok so the short answer is .... don't really bother

Damn was hoping for an easy answer. Oh well ... Pity Toyota don't allow reprogramming of the fuel maps .

Oh well

Thanks for the response it is greatly appreciated

thanks
Ryan

[gttNICK]

what did that driven performance GTT have in it?

[fivebob]

Ok so the short answer is .... don't really bother

More like, "Don't bother unless you understand car electronics, or are prepared to pay someone who does"

[blitza]

twstd's was manual, for a start.

how about fooling the stock computer? a bit backyard i know, but increase fuel pressure...hrmmm, no scope for timing adjustments.... don't bother.

however, what are the boost map limits on the factory ecu?

anyone,

anyone,

and boboffive, that pcs lists the u140 as already supported, is this us or am i confused?

[fivebob]

however, what are the boost map limits on the factory ecu?

If it's the same as the Gen III then around 18psi, before it just dumps fuel. Fuel cut is just above this anyway so not much point in going higher.

that pcs lists the u140 as already supported, is this us or am i confused?

Sort of, I beleive it's for the Lexus RX300 U140F, where as the Caldina has the U140E. Don't know if there would be any differences in the wiring, but I would think they'd be close to the same, if not exactly the same, in that respect.