I've considered ECU upgrades for my 1.8 Duratec, no conclusions yet and not a really serious problem as I don't 'labour' it at such low revs in 5th and prefer to run at 2ooo revs in a lower gear eg. 30mph in 3rd. I've got a K&N filter which helped and 98 octane fuel certainly also helps to eliminate the pinking, as well as a sound thrashing now and then to keep it 'sweet'.
As I understand ECUs, they re-adjust to style of driving and the more I regularly open it up the better it runs...the Italian Tune Up! On investigations so far, I was told it could take several hundred miles to get the ECU to re-think what is required of it eg. 'get used to' higher octane fuel or driving it more energetically. I'd try dropping a notch and make the engine work a bit more, especially if it's used to cruising at low revs in high gears.....more fun too.
Cheers
I'm a bit muddled here. Isn't the situation with the ECU ( whether it's Bluefin or whatever) that once it's programmed ( or re-programmed) then it should respond to the signals coming from the MAF, Catsensor etc. without any 're-learning' period.
I've looked at an ECU reprogamme for my Zetec 4/4- with or without a throttle body conversion- but have stayed away from it so far because I'm still not convinced about the effect or otherwise it might have on the ancillaries
I'd also confirm that my own experience is that opening up both induction side and fitting s s/s straight through exhaust has made the car much more free-revving lower down the range. Also ( as a number of posts on TM have pointed out,) dropping to a 200 cell Cat can also be beneficial
G
