Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing GDI ECU Flash

Hi All,

I was expecting the ECU flash upgrade to rectify the high revs on start up and have now e mailed the factory for clarification.

If and when they get back to me I will post the response.

Ian

Ian,
Already done that, got a reply from "Russell" who confirmed everything that we have all been saying. I think it is a suck it and see sort of up grade.

I would be interested in hearing exactly what Morgan are claiming the ECU upgrade is meant to achieve and how the mapping is changed. I have no issues at all with the engine on my car, although a replacement manifold and cat improved the flat spot at low revs and perked it up a bit. (ok it doesn't start occasionally but you can't have everything)
I would assume that the same ECU has been fitted to every GDI but it appears that only some have issues, such as high revs on startup, so is the problem not the ECU at all and something else?
Thanks for the feedback and based on that I will stick with the set up as it is until more information is available

Hi Lowebird, I was assured by the factory that the ECU had been thoroughly tested through the development and they would not release it until it was right, seems they got it wrong, I was told by the factory that the ECU flash would sort the high revs out and that is what the dealers were told, the dealer I use had an e mail with the flash which said it was for the high revs on starting and poor fuel consumption, I had the dealer ring the factory as I was expecting a lot more (flat spot at 3000, plume of grey smoke on hard acceleration, sooty exhaust, revs hanging) the factory confirmed to the dealer it was indeed to sort out all the problems.
Ford engines generally run really well, how does Morgan manage to c*ck it up, I presume they don't use Ford ECU's, they must buy them in from somewhere else.
Roadster ecu's are dodgy, the +4ss Ecu was dodgy now the GDI +4 ECU is dodgy.
As of yet the factory have not responded to my e mail, so I'll wait a while longer.

Exbiker
Somewhat novel experience for me not to suffer from a problem that affects the GDI model but I can confirm that I have a completely standard ECU and have never had had a flat spot at 3000 rpm, smoke on acceleration, sooty exhaust or rev hanging, my engine response is very good with 'blipping' the throttle before changing down something I childishly revel in.
I can understand how the panel fit and assembly critical parts of the car will vary depending on the mood and skill of the worker but I fail to understand how a standard fit component can result in such variable performance.
I have an ongoing issue with Morgan who are claiming, incorrectly, that the parts fitted in production have never been changed. I wonder whether the ECU parameters were changed at some stage without this being acknowledged by the factory.
Mine was one of the first GDI's, build started in June 2014, and I am not aware of any other similar age cars that have this problem so may be worth seeing if there is a point in time when this started to to be an issue.
Unfortunately the evidence is needed as I have no confidence that Morgan will acknowledge that a change has occurred and certainly not accept that there is any problem as a result.

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the information, I wonder if the problems just affect the more recent ie 2015 onwards models, does any one on this forum have gdi+4's without the problems?

I wonder if we could ask around and see if we can establish if there is a cut off where the problems arise, I know of at least 4 other +4's all 2015 that have this issue, there is a 2014 (Andrews car) which doesn't have the problem, any one else out there with a 2014 +4 GDI ??

Ian

Exbiker,
I sent my 'mail to:-dsc@morgan-motor.co.uk for the attention of Russell who is in the service dept.
In his defence, my 'mail went into his spam hence the delay in reply.
I hope you get a definitive reply.

Hi Reg, Thanks, If I get anywhere I will post and let you know,
Cheers, Ian

Hello Chaps,
Well, it's done !!!
I had the ECU Flash upgrade done at Krazy Horse today, also had a very nice lunch.
So, although I accept this is not a very scientific test, these are my observations.
I used the average mpg readout display in the speedo. The road conditions were the same there and back, a round trip of approx. 115 miles. I adhered to all the speed limits which ranged from 30mph to 60 mph. The traffic was the usual mix of cars, vans, trucks and Bank holiday caravans plus a few bikes.
The best average mpg before the up grade was 30.4mpg and after was 37.00mpg so a BIG thank you to the Morgan software engineers.
The high revs on start up are still there but for a much shorter period.
The car seems all together much more lively but, importantly to me at least, it still makes a great noise with lots of farts and bangs. A nice burble on the over run too. I will need to clean the exhaust to see if that has become cleaner but overall, a well worthwhile up grade.

Nice one Reg.