Skoda Octavia II (1Z3) – ECU remap v1.0

I refuse to die as empty as a can of beer – I rather screw everything up by myself than trust tExperts !!! This article is summary of my first attempt to recalibrate ECU for my Hilda HR I.

Summary

• suspension must be faster than engine – what is point of high HP figures if you crash in first corner
• stock cars are compromised by comfort – suspension is weakness of most cars
• more fuel you inject – more heat engine produces
• if you don’t cool you’re heading for expensive disaster
• never listen to tExperts, always do your own research and then use intelligence and common sense !!!
• there is no shortcuts to excellence !!!
• ECU – EDC16U34 v2.969
• spec of my car

Once you stop learning you start dying. ~ Albert Einstein

I was thinking about ECU remapping for long time. I knew theory of engine combustion but I had absolutely no idea how engine management works. From computers I know that SW without HW is nothing and vice versa – I always want an optimal system instead of best one. Chassis and suspension is still weakest point of my car but I compensate it by my skills and proper strategy.

Driver Wish or Pedal map

I significantly improved engine cooling as I’ve mentioned in my post. Meanwhile, I’ve been studying everything I’ve found about ECU remapping. Principle is easy but most, time consuming,  fun comes from seeking ECU calibration maps. It took me many hours to find necessary maps and still I don’t know what most of them mean.

MAP based Smoke limiter

Of course there is many internet forums – endless polemics of people who have absolutely no idea what they do. I noticed that most people love to socialise and help others. How you can know something if you spend most of your free time by chatting on internet ??? Coaching is modern trend – people love hope. If most people would spend their energy on improving themselves rather than pretend to be something they are not, this planet would be great place inhabited by knowledgable prosperous people. But spineless people without integrity love shortcuts and shallow life.

Injector duration map

Enough about inescapable facts of modern society. I always try to absorb as much information as possible so that I can analyze theories and concepts. I know there is always somewhere real masters who from time to time share their immense knowledge. I always learnt from masters but in person because they are always same.

Those who know don’t talk and those who talk don’t know. ~ Lao Tzu

My friend who pushed me to do ECU remapping told me “Don’t worry it is all about delta/percentage increase.”. Yeah right, if I get an ounce of gold every time I hear it – I would be broke by now because I would spend most of my money for repairs of expensive gear I use.

I’ve joined Ecuconnections and  learnt all necessary from their guides. I started to dig deeper because most people stop learning prematurely. It’s like they feel they already know everything or so.

All is not as it seems

Before you start ECU remapping do yourself a favour please. Study and use intelligence because it is very easy to screw up something just because we usually don’t know what we do. Just because you want to be best it doesn’t mean you have to waste your resource whether be it time or money.

N75 vacuum valve calibration map

IT’S ALL ABOUT LIMITS OF HARDWARE:

• EGT aka Exhaust Gas Temperature – it is said that modern materials of turbochargers, head and exhaust are made from better materials. Garrett turbos are able to withstand temperatures of 1000 deg Celsius but who knows. My EGT was 750 deg Celsius when pushed hard – result is engine oil overheating as I’ve already written about in previous post. 
• you can kill turbo in no time – uncontrolled spooling is slow but deadly enemy
• DMF clutch is comfy but weak – it is matter of time before it breaks down
• gearbox – nobody knows what is construction torque limit. It is just a guess and experience of unfortunate drivers.
• engine internals – it is said that manufacturers intentionally reduce power output of engines because people don’t care about maintenance…there is argument about fuels and so on. Nobody knows. Common sense and intelligence tells me that some arguments are true but who knows. Too many variables.
• air box with filter is a bad joke – it is like a labyrinth. How can air flows without restriction there? Designers were most likely drunk or so.
• exhaust is hell – so many bends and DPF with little or no difference over standard catalytic converter. No free flow either.
• EGR – the most useless part of modern cars. It suppose to reduce CO2 emission. I know one thing for sure – more fuel you inject the quicker you get to cruise speed.

What do you think is better? Accelerating two minutes with ECO car with average fuel consumption of 9l/100km or high performance “dirty” car, which is able to accelerate in no time with same or even lower fuel consumption and thus lower CO2 emissions.

Russian roulette

I’ve found many maps and my car still has got even more of them I don’t understand. Few sleepless nights but I found all necessary maps. It is weird ECU – nobody knows much about it. It is first experimental model of Octavia fitted with DPF. I even tried pro tuners if they would sell me map pack for my ECU. Silence without reply.

Mapping of Torque to IQ

I’ve remapped my previous car, just for fun. Practice makes perfection! It is very easy if everything is already known thanks to guys who programmed VAG EDC15 Suite.

I used demo version of WinOLS and started to search manually maps. Some are obvious and most of them are hell to distinguish (for now because I’m just a beginner – I’ve got a week of ECU remapping experience). WinOLS is great tool but it is just a tool, which suppose to improve your productivity. No matter how hard programmers try it is very hard to program something without proper documentation! What they basically do is guessing.

Torque Limiter

Sure, you can buy full version with modules for automatic map selection but it helps little and creates more chaos (that’s my opinion) – it costs just 1,600€ for a newcomer plus checksum modules.

Results

• improved mid range power output – you know that feeling; car is so lazy despite it has got 140HP. I could push it hard but I needed high revs of 3500rpm> Now, it pushes me into seats right from 2000rpm. I don’t need high revs anymore.
• torque significantly improved – “HP sells cars, torque wins races.”
• excessive temperatures of exhaust – I didn’t play with SOI (Start of Injection); best performance is accomplished at 5-15 deg ATDC . I’m at 18deg and I’m getting EGT 850deg Celsius – that’s 100deg more than before.
• turbo spikes – I don’t have smooth boost
• common power output after Stage 1 is 180-190HP/380-420Nm depending on injectors.

There is still so much to improve

• I still don’t know what most maps are for. I’ve changed IQ (Injection Quantity) but nothing happened.
• I’ve to play with Injection Timing – high EGT is bad. Heat dissipate into engine oil.
• I want smooth ride without Boost spikes.

Question is can we make even better?