GR Yaris The EcuTek thread

[Onehp]

Since EcuTek is moving the game forward with (soon) possibility to do:
- remote tunes through app
- advanced app logging
- multimap (4) through app
- Launch Control with BOTL
- Port Injector Scaling
- Flat Foot Shift
- Rolling Launch (antilag)

I think it is time to create a dedicated thread to discuss all things related.

For UK, it seems to me Litchfield is a strong partner for this, since they write they helped in development. Fensport are a master tuner also. And not to forget Whifbitz that do some serious builds.
ACME in Italy seems involved too, they have been tuning the GR Yaris in the rally cup for years so they know their stuff too.

Would love to hear people with own experience and also sharing logs, so we can discuss settings and what to target depending on preferences, hardware installed, performance goals, power delivery preferences and reliability trade-offs.

 

[Michael Knight]

How about that shop in Stockholm who is well experienced with Ecutek? Remote tuning opens options, and it is good as you can work with well founded shop. Of course f2f tuning is always best option.

 

[GRBadger]

Had a brief chat with Iain Litchfield this morning and have ordered myself the remote flash tool and file. Will let all know my thoughts and experiences in due course, but sounds very promising and loving the fact that more and more potential is being unlocked now from the standard ECU..

 

[Onehp]

How about that shop in Stockholm who is well experienced with Ecutek? Remote tuning opens options, and it is good as you can work with well founded shop. Of course f2f tuning is always best option.

Yeah Sweden has JRM Tuning. I love a tuner that cares to hear my desires and fears, and has demonstrated ability to cater for that. I'm afraid I am not the easiest customer , we will see how this ends. I probably need to wait as I want full flex fuel. Port injectors seems to be solved, just need the flexfuel part with possibly an ethanol sensor.

Till then, I would love to learn more from others, having tuned my GT86 myself on E85 I am a little control freak in knowing what is inside the box, not just "wow great" when rolling away from the tuner and that's it

 

[Onehp]

Also really interested to hear if it improved on the stock ECU for driveability, low rpm throttle response, variability of power etc

 

[p3.auto]

I was summoned

As mentioned, ACME are dealers for EcuTek and know their way around. Unfortunately I don't know enough about EcuTek or tuning limits to give specifics but with remote tuning an option i'd definitely consider reaching out to them, they've done over 200 Yaris' now between road and race and I was genuinely impressed by their knowledge when I visited them last month.

I was made aware of an OTA update with Corollas that stopped comms with the tuning module but don't know if that impacts the Yaris, would be something to double check.

 

[p3.auto]

Also really interested to hear if it improved on the stock ECU for driveability, low rpm throttle response, variability of power etc

Driveability is one of the hardest parts about tuning, took ages to get the TPS and PPS curve dialled in with mine on the Syvecs, always felt slightly off but we've sorted it now.

One aspect that should be better is the simplified wastegate management, the OEM ECU likes to pull boost for seemingly random reasons as it looks at so many variables. A simplified approach should give a much more consistent feel to boost delivery.

Edited to add context - when I say driveability this wasn’t ACME’s fault. My car was originally set up by Tom at Fensport and when he left the business he kind of helped with a few things via email but it wasn’t his job anymore. He referred me to ACME and when they took over they fixed my driveability issues quickly

 

[chewlo]

I had a chat with my local tuner who is a "Master" tuner with ECUtek (not sure if that is significant at all, but it's what's on ECUtek's site) since I'm interested in converting to flex fuel.

Anyway, the tuner recommended holding off on getting a reflash now since they mentioned the RaceROM isn't completely ready and it's more the marketing team jumping the gun. He mentioned that while the features are technically there, the overall usability and ability to log error codes is still lacking.

Hopefully someone gets the RaceROM regardless and proves my local tuner otherwise, since I'm keen myself to get a reflash.

 

[p3.auto]

Just had a word back from Matteo at ACME and he said the latest release looks promising. Said it’s a “great step forward” from the previous release and he’s going to test it over the next few days, if anyone is interested he’s happy to discuss

 

[SuperHoon]

once i get a deposit on some property for sale i will be throwing my yaris in the ring with ECUTEK on a ethanol based tune.

hopefully it doesnt take too long.

 

[Onehp]

From Litchfields insta last summer, only with their IC, Eventuri and Akra catback. Nice not too high flat torque curve, and power keeps going crescendo to redline. Just how I like it. I already have similar hardware, maybe I should just skip the e85 hassle and go for a solid e30 map (and some lower tune ones for bad fuel and 3rd party use)...

Edit: looking forward to hearing those detailed driveability reports on the new boost strategy, rolling launch, some logs for reference etc. Patience, patience....

 

[Michael Knight]

View attachment 27322

From Litchfields insta last summer, only with their IC, Eventuri and Akra catback. Nice not too high flat torque curve, and power keeps going crescendo to redline. Just how I like it. I already have similar hardware, maybe I should just skip the e85 hassle and go for a solid e30 map (and some lower tune ones for bad fuel and 3rd party use)...

for longivity I would choose e30 as it is quite sufficient as we don't need extra torques. maybe for one hot lap on track e85 could be useful, if you find yourself in a scenario where nothing more can be found behind the steering wheel

 

[p3.auto]

Definitely worth having the flexibility of a 95RON map, means you can still enjoy the car when you’re limited on fuel choices without relying on the knock sensor

Surprised a bit at the Litchfield graph, would have thought peak power would come in sooner and fall off. Seems to imply they aren’t tapering off boost at the high end as much as others do, the OEM turbo tends to blow hot air above about 6krpm. They’ve cropped out correction factors and whp figures too which can be misleading. OEM MAP sensor is 2bar and 350hp with under 2 bar seems… optimistic in my opinion.

 

[Onehp]

Definitely worth having the flexibility of a 95RON map, means you can still enjoy the car when you’re limited on fuel choices without relying on the knock sensor

Surprised a bit at the Litchfield graph, would have thought peak power would come in sooner and fall off. Seems to imply they aren’t tapering off boost at the high end as much as others do, the OEM turbo tends to blow hot air above about 6krpm. They’ve cropped out correction factors and whp figures too which can be misleading. OEM MAP sensor is 2bar and 350hp with under 2 bar seems… optimistic in my opinion.

For stuff like this, a log would be awesome.

Torque is relatively very low and wouldn't exceed 1.6 bar. And I can think of a few ways to extract power higher up without rediculous boost - which would be an issue for valve float. Those involve control over valve timing, port injection and a proper AFR but really I wouldn't know. If this one is an issue, 348bhp, then I can wonder the same thing for the stage 1, how the hell do they get a solid 327bhp out of that (and a lot more torque relatively), as the hardware on this car does account for almost the complete delta... Doing this with 1 year warranty is pretty neat but of course no real long term guarantee.... Remote tune is no warranty it seems.

Stage 1 as published on their website

 

[GJR]

This is my original Litchfield remap from January. The car had a forge air intake system, forge turbo intake pipe and a whifbitz titanium gpf back exhaust. They were surprised how it performed and said the only intake they have seen make any power were the eventuri. It will be going back late next month, possibly it’ll slip into June for the latest EcuTek software. It is also running the eventuri air intake with the DO88 turbo inlet pipe. Back to back I could feel a difference with the intakes. The eventuri definitely built more at the top end where the forge would fall off or go a little flat then go again. I think that was the intake flap opening. Overall I went with the eventuri. I don’t think it’s running very high boost levels. Maybe 1.4 from the crude dash gauge. The remap is really good in that it is so drivable. It pulls all the way through without delivering a big dollop of power only to go flat soon after. I’ll update with the new software once it’s installed.

 

[warren_RS3]

Received mine yesterday. Initial impressions is it's a hell of a step up from the standard map Litchfield uploaded on my car last April.

I remember thinking with the ECU map, it's a nice gain higher up the power band, but the map felt quite generic like they'd added a bit of boost everywhere, but it wasn't spectacular. The top end for overtakes was most welcome, but the bottom end power was marginal gains.

Roll on to this, whole different ball game. Driving round large over the motorway interchange roundabouts where I usually had unbreakable grip, the 4wd system is working a lot harder to keep the car going forwards. The pull at the top end is even stronger, it gets to disqualification speeds much quicker than OEM set up so my guess is I may need an intercooler come summer.

General observations, it could do with a manual to detail the button presses for launch control / map switching / user start up guide as it's not wholly straightforward, particulary if you are used to other manufacturer set ups (I only drive this once or twice a month). Otherwise it's a marked step up from the more generic maps and plug ins that were floating about early days, and with my Forge intake, panel filter and GPF back exhaust it's pretty much everything I need for UK roads. I'll keep an eye on IAT's to see if an IC would be beneficial, then will look into whether the spray bar solution from the Mk2 is economically viable.

 

[Onehp]

Thanks all above for giving report. So you can map switch even without the app @warren_RS3 ? That might sway med towards E85 without flex...

Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but maybe also for others, for IC performance it's not intake IAT but manifold or charge air temp (CACT or whatever it's called) that needs monitoring. Speeking of that, is logging any good? How high resolution/frequency is the readout with say min. 10 PIDs?

 

[Michael Knight]

How do they do the tuning with remote setup. do runs with generic map, upload your log and they fine tune, and rinse and repeat?
I do like the approach of switchable maps from the cabin. As do track driving I would prefer mild setups as don't want to burn hands with heat but maybe they can adjust per car usage.

 

[warren_RS3]

So bare with me, I'm still learning on this one as it only got loaded at 4:48 yesterday afternoon, and as it was rush hour I didn't really get much of a chance to test the car in clear air.

So I'm told you can switch between the maps using the phone app or the cruise control buttons. I have no idea how you activate the launch control or rolling launch facilities, or how you set them up as yet.

The data logging I've not actively tried so far, that is for some point this weekend, but the phone app has many more parameters to track than I understand, and it seems to all be in 'real time' as I opened the screen to look at it for a bit. Here is an extract of some of the data that was on show:

 

[warren_RS3]

How do they do the tuning with remote setup. do runs with generic map, upload your log and they fine tune, and rinse and repeat?
I do like the approach of switchable maps from the cabin. As do track driving I would prefer mild setups as don't want to burn hands with heat but maybe they can adjust per car usage.

I told them the mods that were on my car, then they emulated it with their own car and did some dyno runs. Of course it's not the same as having the actual car on the dyno, but it saved me a 6 hour round trip, and what they can offer is once you have run the base file for a bit, you run some logs, post the figures back and then they read the log files and amend and reupload the map according to how the car is performing (or not) based on your mods or changes. Also if the local Toyota dealer over writes the map with an update you can just reupload it from your phone. That is a brown trouser moment as when you upload the map using the phone you get about 8-10 error messages on the digital panel between the clocks, but then the app runs a DTC clearance procedure to clear the codes and you're good to go