Even worse, the ECUs take up to three minutes for the altered figure to be uploaded.
![who flash ecu for motorcycles who flash ecu for motorcycles](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zU8AAOSw3X9l2MiT/s-l960.jpg)
So that means around 100 dyno runs – a massive amount of time and effort. A dyno operator generally does three or four dyno runs to get an accurate figure for each fuelling alteration. To do it perfectly, you need to alter up to 25 load settings for all the various throttle openings. Reflashing the bike's stock ECU fuelling map is an enormous amount of work. You may even need to pay to get the ECU set back to a standard map… Even worse, if you want to return the bike to stock, and sell off the performance exhaust, cams, air filter or other tuning bits, then the altered ECU won't work properly with the standard settings.
![who flash ecu for motorcycles who flash ecu for motorcycles](https://mcuinnovations.com/static/assets/img/software/ecuworkbench_500_ign.png)
A flashed ECU is pretty much going to have to go with the bike, and you may, or may not get the value back. It's harder to get your ECU flashing money back – a Power Commander is easily removed, and will sell for good money secondhand. One basic downside occurs when you change bikes. But in the real world, it's not quite as simple. So that's the theory behind ECU flashing. Idle speed adjustment, quickshifter function, even datalogging and immobiliser bypass functions are all available. You can alter when the fan comes on, bypass sidestand and clutch switches, as well as fundamental things like rev limits, and even use more radical ignition timing to suit high-octane race fuel.
![who flash ecu for motorcycles who flash ecu for motorcycles](https://www.woolichracing.com/images/products/woolich-racing-suzuki-harness-type-2c-extension.jpg)
On a bike with secondary throttle valves, like a GSX-R or Hayabusa, you can take control of their opening characteristics. You can dump things like PAIR fresh air injection into the exhaust ports, or the EXUP valve operation. By reflashing the ECU you can remove these restrictions, as well as top-speed limits, or power restrictions in lower gears. Some bikes have restrictions here, meaning the ECU won't open the throttles fully in certain gears. So on Ride-by-Wire bikes, like Yamaha's R6 and R1, you can alter the rate at which the throttle plates open in relation to the twistgrip. And that means we can re-program not just the fuelling parameters, but anything at all that's controlled by the ECU. Most of the big bike manufacturers have used closed, proprietary fuel injection systems, with no way to access the sealed ECUs other than official factory methods, or advanced, high-end hacking techniques.īut now, firms like Woolich Racing have come up with tools that let us access the 'brains' inside the ECU on many modern bikes. That's part of the reason why ECU flashing is much more common on cars than bikes incidentally: cars have, historically, had easier ways to connect to their ECUs than bikes. To wit, some method of connecting a computer or laptop to the ECU. Nowadays, we don't need UV lamps to reprogram memory chips (we use EEPROMs, or similar types of memory), but we do need some specialised kit. These were erased by 'flashing them' - physically exposing them to ultraviolet light, which reset all the internal memory components, allowing a new program to be installed onto the memory. It's called 'flashing', because in ye olden days, computers used EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) chips. This means actually 'editing' the control programme that's on the bike's standard ECU, and uploading it into the memory. That brings us to the other method of fuelling tuning – re-flashing the ECU. The results are generally really good – a Power Commander gives great control over the fuelling on a bike engine, and can compensate for a wide range of engine tuning.īut there are limitations, and things you can't change so easily with a PC. Used with a Dynojet dyno and the control software, a tuner can quickly and easily alter the fuelling across the rev range, increasing or decreasing the amounts as needed, at all engine speeds, and across a range of throttle openings. These smart little boxes work by intercepting the injector signal from the engine's Electronic Control Unit (ECU), and changing the duration to suit, before passing it onto the injector. On bikes, the traditional way to alter this injector duration has been to use an aftermarket fuel injection computer, like the Dynojet Power Commander (PC). If you can alter the length of time that the engine's ECU opens the fuel injectors, you can change the amount of fuel put in at that point. On carburettors, that meant physically changing the jets: small brass tubes, with precise holes in them, that fed the fuel into the air flow.
![who flash ecu for motorcycles who flash ecu for motorcycles](https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/xJupBW5EzQY/hqdefault.jpg)
Change an exhaust, or airbox, alter the cam timing (or fit a turbocharger!), and chances are you'll need to alter the fuelling, so your engine gets the right amount of fuel to match the air flowing into the motor throughout the rev range. Modifying the fuelling on engines is an essential part of any tuning process. But what is ECU flashing? And how does it work? It's the latest in fuel-injection tuning, and they've been doing it with cars for years.