[King_Kang]

I'll do you all a favor.

Even though I don't own a Subaru, I really like their cars. One of my closest friends is a Suby tech at one of the largest Suby dealerships in NC. He has the 00 impreza and just can't seem to find the time to put the JDM WRX (ej something something something) motor in it.

They had this guy bring in a WRX that had engine codes indicating cylinder misfire on two of 2 and 4. He had done some mods, like a turbo timer, yet because of his adamat bickering, they decided the would cover his motor under warantee.

A whole new block came in, and all the appropriate peices from his old motor were taken off and put back on his new block. When my friend took the car for a test drive, it still ran a little rough at idle. A bit concerned (mechanics get paid ALOT less for warantee work) he opend in the trunk of the car to do some investigating. What did he find? Four nice neat screw holes.....the type you'd drill to mount a bottle.

He showed the holes to the subaru master tech who made a phone call, then told him to remove the ecu. The sent the ecu away.

Basically, your ecu keeps a basic record of what your car does. Essentially, if your stupid and put nitrous on a turbo car (instead of turning up the boost) subaru can find out about it.

Big Fuji is watching you.

BTW, if your check enine light flickers while you're at max boost.....it means you're destroying your pre-cat.

 

[Hispanics]

I find all this hard to believe. I don't think the ecu has a hard drive with storage capability!!. All rumors all second hand info!

 

[King_Kang]

You know what...this is the internet and you don't have to believe me. I'm just telling you what a Subaru mechanic who works at a Subaru dealership told me last week.

I'm not making up some silly story to ruffle your feathers. I just thought you might want to know.....

 

[pgetchell]

i am not taking sides here, but technically, it does not need to have a hard drive to record data, especially if it is just recording error messages or peaks.

hmmm... i bet a few people on this board could shed some light...

 

[evoklr]

Just think logically for one second: the Subaru ECU learns and adjusts to the driver right? When you mod the car, you reset it so it relearns. Learning implies you have to have a way to store what you've learned. Therefore, the ECU does have ability to store information, probably in solid state memory. Hard disks are definitely not the only way to store information, anyone who tells you so is lying.

It wouldn't need a great deal of space because all it needs to do is store text that can later be translated into meaningful information. I'm absolutely sure any knowledgeable Subaru tech could figure out that you've been running nitrous, or a boost controller. Follow the theory if you can see it, so can a computer.

And yes, I am qualified enough to call this a completely accurate hypothesis.

 

[sakura-iro]

also be aware that car mfgrs. have been known to snoop message boards.

 

[murley]

Subaru Meet in Roland Heights, CA

Here's some good information about memory options. It's some pretty kool info and they have already written HUGE contracts with some of the biggest mfg'ing companies out there. I've got a good chunck of money in them!

http://www.remtron.com

 

[4MLA1FN]

Current consumption of Stock STi

woosh. i don't see the connection murley

 

[murley]

Am I a terd or was that just some sarcasim...?

 

[4MLA1FN]

...Learning implies you have to have a way to store what you've learned. Therefore, the ECU does have ability to store information, probably in solid state memory.

well put evoklr. i've got a usb flash drive that holds 256MB and they make 'em bigger. the physical chip is probably .25" square. it is entirely plausible that the ecu has ample memory to store any and all information subaru deems necessary.

 

[RDiamond]

wheels

I think ECUs have been able to record peak values for a long time. I recall reading eons ago (1998) about subie ecu's recording the maximum speed reached at each of the wheels. I wouldn't be surprised to find the peak boost level, etc. recorded. We're talking about info that could fit on an 8k chip.

The safety nazis are pushing to turn ecu's into black boxes to record everything "in the event of a crash". Really what they want to do is punish people for using an automobile for any purpose other than an appliance to get from point A to point B. They have not succeded in this effort -- yet.

 

[4MLA1FN]

sounds like a new niche for the ecu tuners.

 

[JJ]

The safety Nazis have succeeded in thier effort partly. The so called black-box is actually reality in some cars. I knew of an accident involving a drunk in a Ford Ranger- they sent the ECU out to Ford, and had the speed at the time the airbags went off (speed at impact)...

 

[amdmaxx]

what they didnt know is that the needle of speedometer went three times around before stopping on 30 mph..
:-?

 

[murley]

thanks

Yeah, the flash-memory that they use records almost Everything! It's pretty amazing. Like, a lot of cars now have yaw sensors that detect lateral G's, steering wheel movements, gas and brake pedal changes and all of that. They can put together with that memory chip exactly what happend in an accident or theft, no matter what any driver says happened....

 

[darwood]

The safety Nazis have succeeded in thier effort partly. The so called black-box is actually reality in some cars. I knew of an accident involving a drunk in a Ford Ranger- they sent the ECU out to Ford, and had the speed at the time the airbags went off (speed at impact)...

Well that is alot better than using the highly accurate skid mark method of determining speed in an accident, which there probably weren't any of considering it was a drunk driver.

 

[hatchy]

sorry, picture did not come through

Buy a spare ECU in case you are paranoid.