A few interesting tidbits about the MS3 ECU...

[PSI Tuning]

In developing our reflash for the MS3 I've found a few little interesting details. For those who like to drive it like their foot is a lead weight, the stock ECU records the number of times it has hit the rev limiter, it records the number of kms driven with the CEL on and it also records the maximum boost level held for more than 1s. It also records the total number of seconds the engine has been run WOT.

These can -as far as I understand be cleared by unplugging the battery for a minute or so, and I don't know if Mazda ever checks the values, but it certainly can tell them how hard you drove it if such a query were done.

-Michael

[Fobio]

Thanks for the heads-up!

I also understand that the ECU also records how many times it's been flashed.

Just to clarify, unhooking the battery will wipe these "recordings" from being viewed by "The Man"? Thx.

[JashiK]

Why Fobio do you have something to HIDE? haha
I miss my MS3 man.

[Fobio]

Why Fobio do you have something to HIDE? haha
I miss my MS3 man.

lol...I don't know...but just in case a few ninjas from Hiroshima comes looking...

your MS3 must miss you more, with all the care you can give it...if anything, I hope when the times comes, you can refresh my stone chipped front end, so I don't have to hide that either...:)

[JashiK]

have you dyno'd your car? What is it pushing?

[Fobio]

I don't have a proper stg 2 dyno sheet yet... =(

[PSI Tuning]

Thanks for the heads-up!

I also understand that the ECU also records how many times it's been flashed.

Just to clarify, unhooking the battery will wipe these "recordings" from being viewed by "The Man"? Thx.

Some ECUs save this. I haven't seen anything about it in a Mazda ECU yet. Normally it's stored in a different place and a reflash count would certainly not be wiped by pulling the battery as a reflash wipes all the RAM values anyway.

From what I can tell the figures are stored in RAM only but it is possible somewhere else they're sent to NV storage.

-Michael

[Fobio]

Some ECUs save this. I haven't seen anything about it in a Mazda ECU yet. Normally it's stored in a different place and a reflash count would certainly not be wiped by pulling the battery as a reflash wipes all the RAM values anyway.

From what I can tell the figures are stored in RAM only but it is possible somewhere else they're sent to NV storage.

-Michael

Thank you for the clarification Michael. And I agree that battery pull will wipe the RAM, but whatever safeguard/flash counter they have will most likely be stored on some form of NV memory.

*shakes fist @ The Man*

wonder if they count how many times the battery's been pulled...

[PSI Tuning]

There are a few reasons this is not all that likely. I'd rather not get too far into the technical details of how the ECU works. Sum and short of it, I can't warrantee 100% it's not saved but probably not. Also, very unlikely that they would save the number of times the battery was removed because it wouldn't really tell them anything reliably. A weak battery on a cold morning could reset your ECU. It's no smoking gun and not likely to be grounds for denying a warrantee claim.

-Michael