[lewylew]

Can I buy an additional tuned ECU and switch back and forth for warranty reasons?

[G MONEY]

Originally Posted by lewylew

Can I buy an additional tuned ECU and switch back and forth for warranty reasons?

Nope. There is no way to be undetectable. Just tune it and have a blast

[ztx84]

I definitely wouldn't do that. There are all sorts of ways they could tell something had been messed with. You have two choices - tune it and accept that you void some of your warranty, or leave it stock and keep the cover intact. There's no way to have your cake and eat it.

[SwankPeRFection]

The only way that’s not going to “hide” that it’s probably tuned is because the mileage won’t match up between the ECU and the other modules in the car. Technically the cloning and swapping between the two ECUs will functionally work. I don’t believe the ECU reads the updated one and updates itself as you swap between them. If it did, then this would work, as both would start and run the car since they’d be identical from an immobilizer standpoint.

[forcefed]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

The only way that’s not going to “hide” that it’s probably tuned is because the mileage won’t match up between the ECU and the other modules in the car. Technically the cloning and swapping between the two ECUs will functionally work. I don’t believe the ECU reads the updated one and updates itself as you swap between them. If it did, then this would work, as both would start and run the car since they’d be identical from an immobilizer standpoint.

Are you sure the ecu keeps the milage and not the bcm?

[chris3g]

mileage is definitely stored in multiple places. there will be other discrepancies as well. However, in your favor this is a different level of evidence for BMW than directly detecting a tuned ECU. IF BMW denies a warranty claim due to suspected engine tuning, how far are you willing to take it to fight them on it?

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by forcefed

Are you sure the ecu keeps the milage and not the bcm?

That, I am not. This ECU swap thing works on other cars no issue and without any problems, including no issues with mileage. Would be interesting to try… it’s one of the reasons why I was looking to find an early S58 ecu that wasn’t factory locked off an X3M and use that as the tuned one. Neither FEMTO or BM3 ever wanted to answer some other questions about a couple of other DMEs that are identical hardware inside/out but much cheaper and easier to source, as if it was some big trade secret or some shit. I chalked it up to them being knowledge hoarders for job security. 🙄

[Bay0]

Originally Posted by ztx84

I definitely wouldn't do that. There are all sorts of ways they could tell something had been messed with. You have two choices - tune it and accept that you void some of your warranty, or leave it stock and keep the cover intact. There's no way to have your cake and eat it.

Void some of meaning what, the powertrain?