I have a plain old OBDII cable with no box and it worked fine.... How did you slurp out the old factory software in order for frans to modify it for you if you dont have a functioning cable?

--
Cheese

 

macncheese,

Thanks very much for your responses. I guess I wasn't very clear.

What I have downloaded from Herr Holzl's site is the cartune.exe file that is used to extract the VIN information from the car. I tried hooking up to the car and downloading the VIN information using my EASE diagnostics cable. I could not connect to the car, thus could not extract the information.

If I had known that a straight cable would have worked, I could get one of them easily from Multiplex Engineering. I have since then, however, ordered the black box and cable from the German outfit recommended by Herr Holzl.

Tell me macncheese, since you have used this product, once I get my VIN info and send it to MTH, do I have to tell them the mods so that they set up the file that is to be loaded into the ECU, or do they give me a utility that allows me to set it myself?

Thanks very much for sharing your experience with me. It's always good to have dialog with someone who has "been there, done that."

Thanks again.

 

LilRedMini,

you need the VIN to get the code for uploading the new file. The code is also needed for uploading the original file back as well if you need to do so.
What you need to do is download your original ECU file and send it to Franz.
He will modify your original. Make sure that you have V36 - V38 already on your ECU from MINI since he has a new file for those Software version which are better than the older versions.

So once CarTune detects your ECU info you click on the download button to get your original file. The ignition has to be on when you do it.

Tell him the mods you have. It can not hurt.

Alex

 

Okay, the cable made it across the Atlantic okay. I expect that the difference in all the components from the folks in Germany and your straight OBDII cable is that the little black box is an opto isolator. This prevents any electrical connection between the car and the computer, it is only an optical signal connection. This is for safeties sake to prevent damage to either. I expect though that the OBDII connection is built rugged enough such that the opto isolation is overkill. Once Alex told me that the straight cable worked, I had already ordered the one from Germany.

I got my file extracted from the car and sent it to Herr Holzl. He turned around the file in 24 hours. He offers very good customer service and has been patient with all my dumb questions. His utility is very easy and intuitive to use. So far I am an impressed customer.

The other two vendors that I have dealt with in purchasing mods have been equally fair and responsive. They are: Helix and Mini Madness.

I loaded his modified file into the car just now and started the car. I will drive it later. Upon starting, it seemed to miss while idling, but the engine was cold and the remapping may have some ill effect during warm up.

I assume that if I wanted, I could simply reload the original file that I downloaded from the car back into the ECU to reverse the process.

I will report the results tonight or tomorrow after I drive it. I have already put on the Borla, the CAI and now this, driving the car after each mod. I really wanted to do it all at once so I could have a better chance of seeing if I could feel any difference. Doing it in three separate steps will probably not give me any change in my seat of the pants dyno.

Thanks again to all who have offered information.

Stay tuned.

 

Well, I couldn't stand the wait. I went for a drive at lunch. I gave it about five miles to get it a little warmed up and then let it rip. This was with the air conditioner working like crazy in 95 degree heat.

From what I had read about remapping the MC, I expected some help in the lower RPM area, but it felt the same there. It DID feel stronger from the torque peak (about 4200 RPM) up. I assume that it can take advantage of the exhaust and intake better at higher RPM.

It is really difficult to feel these incremental changes. If you put this car on the dyno and found 15HP improvement, that would still not work out to a significant kick in the pants.

I am happy with the mods though. The little car sounds much better and seems to feel a little stronger. What is offsetting some of the gain is the heavy S lites that I put on. If I were still running the 15 pound original MC wheels, I think it would feel stronger yet.

All in all, if your going to reflash, I fully expect that this economical way to do it is probably just as effective as the more expensive alternatives.

 

Franz told me that you have to give it some time as well because of the memory the ECU has that stores data about your driving habbits (or so). I hope I explained this right.

Normally he recommends to get it deleted which he can do if you get it done by him or another German tuner (HiTec). Otherwise it will take some time for the ECU to adapt to the new flash.

Alex

 

Alex,

Thanks for the info. I had forgotten that some of the newer systems are driver adaptive. Did yours change over time, or did you delete that data when you uploaded your new file?

Thanks

 

I am still running the original.

I uploaded the 94 program once but then I did not get the pulley installed and switched back to the original. Now Franz is making a new file for me because of the high Ethanol content in Sonoco 94 here in Canada. I am too far away to get the adaptive memory deleted by Franz. :(

BTW...Franz told me to explain this to you because I forwarded the link of this thread to him.

Alex

 

Alex,

Thanks for all the correspondence regarding MTH. It sounds and seems like Franz is willing to answer questions and discuss all this via email. I would love to have more technical info about the parameters that are changed and about how the software works, but I don't know where to find it.

Thanks again.

 

@LilRedMini

here is a typical Cooper performance plot with German 98Okt. petrol in the fuel tank.

The upper line is with MTH data...

and the under line is stock power

Greetings @all

-Franz-

 

franz,

Welcome to our forum!

Your information is very much appreciated. I will print it for my records.

How long do you think it will take for the system to "train" itself about my driving habits.

Thanks very much for your great service, great product and ongoing information.

 

I've driven the car quite a bit in the last few days and I don't know if the driver adaptive data could have changed in this amount of time/miles or not. It is also cooler here today than it has been.

Whatever the reason, I don't think it's my imagination. The car seems to be considerably stronger in the 3,000 to 5,000 RPM range. That's where I normally drive it. I'm not big on going to the red line all the time.

I'm pretty happy with my mods.

 

Franz emailed me and said that it would take about 500 miles for the newly recorded driver adaptive data to really take effect. I have only driven it about 150 so far and it seems stronger.

I will post results here. If there is anyone interested in this economic approach I would strongly recommend it.

 

I am glad it worked out for you.

I am doing my pulley install right now and will have the ECU flashed later tonight.

Alex

 

Alex,

Have you finished your reflash and how has it worked for you?

My driver habits data seems to be taking hold now. Franz said it would take about 500 miles, but the car seems stronger every time I drive it now. It might already be peaking out. I can't imagine it getting much stronger than it is now.

I am so pleased with the reflash because my midrange gets stronger. I like to drive it in the 3,000 to 5,000 range and I think the drivers habits data is making it even stronger in that area.

I have driven a few stock MCS cars and I think that my car accelerates harder in that RPM band than an MCS. The MCS makes its power at a higher RPM at the expense of the midrange. Couple the fact that the MC is: lighter, slightly more aerodynamic, and significantly lower geared, and it is plausible that my impression may be correct. Please don't read into this that I think my MC is faster than MCS. That would be absurd. I am only saying that I think that it feels stronger in this RPM range than the low mileage, stone stock MCS cars that I have driven.

I realize that this little engine can never make mid range torque like an American V8, but I drive in the midrange much more than near the redline, so this is where I can appreciate more any added power.

 

I am extremely happy too.
The pulley is in and I flashed the ECU using the 91 program for now. Since I did all at once I can not tell you what difference the flash makes but overall the change is dramatic and I am loving every second of it.
I will put on the Sunoco94 program as soon as the tank is empty and filled up with the 94 gas.

Alex

 

ohhh good info! thanks people!

so, is there a cheaper alternative to the cable from that german site? and if so, which specific one is it, and where could i get one?

also, i'm guessing there are either a variety of programs, or there are modifieable fields within the program to change for different aki fuels, and mods and etc?

finally, you can change back to stock whenever? I'm going to guess this one is a yes.

thanks guys, i think this may be what i'll do for a ecu. Either this, or a dinan (which is surprisingly only $300).

 

No, you DON'T have access to individual parameters. The utility only provides download of existing map file and upload of whatever map file you want to use. You download the file and email it to Franz. HE does the modification to the map and emails it back to you. THEN you upload the file that HE modified.

I bought the cable from Germany that Franz mentions on his site. It has a black box that provides opto isolation and cost about $100. Alex successfully used a simple OBD2 cable without the black box. I found a cable on the internet from a company in California that appeared to be the same cable that Alex used. It was about $25 or so. I think the name of the company was Multiplex Engineering. You can do a google search for OBDII cable, or maybe ISO 9141 or whatever it is.

Go to Franz site at www.MTH-powerchip.de to start your research. After poking around on the sites that were linked from Franz site, I found a site with a pinout for the cable. That's how I was able to determine that the Multiplex Engineering cable was the same.

Alex might have more info about the cable that he uses.

I want to be as clear as I can about the effect of this remapping approach as opposed to the many vendors that have you send them your ECU. First of all, the ECU is so specific to your car, that it has the VIN encrypted. This makes me nervous about SENDING it somewhere. UPS, FEDEX and all such companies are really reliable, but they DO occasionally lose things. What if they lost your ECU? You don't have that risk with this approach.

Also, if you wish, you can quickly and easily reload your stock map file and then reload Franz' version and switch back and forth at will.

A downside to the MTH, and it is only a temporary one, is that the power improvement comes on slowly over a period of 500 miles or so. This is because your driving habit information changes gradually. When you send off your ECU, I fully believe that they erase the driver habits information at the same time they flash. Franz can do the same thing himself, but he is a little far away for those of us in the US to take advantage of this. For that reason your driving habits information starts taking almost immediate effect, thus getting the power increase almost immediately. I believe that this is why I have seen comments that the MTH makes no difference. I believe that whoever says this, has dyno'ed, uploaded the file and immediately dyno'ed again for the comparison. To get an accurate comparison you would need to do the second dyno run 500 miles after the flash unless Franz erased the driver habits data so that it would regenerate.

I don't have intimate knowledge of the driver data portion, but I know that this is for real on the latest European cars. I wish I knew alot more about this concept.

 

I am using the same cable as you ordered from Germany.



The reason for me using MTH was price and the great reviews he got from the German MINI forum. I was looking into the Unichip before but then I read about the problems with the DSC light coming on. BTW....Franz also changes the setting for when the DSC kicks in. Mine is set to 100Nm I believe.

Alex

 

I stand corrected Alex, it must have been someone else who said they were using a straight com port to OBDII cable.

Yes, on my MC, Franz file improves the ASC as well as engine parameters. The DSC is on the MCS and he had made a comment about that in one of his emails. His mods seem to be well thought out and carefully executed.

 

I wish one of our state side vendors would arrange for distribution rights and make this process a little easier. Do you need to speak German to do this deal?

 

MTH webpage in English http://www.mth-powerchip.de/_neu1407/e_index.php

Franz Hoelzl is on vacation at the moment and I believe he is a one man shop.
If you have questions you can PM me.

Alex

 

Traveler,

You don't have to speak German. Franz English is not excellent but it works.

Just go to the site that Alex is pointing you towards. I think his link takes you directly to the English version. Follow the instructions.

As for stateside distribution, Franz is leary of the US liability risks. You can thank all the ambulance chaser lawyers for that one.

 

Thanks guys. If I had bothered to re-read the beginning of this thread I could have answered my own question. The real hassle of this exercise appears to be getting the cable. You have to really want it bad to do the bank draft routine. I looked at the Multiplex Engineering site and they have lots of stuff but who knows which cable to buy. I'll admit I have not looked for the MINI's OBD2 port but it's about 100 degrees in my garage right now so I'm not particularly inclined to go look for it right now. Anyone know which cable will work?

 

The bank wire really is not that bad. You have a record it. Do you think a money order is more secure? The only bad thing about it is that you have to go to your bank and pay a little fee.

Franz knows the guy from OBD3.de. He will talk to him when he comes back from vacation so that he sets up an English webpage.

An ISO 9141 interface will work. If you do not want the hassle...just order it thru Sasha here. His email address is on the page.
http://www.obd-interface.de/pages/mth_interface.html

Alex