@junits15

Can anyone think of a reason it why it wouldn't work if installed in a '06 R52? Rolled off the line early Nov 2005.

I called their support line this morning and the tech found a single hit in his database regarding an R52. It was a question not unlink mine, will it work? He said the ticket was very old and the dev's response was "it might, never tested."

Is there any other difference between the two other than the R52 having a Convertible soft top control module, and the 53 if equipped having a Sunroof control module?

Both of those modules are controlled by the BC1, ride the same bus and have no interaction with the DME.

Thoughts?

Link to ECU: ECUMaster Mini Cooper R53 EMU Black Plug in ECU

 

Just got an email from their lead dev. And I quote "Been tuning MINI's for over 20 years, we've never tested it in an R52 but I can't think of a single reason it won't work".

Still love to get some feedback from you guys.

 

I think it should work, what I'd do is just check the harness pinout and see if it lines up. Because at the end of the day all that thing is is a standard EMU Black with the mini harness connectors on it. So as long as the pins go in the right locations its going to work. Even if some of them are swapped around you can re-map them as long as they're still the right type.

These two documents helped me a lot:
Depreciated R53 EMU Black adapter harness
Latest EMU Black PnP standalone manual.
The more useful document is the older depreciated adapter harness, it shows every single pin assignment, and these pin assignments, from what I can tell, are the same as the plug and play standalone ECU. The official latest manual for the R53 plug and play ecu has a pinout but its not complete and has at least one omission in it (the low speed fan). I've used both of these documents together to track down how the ECU is wired up.

If you look at a wiring diagram for your car, and the pinout is the same as a regular R53 I'm pretty sure it will work. I like my EMU black, its a pretty nice unit for the price.

 

Also if you decide to go for it I can share my map and any findings I’ve made about using this ECU.

 

junits15
Yup place the order this morning.

Keep in mind that I didn't even know this product existed until early this week.

Been reading my *** off trying to get up to speed, must say it's been a little rocky so far.

I had found that "Latest Manual" you linked yesterday afternoon. Initial first read didn't raise any red flags.

So I grab the current version of their EMU Black client, installs and fired right up. No issues to this point.

Now here's were things start to go sideways. Sideways is probably a little dramatic, but I've got questions I can't get answers to.

I see a link to a R53 basemap. I need something to start with. Click on the link and I'm in someone's Google Drive with a lone file "MiniR53_PNP_ECU.emub" Date modified: 6/17/2020. Okay, it's a 20 year old car, no cause for alarm.

So let's try to open this project file in the client? File -> Open Project browse to the project file -> Open.

I'm immediately greeted with a warning dialog box. First section just says they changed the EGO correction strategy, okay whatever. Now the 2nd half of this warning is a little more concerning. "Additionally, starting from version 2.162, support for the narrow band oxygen sensor (NBO) is no longer provided. Do you want to continue?" Only option is OK.

Up pops the next warning dialog box, that has 50+ lines of warnings. First of them whining that the project was created with firmware 2.116, was that from 2020 as well?

Manual section 7 just told me that the default is set to utilize the stock OEM narrow band O2 sensor. Now the red flags are really starting to wave. I can only interpret this warning as "oh by the way, this install is going to set you back another $150 for a nice Bosch LSU 4.9, sucks to be you".

Been slammed at work, but I'm going to try to call them today to see if I can get some answers.

So maybe you can help?
I guess first question is what version of the BLACK client your running?
Using the factory narrow band O2 senor? If not make and model you installed.
And I'll definitely take you up on your map and findings. I think it will be invaluable. Super cool of you!

Thanks mate!

 

@junits15

Just got off the phone with them, my instincts were correct. Could with do it right with a LSU 4.9 or he started to give me another option and I stopped him there, just sell me a LSU. They were kind enough to Next day it to me for free. So we are a go for this weekend.

I'll document everything and write up a real install guide.

Thanks again.

 

Diving right in! Love it! Thats how I did it too, just said "screw it I'll figure this out as I go". Lol.

I'm running the latest released version of the client. I do have a solution for the narrowband warning, its to use an older version of the software which is available here: https://www.ecumaster.com/files/EMU_BLACK/ I'd just pick one from the same year as the basemap file. I think at some point they decided they weren't interested in supporting narrowband operation, really unfortunate because a lot of older vehicles do rely on that, Their literature makes it seem like it should be plug and play with the narrowband, which may have been true at one point but isn't true on the latest software any more.

I got all the same warnings but I personally didn't have any intention of using the narrowband, I upgraded to a wideband pretty much immediately after installing the ECU. I think I cranked it like 2 times on the narowband and said that was enough for me lol. My thought was I would need a wideband anyway for street tuning and safety so I might as well just put it in right away. My old car (a focus ST Mk3.5) had its factory wideband replaced when I upgraded the turbo but the original was still in perfect working order so I held onto it. I wired that exact sensor into the EMU Black and its been working flawlessly. So all you need is the sensor the ECU has the controller built in. From what I understand all Bosch LSU 4.9 sensors are essentially the same, so you can pick any that you like. I'd avoid anything from Amazon or eBay or stuff like that, those feel likely to be counterfeit. They come in a few different variations with different wire lengths. Mine has a short length but they sell them a few feet long too. It does require that you make your own harness which is also very easy. I used the following parts to make mine:
The ECU comes with pins for the extra connectors that the wideband would connect to so you don't need to buy those separately. Here's a sensor that seems legitimate to me: LSU 4.9 Summit Racing Only $83 so not as bad as the $160 that AEM wants for basically the same thing. Also I know it says its for a 6.7L Dodge diesel but rest assured Wideband Lambda sensors are fuel agnostic so this will work with gasoline ethanol diesel and methanol

You may eventually stumble across the V3 software package for this ECU, its new software and new firmware for the ECU it adds a ton of features. I personally have not upgraded to it yet, the software has signifigant changes to how idle is handled and at the time I didn't know what I was doing. So I stuck with V2 just so I could learn and more easily use the basemap. I do plan to upgrade to V3 once I have a working final tune on V2.

Here is the latest revision of my tune and a datalog to go with it:
EMU Black Tune 2006 Cooper S JCW R53
EMU Black Datalog 2006 Cooper S JCW
Just be aware that I make no claims about the safety of this file I strongly recommend that you take your time to make sure this is right and works for your car. Also you will need to perform the DBW learn procedure as your DBW constants will likely be different than mine.

 

junits15

You and the bomb! Have a great weekend my friend!

 

absolutely! You as well! Lmk if you run into any other things while getting up and running.

 

@junits15

I'm just going over harness pins as you suggested. All 181 pins in the R52 are identical to the R53's.

Just for ****'s and giggles, pull up your copy of the Depreciated EMU manual, page 12. In the Interconnector pinout figure, does your copy not have the "G12, AUX5, 88, Power steering fan / radiator fan low speed"?
That's our "missing" low speed fan relay control pin.

Now to the topic of that chart not being complete, I sure hope you're right. My brain is going haywire thinking how the hell is this going to work without this pin and this one....

Todays goal is to get a breakout box built. If I can get that complete it's off to the bench for a complete analysis.

 

What I found is that the pin is there and connected exactly the same, its just labeled as "Power steering fan" on the new manual. If you toggle that pin the low sped fan does come on. What I did was set the "cooling fan" output to be the high speed fan and then set up a parametric output based off RPM, vehicle speed and coolant temp for the low speed fan. This way the fan only runs if the engine is running, the vehicle is traveling below 25 mph, and the coolant temp is above a threshold which I forgot.

So far its worked perfectly, the high speed fan doesn't come on except for extreme situations.

 

@junits15

That response is going straight in the build document.

I'm guessing that saved me 1/2 a days time at least!

Thanks brother!

 

Great info! Getting ready to get the ECUMaster setup for mine, and was wondering about the low fan speed....