Just completed installation of Tuner file on my '03 MCS JCW210 having used the services of local (NY Metropolitan area) dealer Don Hollingshead at precision-mini.com. I highly recommend Don and precision-mini.com. He was a very knowledgable, honest guy and helped keep me informed on ETA of my Tuner file which ended up taking a reasonable 7 days from when I emailed him my stock file to email delivery of Tuner file.

My first impressions are of a wonderful improved low-end torque, seat of pants dyno assessment of HP and higher rev limiter make a tremendous improvement. Can't wait to get out and driver her some more tomorrow. Can't comment yet on refinement of DSC as I had it turned off during today's short test drive.

One experience which I thought I should share, perhaps which should be moved to appropriate MTH FAQ or tp MTH support sticky thread or respective dealer web sites is that I did install of Cartune on a desktop in room adjacent to my garage and successfully used a 10 foot USB extention cable to download files from the car to send to Don and on to MTH in Germany. However, upon receipt of Tuner file some 7 days later I received multiple error messages (with phrases like "echo" & "signal") in them and frankly I had a few panicked minutes when I disconnected cables and my car wouldn't start at all and it didn't appear that I could reload original file!

I decided to look for a simple solution first and try removing USB extension which was only thing I'd done that wasn't exactly as per instructions received. I moved the PC into the garage so I could remove the USB extension cable and connet directly via the OBD II USB cable and then the upload worked fine. So - I would strongly suggested as a FAQ that yes you can use a desktop PC in lieu of a laptop but make sure it is close enough to drivers side door so you can connect OBD II cable without any extension cables!

Motor on!

Howard Shaw
aka MINIAC1, aka liminiac

 

you sure that was the problem?it doesn't make sense why it wouldn't work with the extension cables. i 'm about to have my interface cables so i'll give it a try for myself. if it doesn't work i'll just go to plan b.i'll let everybody know my results soon

 

By all means I wish you luck and please do post your results. I've read that for many uses of USB if you extend beyond 6 or 10 feet that you need a specialized USB cable with a built-in amplifier so as not to have any degredation of throughput. Again - my experience was that it worked fine on download but not on upload - USB extension was only variable I could attribute this too and when removed problem was solved. Elsewhere in my home I've used up to 16ft USB extension cables (e.g. to get wireless connection for kids XBOX360 a little closer to linksys wireless router with signal boost so as to ensure a strong signal for their all important gaming and in that scenario, extension caused no isues

 

FWIW, the USB spec only allows for a 3m cable. You can cheat with a longer cable on low-speed stuff, but hi-speed signals get killed on a long cable run and you'll get unpredictable results. Additionally, a lot of the cables on the market are pretty awful, with improper or no shielding, etc, so they're iffy even at short distances. The USB forum tried very hard to make a reliable system, but people will always find ways to break it in the search for a lower-cost implementation.

 

i had no problems using the extension cables to upload the mth file. maybe you had crappy cables or something.

 

ineedspeed - hope you got yours (speed that is). As for cable used - I didn't go out and get a high end (e.g. Monster or otherwise highly shielded) cable for this adventure - just grabbed a $15 10ft cable I had in the house for another purpose so as you and previous poster have both said, quality of cable may be the main factor. I glad you were spared the "oh my god what have I done to my poor MINI" moment of panick that I had to endure when upload bombed and she wouldn't even turn over for me!

 

not only did it work, but the length of the run was pretty substantial as well. i had two 10ft extension cables plus the interface cables all the way stretched out. so your talking about a total run of about 26 ft. i had to it this way because i couldn't secure a labtop obviously. just the threw the extension cables out my friends second floor window , hooked it up , and presto new ecu . by the way the cables i used were 30 dollars a pop for 10 ft.so as we said earlier it could be a matter of getting better qaulity cables.better luck next time you try this. hopefully you won't have to move your whole pc into the garage again.