I've been reading a lot about tunes, such as Manic and RPM. I've also had a JB+ but it didn't do much for me. I had the RPM Stage 2 tune for about a year, and loved it every time I drove the car, but this week my car wouldn't start because my ECU was fried. Not sure what caused this but I don't think it was the tune. I'm a little skeptical about having the new ECU opened up again just in case moisture got in there. Are there any options for tuning through the OBD2 port so I don't have to remove the ECU?

 

there is always the alta accesport if you can find one i believe that maniac can also do remote tuning now which i would think uses the obd or you can get someone to load a tune on something like the powergate 3+ by alientech which can hold 5 different tunes i believe and would give you the option to change tunes or uninstall and put on another vehicle if you ever wanted to it also has a nice touch screen display you can do the same with the accessport but not really a nice display its not good to leave them plugged in.

 

hmmm. Another post to stay away from tunes. Stock ECUs don't fry. Has to be the tune.

 

actually they do fry, the injector drivers and ignition drivers are known to fail, and it is unrelated to tunes

 

Have 100k on 2 Minis. One is a JCW. Zero ECU issues. Both were firmware updated for instrumentation. One was updated while in Denver on a road trip. Other in L.A. I've got 2 senior techs on these cars & all they do is work on Minis. None have called out the ECU having issues. These forum boards are like Pachinko machines. Pull the handle and take your chances. There's big money in tunes so this board hates you when you criticize them. Had one guy stop returning my phone calls because I said something critical about a tune he reps. A guy who sells turbos pushes his tune won't vouch for another guy's tune. I don't care about the haters. I'll help by speaking the truth. Never experienced issues with the original ECU and none of the reputable people I use on 2 Minis vouch for tunes. None of the tune sellers guarantee their stuff. My advice: if your JCW is a daily driver or even a reliable driver - don't tune. Don't catless down pipe. If you're using the car for tracking or Sunday - and it's free and clear title - burn it out with a tune. hahaha Don't troll me for saying the truth. hahaha

 

it's called a MOSFET and you can google to see pictures of the mini ecu and what a fried mosfet looks like. absolutely nothing to do with tunes. I cant say what caused the OP's ecu to fail because he gave no details, but failed ecu's do happen

 

Thank you for the reply. It's relieves a little stress when you say you don't think it was the tune. Sorry I would have given more detail, but the dealer just said that it was fried. They didn't say what caused it or if moisture got in the ECU, so I didn't have much to post about.

 

I would find an independent dealer, mini chains replace vs fix, independents will give you more options & info