Not sure what Ryephile's clock says, but I have about 2,100 miles on mine. The ECU was upgraded in NJ and reinstalled on my MCS on May 12th (our 25th Anniversary!).

As has been discussed before, the only way to tell what ECU software version you have is by using the dealership's GT1 computer to compare the "serial" number ("ZB" number) of the software reported by your ECU with the ZB number referenced in the documentation of the update.

However, as previous threads will show, v.38 seems to impart two distinct changes along with the new dampening algorithm: tachometer lag and a very smooth cruise control. So, as an informal (unofficial) check of whether v.38 has been loaded, you can:

(1) Provided you are past your run-in period, try quickly accelerating and wind up the rpms just to the point when the rev limiter kicks in. At the same time, keep an eye on the tach. My tach lag will result in an rpm reading of ~5,800 when the rev limiter kicks in. Now, if you accelerate just to the rev limiter at a much slower pace, you will notice that the tach reading is spot-on.

(2) Head out on the highway...lookin' for adventure...ooops, wait a minute. Find a stretch of highway that includes some rolling hills...if geographically possible. Set your cruise control for a sustained speed of, say, 70-75. Sit back and watch the continuous speed read out (if you have OBC) or carefully watch the speedometer. Version 38 (perhaps as a by-product of the dampening) smooths out the cruise control speed fluctuations which have been noticed by almost everyone who has driven a MINI with this option. I live in the Northeast US with "agressively rolling" hills on the highway and I have not seen my cruise vary by more than about +/- 1 mph on average.

Hope this helps,

Theo 8^)

Ryephile--

Let's hope that some of these dealers "get with the program" quickly! I trust that MCM and a few others will eventually be weeded-out via CSI information.

 

You may have already gone over this but could you do it one more time;
How do you upgrade the ECU without having to take it to the dealer? Or can that be done? Has anyone done this?
I live out of state from the nearest dealer and it would be a two day trip otherwise.
raj

 

Raj --

Can't be done. You must go to the dealer.

Theo 8^)

 

I prepared another restriction orifice, this time drilling with a #69 twist drill, 0.0292 inch dia. (only one I had) and the yoyo is gone for now, pending ECU adaptation phase (lordy I hope not). This restriction orifice on the test BPV gave a step response of 225 ms from fully open to fully closed. I would have tried an intermediate orifice, something that gave about 175 ms but alas, no drills on hand in that diameter.

These restrictions were made by using a 1/8" brass barbed fitting hose mender from the local hardware store, about 1" long. Filled with thermal set epoxy, back drilled with a #48 drill to about 3/16" short of thru drilling, and drilled from the filled end with the #69. Installed with the orifice closest to the diaphram.

 

Blaine --

Don't you hate it when the better half calls you at work and asks you to bring home a bucket of acid?

MINI of Peabody's Service Department consistently gets rave reviews from their customers. Some MINI enthusiasts have even been know to consider MOP as their second office (Ian ) since they are so damn customer oriented.

Here's what I'd do:

1) Make sure you can replicate the yo-yo symptom on demand. It may be easier to do with another person in the right seat adding a little weight.

2) Call the MOP Service Manager and let him know that you have an MCS with the yo-yo, which is driving you bonkers (medical term). Ask him if they have the new software that fixes it. You should, by now, receive a positive response. If not, ask him to check MINIUSA latest update information to verify its release.

3) Make the appointment and get updated.

Also, depending on where you live, I can also recommend New Country MINI in Hartford, CT. Their Service Manager is Scott Taylor and he was the person who handled my ECU's trip to NJ to be reprogrammed. New Country *may* be closer to you. (OOPS! nevermind, just realized that you're coming from Maine!)

Theo 8^)

 

I prepared another restriction orifice, this time drilling with a #69 twist drill, 0.0292 inch dia.

I didn't think I could just send the ECU in.
Still think it won't work anyway - or it will not last.

The modified orifice thing sounds promising - have pictures?

Will not do the orifice mod until there is a definitive answer on the v38 though.

rajron

 

Got my car back yesterday. Driven about 100 miles and so far so good, even with two passengers. I do notice the tack lag though and the car just feels a little different. Could that be because of the accelerator programming?

I used the cruise control for about 20 miles this morning and it is MUCH improved!

How long does it take for the computer to re-adapt? Should I be driving a particular way during that time?

--mczinn

 

Sending the ECU in was just to get the prototype of the software. Now it should be at the dealers.

Theo 8^)

 

As promised, here is my initial reaction to Version 38. I had my ECU flashed in OKC yesterday. I now have around 200 miles of driving and I can report that the yo-yo seems to be gone. Oh happy day! I will reserve any celebration until I have put a few thousand more miles on the car. I also was pleasantly surprised by how much better the cruise control worked. Much less speed variation and much better reaction to increase and decrease commands. I had never been entirely satisfied with my cruise but compared to the yo-yo it was hardly worth mentioning, the cruise is now a joy to use. I am happy to report that , thus far, I am glad that I went through the hassle of getting the upgrade.

 

Tom D: What about the lag in the tach reading? Have you noticed anything in that regard?

 

You called?

Be sure to speak with Gary, head technician, if you specifically are looking for V38 software.
After bad experiences with early updates which broke more than they fixed, Gary is very careful about new releases - to my knowledge he never put V37 on the MINI Peabody computers ...

 

apexer,

So far in normal driving I have not noticed anything different about the tach. Having said that, it is rare for me to approach redline or the revlimiter unless I am autocrossing. Did you ever notice that you hardly ever look at your tach during an autocross run? I'll check it out the next time I do a track day.

 

I had my 04 updated this morning. I've got about 70 miles on it so far. The yo-yo seems to be 99% gone - I can still detect a touch of it occasionally but this thing runs SMOOOOOOTH for the first time since I picked it up. I do see the tach lag a bit but haven't noticed the accelerator thing yet.

In other news, I seem to have a 6000rpm+ miss that I previously attributed to the yo-yo, but I'll run it in a bit and see if it goes away. If not, I'll have that checked when I take it back to get a NEW TRANSMISSION!!!!

I've had a clunk when shifting from 1st to 2nd gear since I picked the car up, and I had that checked out while in for the v.38 update. The tech says it's a synchro problem so he's ordering a new transmission for me. Not happy that it has to be replaced at 3000 miles, but ecstatic that it's all happening under warranty. I tried to talk him into ordering the close-ratio 2005 tranny, but that didn't fly. I didn't think it would, but I had to try.

 

[QUOTE=Bradley99]I prepared another restriction orifice, this time drilling with a #69 twist drill, 0.0292 inch dia. .....
QUOTE]

instead of filling and then drilling small holes, you could use small i.d. tubing that is used in high pressure liquid chromatography (hplc)

here are a couple of sources for 1/16" o.d.
http://www.westernanalytical.com/tubing/#ss
http://www.optimizetech.com/fittings/fat_tubing.htm

this stuff is also made in 1/8" o.d., but i think that only goes down to .03" something i.d. here's an australian site showing some 1/8" o.d. sizes; i know you can also get it here in the u.s.
http://www.chromtech.net.au/tubing.cfm

search for "hplc tubing" or "hplc column" or "capillary tubing"

 

For a production grade orifice I would use one of those from Beswick Engineering made for just this purpose. They cost about $3.75US each, alas a $50 minimum is required. While this does cure the yoyo, I'm sure the v38 sw upgrade is more attractive to most yoyo sufferers than a modification of this type.

-- Bradley

 

This is what Gary told me too. I'll wait for him to be happy with V38.

 

i got the v38 upgrade yesterday, mostly to remedy the cold start problem i was having on my '04 mcs... it helped a bit. still a little sluggish to start but at least it does on the first try.
what was really helped, however, was the yo yo! no more rough patch between 2000 and 3000 rpm. this, of course, is after only about 50 miles, but i'll hope for the best!

 

Finally. Yoyo free, my MCS is an unmitigated pleasure to drive. It is rewarding to experience at last the seamless increase in power during the transition from no-boost to boost phase. As it should have been all along, of course.

-- Bradley

 

I scheduled an appointment with Crevier today to have the yo-yo and trunk light issues taken care of. I initially asked if I could schedule an appointment to have my software updated to V38. The service advisor said that they don’t do that which really pi$$ed me off because that was one of the main selling points when I bought the car. The sales person “Kirk” told me, “One of the things that Crevier offers (for the $5,000 extra I paid over MSRP) is lifetime free software updates. Bring in the car anytime and they will update it free of charge.” Yeah, right. Anyway, they are “going to look” at the problem.

 

YIKES!!

Time to call MINIUSA in NJ to report this. Your free maintenance should cover this. There is no excuse for the dealership selling you something that is free!

Theo 8^)

 

I'm with MINI USA. I'm sorry to read about your problem with your cruise control. If you haven't already been to your dealership or spoken to your service advisor about this problem, you really should. We'd be happy to contact your dealer for you if you'd like, just give us a call at 866 ASK.MINI and please mention Reference # 200419100421 so we can help you more efficiently. Also, CD 38 was released to all MINI dealers in late June.

 

Thanks MINIDivision. Please clarify:

(1) Is the reference number specifically for cruise, or for yo-yo, or for v38?
(2) Can you fix the cruise problem without v38?
(3) Does the lower tach rpm reading with v38 mean that v38 is just trying to trick the driver into using higher REAL rpms (which does reduce the yo-yo)? If so this is a solution for a mid range problem solved by a higher wear and tear.

Thanks for your input. Harvey

 

MINIDivision, behind the times once again

....as we already know, CD38 revamps the Cruise Control significantly; bring it from "abysmally horrible" to "average" in functionality (a HUGE step in the right direction!)

anyways...

I've been driving around about a week now with my new UNIchip ECU.
The Summary:
*Smooooooooove, oh yea
*by far the most refined and best engineered ECU system to date (I've had EVOtech and Powerchip, so I hope my proclamation is reasonably valid)
*High Octane (over 95, but I've run as high as 104 octane) on the "B" map is AWESOME POWERFUL
*because the extremely high density part throttle mapping, the tendency to yo-yo is practically gone. The step from V36 to V38 is as helpful as V38 to adding the UNIchip, honestly.
*I've driven enough miles to negate any adaptive logic weirdness, so my findings shouldn't be a random spoof.
*Throttle response, YAY! No more snooze-throttle like stock ECU's
*No more filthy-sooty exhaust tips; the optimized mapping has not only improved my fuel economy to date by about a 0.5 MPG, but my exhaust tips stay noticeably cleaner per the same time period. It's like EBC Green Stuff for your exhaust, LOL.

Update on the slow moving tachometer: I did a track session the other day; while on-track, the tachometer never seemed to be lagging. Of course, during the lap the RPM span is between 5k and 7k, so there isn't much needle movement required like around-town driving. This was the first time I was able to actually see the needle hit 7k with V38! Not sure if it's some new learning algorithm, or just coincidence, but naturally we'll have to look into this further...

until then, Motor-On,
Ryan

 

Ryan: Thanks for the up-date. Sounds like you had fun at your track day:smile: . How many miles do you have on V38?

 

About 3,000 miles on V38 to date. 1,900 of those are stock, and the last 1,100 are with the UNIchip.

...and yes, I had a BLAST during track-day
Not counting the, ahem, fuel "economy" during that track session, I've been getting over 1 MPG better to date with UNIchip than stock, yay!