Corollas - ECU tuning is now possible

[Rattle Rattleson]

The Viezu company appears to be advertising ECU tunes for nearly all current model Toyotas - not just the 86. They began to advertise them at the end of last year. Prior to this announcement, stock Toyota ECUs have been acknowledged as being "locked" or "uncrackable" thereby needing the entire ECU to be replaced for tuning purposes.

They actually list a tune for the 1.8 2ZR-FE engine, however based upon what the website says, it is the older version of the engine - effectively the one fitted to the ZRE152 model (100 kw), not the version fitted to the 2013 to current model (103 kw).

Whist the gain is modest (around 5 kw), it may well be more about outright power and may improve things like throttle response, torque, etc. But even so, 5 kw is 5 kw and that would be noticeable to me. Probably what is more impressive is the extra 10 nm of torque. So the tune would seem to aid driveability at middling revs whilst not running out of puff up high either. When you think about it, these two changes might seem modest on paper, but they effectively would give the tuned car the same performance as the stock one when the tuned car has a fully grown male passenger on board versus just the driver in the stock car. And with these little cars, it isn't hard to notice the difference in performance even with a third of a tank of fuel versus a full tank, let alone the weight of a passenger. Even with a more powerful car like the 86, small differences like this a very noticeable to someone familiar with the car.

As I say, at this stage there is no info on the engines that come stock with a "better" 103 kw factory tune, but if they ever did create a tune for the current stock engine, you could get a really nice little car with that tune and a TRD intake and a TRD axle-back. Probably around 110 - 112 kw might be my guess and hopefully better throttle response and a smoother transition to full torque when you bury the pedal at low revs (probably the only things that I think could be better with the stock engine apart from the electronic flywheel effect on gear changes which is probably a pollution thing).

Anyway, just thought I would put this out there. It will be interesting to follow this and to see if anyone gets the tune and what it does.

The good thing about modest tunes like this is that the claims are realistic, the company has a good reputation and the car would remain perfectly legal without breaking any ADRs or modification rules (in that even you had the tune, an intake and exhaust, you would be increasing power to the point where the car needs to be re-certified or where you'd have to get other stuff like better brakes, etc).

https://viezu.com/tuning/cars/toyota/corolla/corolla-18-vvt-i?year=&fuel_type=Petrol

Edited May 26, 2016 by Rattle Rattleson
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[Rattle Rattleson]

Just an update to this. I'd suggest people don't go near Viezu as from what I can ascertain, there is no proper Australian national agent any more (there was a couple of years ago)and therefore it seems to be run from UK head office. Furthermore, in my experience they do not respond to email enquiries which is absolutely the very last thing you'd want dealing with a company that wants to completely overwrite your ECU (or PCM - Power Control Module) as Toyota refer to it.

There are two companies in Australia, however, that are worth looking into at the present time. One is RD Technik. They answer email queries quickly, appear to be forthcoming, very knowledgeable and honest and their main marketing focus is that they tune Australian cars to Australian conditions. Currently they can only bench tune the ZRE182 Corolla with a resulting power increase of around 10 - 15% depending on your preferences (balancing torque to power to economy). They cannot OBD tune them (yet) let alone the DIY method (where they send you a device so you can upload the tune yourself). Personally I would avoid bench tuning a road car, especially if it is still under warranty, so I'd be waiting to see if they can get to a point where they can at least OBD tune it, even if it means going to one of their dealers. But for me, the DIY method is best because it is then very easy to change tunes, return to stock, etc and you are no longer absolutely reliant on the company and / or their dealers once you have bought the tune. That is quite different to the bench tune method where you are stuck with the aftermarket tune if that company is no longer in business. That might seem like a glass half-full way of thinking but it is amazing how tuning agents seem to come and go like day and night. When you come to sell the car, you are stuck selling it with the tune (which the typical used Corolla buyer probably won't want), especially since there are a number of cheap insurance companies cropping up these days - for example Coles - where you cannot modify your car at all if that modification results in improved performance.

The second company is Carformance. Again, forthright and speedy answers to email queries. Currently, although they cannot tune to Corolla at all, they will be able to once the tuning company they use (Alientech) has cracked the encryption so to speak. From what I can ascertain, this is just a matter of time. Currently Alientech can tune older versions of the 2ZR-FE but not the ones used in the current model (from 2013).

Personally, I am going to keep my eye on RD Technik as the company appears to be incredibly professional and they seem to do everything in house here in Australia - including the coding - which to me is important because our stock cars come with a different tuning parameters to begin with than cars in other countries. If and when they can OBD tune these things,  I think a 10 - 15% power increase will be really nice. Combine that with a TRD exhaust and TRD intake, and you would have a really nice little warm-ish hatch. The sort of thing the Sport model should have been in the first place (though I don't blame Toyota for selling it as is).

 

http://rdtechnik.com.au/index.php/cars/toyota/toyota-corolla-rd-technik-performance-ecu-chip-tune.html

 

http://www.carformance.com.au/car-sorter/s-w/toyota/corolla/toyota-corolla-1-8-ecu-tune-performance-chip-upgrade-sport-levin-zr-sx-australia.html

[Rattle Rattleson]

I've been doing further research into this and have exchanged quite a few emails this week - particularly with the extremely-helpful Greg at Carformance. The bottom line at the present time (May 2015) is that a bench tune is the only possible avenue at the moment. On the current model ZRE182 / ZER172 Corolla with 103 kw, you would be looking at a power gain of 10% to 15% depending upon your preference for torque delivery characteristics and fuel economy. That is actually extremely good for a normally aspirated engine and would be enough to turn the car into something with a similar performance level to a Swift Sport. But as I mentioned in my previous post, I would prefer to leave my car stock rather than bench tune it. For it is just too risky, too inconvenient and too inflexible. Personally I am really only interested in the DIY option where you can buy a device to tune it yourself through the OBD port with a purchased tuning file from an authorised dealer.

The way it all works is that the Italian-based company, Alientech, is the company behind cracking OEM ECU encryptions - not just for Toyota but pretty much everything else as well. They then provide the tools needed to perform the tunes but these tools can be provided as bespoke ones to different companies. RD Technik is then the Australian company who takes these raw tools and tuning data from Alientech. They then expend considerable time and effort so as to "Australianise" the tune such that it works optimally with our particular cars in our particular conditions. As Carformance pointed out to me, that last step is critical because overseas cars don't come with the same tunes as Australian cars, plus our fuel and driving conditions are different as well.

RD Technik then have a dealer network who tune the cars using the RD Technik optimised and finalised tuning files. Carformance is one of those dealers. So far as OBD tuning is concerned, the important thing to understand is that it may never happen. It requires that Alientech crack the encryption on the ECU. Currently they have only done that for the earliest Corollas with the 2ZR-FE engine (ZRE142). That said, my understanding is that given it is already possible to bench tune the ZRE182, Alientech already have the raw information needed to attempt cracking it, but they still have to do that and obviously do it successfully (apparently ECU cracking is getting more and more difficult as car companies are hell-bent on manufacturing "anti-tune" ECUs and are getting better and better at it as time goes by).

So the bottom line is that if you are prepared to have a dealer crack open your ECU and tune it that way, you have a good option already. If you would prefer to do it via the OBD port, that may come in the future. When that happens, the initial option will still be that you'd need to visit a dealer to have it tuned. Down the track, so long as the car can be OBD tuned, it should eventually be able to be tuned using the Powergate 3 device (which is the handheld device which is "locked" to your car and which facilitates self-tuning with easily-swappable tuning files provided by a dealer).

I will be keeping a semi-regular eye on the Alientech website as they regularly publish updated, downloadable lists of cars that are dealer-tunable and also cars that can be tuned using the Powergate 3 type of device (for home tuning using those same tuning files that the dealer installs). If and when I find the ZRE182 (current model Corolla) on either or both of those lists, I will update this thread.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Rattle Rattleson

[ben yip]

Thanks for your info. I might explore ecu reflash tune if unichip cannot solve my problem.