ECU modification terminology

[hotpants]

Originally Posted by AchtungE30

It's like saying "I got a ham and cheese bread", where I could and should have said, "I got a ham and cheese sandwich".

no its like saying i got a sandwich. i got a sandwich doesnt say what type of bread or meat or if the sandwich even contains meat. everyone knows that a sandwich will change your appetite just like almost everyone understands a tune changes the parameters your engine see's or changes the actual parameters of the engine itself. it doesnt tell you to what extent the parameters were changed or how.

[bmore135]

Originally Posted by AchtungE30

Ok so let's take your definition as an example...tune as a noun as you described...but what is that "tune" burnt onto? What does that silicone piece with "tune" called? A Performance Chip. I doubt if you go to a mechanic shop, they would not understand what a performance chip was?

It's like saying "I got a ham and cheese bread", where I could and should have said, "I got a ham and cheese sandwich".

In the 350z world (and maybe s2000), I could understand that tune as a noun would make sense SINCE you would mod the car with NA equipment or turbo components, then go get some performance programming done, hence a "tune" on a burnt chip. With a 135i however, you could just walk into Dinan and get a performance chip and you've got a completely different animal. You could get a procede V3 and just install it with even better results. You can throw a "piggy-back" on and it'll work. With the japanese cars, you'd have to custom code a "tune" to get the car to run properly.

In the 1.8T/2.0T VW/Audi world, you wouldn't need any mods, just "CHIP IT" and boom, you've got a wicked quick car :biggrin:

I could really understand it if maybe you'd be doing some "tuning" if you implemented a solution like Megasquirt or some kind of standalone ECU parameters. That would be tuning.

Even a friend of mine quoted me a situation, where he chipped his trailblazer and went attended Trailblazer enthusiast meet and told other Trailblazer owners he got a performance chip installed. They looked at him like he was from Mars and said, a chip? Oh you mean a "tune"?

Well you're actually wrong about the VW/Audi world thing. Just as much as you hate people saying tune here in the wrong context, people in the VW world use chip in the wrong context. They are not "chipped" at all they have been reflashed. Out of the top 5 companies that people use to modify their ECU for VWs all of them do reflashes not chips... You are now using the wrong word to describe the way a car has been modified, when you yourself have been trying to correct everyone.... Who cares how people describe whats done to their car? we all know what they mean no matter how you say it...

/END stupid thread

[AchtungF80]

Originally Posted by bmore135

Well you're actually wrong about the VW/Audi world thing. Just as much as you hate people saying tune here in the wrong context, people in the VW world use chip in the wrong context. They are not "chipped" at all they have been reflashed. Out of the top 5 companies that people use to modify their ECU for VWs all of them do reflashes not chips... You are now using the wrong word to describe the way a car has been modified, when you yourself have been trying to correct everyone.... Who cares how people describe whats done to their car? we all know what they mean no matter how you say it...

/END stupid thread

Actually you are only half-right. While some tuners did reflash the factory ECU in the 1.8T, there was also the daughter board add-on so if you wanted to swap in a stock chip, you could. My Corrado VR6 however, was not a reflash, but a full on soldered chip.

My GTI 1.8T was chipped as in, had a daughter board or add-on board soldered and installed and an EEPROM snapped in, resulting in being "chipped".

When I went to bigger turbo/intercooler/injectors/fuel pump/3" downpipe/turbo-back exhaust in the GTI, another chip/EEPROM was burned and installed in its place.

I haven't come in here and continued arguing much since the person before you responded since I realize many 135i owners are former STI/EVO/S2000 and maybe even domestic previous muscle car owners bringing in their terminology into the mix. While I don't agree with it, I can accept that people want to use teminology of what they know, so I will continue to use what I know, I will be installing a Dinan Chip in my car. If it is not a chip but instead an ECU reflash, I will call it a Dinan ECU re-flash.

I'll just quietly roll my eyes when I hear the phrase "getting a tune installed".

[fshowcars]

Originally Posted by bmore135

Well you're actually wrong about the VW/Audi world thing. Just as much as you hate people saying tune here in the wrong context, people in the VW world use chip in the wrong context. They are not "chipped" at all they have been reflashed. Out of the top 5 companies that people use to modify their ECU for VWs all of them do reflashes not chips... You are now using the wrong word to describe the way a car has been modified, when you yourself have been trying to correct everyone.... Who cares how people describe whats done to their car? we all know what they mean no matter how you say it...

/END stupid thread

man... it sucks when you try to get someone on the internet and are just fundamentally wrong to begin with!!! LoL

yeah, i have a CHIP installed in my ecu on my 1.8t... some of us had these cars in 00 and 01... being OG, a reflash was unthinkable until 03 or later. it's all good though.

I think we all agree 'tune' is just a bad word to use as a noun in these cases.

[gargoyal]

The English language is not a dead language like French
. It grows every year. You need to get over it. I know you are not trying to sound like a grumpy old man, but you can hear the “I remember when…” tone to your rant.

Technical
re flash - a software upgrade to your ECU
A ECU Piggy back unit –hardware/software add on to your ECU


But let’s face it ,that doesn’t sound cool.

Tune , piggyback or chip either way it a new use of a word.