How to find out if my ECU been tuned before?

[ThatWhiteM3]

Hello, when I bought my M3 lady mentioned something about tune. Not sure if she was referring to exhaust that she installed or actual ECU tune. Is there a way to find out if ECU has been tuned? And if it is how much does it cost to reset to a factory ECU?

[squartus]

Your exhaust, is it aftermarket? If so, and its got primary cat deletes/xpipe/test pipe and its not throwing a code its been tuned. In which case you will need to keep it, or reinstall the cats.

[ThatWhiteM3]

Originally Posted by squartus

Your exhaust, is it aftermarket? If so, and its got primary cat deletes/xpipe/test pipe and its not throwing a code its been tuned. In which case you will need to keep it, or reinstall the cats.

It does has a dinan exhaust and no codes. I meant like how to know if it's been tuned towards injectors and ignition times? Anyway to find that?

[Leonardo629]

What squartus said, but if your car only has a catback, then there's no way to tell on that end.

Does your car go through the cold start process when you first start it in the morning? i.e. revs to 1200rpm or so, then after a minute also, settles to 6-700rpm. If it doesn't do that, then you DEFINITELY has a tune.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by ThatWhiteM3

Hello, when I bought my M3 lady mentioned something about tune. Not sure if she was referring to exhaust that she installed or actual ECU tune. Is there a way to find out if ECU has been tuned? And if it is how much does it cost to reset to a factory ECU?

Take it too the dealer and ask for a software update. Tell them if it has anything other than factory software and tune, to reflash it. It will be at your expense, probably to the tune of $300 give or take.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by ThatWhiteM3

It does has a dinan exhaust and no codes. I meant like how to know if it's been tuned towards injectors and ignition times? Anyway to find that?

See my above comment....

[dparm]

Originally Posted by ThatWhiteM3

Hello, when I bought my M3 lady mentioned something about tune. Not sure if she was referring to exhaust that she installed or actual ECU tune. Is there a way to find out if ECU has been tuned? And if it is how much does it cost to reset to a factory ECU?

There's several vendors on here who sell tunes so I think they can comment on how to detect the tune.

A dealer might be able to do it if they knew how/where to look, but it seems like most of the techs don't know the inner-workings of the various modules. They can certainly flash things back to stock if you just request a software update, as others have mentioned. Be forewarned that some dealers don't like doing this "by request" since it's inherently risky.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by dparm

There's several vendors on here who sell tunes so I think they can comment on how to detect the tune.

A dealer might be able to do it if they knew how/where to look, but it seems like most of the techs don't know the inner-workings of the various modules. They can certainly flash things back to stock if you just request a software update, as others have mentioned. Be forewarned that some dealers don't like doing this "by request" since it's inherently risky.

When the dealer scans the car, the dme file is reviewed by BMW NA automatically and they will inform the dealer if the car has a tune or not and will red flag the VIN automatically. All they have to do is look at the checksum values and see if its been tampered with and or reset and they know its been tuned. Even if you flash back to stock, they still know. Thats how it works. Every single ISTA device in the world communicates with either BMW NA or BMW GmbH. Every time any programming needs to be done, the software comes from them. Not the dealer. The tech has absolutely nothing to do with it, other than hooking up ISTA and scanning the car.

[ThatWhiteM3]

Originally Posted by Leonardo629

What squartus said, but if your car only has a catback, then there's no way to tell on that end.

Does your car go through the cold start process when you first start it in the morning? i.e. revs to 1200rpm or so, then after a minute also, settles to 6-700rpm. If it doesn't do that, then you DEFINITELY has a tune.

Yes, when vehicle starts up on cold day it revs up to about 1100-1200 rpm then drops.

[ThatWhiteM3]

Originally Posted by Uber///M

When the dealer scans the car, the dme file is reviewed by BMW NA automatically and they will inform the dealer if the car has a tune or not and will red flag the VIN automatically. All they have to do is look at the checksum values and see if its been tampered with and or reset and they know its been tuned. Even if you flash back to stock, they still know. Thats how it works. Every single ISTA device in the world communicates with either BMW NA or BMW GmbH. Every time any programming needs to be done, the software comes from them. Not the dealer. The tech has absolutely nothing to do with it, other than hooking up ISTA and scanning the car.

So should I take it to dealer and do software update? Sorry I just seem to misunderstand your point. Your first reply saying to do a software update and last one saying it might put a red flag.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by ThatWhiteM3

So should I take it to dealer and do software update? Sorry I just seem to misunderstand your point. Your first reply saying to do a software update and last one saying it might put a red flag.

Its up to you. If you still have a bmw warranty you may want to avoid the dealer. Having a tune could void the warranty.... On the other hand requesting an update is the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to ensure you have a factory tune.

[Mvy]

Since the factory tune is not usually the best for performance, why would you remove it and flash back to the factory tune? Just my 2 cents.

[ThatWhiteM3]

Originally Posted by Mvy

Since the factory tune is not usually the best for performance, why would you remove it and flash back to the factory tune? Just my 2 cents.

Just being paranoid. I want to keep everything stock, engine wise

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Uber///M

When the dealer scans the car, the dme file is reviewed by BMW NA automatically and they will inform the dealer if the car has a tune or not and will red flag the VIN automatically. All they have to do is look at the checksum values and see if its been tampered with and or reset and they know its been tuned. Even if you flash back to stock, they still know. Thats how it works. Every single ISTA device in the world communicates with either BMW NA or BMW GmbH. Every time any programming needs to be done, the software comes from them. Not the dealer. The tech has absolutely nothing to do with it, other than hooking up ISTA and scanning the car.

Interesting, thanks for correcting me!

However, it's been stated on here by several tuners that they can override the "counter" or whatever you want to call it that can signify a tune used to be on there.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by dparm

Interesting, thanks for correcting me!

However, it's been stated on here by several tuners that they can override the "counter" or whatever you want to call it that can signify a tune used to be on there.

They can reset the flash counter, but they cant modify the checksum file and thats what bmw looks at when they check for a tune.

[M3ANMACHINE]

Could be a Dinan tune if it's running a Dinan X Pipe.

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by Uber///M

When the dealer scans the car, the dme file is reviewed by BMW NA automatically and they will inform the dealer if the car has a tune or not and will red flag the VIN automatically. All they have to do is look at the checksum values and see if its been tampered with and or reset and they know its been tuned. Even if you flash back to stock, they still know. Thats how it works. Every single ISTA device in the world communicates with either BMW NA or BMW GmbH. Every time any programming needs to be done, the software comes from them. Not the dealer. The tech has absolutely nothing to do with it, other than hooking up ISTA and scanning the car.

Not necessarily true. If the car is flashed back to stock, then the checksum will be back to what it was before the flash. If the redline and speed limits have not been modified, then they may not necessarily know. They may see a flash counter incremented but this doesn't mean anything concrete.

A checksum is not a "file". There are multiple checksums throughout the file - if the DME is flashed back, the checksums must go back or they are incorrect and the car will not start.

OP, you can send your VIN to us and we can let you know if we've tuned the car - but you'll need to provide proof of ownership before we release this information

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by Uber///M

Its up to you. If you still have a bmw warranty you may want to avoid the dealer. Having a tune could void the warranty.... On the other hand requesting an update is the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to ensure you have a factory tune.

Requesting an update ensures nothing - if you ask for an update and are already on the latest version (even tuned), ISTA will skip flashing the DME unless it's told to manually program it.

[vroooom]

Mike, I'm considering a tune only to optimize for 93 octane gas. Nothing else. Would this be worth it? It's a 13 still cpo. Bad idea?

[BPMSport]

Originally Posted by vroooom

Mike, I'm considering a tune only to optimize for 93 octane gas. Nothing else. Would this be worth it? It's a 13 still cpo. Bad idea?

A lot of customers get a tune and leave the other options stock.

[DOCTOR.Y]

So what is the clear way to tell dealer to remove the ECU tune and refresh it back to bone stock?

I`m asking this because my car has a metallic 'clatter' noise only under acceleration. Not RB please, it existed before and after I replaced my RB. I run the car with gear on the dyno to simulate underload condition like normal driving, open the hood, it`s clearly from underneath rock cover. On the forum people say this is caused by the tune and could be solved by removing it.

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by DOCTOR.Y

So what is the clear way to tell dealer to remove the ECU tune and refresh it back to bone stock?

I`m asking this because my car has a metallic 'clatter' noise only under acceleration. Not RB please, it existed before and after I replaced my RB. I run the car with gear on the dyno to simulate underload condition like normal driving, open the hood, it`s clearly from underneath rock cover. On the forum people say this is caused by the tune and could be solved by removing it.

What tune are you running?