I've reviewed various Maxima owner's performance upgrades they list on
their postings and as far as I can tell nobody mentions that they've had
their ECU reprogramed. The sales person at the dealership seems to
think that the current 255 hp could easily be taken up to a higher value
with an ECU reprograming. Any truth to this.

I also spoke to a fellow at Jim Wolf Tech and he indicated to me that
ECU reprograming is quite difficult with ECU's from late model Maxima's
such as the 2002. What I find confusing is that I've heard of the dealership
reprogramming the ECU to cure fuel delivery problems on some 2001 Maximas. If
dealership can modify the ECU why can't other performance shops?

Regards,
Rudy

 

I'm certainly not an expert on this topic, but traditionally, auto manufacturers don't reveal their code on ecu's to the general public. I guess they consider their programming parameters proprietary. If a Nissan mechanic needs to fix the code, of course Nissan will provide all the necessary detail needed. Aftermarket folks need to break the encrypted code to do anything with it, which is a pretty tall order. I read somewhere that there is a movement afoot for all manufacturers to reveal this kind of information freely, which will make life easier for all the aftermarket folks. Instead of groping around in the dark all the time, they can design and manufacture aftermarket parts that hit the mark on the first try. As a result, all these new generation accessories should be of better quality and lower cost...

Sounds plausible, huh?

 

There's always room for improvement on factory timing and fuel maps but if you advance the timing you'll have to run 93 octane (or higher). JWT has such programs for high boost applications on the 300ZX TT for those who run race gas.

The good ECU tuners are the ones that are able to crack the code. Obviously Nissan has no problems working with their program

 

it's hard and getting harder to break codes on cars with all the new stuff going into them and changes within generations too. if they do reveal the code it would be awesome. i'm thinking the 350ZX cams though. 280+hp on the same block hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............

 

There really isn't any need to "break" the code. There are piggy back applications out there that allow tuners to change the fuel and timing maps, change the rev limiter, etc. (The Program/Unichip - racers group out in ca.)

However, the technology is around $400 plus tuning charges. It is not like a chip where you just plug it in and with the standard changes you get some gain. You need a tuner and a dyno to do a real test and tune. Also, every time you modify thereafter, you need to re-tune.

There are a couple of products from Jet - but from what everyone says(except one guy who has one)- they give little/no gains. However, I haven't seen anyone dyno test any of the stuff from Jet or the unichip on a 5th gen.

 

ya but a lot of those won't work on our cars with the way out computer aare set up.

 

The Program/Unichip works on ALL OBDII vehicles including the maxima. Jet lists on its website product for the 5th gen maxima. At least one person on the board has one of the jet products.

 

ya and they got about a 1hp gain.

 

Look, a thread that is getting nowhere...

 

it is now that you started whoring in it

 

yea med..

 

That its a thread that is going nowhere, or that I'll post ***** it. The whole point of the thread had potential, but someone didn't search first.

 

and search works now too, USE IT!!

 

Well, I've never believed that any of the Jet products are worth much. Haven't seen the dyno that you are referring to.

As for the unichip, I don't know of anyone who has put it on a 5th gen - let alone dyno'd it. It MIGHT be worth the cost if you have a good tuner.

However, the point I was trying to make is that all this talk about "breaking the code" is nonsense. IF someone breaks the code, then they'll have to come up with certain presets for fuel/timing,etc to replace the factory ones, then burn it onto a replacement ecu/chip. To do that, they'll have to dyno and test - just like you would have to do with a unichip.

What someone needs to do is find an awesome tuner who is willing to tune a maxima with the unichip and come up with a set of parameters to program into the unichip for various basic mods - then make that information available for sale to those who want to purchase the unichip.