ok rx-8 friend I have same problem, im in germany and cant get my american car flashed is there a way I could take it out (ECU) and send it to someone that could do it for me?

 

RX-8 Friend,

I am in the same boat as Epitrochoid and I am part of his first group buy. I cannot get the M flash and I am also in S. FL. I have been to my dealership twice with no luck. I brought them the TSB and they made me wait for 2 & 1/2 hours only to have the service writeup say "updated pcm," with no part number. My car feels the same and my gas mileage is still horrible so I know the car was not flashed.

I have a question for you. If I were to purchase the cable, would I be able to download the first program that was made for the K flash or is that program unavailable?

Thanks for the response,
Sean

 

RX-8 friend...Thanks for the update. I have one more question for you. For some of us who have the L-flash, what side effects should we expect by upgrading to the new map Maurice is finalizing. And are there any power gains, even though we still are using the L flash? and are they similar to the gains you would gain if you have an "M" Flash. I always thought, there is very little difference between the L, and the M. I thought the M attempts to correct the flooding issue, and idle, and the rest is basically the same as the L.

Since there are many of us still running on the "L", is it possible for Maurice to tweek the maps for the "L" flash? Your comments are much appreciated, and many thanks in advance.

Mark

 

Tell your service advisor that you have been experiencing hard starts and stalling lately, this should work!

 

PRINT the TSB out! It clearly states all cars should be upgraded to "M".

 

When I went to the dealership the second time I handed my service manager the TSB with the paragraph highlighted that said all cars should be flashed to M no matter what they are in for.

The service manager said he would take care of it....I waited 2 & 1/2 hours and when they brought the car back it simply said, "updated pcm," with no part #. I have searched high & low in my engine bay but there is no sticker indicating that any rework was done.

I don't think my dealership has their WDC updated so they have been giving me the runaround.

The worst part is that I tipped my service manager $20 before I got back into my car thinking he did me a favor but instead they ripped me off and ripped Mazda off because I'm sure they billed Mazda NA for work that was not done.

 

That's all my form said when I got mine done, and I know they did the flash. I did the brake tap test before and after, and it verified they did the work. No sticker, nothing in the engine bay. I'd trust them unless they gave you a reason not to.

 

My oil needle does not do the sweep after the 20 brake tap test.

 

Wow. Sorry to hear that dude. I wish you the best of luck in resolving that. If you lived near me I'd tell you a great dealer to go to!

 

SMigneco:

Since you are in Coconut Creek, call Thad Mixon at Delray Mazda 561-278-7800. Tell him that Jay Goldfarb gave you his number. He is the service manager and will take care of the M flash. It should take 20 minutes at the most.

Also, if you don't have a spoiler on your car, I have a factory one available in silver for $150. Just installed one from Mazda Speed.

Good Luck.

Just got confirmation of shipment of my Stage 2 from Maurice and ordered Canscan tool for my palm.

 

Jay,

Thank you very much. I will be calling Thad tomorrow to see if I can setup an appt. I really appreciate the information.

I already have the factory spoiler on my car so I don't need one. I am actually thinking of going with the Mazdaspeed spoiler also. It just looks so much better but the price is what is holding me back. $850 is pretty steep and talking my wife into it has been pretty tough. :D

Great news on your stage 2. Per Epitrochoid, hopefully I should receive my stage 1 either by the end of this week or early next week. I can't wait.

Thanks again!

 

I got the same speech. The WDC wasn't updated with the latest calibrations, even though there's specific instructions in the TSB to update it.

 

I can discuss maps for other flash's with Maurice. He did mention once he was considering it (though it's hard for him to do any more on them now as he has the "M" flash). We can certainly rename the files so you can recognise which version they are for (the ones he previously developed for each flash) and put them on the FTP site.

Understand that while we can modify and install maps for our box till the cows come home, we can't do anything with the stock PCM.

Not sure it's even worth worrying about, as according to the Mazda service bulletin, the "M" flash is inevitably going to be put into all cars. (yeah, in a perfect world)

If you're beginning to think you need the cable and program, you're probably right. At least that's the conclusion -I'm- coming to. To get the improvement we want from -all- cars may not be practical with one "generic map", due to variations in the MAF sensors (we've measured this on a "problem car" here in Edmonton). These variations caused Maurice to "back off" on his maps for safety. And at any rate, if Mazda keeps updating the flashes the programming cable will pay for itself right away, as we scramble to keep up! Maurice is working on a fix for the MAF variation - replacement MAFs at reasonable prices! Or perhaps specialized maps for each variation range of MAF. More hints of what's to come.

There is a difference between "L" and "M" - quite a big one above 6-7K RPM. Early reports were that the changes were minimal, but when we finally got "M" here in Canada, we discovered the changes.

Sounds like that dealer needs to hire a "geek" mechanic to keep them updated .

Oh, and one other comment for those upset with what they perceive the increase of power was or was not - keep in mind the box is just the hardware - the map will change and that is what will give you more or less HP - and we are constantly working on better ways to get more HP from that generic map.
We know from experience with Maurice's car that we can get a very nice extra 25-30 HP peak in "Stage 1" tune (street map suitable for "normal" fuel and all conditions). More importantly we get an increase over most of the RPM range. Once we get a grip on the variations from car to car we will be able to give each of you this level of benefit. We are currently backed off a bit from this for safety. I think we are at around 15-20 HP right now, but that's just a guess without measurement numbers. Maurice got a G-Tech 1/4 mile just under 14 sec. a few days ago! The map is improving.

 

OK, so with the new unit and the "M" flash, what can we expect?

 

i can expect to buy a data cable soon, I can say that! does it connect USB on both ends?

hell...give me the schematics, I'll make my own :P

 

You can get the cable in either of two versions. Remember the port on the box is not USB, but rather serial with a strange pinout of USB connector. It will probably fry your computer USB if you use a standard cable.
Version one - box USB to DB9 serial (legacy port?).
Version two - Box USB with built in converter and standard USB on the other end. This is the most popular one.

I use version two every day to program new units and it works flawlessly. The program and computer is another matter - they keep trying to hide the "comm port number" from each other .

 

i ask because my laptop only has USB, no serial.

i know virtual com ports are a bitch...i have some uh...hardware..thats serial and uses a usb with a special driver to make a virtual com port. it sucks, but it works.

i think i'm gonna have Maurice add an extra data cable in there for me, that way if my M-quest fails, I can just go back to old school K.

 

Please answer this. Are the gains still the same?

 

If anyone is installing their unit,or messing with it.. could you look at the lights in the front of the CZ thing at idle and tell me what yours are doing? thanks!

 

i just purchase my cable yesterday i spoke to maurice quickly and never mention to me there were to cables availiable.my friend has a laptop so when maps come out i was going to go bother him.

 

I'm jealous that you guys already have your units

Woohoo! More reason to be excited. Keep posting your developments! Keep us updated.

 

I don't. I paid back in Feb and still waiting. I can't ever get a straight answer on the map.

 

thought some of you might like this :P

an email will be dispatched shortly with some info

edit: sorry that pic sucks, i tried to resize it in windows photo editor and it cropped it and overwrote the original...theyre packed in my car at the moment, and i dont feel like getting them back out to rephotograph.

 

Do you still have my new email?

 

PM it to me