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Is there easy way to tell if ECU has been modded?

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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 09:48 AM
  #1  
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From: OFallon, MO
Is there easy way to tell if ECU has been modded?

I have a suspicion the ECU in my 2004 RX8 has been tuned as the rev limiter does not seem to kick in when it should. Is there an easy way to tell if it has been chipped or flashed?

Also my VIN does not match any of the decoding sheets I have seen so far in the forum. Here is mine, JM1FE173140108554, wanting to find out more details on what the car is supposed to have.

Thanks,
Bill

PS: Ran my second autocross with the car last weekend on the new Bridgestone RE11's in street tire class and was just out of the trophies. Had a huge blast with the car. Tiny bit of front end push but still trying to figure out tire pressures, the RE11's run so much lower pressure than other tires I have run on.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 10:32 AM
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From: Buddhist Monastery, High Himalaya Mtns. of Tibet
Go here to get your VIN decoded: https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...ls/default.asp & http://www.analogx.com/cgi-bin/cgivi...&Submit=Decode
It apparently doesn't show the year. Look at the sticker on the drivers door for that information.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:29 PM
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Originally Posted by bschnard
I have a suspicion the ECU in my 2004 RX8 has been tuned as the rev limiter does not seem to kick in when it should.
RX-8 tachometers are, shall we say, optimistic. On both of the ones I've owned, the cut-off seemed to be at about 9300-9400 per the tachometer. Others on this forum report similar results.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:55 PM
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From: Under my car
We recently ran CRH's car to 10k. The tach reported almost 11k.
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 10:30 PM
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From: Aki City, Japan
Originally Posted by MazdaManiac
We recently ran CRH's car to 10k. The tach reported almost 11k.
How much power was it still making?
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:03 PM
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^Don't you mean, how much was it losing?
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 12:43 AM
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Uh, actually his motor kept making power. I think he made the high mark for the day. IIRC 210 and it kept going almost all the way to 9k.
His drop from 9k to 10k was like most people's drop from 8k to 9k.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 02:03 AM
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^Nice.
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Old Apr 21, 2010 | 03:22 AM
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Dash? The entire electrical had a fit! Pretty awesome.
I think you made more than that - you were the high NA number for the day. Jedi will remember better than me.
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