| Has anyone fitted one of the Dealer Alternative Link ECUs to a normally aspirated '5? I ask as there's considerable mention of work they're doing with this kit on their website at www.dralt.com. There's a fair bit of power to be had from the tuning and timing info it provides as well as being able to get rid of the air-flow meter. This combined with JR CAI, new throttle bodies and the like has got them into 'stock' supercharger power-levels on their 1990 1.6. Is it available in the UK and why is it so expensive (~$1000) compared with the replacement ECUs available elsewhere, other than it being programmable from a keypad (another $250). (11/99) |
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Link is worth a bit N/A .. maybe 7-10 hp I think .. but it is bottom end response that is most notable .. and you need intake/exhaust done first to get the real advantages which are otherwise unrelisable. Link ECU is made in New Zealand. They started out on Subaru's. The DA Link board is a drop in replacement which is custom made rather than a general ECU, you may find them in NZ but then you would not get the software upgrades which are well worthwhile ... other ECUs are just tweaked standard ones with little behind them.. the Link is 80% programmable to allow you to tune the car to any changes you have made as and when they occur rather than going back to Superchip for another rolling road session (which are rubbish as the rolling road has far too much heat soak .. and so does not represent anything near a 50mph open cruise..) The circuit board is really simple .. it is based on a Motorola 68000 chip ... got a circuit board on ACAD here .. or a piccy. You are really just paying for the software and the fact it exists. It does teach you a lot about car tuning .. it is great fun .. you can log your data and down load for analysis later .. as you can see I know about it 'cause my turbo kit comes with it.. the different between a BEGI 4 turbo kit and an FM2 from DA is less than the Link so I got it for 50% really... So good but S/C and T/C are cheaper routes to power. (11/99) |
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... some miata.power postings; A guide line of power/boost level and mods to be expected: |
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Though I very much support the dealer alternative in the US, as they offer tremendous customer support, I'd like you all to know that there is also a supplier of LINK products, like ECU, Knock link etc. in the UK. Keep in mind that you can only get the official LINK software there, not the software developed by Ray Ayala (with all the latest gimmicks). The owner is Bob Rawle and he seems very knowledgeable (judging the correspondence I've had with him). Though first primairely aimed at the Subaru Impreza owners, he also can supply and support LINK ECU's for other makes. Prices seem fair too (might even be cheaper than ordering it from the US). Take a look at: http://www.brdevelopments.com/ Oh yes, just for the record. I have absolutely no commercial or other kind of interest in this company. (3/00) |
| As I'm electronics minded, and have seen several mentions on the list about the ECU unit int the car, I was wondering what all the outputs were that are spare to look at. Also is there like a serial output, or a way of reading all the internals that is known of ?? If so, please let me know, as I may see if I can build a test unit for the car, which anyone can use. Any ideas. I've looked at several websites, without luck so far. (4/00) |
| Try the diagnostics manual on the donutz site , think that covers what you are discussing here. (4/00) |
| No serial ports .. not easy to tune/chip .. and not much to gain from playing with ECU from previous efforts ... and which spare outputs.. it is simple enough in inputs verus outputs .. never bother to work out how the stock one works .. my replacement Link ECU .. there I could help you having drawn out the circuit looking for a fault .. easy 68000 series brain. (4/00) |
| Just been to donutz, and looked at getting a manual on it. However, I'd like to hear about the link ECU. I guess that you do electronics... Ive got my finals soon. Anyway after that I plan to figure out an interface possibly to the ECU. May be worth a go, if I can find some useful info on it. (4/00) |
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A mere Mechanical Engineer here... electronics is a dabble subject ..along with programming etc.. The Link ECU is a really nice bit of kit .. costs $1000 + $250 for the handset/programmer .. It is based on a Motorola MC68HC711E9CFN2.. a 68000 with i/o ability, 512k RAM, 12k bytes, 512k EEPROM and ROM disabled (:-((( ) in a 52 pin OTP EPROM package. with 8 D/A, 8 A/D and 3 data 8 bit wide buses for digital I/O or so .. and the board is simplicity itself .. just buffers, voltage regulation, and 6 op amps (4 fuel injection, one IAC, one boost solenoid) .. there is a serial port to pull data in and out. The real skill is in the programming .. the electronics side is easy enough (must be as I could pick my way through the board with a little time). I did consider building another one for my water injection as Aquamist want 200 GBP for their basic analogue 3D controller whereas the material for a Link would be only 60 GBP .. and I could make it compatible with the programmer/handset .. but the programming would have taken me months :-( (4/00) |
| Like I earlier posted, there is a LINK dealer in the UK. Surf to: http://www.brdevelopments.com/ . Downside is that you will only get the official LINK software. Not the updated Ray Ayala software, though I would imagine that The dealer alternative in the US can sell you an upgrade. (4/00) |
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I'm about to install a J&S knock sensor and display to while away the weeks whilst my BEGI System IV arrives, but I'm having a slight problem... I can't find the ECU in my RHD '97 1.8. I've read that it should be 'behind the passenger seat', but what does this mean? I've peeled back the carpet on the bulk head, i.e. the near vertical bit that goes from the floor to the parcel shelf behind the seats, on both the passenger and driver sides, and I've peeled it back on the parcel shelf, but no sign. I've also peeled back the carpet in the foot well on the passenger side and found a well secured plate that the passenger would rest their feet against, underneath the glove box with a large wiring loom disappearing down behind it - is this it? But it's supposed to be behind the seats... Do I have to actually remove a seat to get to it? (4/00) |
| If you take out the four nuts on the panel in the foot well you will see it behind the plate. (4/00) |
| You found it - It's only behind the passenger seat on Miatas (and other LHD's?) (4/00) |
| I drive a 1995 from the USA imported red 1.6 Miata. She only hase 90bhp. A friend of me crashed his 5 and now pieces he hase got left, are for sale. I'm interessed in his computer-chip (116 bhp). If I exchange the chip, will I have 116 bhp or is it not enough to exchange the chip ? (4/01) |
| You'd also have to swap the engine. Dunno about the gearbox. But it does sound like fun and a rather excellent upgrade! (4/01) |
| There never was a 1.6 in the US after 1993, and there never was a 90hp engine in the US. IF your engine is the 1.6 90hp variety, the ECU might help a bit, but it will certainly not give you 116 hp. The 90 hp engine has lower compression, different cams, different ECU and maybe more differences. (4/01) |
| Some of you may be able to help me. A few weeks ago I had a local Mazda garage change the timing belt in my '92 Eunos Roadster and perform a general service. They also changed the air filter. After about 100 miles of driving, the engine began running really badly. It was difficult to start and, although it would idle more or less properly, when the throttle was pressed down it would 'stutter' as though the cylinders were being flooded. This meant that, when driving, I could slowly build up the revs but quick bursts of acceleration were out of the question - not much fun. I replaced the HT leads and the plugs (which were covered in soot) to no avail. I contacted the garage who performed the original job to see if they could check out their work but they claim that the mechanical timing is spot on and that the air supply is OK. They then spent five (expensive) hours of work to arrive at the conclusion that the electrical timing was not advancing properly as the engine sped up. I took my car back on the hunch that they did not know what they were looking for and were stabbing in the dark. They 'suspected' that the problem was the ECU having (they said) swapped out all the sensors one at a time. They did not have a replacement ECU so their theory goes untested. So here comes my queries to you good people: 1/ Has anyone ever seen such a problem on their cars and have any good ideas? 2/ If the ECU is bust, can I get it repaired? 3/ If I need a replacement where would I get one and how much are they? (6/01) |
| 100 miles after a service? Sounds like too much of a coincidence to me. Doubt it's the ecu - but it's hard to second guess a dealer without seeing the car. "It must be the ecu" generally means "we haven't got a clue, but it's gonna cost you". I'd get a second opinion from someone who knows what they're doing - this "Mazda garage" obviously doesn't. Doesn't sound as if they've done any electronic diagnosis - otherwise why would they swap sensors? I'd suspect something to do with the air flow meter - but as I say - hard to tell from here. (6/01) |
| I know it's a 92 but does anyone think this sounds like the early crank problem? 100 miles after a timing belt change sounds like they maybe didn't tighten things up etc. (6/01) |
| Could also be a bit of cleaning rag stuck down the air pipe between AFM and throttle body. (6/01) |
| You should, in fact must get the work they carried out when changing the timing belt checked. Check Miata.net for information on the early crank problem (although this is really only a problem with cars to early '91?) and hand it to them if they have no idea what you are talking about. The symptoms you describe sound very much like the timing is wrong (perhaps the belt has jumped a tooth if not tensioned correctly 1 tooth = 28 deg IIRC). (6/01) |
| Just been doing some surfing.... Came across a Japanese site where the owner changed the air filter. The instructions on the box said to reset the ECU which he did. However, it did not say how he done it! Does anyone know how to do this or if it is possible or not? (2/02) |
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The ecu will reset if you just disconnect the battery (or pull the BTN fuse) and discharge the capacitors by pressing the brake pedal for 10 secs or so - same as for clearing fault codes, etc. (Although the official fault code clear for OBDII cars is via the NGS tester (New Generation Star)). (Do Mk 2's in UK, or Mk 2 Roadsters, have OBDII ?) The ecu is permanently powered (through the "Room" fuse) to maintain memory, so disconnecting power must do something! I'm not sure how much adaptive function the ecu has, beyond holding fault codes - people do sometimes say that the car feels livelier after doing this and driving for a few days, so maybe there's something in it. (2/02) |
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I'm trying to lay the view, once and for all (maybe!) that ecus on Roadsters and MX-5s are different. I know the part number for the early Roadster ecu is B63H18881B (it's printed on my ecu, for one thing), and that the part number for post-92 MX-5s is B63H18881C. As these part numbers are so similar, I believe that the difference between these two is almost certain to be a minor upgrade, and that they will be interchangeable, at least the early one could be replaced by the later one. Can anyone tell me for sure what the part number for an early MX-5 ecu is, and/or what the part number for a 92-on Roadster ecu is? The part number is printed on a label on the ecu. And what about Miatas? The connections are different - even some of the wire colours are different - Miatas, at least California ones, have full sequential fuel injection, for one thing, whereas UK and Jap spec cars have the injectors paired, so two inject at once. But are the ecus actually different, or do they just use alternative connections - there are lots of unused terminals in all manifestations. If you go looking at your ecu, please be careful of the cover plate - it's made of specially sharpened razor blade steel, and few people get all the way without drawing blood! 1.8 info also would be useful - there are at least two versions, for 8 and 16 bit 1.8 ecus, and they'll both be different from 1.6 ones. Also what's the part number of the later 1.6 ecu? (2/02) |
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My car is a 1996 year 1.8 model (UK spec) and has the following
on the ECU plate: I believe this is the 16-bit version. Bill at FlyinMiata reckoned it was the OBD-II version of the ECU as it has three plugs from the wiring loom. If it *is* the ODBII version, that explains why my diagnostic codes from last year didn't match the "known" ones that are bandied around on this list and others (my codes at the time were multi-digit and probably needed an OBDII reader ?). And yes, I sliced my middle finger, of the left hand down to the bone ! Still have the scar nearly a year later ;) (2/02) |
| Certainly my ECU was different to the US ECUs. I made a wiring harness (as others have done) to get my car to talk to the Link. This involves painstakingly matching and soldering about 60 wires to connectors or so. Ignoring colour differences, of which there were many, there were some different locations/mission lines to the US one. I have a document that I wrote up to describe all the differences in full in case anyone else ever wants to do this (Frank Smyth did this too). Most of it was solved by Glenn Johnson when he first did it with a little help from Bill @ FM. I made a few minor changes to account for my car being a final year 1.8 - as there were a couple of other differences. I'm happy to pass this on if anyone wants it. I have already given it to Bill @ FM and Bill should have a list of the ECU variations for any country where there's ever been a Link installed in a 96/97 1.8. Bill mentioned to me that a Scandanavian 1.6 (later model > 94) also had wiring that gave him a lot of trouble to solve. (2/02) |
| My car (1998R 1.8 Mk1) too issues different codes. I kept getting told that we didn't have OBD-II over here and that may be the case in terms of functionality, but we sure had OBD-II connectors (3 plugs, not two) and an ECU that was wired the same as the OBD-II in the states except for the placement of a few wires and some wiring colour differences. My car also outputs codes that the US sold OBD-II reader read. So it is at least in some ways compatible. I know that it made installing a Link go from a 1 hour job to taking longer than it took to install the turbo...;-) (2/02) |
| According to the 1990 .pdf download for the Miata the "Control Unit, E.G.I." (if that's the ECU - numbers looks similar) is B61P-18-881A for the manual and B64J-18-881 for the automatic (2/02) |