I have a quick question regarding the Heico ECU. I was looking at their site and notice this:

"... A slight increase of the turbo pressure, injection quantity and period results in an power increase, which

is neverover the maximum strain the several components (like gear box, differential etc.) can stand.

By doing that, a new homogeneous data set is implanted into the origin ECU box. There is no separat

accessory unit used, indicating statically wrong factors to the origin ECU box! As every serial Volvo has

got an own, individual data set, an ECU box is never interchangeable. For that reason every chip tuning

and data set has to be adapted individual for each car.

Ref.: for gasoline engines we suggest to use min. super plus (98 octane)."

This was the fuel recommendation to their ECU upgrade. Now, I am sure that this may possibly be a mistake on their end or that this is for the Euro customers and not for Americans. But I did not notice any thing stating that North American customers should use a different octane minimum as opposed to the one already listed. Has anyone had the Heico ECU swap done? What gas are you using? (Even Sunoco's high grade 94 octane is a full 5 points below their recommended min. Also, only race gas at 110 octane would even come close, and you usually have to mix that to keep from burning the Cats out.). Does the engine ping or knock? Curious, wonder if the other ECU upgrades have the same sort of octane requirements. Does any of the Volvo ECU chips have the CARB certificate number or are they all technically illegal (not smog cleared). I know the Heico site stated theyhad TUV certs, but that's for Germany.

 

I believe you are correct in the mis-print. The usual 'premium' grade in the mid-west is 91 to 93 octane. I should think that only leaded av gas at 100 octane is available here in the states. HEICO is a quality provider of Volvo tuning upgrades

r.

 

You don't have to run premium gas. You should run at least 91, or higher. However you don't have to.

My SpeedTuning USA ecu runs find on 87, but runs a whole lot better on 91 or higher.

 

Reg,

The AV gas by me in NJ is 105-110 and yes it is leaded as lead is a great knock suppressor and octane booster. Just the Catalytic converters on cars cannot handle the lead for too long or much before corroding the sensors. I still wonder if the ECU upgrades are CARB exempt or not. I am use Subarus and their turbo kits or upgrades and ECUs usually have a CARB number or will state "Only for Off Road use", which translates to remove before inspection dummy!

S70Driver,

You don't have any problems with Pings, Knocks, or Dieseling? No pre-detonation issues or fouled plugs? How much power has the SpeedTuning USA ECU make? How long have you had it and is it a full ECU swap or a piggyback? Heico was priding themselves that theirs was not a piggyback but a full replacement with real maps not faked out sensor readings. Is the ECU CARB or smog legal? And lastly, can the maps be adjusted or are they essentially fixed or only flashable from the shop? (i.e. can you connect it up to a laptop and adjust the mapping yourself?

- Henry

 

The SpeedTunin chip makes your car run rich. But it only costs $325 and one of the best bangs for your buck. I have not had any problems other then running rich with this ECU upgrade. This is just a chip upgrade, Oilver takes your ECU and puts a chip in it. The chip is legal. I have had it for a year or so. No ST USA ecu upgrade cannot be adjusted. There is a 12/15/17 PSI program.

No you cannot hook it up to a laptop and program it.

If you want an adjustable ECU upgrade go with CIVINCO or another Standalone system. But if you want something good get a RICA ecu upgrade. They will tune your ECU to your specific mods. Even more so if you send them a stock dyno sheet with A/F ratios and if you have mods then a dyno sheets with the mods and A/F ratios.

 

Just a quick comment on the octane recommendation from Heico. I think that the reason for Heico calling for a seemingly very high octane number of 98 is that they are using the European way of stating octane, which is different than in the US. In the US the normal octane numbers on the pump are the average of two types of octane measurements, the Research method (R), and the Motor method (M). In the US the pump shows the average -(R+M)/2. I believe it is the case that in Europe just the Research method (R) number is used. The Research method produces higher numbers for the same gas, than the Motor method. I can't tell you what a 98 in Research method corresponds to in the (R+M)/2 method, but it is certainly lower, and may be the basically the same as 91 octane in the US.

(I seem to recall something like this from the owner's manual of my old Triumph, which called for 100 octane - Research method, but this turned out to be a lower number via the US method.) Triumph didn't bother changing the numbers for US owners manuals, although of course everyone now prints country-specific owners manuals.)

BTW - here is a link to an article on octane rating methods - http://www.ozebook.com/compendium/suzi/octane.pdf

 

OK, I have heard of the Octane rating difference in Europe as opposed to the US. And this would make sense as they seem to still cater the advert to Euro-customers vs. American.

 

Thanks for the link. The chart at the bottom of the linked page suggests, however,an octane requirement difference of 9 between the two methods testers use. Since Europe uses the more liberal method and America averages the two, that would translate the octane requirement in Europe of 98 to at least 93 here, not 91.

 

I have a couple of questions about ECU upgrades generally.

I'm about to lay out some big ones for the C70. I am trying to decide whether to do an ECU upgrade to address the serious lack of power, which all the evidence suggests will NOT be changed at least until fall of next year with the 2009 MY.

First, is an ECU upgrade really stupid given that (a) ECU software changes will likely lead to a quick warranty void, (b) Volvo is not known for its reliability, and (c) the C70 is a new model to start with?

Two, if I do make the plunge, am I better going with Evolve over Heico, since Evolve developed their upgrade working with American, not German, fuel?

thanks.

 

1. Do not do anything to your Volvo until the warranty is up. This may not void your warranty but it very well could.

2. IMO EVOLVE sucks the big one. I wouldn't go with them. I don't know much about HEICO but I would go with them over EVOLVE any day. If your looking for a good ECU tune look into IPD's ecu upgrade and or a RICA upgrade. These may be exspensive but they are some of the best tunes out there. What year is your c70 by the way? Maybe a BSR PPC is what your looking for. You can upgrade the software on your car just by plugging the unit into your OBII port plus you have the option of returning the software back to stock if taking it to the dealership and or letting your kid drive the car.

 

thanks for the info. what's the point of returning the ECU to stock before taking to a dealership, though. It's not like they won't take my money to repair the car and, in any case, once the warranty is up, I'm not sure it'd be sensible to take it to the dealership anyway.

 

I said to return the car back to stock because if you did do an ECU upgrade under warranty they may find that the ECU upgrade was at fault. Now I am sure they wouldn't repair it under warranty if they said that the ECU upgrade was at fault. So that said the BSR PPC allows you to return your car back to stock whenever you want to. So before you go to the dealer you just return it back to stock and they wont know the difference.

Now if you had an ECU upgrade like a SpeedTuning USA upgrade like mine, you cannot do that. Mine actually was wipd out by the dealer when they did the new ETM software upgrade. I was pissed because I had to go get the ECU remapped again which cost me money.

But with a BSR PPC I could just plug the unit back in and I am set to go.

 

Has anyone done a review/test between the various ECU upgrades? Beside the usual they give you more power route, did they every discuss reliability, service support, mapping quality, pros, cons, etc.. Would be interested in knowing difference between BSR PPC and EST PPC other than price.

- Henry