as the title says is replacing the ECU worth it?

I was looking at the IPD site and it looks pretty interesting but also pretty expensive

is their a cheaper ECU replacement that is any good for the 98 s70 t5?

Thanks

 

yes speed tuning is only $325

 

us poor college students dont have money like that to throw around is their anything cheaper?

 

1. IPD USA, BSR PPC and RICA PPC are the best ECU upgrades on the Volvo aftermarket.

2. SpeedTuning USA is one of the cheapest ECU upgrades. Will make your car run RICH.

 

I dont see why the car would run rich, dont they do air/fuel ratio with the chip aswell. Anyways if you cant afford a ecu upgrade, just do what I did and get a Manual boost controller on ebay. Mine was $24 shipped and I can adjust 5-30psi. Works great for me and I can adjust it whenever

 

manual boost controller? what is that

also what would the benefit/drawbacks of that vs an ecu upgrade?

 

A MBC is a device that bacially allows you to change the amount of boost your car is boosting. It overrides the ECU. The advantages to a ECU upgrade is the incresed perfomance is alittle more stable and works with your car better. An MBC will force your car to run higher boost under heavy acceleration.

 

All tunes even factory run richer than normal.

 

But what are the positives and negatives of a manual boost controller vrs a ECU upgrade ?
The boost controller is winning in my pocket book.
NICK

 

If a MBC is winning right now in your mind the only reason I can see is the cost. You just don't want to spend the money on a good ECU upgrade.

 

hahah that is very true I dont have the money to spend on the ECU right now[sm=sigh.gif]. But I was thinking with the manual boost controller the stock ECU wont like the extra boost and wont adjust for the right amount of fuel needed and the car would run lean right? I will probly do the ECU upgrade eventually when I get more money.
Nick

 

Just save your money and do an ECU upgrade, trust me you wont go wrong with an ECU upgrade.

 

The MBC will be fine, I run it with no problems, your ECU will adjust for correct air/fuel ratio. It suggested that if you go over 15 psi you would want a ECU upgrade. So when I get my 16t installed tmrw, I will be getting an ECU remap early next month. Inmotion ECU tuning is only $320, and you get retunes for life as you continue to upgrade your car. But I ran 10-12psi on my MBC just fine, unfortunatly my turbo was old and broke soon after. So get the $20 MBC for now so you can have some fun, then save for a ECU upgrade.

 

Put it this way both an ECU upgrade and a MBC put more stress on your car. However the ECU upgrade is better because it is a better tune then a MBC ever will be.