EcuTeK ProECU FAQ's

EcuTek provide the technology to remap ECUs, we do not do the mapping ourselves, except for the standard ECU versions such as the drivability and performance remaps. There are tuners around the world utilising EcuTek's software who can custom map your car. Please use our dealer locator for a list of distributors.

You can download the EcuTek Application Installer. After installing the necessary software, you should run EcuTek Update from the Help menu, which will install any updated files or drivers you require. If you still have trouble, check your new PC meets the system requirements. If it does, please contact us specifying your operating system and the exact error message that you encountered.

First of all, see the system requirements.

You can use virtually any PC capable of running Windows. The software has been tested with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 using both Intel and AMD processors. In comparison to most applications that you would run on a Windows PC, these products consume far less memory and processing power - they have been designed to run efficiently so that you can log information as fast as possible.

The faster your PC, the quicker you can log and graph data. The more memory and disk space you have, the more data you can log, and for a longer period.

Of course. In fact, it has primarily been designed to work with restricted screen space. DeltaDash requires a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768, which excludes only extremely old hardware. DeltaDash is also designed to run with Windows 'Small Fonts', so make sure your PC is configured this way for the best results.

No. Windows CE and Psion devices are not supported.

You can install the software on as many machines as you like, though you'll only be able to log data from your car with one PC - the one you have the hardware plugged into! So you can install one copy on your laptop (for logging), and have another copy on your desktop PC for later analysis. You can even give your friends a copy to view your logs on.

Although we (and others) can communicate with the ECU using the ODB-II protocol, this is far too slow and cumbersome for what we needed to develop. Before you buy OBD-II software, check whether it's going to work with your car.

Yes you can. However, you must bear in mind what a 'piggy back' module does. A 'piggy back' ECU works by altering the signals that go in and out of the ECU - it may change sensor voltages, such as lambda, or boost sensors, in order to get the standard ECU to behave differently. The module may also Alter outputs from the ECU, such as adding or removing ignition timing advance or fuel. Because of this, some of the values read from DeltaDash may not represent the current state of your engine - they are the values that the ECU is using, but may not all apply 'as-is' to the real world.

The diagnostic socket on many car models can be unclipped and placed behind the dash. You can cable-tie the interface onto the socket behind the dash. It is then invisible, and does not protrude from the foot well at all. Make sure you get your passenger to use the laptop if you are driving!

DeltaDash supports Subaru vehicles from Model Year 1999 onwards. The range of cars tested with DeltaDash is constantly growing.

Prior to 99 model years of car, Subaru used a different, slower diagnostic protocol. Whilst it would be possible to support these cars, it would require a different diagnostic interface and this would of course raise the price of the package. We intend to support other, newer vehicles first, such as future Subaru vehicles and the Mitsubishi performance car range, before working on these older cars.

Just connect the cable between the diagnostic port under the dash and your laptop. Install the software. No external power, no batteries, no other wires. Unless you want to power your laptop from the lighter socket of course.

Each time you save a log from a car, it is saved as two files. One file (the .txt) has any comments in it that you entered while logging. The other file (the .csv file) contains all the data. The data is in comma separated variable format (hence the name csv) and can be imported into many other programs such as Microsoft Excel and Access for further analysis.

• Check you are not running in demo mode.
• Check the ignition switch of the car is turned on fully.
• Check that the car is one of the vehicles supported by DeltaDash.
• Check that the interface is plugged into the laptop

To use DeltaDash for real, you must install the software using the EcuTek Application Installer. This installs additional files that are only supplied with the retail version. Without these files, your PC will not be able to communicate with your license key.

There are two reasons this can happen:

• At high RPMs, the ECU may be too busy to return all the data you have requested whilst running the engine at the same time. Try reducing the number of parameters that are being logged, also try increasing the data capture interval.
• Interference from the vehicle's electrical systems, such as the ignition system, may interfere with communication. Try using a shorter cable between the laptop and interface.

There are two reasons this can happen:

• At high RPMs, the ECU may be too busy to return all the data you have requested whilst running the engine at the same time. Try reducing the number of parameters that are being logged, also try increasing the data capture interval.
• Interference from the vehicle's electrical systems, such as the ignition system, may interfere with communication. Try using a shorter cable between the laptop and interface.

There are many reasons to stay with the standard ECU:

• Specification: The ECU is extremely fast and has a very powerful processor.
• Development: Subaru spend several million pounds in software calibration and we can benefit from this. We only need to work on approximately 3% of the data contained in the ECU. This way we retain all of the difficult and time consuming mapping such as transients, warm up, cold start, overrun. We can then concentrate on mapping outside the parameters set at the conservative setting issued at the factory. Aftermarket replacement ECU's cannot ever hope to compete with the speed, power and complexity of the standard unit, this is why the ability to re-map in the way we can renders these units and add-on signal modifiers obsolete.
• Functionality: All functions of the standard ECU remain. Features such as diagnostic trouble codes, ECU control of the climate system, vehicle immobiliser and fault code memory. None of these functions are available with replacement programmable ECU's and with the add-on signal modifiers which cut into the vehicle wiring, they can actually add a fault due to the ECU seeing the wrong signals.
• Security: Programming is performed via the diagnostic socket of the car. No hardware or wires are added or removed from the ECU. The standard factory diagnostic unit will report the ECU as being normal and unaltered.

• All the EcuTek ProECU tools allow you to dump the data from the ECU and send it to us, where we will endevour to add support for the ROM.
• This process can take up to 7 days, depending on the complexity of the vehicle. However, occasionally we do get vehicles we can not immediately support, and in these rare cases it can take significantly longer.
• As our vehicle support is constantly updated, we can provide a comprehensive list of supported vehicles for all our software upon request. Please email for more information.

All software has been written from the ground up by EcuTek International Ltd.

EcuTek tuning software makes editing and reprogramming of the standard ECU possible. Successful, safe results still require the input of an experienced tuner, to know what should be changed, and where the limits are. The price of EcuTek tuning software suites are spread across the multiple cars that are tuned by each of our trade customers and the pricing structure is not suitable for purchasing for tuning a single car. EcuTek are always busy researching and developing new features and products - supplying this complex software to the enthusiast would involve devoting a significantly larger amount of time to email and telephone support, which would limit the time we can spend on R&D. 

You can however buy the ProECU Programming Kit from any EcuTek Master Tuning if you want to program your car using a tuned ROM provided by an experienced tuner. 

You can download the older version of DeltaDash that still supports the serial cable from here:
http://www.ecutek.com/downloads/deltadash-serial.zip

You will need to delete the existing DeltaDash.exe from the C:\EcuTek folder before trying to install the older version of DeltaDash.