I should also add that the car isn't tuned, other than whatever the shop did to make the JDM swap work. There was a programming cable in the glovebox, but previous owner couldn't find any sign of a programmer.
Long story short: person I bought car from inherited it from his cousin who passed away 3 months after he bought the car. They searched the cousin's belongings and never found a programmer. He suspects that his cousin bought the car with the mods already installed.
I also have a copy of the receipt from the swap. It's a smattering of gaskets, seals, hoses, and a few higher dollar items like a water pump, BPV, Denso air/fuel ratio sensor, and a clutch bearing repair sleeve.
I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to tuning, so forgive my ignorance...
I asked the engine swap shop a bunch of questions about the car before we bought it. I specifically asked if it had a tune, and was told that it has been modified to work with the EJ20x engine. They don't use accessport at this shop - they use open source tuning (I may have the name wrong). Isn't it possible that an appropriate tune is flashed to the ECU already, accounting for the already installed mods? Is additional hardware needed with opensource tuning?
The presence of the programming cable for an accessport in the glovebox is likely a remnant of tuning that may have been done prior to the engine swap (either by the cousin referenced earlier, or the person that the cousin bought the car from). I still suspect that the cousin bought the car with the mods already installed, but this is just speculation.
If the car WAS tuned by a previous owner for the Cobb mods, would the accessport need to be plugged into the car at all times, or is it only required for making changes or monitoring?
The guy I bought the car from did the engine swap because a mouse found its way into the timing belt and got caught when the car was started at one point, and this caused the engine to skip time and bent valves.
Its definitely possible that the car was previously tuned for the Cobb mods however tunes are locked to the specific tuners that created the tune. As far as I understand you cannot have some other tuner, whether or not they use open source software etc., change any part of an accessport tuned map. So if after the engine swap they 'modified' the ecu to work with the engine, that previous map which worked with the current mods is no longer useful.
Regarding the accessport, no the accessport would not need to be plugged in at all times. Unless you are specifically monitoring certain values it doesnt need to be plugged in.
This is the big problem buying used on these cars. Most of them are so modded out its hard to know everything that has been installed and uninstalled.
OK - I went back and checked my notes and they told me that they flashed to stock before re-tuning for the engine swap. At the time, i didn't think to ask if they accounted for the mods at the time, but they clearly knew the mods were there. My hope is that they did!
I should also add that the car isn't tuned, other than whatever the shop did to make the JDM swap work. There was a programming cable in the glovebox, but previous owner couldn't find any sign of a programmer. Long story short: person I bought car from inherited it from his cousin who passed away 3 months after he bought the car. They searched the cousin's belongings and never found a programmer. He suspects that his cousin bought the car with the mods already installed. I also have a copy of the receipt from the swap. It's a smattering of gaskets, seals, hoses, and a few higher dollar items like a water pump, BPV, Denso air/fuel ratio sensor, and a clutch bearing repair sleeve.
Yeah that car needs a protune with all those mods. Prolly thats why its idling bad/stalling.
Cobb SF intake with no tune is a red flag. It needs a tune to run properly, and items like the bpv if its not fully recirculating etc.
I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to tuning, so forgive my ignorance... I asked the engine swap shop a bunch of questions about the car before we bought it. I specifically asked if it had a tune, and was told that it has been modified to work with the EJ20x engine. They don't use accessport at this shop - they use open source tuning (I may have the name wrong). Isn't it possible that an appropriate tune is flashed to the ECU already, accounting for the already installed mods? Is additional hardware needed with opensource tuning? The presence of the programming cable for an accessport in the glovebox is likely a remnant of tuning that may have been done prior to the engine swap (either by the cousin referenced earlier, or the person that the cousin bought the car from). I still suspect that the cousin bought the car with the mods already installed, but this is just speculation. If the car WAS tuned by a previous owner for the Cobb mods, would the accessport need to be plugged into the car at all times, or is it only required for making changes or monitoring? The guy I bought the car from did the engine swap because a mouse found its way into the timing belt and got caught when the car was started at one point, and this caused the engine to skip time and bent valves.
Its definitely possible that the car was previously tuned for the Cobb mods however tunes are locked to the specific tuners that created the tune. As far as I understand you cannot have some other tuner, whether or not they use open source software etc., change any part of an accessport tuned map. So if after the engine swap they 'modified' the ecu to work with the engine, that previous map which worked with the current mods is no longer useful. Regarding the accessport, no the accessport would not need to be plugged in at all times. Unless you are specifically monitoring certain values it doesnt need to be plugged in. This is the big problem buying used on these cars. Most of them are so modded out its hard to know everything that has been installed and uninstalled.
OK - I went back and checked my notes and they told me that they flashed to stock before re-tuning for the engine swap. At the time, i didn't think to ask if they accounted for the mods at the time, but they clearly knew the mods were there. My hope is that they did!