ECU upgrades over time

[Dougie]

How are the guys and gals who’ve had ECU flashes in the past finding them now? What’s the mpg like compared with stock? Reliability or any issues? 
I get they improve snatchiness etc but don’t want to drop 10 mpg for it when it’s £1.80 per litre. 

[Hammerhead]

Steady average is 5.3ltr/100km since. Up from about 4.8. The improved performance does have a price.  Zero reliability issues in over a year since. 
 Who knows, maybe there’s some long term wear dividends with a cooler less lean running engine. Either way, no regrets when on the wick!

[Dougie]

1 hour ago, Hammerhead said:

Steady average is 5.3ltr/100km since. Up from about 4.8. The improved performance does have a price.  Zero reliability issues in over a year since. 
 Who knows, maybe there’s some long term wear dividends with a cooler less lean running engine. Either way, no regrets when on the wick!

Thanks bud.
so about 10% less mpg. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Dougie

[Yasenia]

That is a great question. I wish more people had answered it. I too was considering getting the flash at one time, but the lack of information turned me off to the idea.

 

Plus my bike is still under warranty and I plan to buy the factory's extended warranty for 4 years. I just paid 500 bucks for the 4,000 miles service. I can only imagine how expensive it can get to have something fixed that is more labor extensive. Plus the price of parts are crazy bad. I think that 500 bucks for 4 years warranty is worth every penny. I am sure that flashing the system will void the warranty. If your bike is still under warranty, I would suggest waiting.

 

 

[Hammerhead]

@Yasenia The 2WDW page has some good info on their tune. Being a well know & engine they’ve flashed thousands of it’s a very safe bet they’re well practiced & not causing any harm. 

 If you’re going to drop for the extended warranty, it makes sense not to potentially void that though. 

  Not aware of anyone who felt

it was a mistake or has complained about the results. If it was causing problems we’d no doubt be hearing about it somewhere. 

  

[Yasenia]

13 minutes ago, Hammerhead said:

@Yasenia The 2WDW page has some good info on their tune. Being a well know & engine they’ve flashed thousands of it’s a very safe bet they’re well practiced & not causing any harm. 

 If you’re going to drop for the extended warranty, it makes sense not to potentially void that though. 

  Not aware of anyone who felt

it was a mistake or has complained about the results. If it was causing problems we’d no doubt be hearing about it somewhere. 

  

I check out their site. Of course I'll tale with caution what they say as they make money by doing these flashes. It would be like Yamaha mentioning in their commercials common problems with their bikes.
 

Thanks! 

[Hibobb]

I am happy with the stock motor. Maybe I am weird...

[DT675]

10 hours ago, Yasenia said:

That is a great question. I wish more people had answered it. I too was considering getting the flash at one time, but the lack of information turned me off to the idea.

 

Plus my bike is still under warranty and I plan to buy the factory's extended warranty for 4 years. I just paid 500 bucks for the 4,000 miles service. I can only imagine how expensive it can get to have something fixed that is more labor extensive. Plus the price of parts are crazy bad. I think that 500 bucks for 4 years warranty is worth every penny. I am sure that flashing the system will void the warranty. If your bike is still under warranty, I would suggest waiting.

 

 

Did you pay $500 for the 4000 mile service or $500 for the extended warranty? Or perhaps each was $500? I am not a fan of extended warranties but $500 would be a good price for 4 years. That’s assuming the servicing dealer won’t do everything in their power to deny any claims against warranty. 
 

Do you know what was done to the bike for the 4000 mile service? 

[DT675]

13 minutes ago, Hibobb said:

I am happy with the stock motor. Maybe I am weird...

Yeah, I also kinda like the stock exhaust so put me in the weird camp too. 

[TimeMachine]

I get slightly worse mileage from about 4.4 L/100 to 4.6 L/100 if ridden the same speed and style, that being quite conservative as you can tell by the mileage that I achieve. I would guess that if ridden more aggressively, the tuned bike would use way more than the stock bike due to extra power across the rev range.

 

In my view, the tuning is worth the slightly thirstier economy (if ridden the same). The smoother throttle is one thing, but also the engine runs smoother at lower revs, so if really trying to get good economy and doing a lot of riding at slower speeds, I suspect they would come out the same.

 

It is also worth noting that the average fuel economy reading on the T7 is wrong. It will read roughly 0.3 L/100 worse that it actually achieves. I have tested this by using the fuel metered at the bowser and the distance calculated via google, which is virtually the same as the odometer reading on the T7 taking into account the size of the tire. That is, if using a 90/90 21 then the odometer agrees with Google Maps. If using a 100/90 21 fatty which is 2% bigger in diameter, the odometer reads 2% low. This has nothing to do with the speedo which we know reads around 8% high. 

 

Other benefits include a cooler running engine due to better fueling and the fan can be set to come in early, and sounds better with no popping on overrun (my choice). 

Edited April 5, 2022 by TimeMachine

[Fraz's T7]

I had my first T7 flashed after the one year warranty was up and I will do it again on my second one after the one year, maybe even sooner.. The improved throttle response at slower speeds is phenomenal. The first time I flashed I was getting 5.4, up from 5.8, mostly off road. I then had it tuned down a bit for economy as on longer trips that was a dent in the range. It still improved snatchiness but went back to about 4.9-5.1 L/100km. Also had them lower the fan kick on temp and the motor seemed to run about 7°c cooler. I'm tempted to do a map switch for the best of both worlds. 

[Canzvt]

I've written elsewhere on the Forum that I really like the flashed ECU. If you are running any sort of after market intake (filter/snorkel mod/etc) and/or exhaust its a must do. If you are stock, I can't really see a huge improvement other than low RPM snatchiness is gone. Fuel economy suffers about 5% if your riding stays constant, but after the tune, my fuel economy suffered like 15-20% as I was 'on it' much more. As for warranty claims, I guess it depends on a number of things. How well do you know your dealer? How many bikes have you purchased from that dealer? Do you know the local Yamaha warranty service rep? If the wheel falls off due to a warranty-able issue, they won't likely deny a warranty claim due to an ECU re-flash, but if the engine grenades... buy a new bike!

[S.Ga.Rider]

I asked them about warranty issues and  it will void the warranty if they can prove the failure was a result of the tune. That could prove to be a major hassle but if for some reason you have a catastrophic failure, you can ship the ecu back and have the stock map installed and the dealer cannot tell. The dealers in my area are weeks out on appointments so that could be something to consider, unless you have a failure while touring, then youre screwed. I have the 3 year ext warranty so I am debating on this myself.