Discussion
MBE ECU's supplied by Radical are locked. They can be remapped, but only by Radical. If it's a powertec engine they'll be able to load a map onto it that will run it, but it will be a base map and therefore the power the engine makes will be far from best and the idle will probably be poor. And it will be less economical than it should be.
If you have an ECU interface, you can verify whether the ECU is locked by trying to download the map. It will download but if the ECU is locked the map will be completely empty. Or uploading a new one will report that "the ecu returned a general error code. Please check that the ecu is powered and correctly connected and try again. Confirm that you are authorized to access the ecu data with this software."
You have three choices:
- assuming it is new enough, get your car mapped by Radical themselves. I failed on this one because they didn't have a working rolling road last year when I tried to get it done.
- buy an unlocked 9A4 ECU from SBD motorsport. These are pin compatible with 992's but may need specific configuration by SBD before delivery depending on whether Radical have moved any of the connections from their default pins (unlikely I'd say). This is the most expensive but more future proof route and will possibly be more fiddly to get it going.
- depending upon exactly how old it is, send your existing 992ECU back to MBE and they will unlock it for you for a fee. You will need to establish whether it can be done via the ECU serial number. They won't be able to reload the existing map after unlocking so you'll need a new map to load before you can start the engine. I have a base map for a 1400 you could have if you need it. This is what I did - it was £150+delivery+VAT to get it unlocked, followed of course by the cost of the mapping session.
If you have an ECU interface, you can verify whether the ECU is locked by trying to download the map. It will download but if the ECU is locked the map will be completely empty. Or uploading a new one will report that "the ecu returned a general error code. Please check that the ecu is powered and correctly connected and try again. Confirm that you are authorized to access the ecu data with this software."
You have three choices:
- assuming it is new enough, get your car mapped by Radical themselves. I failed on this one because they didn't have a working rolling road last year when I tried to get it done.
- buy an unlocked 9A4 ECU from SBD motorsport. These are pin compatible with 992's but may need specific configuration by SBD before delivery depending on whether Radical have moved any of the connections from their default pins (unlikely I'd say). This is the most expensive but more future proof route and will possibly be more fiddly to get it going.
- depending upon exactly how old it is, send your existing 992ECU back to MBE and they will unlock it for you for a fee. You will need to establish whether it can be done via the ECU serial number. They won't be able to reload the existing map after unlocking so you'll need a new map to load before you can start the engine. I have a base map for a 1400 you could have if you need it. This is what I did - it was £150+delivery+VAT to get it unlocked, followed of course by the cost of the mapping session.
I believe the seal is just to ensure the ECU is not tampered with for race regulations. Not that the seal makes any difference anyway - the ECU is programmed via the CAN BUS without removing it from the car.
Useful information from your pictures - the ECU is obviously a 992b, is CAN BUS and not serial. Hence it should be able to be unlocked if not already. It was only the early 2004 ECUs that were serial based.
If you want to know whether it is locked without getting an ECU interface, you either need someone to connect to it to find out, or you need to speak to someone who can tell you - the only two choices being Radical or MBE Systems. I'd expect Radical to know what serial number ECU they originally put in your car, and MBE to
know whether they have ever unlocked it.
Personally I'd get the interface unless you're thinking of switching away from the MBE ECU altogether.
Useful information from your pictures - the ECU is obviously a 992b, is CAN BUS and not serial. Hence it should be able to be unlocked if not already. It was only the early 2004 ECUs that were serial based.
If you want to know whether it is locked without getting an ECU interface, you either need someone to connect to it to find out, or you need to speak to someone who can tell you - the only two choices being Radical or MBE Systems. I'd expect Radical to know what serial number ECU they originally put in your car, and MBE to
know whether they have ever unlocked it.
Personally I'd get the interface unless you're thinking of switching away from the MBE ECU altogether.
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