WinOLS Mastery: Map Identification & Editing: What is Reflashing
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What is Reflashing
06.47
| 00:00 | - Within this set of modules, we're going to dive into what WinOLS is and how it functions as well as some of the core concepts you're going to need to understand when it comes to using this software. |
| 00:10 | Before we do this though, we'll rewind a little and cover some of the more high level concepts that apply to tuning or modifying a factory ECU. |
| 00:18 | To start with, let's learn what the term reflashing is and what this means. |
| 00:23 | Traditionally when we wanted to alter or optimise the tune of an engine, it was common practice to replace the entire factory ECU with an aftermarket standalone ECU. |
| 00:33 | This ECU provides the tuner with complete control over the engine tuning parameters and changes can be made in real time via laptop tuning software with a simple to understand user interface. |
| 00:45 | As cars and engines have become more complex though, this is becoming more and more difficult to fit a standalone ECU to a factory car. |
| 00:53 | While a standalone ECU can most likely control the engine correctly and make it run, it's the integration of this ECU with the rest of the vehicle's electronic systems that presents a real issue on modern cars. |
| 01:06 | It's quite common now for a car to have multiple ECUs controlling different aspects of its operation, including the engine, gearbox, ABS, climate control, and even the instrument cluster. |
| 01:17 | These systems all communicate together and in order for them to function as expected, they rely on receiving the correct information from the engine control unit. |
| 01:27 | When we replace this factory ECU with an aftermarket one, the communication stream that other components in the car rely on will be missing and this might mean the rest of the vehicle won't operate correctly. |
| 01:39 | In many cars produced from approximately the year 2000 onwards, we have an alternative option when it comes to optimising the tuning and this is to alter the maps stored inside of the factory ECU. |
| 01:51 | This technique is known as reflashing, often abbreviated to just flashing or flash tuning. |
| 01:57 | The technique involves downloading the raw data out of the factory ECU through the OBD2 port or directly from the ECU, manipulating the required maps and then uploading it or flashing it back into the ECU. |
| 02:11 | Reflashing is an immensely powerful technique and it allows the engine to be tuned in the same way that the factory calibration engineers performed the task. |
| 02:19 | It's usually quite a cost effective option since we already have the ECU fitted to the car so there's no expense for a programmable ECU, although as we will find, there is often a cost involved for the hardware and software solutions required for reflashing. |
| 02:36 | The other advantage is that we're usually dealing with an ECU that is designed and programmed with the single task of operating one specific engine and hence the available maps and the ECU control strategies can be very specifically tailored to the requirements of just that one engine. |
| 02:53 | This can often provide more seamless integration than a universal aftermarket standalone ECU that needs to be able to adequately control almost any engine. |
| 03:04 | When we download the maps out of an ECU, we'll end up with a raw binary file that on its own won't make much sense, and hence it isn't of much use to us. |
| 03:13 | For us to be able to make changes to the maps, we need a way of deciphering the raw information so that we can see and manipulate the various maps in a way that we're more familiar with in the standalone ECU tuning world. |
| 03:26 | At this point we can go down one of two paths. |
| 03:29 | There are commercial and open source or freely available reflashing packages that are available for a wide range of popular vehicles. |
| 03:37 | These take the hard work out of reflashing as the software developers provide a nice user interface for us to use to make our tuning changes and more importantly they've already found the maps that we're going to need access to. |
| 03:49 | Before we discuss our second option, let's take another step back and we'll talk about what is contained in the raw binary file. |
| 03:56 | On its own, it's essentially useless to us and we can't make tuning changes without deciphering what it means. |
| 04:03 | Within this file there may be thousands of individual maps and parameters. |
| 04:07 | There will also be information like immobiliser codes that have no relevance to tuning the engine. |
| 04:12 | For us as tuners we need a way of displaying the information we care about, the ignition timing, fuel tables and boost tables for example. |
| 04:21 | To do this, we need to know an address in order to find the specific map, we also need to know what size the map is and where the axis values are. |
| 04:29 | It's likely we'll also need to apply some scaling to the raw numbers to convert these into values that actually make sense to us and are relevant to the particular map. |
| 04:39 | Lambda targets or perhaps ignition timing values for example. |
| 04:43 | Converting from the raw binary file to something that's useful for us is achieved with what's called a definition or description file. |
| 04:51 | You could think of this like a road map which tells the user interface software what maps to display, where they're located, what size they are and the scaling that needs to be applied. |
| 05:01 | There's essentially two ways of doing this. |
| 05:04 | If we choose a commercial or open source reflashing package, then the supplier has done all the heavy lifting for us and supplied the required definition files for the vehicles that the softare supports. |
| 05:16 | A downside with this method is that it's often very limiting on what vehicles you can tune and there are vast ranges of popular vehicles that have little or no support from commercial or open source reflashing packages. |
| 05:29 | Depending on the quality of the software you're using, you may also find that the definition may be incomplete or inaccurate which limits what you're able to do. |
| 05:38 | On the other hand, and the subject of this course, we can use a software package like WinOLS and a thorough understanding of the way the ECU works in order to find the maps ourselves. |
| 05:50 | Basically, creating our own definition file. |
| 05:52 | The advantage of this approach is that it's effective on essentially any ECU and once we own the hardware and software, there's no ongoing cost which can be a huge saving, particularly for a professional tuning shop. |
| 06:06 | This might sound like a daunting process and it's certainly not something that you're going to master in five minutes, however with the help of this course, it's absolutely within the reach of the average tuner. |
| 06:18 | Let's quickly recap this module before we move on. |
| 06:21 | The technique of reflashing allows us to read the contents out of the factory ECU before manipulating the tune information as required and then flashing it back into the ECU. |
| 06:31 | The raw data that we read out of the ECU however is of little use on its own and we need a way of defining what maps exist, where to find them and what scaling is necessary so that we're able to view them in a format that makes sense. |
