| In the olden days, car tuning mostly consisted of | | | | emission control and various other systems that |
| adjusting carburetors and ignition to keep the engine | | | | require instant changes several times a second; they |
| running optimally. You also had to keep an eye on the | | | | must monitor dozens of sensors located throughout |
| spark plugs and various engine fluids, and make sure | | | | the vehicle; and they must do all that in temperatures |
| to keep things lubricated. More serious tuning included | | | | ranging from blazing hot to ice cold and while rattled |
| performance car parts such as headers, exhausts or | | | | around on bumpy road day after day, month after |
| perhaps a bigger carburetor or engine. These still play | | | | month. |
| a role today, but almost everything else has changed. | | | | Given all that, you'd imagine that ECUs are totally |
| Computers control our cars now, and they have | | | | closed systems, black boxes that you can neither |
| become the primary key to performance. Automotive | | | | adjust nor fix should they break down. Wrong. ECUs |
| computers, often called Electronic Control Units or | | | | have become the focal point of engine tuning, both for |
| ECUs, manage every aspect of a vehicles running and | | | | domestics and imports. If you look at any catalog for |
| performance, from determining when exactly spark | | | | luxury performance car parts you'll find various |
| plugs should fire, to providing the data for the boost | | | | products that affect the running of the ECU either via |
| display of a turbo motor, all the way to luxury car | | | | reprogrammed chips or circuitry that intercepts and |
| tuning amenities such as turning lights on or off and | | | | modifies signals to and from the ECU. Be it |
| adjusting rear view mirrors. | | | | Volkswagen parts, Audi parts, BMW parts, Mercedes |
| How do Electronic Control Units work? To begin with, | | | | parts or other luxury car parts, chances are that the |
| they are both the same and very different from the | | | | performance tuning section includes ECU tuning |
| desktop and notebook computers we use in our lives. | | | | products. |
| They are the same insofar as they are computers | | | | What can ECU tuning do for your vehicle? Just about |
| with CPUs and memory and the programming needed | | | | everything. If you add performance hardware such as |
| to do a variety of tasks. They are different in that they | | | | headers, exhaust, a turbo, or a supercharger, ECU |
| have no displays or hard drives or keyboards. Most | | | | tuning makes sure that spark and cam timing and the |
| ECUs consist of a system board housed in a small | | | | air-fuel ratio are adjusted properly so you get optimal |
| metal box that's usually mounted either in the engine | | | | performance and reliability from your modified engine. |
| compartment or under the dash. ECUs are designed | | | | Depending on your modifications, ECU tuning may also |
| to do just one thing - running your car - and they do | | | | include injection and boost display and control, changing |
| have to do that reliably and without fail for many | | | | rev limiters, launch control, automatic transmission shift |
| years. ECUs must boot up instantly when you turn on | | | | points and torque converter settings, as well as |
| the ignition of your car; they must manage fueling, | | | | monitoring various functions. Amazingly, unlike traditional |
| ignition, cams of an engine whose camshaft may | | | | modifications, ECU tuning can be undone within |
| rotate up to 9,000 times a minute; they must handle | | | | minutes. It is truly 21st century style tuning. |