JCviggen

Engines inhaling broken cat is not a myth, and the mechanism that makes it possible for the exhaust to travel backwards is valve overlap. The same principle causes intake carbon deposits on FSI engines from exhaust gases traveling beyond the intake valves. Only really at particular load and RPM points, but still.

Of course this is only a risk when the cats are very close by to begin with.

Westcoast

It happened to a Porsche owner in Australia... and he is a forum member.

HooosierDaddy

Maybe I shouldn't have said "100%"

Still, one case of metal from a bad catalyst... Seems questionable.

spyderphile

I hear ya! I wanna move to San Diego; I'm so done with Frozen Tundra, aka Minnesota! However, constant drought and resulting water shortage make the decision a very difficult one!

Thanks. Your explanations/comments are always insightful!

Soul Performance

Hey Guys,

Just had a nice chat with Scott over at Softronic for ECU tuning on this platform. Here are the cliff notes of the conversation, and take note of the last bonus bits too. Spread the word, link below to our website for purchase if you're up for it

https://soulpp.com/product/porsche-7...onic-ecu-tune/

• $1495
• Bench Flash Only (ECU overnighted back and forth)
• 414hp to 440hp/309tq to 346tq
• 200rpm increase
• Turn off Cylinder Deactivation
• Turn off Auto Start/Stop
• Keep Valves Open With PSE Button Pressed

Regards,
John Gaydos

DC021

John,

Any mention of getting a “ECU Clone” so that one may hang onto an untouched factory ECU while running the clone?

Bob Z.

Nice. So it seems that if we get the tune a valve controller is not needed?

Soul Performance

That's not going to help for a couple different reasons.

1. To program a new ECU to modern Porsches you have to have a certified tester and certificate/"key" from Porsche to program the ECU to that VIN. Even if you're an independent shop and have that, once the second ECU is programmed to the car Porsche now has record of a second ECU programmed to that VIN. Red Flag.

2. Even if you were to backdoor the first reason and clone the ECU without Porsche knowing, you have the problem of running hours that can't be reset or modified. Let's say you pull the original ECU at 125hrs and put in the clone and run the car for another 100hrs. Now every other module and gateway in the car shows 225hrs, the clone ECU shows 100hrs, and the factory ECU shows 125hrs. Red Flag.

Point being, if you're trying to guarantee your warranty is going to remain with tuning...you're not going to sneak around it with Porsche. If you care about the warranty go to the Porsche dealer you have the best relationship with, buy the service department lunch, sit down with the rep you work with there and say "Hey, I want to tune my car are you going to give me a hard time with warranty concerns unrelated to the ECU? How can we work this?". People tune their cars all the time and don't have issues with warranties at the dealership. Dealerships also couldn't care less about working with you and will give you a hard pass. Luck of the draw, it comes down more to communication and networking than to the "written word" from the Motherland.

Regards,
John Gaydos

DC021

Excellent explanation, thank you John for continuing to be an tremendous asset to the community!

Merlotsj

Do you have anything for those of us in California, or in other states that have adopted CARB standards. If you haven’t heard CA is testing for CARB approved ECU tunes now, and other states could begin to also. I will not give up my right to use public streets for a header or a tune upgrade.

Soul Performance

No problemo, happy to help

Yup, definitely heard about that. Strange they're able to access that ECU information but is what is is. Only really a problem for cars that are bench flash only at the moment, those with a handheld can take a few minutes to switch back to the factory file every couple years so no biggie there.

Regards,
John Gaydos

Bob Z.

Seems like you missed my question: So it seems that if we get the Softronic tune a valve controller is not needed?

Soul Performance

I sure did miss it, I'll call you Obvious Ninja henceforth. Yes, ECU tune would render valve controller useless as we'd finally have the PSE button doing what it's supposed to do...keep the dang valves open!

Regards,
John

RavinS4

FYI on the CARB dilemma I actually just got a smog check in CA on my Audi S4 with a bench tune on it (GIAC was this way before but now you can handheld tune it) and they were not able to detect the tune at all. So take it for what it is worth but at this point, it doesn't seem they have the ability to be able to read who has a tune or not for every manufacturer.

Soul Performance

Funny you mention that, Scott just had two 997s pass without issue with his tunes as well. Might be the way the tunes are structured where some pass and others don’t. Or could just be scare tactics who knows haha.

Regards,
John