Not many re-mapped E92 335Ds in the UK, today my D joins the rank of the 300+BHP club.
The ECU in the E92 335D is the latest Bosch DDE 7 ECU, in BMW's terminology, it's the most flexible and adaptive ECU to date. Cracking the encryption took some time, as some of you might know that over the past few months, there has been the unfortunate event of irretrievable date loss from the ECU when a re-map was attempted. However, I have to say this is no longer a problem.
Unlike other ECUs, careful research led to the approach of removing the entire ECU from the car to re-map. Using the OBD port is not deemed safe enough for us for this occasion although there are some mappers out there who are already employing the latter method . We took the failsafe route.
And here is the tiny brain that controls everything. How amazing. The ECU is made by Bosch and the latest DDE7 version. Each ECU software/microprocessor is specific to the car it comes with. My ECU is stamped with my chassis no. Cars with different specs such as i-Drive etc will have a different programme, although the majority of the processors are similar.
Crunch time. ECU guts laid bare. We had to get to the EPROM to obtain a record of the original map. Those 10 pins are the ports for information transfer.
Once the original map is obtained, it is saved for future 'reference'. The map is then emailed to Roy's source and an hour later, a custom modified map based on the original map is received. In the mean time, we shove the ECU in the freezer. No joke!
This is a vital part of the entire process. The ECU has to be within a certain temperature range for the new map to be uploaded. We had to try several times and put the ECU back in the freezer to guestimate this temperature window. Eventually, the new map was successfully transferred and a quick check to ensure no disparity in the new map and that we received on the computer.
Once the ECU is re-intalled in the car, a quick diagnostic check was performed. No fault codes! Yippeee!
We are ready to roll. Thumb the start button and the diesel block fired up straight away, settling to a steady idle. I prodded the throttle and straight away, even when the car was stationary, I could feel the difference. The throttle feels so much more alive.
On the move, MY GOD!!!!
The car is totally transformed. The amount of power is mind boggling, let alone the torque! Estimated gains, 340BHP and 680Nm torque. The 335D pulls so hard in every gear that it defies believe. If I floor the throttle hard, DTC will flash even in 3rd; and today was 26 degrees and dry! Squeeze the throttle progressively and you literally blast past everything in sight. I tested with a stopwatch, 0-60 achieved in 4.8 sec, the speedometer whips from 80-120MPH in a few seconds, and it continues to pull. The re-map has also removed the top speed limiter, so the 335D should easily see 160+MPH. TBH, the in gear acceleration feels as quick as the E60 M5 I drove not long ago.
Another top mod in the bag! Big thumbs up to CA Automotive
Videos to come soon.