Reliablilty of Megasquirt long term

Coldswede · Post by **Coldswede** » Mar 28, 2009 1:56 PM

I was wondering abut the long tern, down the highway, everyday usage reliability of a properly built and correctly set-up MS system? It would be a major problem if the unit were to die 500 miles from home. Anyone have input?

turbodan · Post by **turbodan** » Mar 28, 2009 2:19 PM

I commute in my turbo car. Every day. MS has worked consistently for me for the last two years. You dont have to worry about it.

Brad D. · Post by **Brad D.** » Mar 28, 2009 3:06 PM

Same here. I daily drive the turbo car and have had no issues for well over a year of driving.

Good & Tight · Post by **Good & Tight** » Mar 28, 2009 9:10 PM

I have never had one fail on me in 5 years.

Brad D. · Post by **Brad D.** » Mar 28, 2009 11:16 PM

I think that part of the reliability is due to how well you build the unit and wire it into the car. If you do shoddy wiring or have poor solder joints on the PCB, then you are going to have problems.

Coldswede · Post by **Coldswede** » Mar 28, 2009 11:58 PM

I agree Brad, that's why I stipulated what your saying in the question. I'm wanting to buy a kit, I guess I'm half trying to talk myself out of it

Thanks for the input guys

Scottinva · Post by **Scottinva** » Mar 29, 2009 12:45 AM

Brad's correct, the only non-reliable parts are the things you have to do during the installation. Those solder-joints are your reliability. I learned how to properly solder a week ago, meaning i'm absolutely no good at it. The best way to learn is just dive into a project in my opinion.

M. Holtmeier · Post by **M. Holtmeier** » Mar 29, 2009 11:14 AM

Coldswede wrote: I'm wanting to buy a kit, I guess I'm half trying to talk myself out of it

If you are a tinker'er in any way, building a MS is very satisfying. I've been running mine for a year now, problem free, and just keep adding on to it, i.e.; boost, fan, w/i, idle, shift lights.

Martin in BellevueWA · Post by **Martin in BellevueWA** » Mar 29, 2009 12:58 PM

Maybe the question to be asked is the following. Is anyone completely happy with their megasquirt tune?
A search on this topic is revealing. Anticipate that posts aren't made for something that doesn't need attention, like a well-tuned setup. There are a bunch of posts that represent marginal tunes and continual attention. With that in mind, that Megasquirt demands attention and tuning ability, there are no similar cost alternatives that do as well managing a newly-turbo'd car. I spent $1,700 on a chip, bosch maf, 36lb injectors, and a couple hours tuning with Miller. I am also only 2 hours away from Miller. Border guards don't want US cars left in Canada without the owner.

George · Post by **George** » Mar 29, 2009 1:47 PM

Am I 100% happy with my tune?

No

Am I satisfied with my tune?

Yes

I'm constantly making changes to my set-up. I've switched injectors, gone from a 3.0bar fpr to a 3.5 bar fpr. Switched boost levels. Added Water/Meth injection. Altered the W/A intercooler....

For all the changes I've made and for all the changes I plan to make in the future, I don't see there being any alternative to using megasquirt. There simply aren't the resources like the Mx/Sx guys have to call up a tuner, tell them your changes and have them remote burn a chip for you.

If feel like half the battle with megasquirt is learning the ins/outs of the system in the first place. Once you get over that initial hill the rest of the road is much smoother.

turbodan · Post by **turbodan** » Mar 29, 2009 2:25 PM

I'm absolutely happy with my tune. The car drives great. Better than stock. All the tweaking I do anymore is for fuel efficiency. I want to car to drive that well while using as little fuel as possible.

Brad D. · Post by **Brad D.** » Mar 29, 2009 3:14 PM

I am satisfied with my tune. It idles better than stock, drives better than stock it makes great power reliably and gets good fuel economy. I haven't driven around with the laptop in the car for many months as I have felt no need to tweak anything. Are there things I could possibly improve - absolutely, however there are plenty of things that could be improved with my old stock ecu and a chip both of which were/are totally livable.

FirstFives Dictator · Post by **FirstFives Dictator** » Mar 29, 2009 11:44 PM

Martin in BellevueWA wrote:Maybe the question to be asked is the following. Is anyone completely happy with their megasquirt tune?

I'm not; even though it runs the best it's ever run and better than any Motronic 1.1 or 1.0 car I've driven, I still know there's more potential there, but I'm at a good point now.

For a reality check, I drive my finance's 2001 525i and these days I don't feel as far off as I did when I first started tuning MS.

It's been very reliable. Even starts cold if I roll and pop the clutch.

wkohler · Post by **wkohler** » Mar 30, 2009 1:28 AM

I'd bet those $300 Acer laptops would be perfect for this, huh?

FirstFives Dictator · Post by **FirstFives Dictator** » Mar 30, 2009 7:45 AM

wkohler wrote:I'd bet those $300 Acer laptops would be perfect for this, huh?

Probably. I hate my Dell D600 for serial comms.

MyE28.com

MyE28.com

Reliablilty of Megasquirt long term

Reliablilty of Megasquirt long term