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Thread: D2 4.6 conversion owners. 4.6 ECU swap & EOI.

  1. #11
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    Disco Motronic ECU differences

    There are quite a few differences between the NAS (North American Specification) and ROW (Rest Of World) 4.0 and 4.6 Discoveries, and P38 Range Rovers.

    I have studied them all in great detail for hundreds of hours in order to be able to reprogram them (which I have been doing successfully for over a year now), so the differences will be of interest. I don't want to be accused of promoting my business here, so I'm just going to stick to providing system information or responding to specific non-sales questions here.

    The 4.6 Disco II was only sold in the NAS market, and it was fitted with the high-compression version of the engine. All of these vehicles had SAI (Secondary Air Injection) without exception. They were also fitted with a larger AFM (Air Flow Meter) akin to the P38, so they also had a different air filter housing and AFM to plenum trunk to accommodate the physical difference. Therefore putting a 4.6 ECU onto a 4.0 vehicle will not work properly, unless you use the larger AFM and associated parts also.

    Using an SAI ECU in a non-SAI vehicle will cause it to put the CEL (Check Engine Lamp) on, although it doesn't always seem to cause them to go into limp-home mode.

    There are three part numbers for the hardware versions of the the Disco Motronic ECU, but dozens of different tunes that are loaded into them. The ECU contains only one tune, specifically for the vehicle it was originally programmed for. It also contains the history, programming, and security information for that specific vehicle. Every ECU carries a label from the factory with the VIN number and software number that it was loaded with, unless it is a replacement part.

    Note that it is not possible to implant a non-SAI tune into an SAI ECU or vice-versa, since there are enough hardware differences to stop it working. It runs, but really badly with lots of faults flagged. That is quite a pity, although I am continuing my studies to see if that can be overcome. Obviously it will never be possible to put an SAI tune into a non-SAI ECU (and who would want to?) since there are quite a few components not installed.

    However it is quite straightforward to reprogram a 4.0 Litre non-SAI ECU with a 4.6 tune for the standard AFM, or even larger engines of the type we see over here (4.8 and 5.0 Litre are well known).

    It seems that when BMW owned LR their marketing weasels deliberately nobbled the Disco against the P38 when tuning it, to prevent it being as quick. To that end they knocked a massive hole in the mid-range ignition timing, and it runs Lambda 1.0 across nearly the entire operating range. It does run open-loop at high load - it's just that the target is still Lambda 1.0 apart from the highest load and rev range. The P38 does feature a richer mixture under high load, but again the timing is not optimal.

    These engines often pink or detonate because they have too lean a mixture, rather than just being an ignition timing issue. A colder grade of spark plug is good too.

  2. #12
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    Thanks for that Mark,,

    so the reprogramed ECU's that you sell have a better output than standard?, across the entire rev range?, using standard 4L inlet parts?

    I dont suppose you can add both 4 and 4.6 tunes and make them switchable?

    just for future expansion as it were---
    "How long since you've visited The Good Oil?"

    '93 V8 Rossi
    '97 to '07. sold.
    '01 V8 D2
    '06 to 10. written off.
    '03 4.6 V8 HSE D2a with Tornado ECM
    '10 to '21
    '16.5 RRS SDV8
    '21 to Infinity and Beyond!


    1988 Isuzu Bus. V10 15L NA Diesel
    Home is where you park it..

    [IMG][/IMG]

  3. #13
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    Wow! You're not called Pedro the Swift for nothing are you???

    The software only contains one very specific set of maps and configuration information at a time, so sadly it is not possible to have them switchable as with the older GEMS system which could contain up to four tunes.

    Probably the biggest pain with the upgrade (apart from the price) is that I need to have the ECU here to modify it, which will stop a lot of people going for it. Once I have the ECU I can suck it's brains out, and then modify the tune. The vehicle tune information is then securely backed up here, meaning that in future I can produce exact clones where required, again with any modifications as required (e.g 4.0 to 4.6).

    What many of my overseas clients choose to do is to fit another similar used ECU to their vehicle temporarily, and send the original over here. Once the upgraded original comes back to them, I can then clone a standard tune into their spare ECU so that they then have an interchangeable standard one.

  4. #14
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    Sorry but I didnt' fully answer your question.


    The Bosch engine is mapped in such a way that it produces maximum power when it hits the Rev Limiter, which is set at 5500 RPM. At this point the mixture is rather rich, but the ignition timing is fine for good power production.


    Therefore the peak power will not improve more than 2-4 BHP with any upgrade, unless the Rev Limiter is moved up to say 6000 RPM. Although I could do this and the power is still increasing when it hits the Rev Limiter, it would be something of a “smoke and mirrors” or Snake Oil improvement. Power increases here are largely academic, since the vehicle will change gear long before this limit is reached.


    However the dominant engine characteristic is actually a huge hole in the torque curve, centred around 2500 RPM. This is filled in very well with the upgrade, delivering an extra 10-15 lb/ft of torque and much faster throttle response. Economy improvement is 10-15%, although it is possible to angle the upgrade for ecnomy or power.


    As we all know when driving a standard vehicle it actually pulls away from a standing start quite well initially, but loses interest once it gets to 3000 RPM. Personally I find this trait especially annoying, and it doesn’t even sound like a V8 either! All the action happens on the first or last quarter of the throttle pedal movement, and the bit in the middle doesn’t make a lot of difference. It is also a real nuisance to my clients who tow, since it often means the gearbox will kick down two gears when they only wanted a bit of extra effort (on a gradient for example).

    Obviously the situation is different when putting a 4.6 engine under a 4.0 tune, which can still be disappointing since the lean mixture and retarded mid-range ignition is still a feature of the underlying programming.
    Last edited by Mark Adams; 20th September 2012 at 06:13 AM. Reason: Messed up the text formatting!

  5. #15
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    late edit; retyped after your last post

    thats better,, and answers most of my edited questions

    yep, midrange is the problem.
    "How long since you've visited The Good Oil?"

    '93 V8 Rossi
    '97 to '07. sold.
    '01 V8 D2
    '06 to 10. written off.
    '03 4.6 V8 HSE D2a with Tornado ECM
    '10 to '21
    '16.5 RRS SDV8
    '21 to Infinity and Beyond!


    1988 Isuzu Bus. V10 15L NA Diesel
    Home is where you park it..

    [IMG][/IMG]

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Adams View Post
    The 4.6 Disco II was only sold in the NAS market, and it was fitted with the high-compression version of the engine. All of these vehicles had SAI (Secondary Air Injection) without exception.
    Actually there are some 03 and 04 Discovery (the only years with the 4.6L) over here that don't have SAI.... there are just so few that I've not seen any. There are a few guys on discoweb.org that work on them for a living, and even they have only seen one or two.

    2004 Non-sai 4.6 Engine bay pics needed - DiscoWeb Message Boards

  7. #17
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    Im a bit lost here. I have a mate with an 03 D2a with a 4.6 RR motor with quite a bit of performance work and lumpier (not by a lot) cam than standard. Its running stock 4.0 intake runner, air box and MAF - and ECU. It goes hard without pinging. My stock 4.0 can ping at times even when warm and always running premium....MR did this work

    TRS reckon the 4.6 they do will run stock ECU and MAF and no probs...so...is it a one off situation for pinging with the 4.6?

    Cheers

  8. #18
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    It definately runs, but it will ping under certain conditions and load and most importantly fuels.

    I'm running std MAF I measured a few and couldn't find a difference

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by jafir View Post
    Actually there are some 03 and 04 Discovery (the only years with the 4.6L) over here that don't have SAI
    Thank you for that Jafir! I'm old enough to know better than to say "without exception" when talking about Land Rovers!

    Of course I would love to see one of these vehicles, and even better get an ECU off one to have a look at. Do you know if these also have the larger AFM too?

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Adams View Post
    Do you know if these also have the larger AFM too?
    I think so. I've never seen anyone posting a complaint that it didn't work, but I've never seen one. I do know that over here the P38 range rover with motronics has this MAF, even with the 4.0, and I've put my larger 2003 4.6l discovery MAF and air intake hose on my 99 with a 4.0 for testing, and it seemed to work fine.

    I've seen some catalogs mention the larger part number, MHK100800, for "gulf states" which I think means middle east. Maybe the figure that the larger sensor will flow more air for either a hotter climate, gulf states, or a possibly hotter engine compartment, 4.6L?

    If I ever see a non-sai 4.6 in a salvage yard, I'll try to get the computer

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