power commander on an 05

[Smoker]

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with my 05, I would like a little more low and midrange grunt. After talking with the service manager at my local dealer, he recommended re-flashing the ECU with whatever exhaust I decide to go with. I'm thinking Akrapovic or Remus, and a BMC.

His reason was that there has been reports of the PC frying the ECU, and Dynojet won't cover it.

Anyone else done this? Or is he full of it?

 

[exskibum]

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with my 05, I would like a little more low and midrange grunt. After talking with the service manager at my local dealer, he recommended re-flashing the ECU with whatever exhaust I decide to go with. I'm thinking Akrapovic or Remus, and a BMC.
His reason was that there has been reports of the PC frying the ECU, and Dynojet won't cover it.

Anyone else done this? Or is he full of it?

Never heard of either issue (bolded text), though in the pursuit of simple solutions, I would prefer to have a reflashed ECU remapping the FI instead of the only solution I know of for that: an aftermarket FI mapping module like the PCIII.

I've been running a Muzzy full system 4-2-1 with a PCIII since May '07 on my '05 FJR with no problems at all. Similarly, I've been running a Micron full system 4-2-1 with a PCIII on my Honda Blackbird since May '06 with no problems.

 

[UselessPickles]

My vote is for "he's full of it".

I've never heard of anyone doing a custom "re-flash" of the ECU on an FJR. If it were possible, you would think exhaust manufacturers would know about it and be able to provide the custom ECU programming. The concept of the dealer installing new pipes and reflashing the ECU is more common with Harleys, where the pipes are made by Harley, or a partner company, and the "custom" ECU reflash is provided by Harley. Yamaha is not massively into providing Yamaha-made or Yamaha-backed performance upgrades for their bikes like Harley is, so there's no reason for Yamaha to provide a simple way to reflash the ECU (and they sure as hell wouldn't divulge proprietary details about their ECU to 3rd party exhaust manufacturers).

I've also never heard of a Power Commander frying a bike's ECU.

Unfortunately, I've also never heard of any slip-on exhaust for the FJR that gives significant gains in the low and mid-range that you are seeking. The change in looks and sound is much more significant than the change in performance when installing slip-ons on an FJR. Your best bet for significant performance gains would probably be a full Muzzy exhaust system (single exhaust, ugly as hell IMO), but I've never seen a direct comparison dyno chart to see if there are significant low/mid-range gains.

 

[JamesK]

+1 on "full of it", or at best he's mixing up his bikes. One of my friends has a KTM 690 and with that bike, like per UP's post HDs the dealer can re-flash the ECU for a specific set of supported after market pipes. In the case of the KTM that seems to be Akrapovic.

I have never heard of FJRs or for that matter other Yamahas, like the FZ1, etc ever being re-flashed. For example, to correct the Altitude bug on the Gen II, which was IMHO a software/firmware coding bug, Yamaha did a recall, a complete R/R. If the ECU could be easily re-flashed (at least in the field), I would have expected Yamaha to take that much cheaper route.

I also have never heard of a Power Commander frying the ECU, and have over 91k miles of proof on my '07 as the PCIII has been on from day 1.

 

[edjo69]

My 05 has had a PC3 and a Holeshot full system on it almost from the beginning of its life and she runs like a champ and I have not had ANY ecu issues (me knocking on wood).

 

[red2kcbr]

Agree with all posters, regarding increasing mid-range (not gonna happen), reflashing the ECU (never heard of it anywhere with an FJR) and PCIII causing troubles (never read a report of a problem).

Sounds like the dealer is getting information from a poor source.

 

[RaYzerman19]

Brings up a good question..... we used scan tools to analyze issues on cars at the assembly plant, dealers had the same scan tool and could reflash modules with the software provided...... does anyone know if the Yammy dealers even have such a scan tool? If they don't then they can't reflash, unless it's just to restore software/firmware or to update software for known fixes.....

Being that they replaced ECU's for the altitude issue, my bet is they dont and can't flash. But, next time anybody's at a dealer, ask and post here.

 

[Smoker]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I was wary of his suggestion as well because I'd never heard of such a thing (on a bike) either. I don't think I'll be going back to that dealer for any service work.