Is my ECU a Denso or Hitachi?

[NDJ93]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction as to whether the ECU in my 2007 Liberty 2.5i (NA) Wagon is a Denso or Hitachi unit? To be more specific my wagon is a post-facelift model and was manufactured on the 03/2007. The reason I ask is because I would like to make some simple mods to the car, but do not want to go ahead with them unless I know my car is tuneable, that is so that I can achieve the maximum power for say a full exhaust system and cold air intake system.


Cheers!

[Deep Heat]

Just open it up and have a look. It's not hard to get to the ecu in our cars.

[d-chang]

I am actually curious of this too... as I am wanting to get it KiDo Tuned!

After a quick browse through the engine bay... I located this... however I am not too sure if this is the right thing I am looking at. I know it seems from some of you guys on the forum that it is pretty straight forward to find the ecu, but I actually don't know what one looks like... so please help us novices out...

Denso.jpg (25.98 KiB) Viewed 10738 times

[HyRax]

The ECU is located in the front passenger seat footwell underneath a plate under the carpet.

Simply pull the carpet back, remove the plate and have a look at the label on the ECU.

Alternatively, if you have access to someone with a Tactrix cable, you can try and take a copy of your ECU's ROM via the OBD-II port. If it fails, you have a Hitachi. If it works, you have a Denso.

[NDJ93]

The ECU is located in the front passenger seat footwell underneath a plate under the carpet.

Simply pull the carpet back, remove the plate and have a look at the label on the ECU.

Alternatively, if you have access to someone with a Tactrix cable, you can try and take a copy of your ECU's ROM via the OBD-II port. If it fails, you have a Hitachi. If it works, you have a Denso.

Okay, so as my Saturday was relatively uneventful, I thought to give this a go, I found the OBDII port in my driver side footwell and thought to pull apart the plastic housing in hope to find either a Denso or Hitachi label, but I couldn't find one (well in the limited light that was in my garage).

But now I am reading that I need to pull away the carpet underneath the passenger side foot-well. Could someone please confirm this for me, before I pull apart the carpet on the passenger side? Sorry for being such a pain, but I am a novice when it comes to these things and would like to be absolutely sure before I attempt anything.

[HyRax]

Okay, so as my Saturday was relatively uneventful, I thought to give this a go, I found the OBDII port in my driver side footwell and thought to pull apart the plastic housing in hope to find either a Denso or Hitachi label, but I couldn't find one (well in the limited light that was in my garage).

Access to the ECU via a PC is done via the OBD-II port on the driver-side. Access to the ECU via a human being is done on the passenger-side.

Believe me, it's there! Here's a pic to prove it. This is from a LHD car, so mirror it for your car. You also don't need to pull the interior apart as much as the photo depicts - you just need to pull back (not up) the carpet.

The ECU the large square that is literally underneath the feet of your front passenger that you can see in the pic with the cable loom going into it.

[NDJ93]

Cheers Hyrax, I shall definitely have a go when I get some time. Wish my luck with those plastic panels (I hate pulling them off because I'm never too sure how much force to apply)!

[d-chang]

I was told by Matt at KiDo that the ECU is located in the ENGINE BAY, underneath the throttle body... so it will either have a Hitachi or Denso casted in the metal underneath or stamped on.

Hitachi.jpg (131.72 KiB) Viewed 10695 times

[zch91]

I was told by Matt at KiDo that the ECU is located in the ENGINE BAY, underneath the throttle body... so it will either have a Hitachi or Denso casted in the metal underneath or stamped on.

Hitachi.jpg

Not sure if serious....

[d-chang]

Okay, so as my Saturday was relatively uneventful, I thought to give this a go, I found the OBDII port in my driver side footwell and thought to pull apart the plastic housing in hope to find either a Denso or Hitachi label, but I couldn't find one (well in the limited light that was in my garage).

Access to the ECU via a PC is done via the OBD-II port on the driver-side. Access to the ECU via a human being is done on the passenger-side.

Believe me, it's there! Here's a pic to prove it. This is from a LHD car, so mirror it for your car. You also don't need to pull the interior apart as much as the photo depicts - you just need to pull back (not up) the carpet.

The ECU the large square that is literally underneath the feet of your front passenger that you can see in the pic with the cable loom going into it.

Ohh my... there's no way am I going to dismantle my glovebox and stuff just see what my ECU is... hahaha!

[d-chang]

I was told by Matt at KiDo that the ECU is located in the ENGINE BAY, underneath the throttle body... so it will either have a Hitachi or Denso casted in the metal underneath or stamped on.

Hitachi.jpg

Not sure if serious....

I went to check on it this morning and indeed it has Hitachi in metal underneath it... and KiDo can't help me coz he only tunes Denso ECU Libs. I am so sad right now...

[HyRax]

I was told by Matt at KiDo that the ECU is located in the ENGINE BAY, underneath the throttle body...

No... And the ECU has a sticker on it, not embossing.

Theoretically the Hitachi's ARE tunable, it's just that the ECUFlash software used to read and write ROMs by open source tuners doesn't support Hitachi, so you're forced to look at piggyback/intercepter options or complete ECU replacements.

Using ROMRaider and a Tactrix lead, it is perfectly possible to monitor Hitachi ECU's - you just can't modify the bugger.

So far what I've seen is that all the 2.0R's are not tunable because of the Hitachi ECU. From what I gather, all Gen4 2.5i's from MY07 onwards should theoretically be Denso.

[KiDo_Tuning]

What was meant by that picture is that Hitachi ECU's use a Hitachi stamped throttle body, so to simplify you can check the casting mark in the throttle. So the ECU brand is located in the engine bay

Yes, all 2.5i have a Denso ECU due to the VVL system implementation. Some major gains to be made from exhaust breathing mods!

[KiDo_Tuning]

I was told by Matt at KiDo that the ECU is located in the ENGINE BAY, underneath the throttle body... so it will either have a Hitachi or Denso casted in the metal underneath or stamped on.

Hitachi.jpg

Not sure if serious....

I went to check on it this morning and indeed it has Hitachi in metal underneath it... and KiDo can't help me coz he only tunes Denso ECU Libs. I am so sad right now...

Hitachi use a Unisia JECS based ECU so they can be tuned but it is a painful process. Nissan had DBW throttles in 2001 on the SR20VET engine with a Hitachi ECU.

[NDJ93]

Alright, so I finally got around to have a look at the make and model of my ECU as I had to pull away part of the carpet in my passenger side footwell to run the cabling for my new amp. In the process I saw the metal plate protecting my ECU and could it it resist taking it off to check whether I was on the holy grail of tuning; I was stoked to see the word 'Denso' printed on my ECU