A Prius ECT Spoofer MCU Controlled

I LOVE IT!

My ECT Spoofer (by Winston) -- a birthday gift from my wife -- arrived in a perfect little installation kit with color-illustrated instructions, helpful PriusChat links, and an “ECT-Spoofed” decal (now on my ScanGauge II).

It’s a beautiful little unit in a tight, tidy case. It works exactly as described, and the handy color LEDs keep you fully informed. (Mine now hangs below the glove box).

The climate is mild in Phoenix and my commute long and fast, so I did not expect any real improvement in consumption. Yet my indicated (MFD) mileage (on only 450 miles since installation) appears to have increased from 55 to 59.

Better still, Mr. Spoofer speeds me to Stage 4, keeping the engine off when I’m coasting & mildly motoring on nearby long, gentle downslopes. I love the increased sense of control. I have 80K on my ’06, and it feels like a new car.

Thank you all!

Thank you especially Winston!

PS: Can anyone direct me to discussions of the emissions protocols and engineering behind the four stages? For example, I understand Stage 1a as heating the converter, but why the 5-10 second full-stop to enter Stage 4? Thanks!

 

is this ECT Spoofer still available to buy???

 

got mine two days ago.... works perfect.... fully automatic...... fit and forget..... I don't bother watching the leds. I have scanguage I know it's working because it will read temperature 77 Celsius suddenly. highly recommended

 

I just finished reading this thread from start to end. Just about as good as a short detective novel
Kudos to ccdisce for being a brilliant hacker AND providing the best customer support possible for lesser mortals.

While I enjoy reading about hacks, I am reticent to actually employ them. I'm wondering if we now can say what trade-offs the hack engenders. The obvious candidates for an ignoramus like me would be emissions in general and the cat specifically. Or perhaps it is only something (relatively) trivial like customer requirements for no-hiccough, on demand cabin heating and defrosting.

Cheers everybody !

 

people with plug in enjoy this.... their engine doesn't come on . so often .... no emissions problem... no cat problem...

 

Exactly, this hack is very much worth it if you have already installed a plug-in kit.

 

I think I understand the advantages, and they extend to a Prius without the plug-in. It allows glide at a lower temperature.

 

Digging up an older thread, but are these still available? Anyone care to share an update on their experience after a year or two of use?

 

Bump

 

I have been using one for a few years without any problems. Look for my initial report in an earlier post. Very occasionally, if I do a few very short trips in a row in the morning, the car got confused and threw a CEL but it went away on its own after a day or two so no big deal.

 

Running one on the '07 for a year now and on the '10 since September. Both cars see 15k-plus miles per year of both daily driver and road trip style operation. From a cold start, the car enters hybrid mode in about half the time as when non-spoofed. Also seems to be less stage 4 drop-outs during continued operation but I could be dreaming that. Overall, it just seems the car runs a tighter stage 4 more of the time, hugely obvious through our cold winters. I always say the spoofer lets a Prius run the way it should, or at least more the way it should. I see it as more than "a first 5 minutes" mod.

I've also found no problem with heat and both our Prii do their highest mileage through the Northern NY/New England winters. The '07 has thrown the P1116 once after my wife did a series of short trips around our local retail hell. If you're a short tripper and can't stand the sight of the CEL, this could be a drawback to the spoofer. The 2010 has not coded for any reason since the spoofer went in.

If you've read the entire thread and are still interested, I'd guess that makes you a pretty good candidate to check one out.

Brilliant hack by Winston and he basically gives the things away. Shoot him a pm - great guy to boot.

 

PM'd Winston yesterday and already have mine on the way. I'm almost exclusively a long distance commuter and rarely run multi-stop routes in short succession. I already have an OBD2 adapter so I can clear the codes if they are thrown. Thanks for your input, looking forward to trying the mod out. Have you had any noticeable difference in MPG? What are you averaging?

 

I'd say you can plan on 1-2 mpg gain based on the 1st 5 minute segments alone. From my house we have a steep uphill start to a flat, one-way out to access the main artery. Both cars tend to avg. 25 mpg non-spoofed and 35 with spoofer in the first 5 minutes on first cold-start of the day. On re-starts 40-45 mpg or better is easily achieved. This is significantly better than the gen2 will do non-spoofed. Gen 3 seems to better modulate re-start warm-up cycle than the gen2 without spoofing. On cold-start, we observe uart-style warm-ups, letting the gas engine charge the battery before taking off or our hill will empty the battery straight away.

My 17 year old daughter has taken over the '07 and is averaging 46 with a fairly hammer down driving style and no regard to mpg. I was at ~52 when I handed it over last summer. I'm currently at 53.6 with the '10 over 2k miles since mid-March and 51.3 in around 8k miles since November. If memory is correct, I was at 52.7 from September to November. (Disconnected battery in November to do front brake pads and leaky transaxle seal.) All mileage is MFD - no hand calc for me.

If you are located where there is real winter, you'll see that much better mpg with better 1st 5-minute cycles AND less stage 4 dropout. Regardless, gains from the 1st 5-minute cycles are a given.

 

ccdisce,
I am also problem with PM. Also interested in ECT spoofer to buy.
hubabuba66 at freemail dot hu

 

Update on my experience. Received my ECT Spoofer on Saturday afternoon in the mail which is about 3 days after I ordered via Paypal. Winston is quick to get in touch and he does a great job packaging this whole unit together. I ended up having some trouble with the scotch locks provided which caused an intermittent connection so I decided to just hard-wire splice the unit in. After a busted knuckle some soldering iron burns and a little swearing the spoofer is online! I have been tracking engine temps on Torque and the spoofer performs great. I see the morning warm-up lasting about the same time (I'm on the highway in less than 3 minutes) but the tone of the ICE changes once the spoofer kicks in. Since I deal with heavy traffic and a fairly cold climate up here in the NW I expect to see better mileage on my morning commute due to less dropping out of S4. I will update once I have had a few weeks with it. Thanks Winston!