Instructions to Get S-Sport Mode and Launch Control

[eyedreamt]

These instructions are mine. They have nothing to do with anyone from any past threads. This is what I did with MY MUT-III.


This is done using MUT-III and a EvoX SST file. You will have to find someone with a MUT-III. Good luck, dealers have 'em, a few users on various forums have 'em. You can even rent them.


WARNING: If your vehicle breaks, dies, or anything else no one will not take responsibility for it. Use these instructions at your own risk.

Please make sure to have your battery fully charged. Do not unplug the programmer during programming. It's just like any other flash, if you mess up, you can brick the ECU and/or TCU.


Guide:

Get the file. Search for it on google. Name is 8631B001.cff for 2009-2010, 8631B151 for 2011+.
Burn file to CD ROM or put on Flash Drive. (maybe both if you dont know what ports the MUT-III your going to use has)
Connect MUT-III to car.
Turn car to on, not started.
Select your VIN # via the button at the bottom right of the screen.
Click the following items in order:

"MENU"
"SPECIAL FUCNTION"
"ECU PROGRAMMING"
"AUTOMATIC REPROGRAMMING (CAN)"
"AT/CVT/A-T/TC-SST"

The MUT-III/MEDIC tool will look for an update. It probably wont find one, but when it tells you that, it will let you select a file by clicking the load icon to the right of the checkmark.
A list of files will open, you want none of these. Click the folder button and find the file you need to use (see above) on the CD or wherever you have it.Select it.
Click the checkmark and watch it program. At 100% you have s-sport mode.


A lot of people put in effort to make this possible. Thanks and props go out to them. I'd list em, but don't want anyone getting any sort of blowback.

[coreyvf]

Thanks. I'm assuming this will void the warranty.

What exactly is the difference between Sport and S-Sport with the Ralliart?

[TrailBrake]

In a nutshell, S-sport has firmer and faster clutch engagement than Sport mode. In auto mode (car shifting for itself) upshifts are closer to redline and downshifts happen without as much provocation (by use of throttle) than in Sport mode. Basically the car will stay higher-revving in S-sport compared to Sport mode.

The S-Sport flash also adds launch control. However, there are reports that some Ralliarts have been unable to get LC working correctly.

[tencents]

Long live the flash!
Thank you eyedreamt for keeping this alive.
and thanks to Crak who got us all started.

[ever12]

This is awesome. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I'm seriously considering buying an MUT-III now. :) Do you know if they flash is compatible with an aftermarket ECU tune?

[tencents]

It has nothing to do with the ECU, it flashes the TCU, so anytune will work.

[tonto33]

does this show up in your car when they check stuff for warranty purposes

[TrailBrake]

Checking for the flash is very easy for the dealer to do.

From what has been posted on EvoM, a warranty bulletin went out to Canadian dealers recently which asks them to check and report flashes on cars in for warranty service due to 'extensive engine or TC-SST damage'.

[TrailBrake]

I haven't seen this mentioned on any other forums, so I will ask here:

Has anyone flashed to the MR TCU software, and reverted back to stock? If so, are the stock roms floating around out there?

[crak]

they are out there. :) google the stock cff file and itll pop up somewhere for download

[iralli_iskustvo]

Not sure if running S-Sport on RA is a smart decision. I been told that has been failures already with RA running S-Sport. Apparently transmissions on RA break down quicker with S-Sport. Not sure if I would wanna risk that. RA is fast to begin with.

[Jackal]

I would love to have super sport mode, but I am going to give it a year to find out what happens with all of you that have already done the change to see if this is good for the long run or will there be a pile of large paper weights a year from now.

[crak]

Not sure if running S-Sport on RA is a smart decision. I been told that has been failures already with RA running S-Sport. Apparently transmissions on RA break down quicker with S-Sport. Not sure if I would wanna risk that. RA is fast to begin with.

care to point us a link to these results?

[zeRep85]

Not sure if running S-Sport on RA is a smart decision. I been told that has been failures already with RA running S-Sport. Apparently transmissions on RA break down quicker with S-Sport. Not sure if I would wanna risk that. RA is fast to begin with.

Please elaborate? Like crak said any links?

Unless, you can prove otherwise..this post is not true.
Quicker shifts = less heat generated...

zeRep

[iralli_iskustvo]

Yes of course, I got that information from Jim Butler Mitsubishi service department directory (314) 892-9600. I believe his name is Tony. He told me there has been a RA's with S-Sport installed and transmission started going bad after the install. Didn't ask how long they had the S-Sport till it start failing. Hopefully this helps.

[Rokpapaziz]

Yes of course, I got that information from Jim Butler Mitsubishi service department directory (314) 892-9600. I believe his name is Tony. He told me there has been a RA's with S-Sport installed and transmission started going bad after the install. Didn't ask how long they had the S-Sport till it start failing. Hopefully this helps.


Did he talk about the numerous SST failures around the world on cars that don't have S-Sport? There's a metric ton of info on that.

[iralli_iskustvo]

He specifically talked about RA running S-Sport issues.

[iralli_iskustvo]

I agree I wanna wait and let it marinade for a bit.

[TrailBrake]

I would love to have super sport mode, but I am going to give it a year to find out what happens with all of you that have already done the change to see if this is good for the long run or will there be a pile of large paper weights a year from now.

Well said!

[crak]

He specifically talked about RA running S-Sport issues.

Can you ask him he has any documentation as to why s-sport is the reason why transmissions fail. His word is nice, however there have been other dealership service managers that say S-sport is fine for the RA.

[iralli_iskustvo]

Yes, I will most definitely call and ask where he got his information from.

[Rokpapaziz]

Yes, I will most definitely call and ask where he got his information from.

Probably from this TSB

http://forums.evolutionm.net/10610100-post572.html

You know we kind of shot ourselves in the foot here, not to point fingers at anyone directly but the first guy to do this and let everyone know (Livefast.eu) had connections to a Mitsu tech who understood that it would work.

Some guy in the US or Canada put the instructions on how to do this for anyone who had access to a MUT 3 and VCI. But he got found out by his superiors.

After that random people started rocking up to service centres asking about it, some techs were not too worried and just did it, but some people may have spoken to the wrong person.

I haven't seen anyone complain about a gearbox failure after the S-Sport flash. But plenty of SST's including mine failed when the car was completely stock.

IMO Mitsubishi knows about this because we told them, not because they had received a bunch of RA SST's with S-Sport fail.

[crak]

The service bulletin is a respond to void warranty to modded cars not from the ECU side of things but for the first time ever, from the TCU side. The TSB is a notification to detect a modified vehicle not a description to how the reprogram damages the transmission.

But like you said stock trannys can fail "just because". Some documented proof would be nice to have.

[Jackal]

I would love to have super sport mode, but I am going to give it a year to find out what happens with all of you that have already done the change to see if this is good for the long run or will there be a pile of large paper weights a year from now.

I know it's not a year yet, but I would love to hear from any and all people who got the TCU reprogramming done.

Is the programming still on your car or have you flashed back? If so, then why?

If you are still running the MR programming how is your car performing and do you have both the S-Sport mode and Launch control or only one or the other?

For drivers that still have both functioning, how often do you test both features and have you ever seen the Big Gear symbol come up along with the slow down warning and if so how often?

Has anybody done this TCU flash lately? Sorry for all the questions but this was the best thing since sliced bread earlier this year but new info on this topic seems to have dried up. I am doing a complete turbo swap and fuel system upgrade next year and was thinking that enough data would of been contributed in just over a year to make the call as to whether this would be a good or bad decision.

I would ask that anyone who has direct knowledge on this good or bad please post.

[NFSLancerRA]

I have converted a few ECUs to MR ROMs, lately. At least on the ECU side of things, the cars seem to be performing just fine. I would do this immediately if I had my RA, still. I would hard flash my ECU and TCU to an MR ROM. If there were problems with this, you would know about it already.

[Jackal]

Ok that is interesting. I was under the impression it was simply installing a single file that over wrote a few bits in the TCU to allow it to have S-Sport and Launch control enabled.

Should there be a new write up that includes what ECU Rom changes or files that need to be installed etc.. I have a 2009 model and I have heard some people with the 2009 model can get launch control to work others not so much.

I will have to re read a bunch of threads to re familiarize myself with the process but if you have done this on several cars yourself then maybe you could enlighten us as it seems you have found a pretty solid process as to what to flash first with what file etc.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[NFSLancerRA]

You still use the same process with the TCU as described in this thread. In order to get the Launch Control to work, you need to have an MR ROM on the car. The same thing applies for S-Sport, although I have gotten that to work with an RA ROM as it should.

[TrailBrake]

Any MR ECU/TCU ROMs running on 2012 or 2013 RAs?

I wonder if newer RAs with TCU updates have the rev-hunting issues reported on some early RAs.

I have converted a few ECUs to MR ROMs, lately. At least on the ECU side of things, the cars seem to be performing just fine. I would do this immediately if I had my RA, still. I would hard flash my ECU and TCU to an MR ROM. If there were problems with this, you would know about it already.

[NFSLancerRA]

Any MR ECU/TCU ROMs running on 2012 or 2013 RAs?

I wonder if newer RAs with TCU updates have the rev-hunting issues reported on some early RAs.

No, the newer 2012 ROMs have different issues, which I believe that a couple of us down in FL finally have solved (i.e. weird timing issues, tip-in sluggishness, etc.). I have yet to try anything further forward than a 2010 V1 ROM on an RA. Eventually, I am going to break down and just buy a copy of IDA. I have a couple of things that I would like to do.

I am unaware of any alternate .cff files available for the TCU, anyways. As long as that is the case, I have a couple of ROMs that I know to work, so I just use those.

[NFSLancerRA]

There are also a couple of issues with benching a 2008/2009 vehicles (X or RA) to a ROM later than 2010, if anyone is curious. 2011 (I think) and 2012 (definitely) have tables with either not properly defined scaling variables OR different units of measure for a couple of tables. This is no bueno in earlier vehicles.

[RALM]

Any MR ECU/TCU ROMs running on 2012 or 2013 RAs?

I wonder if newer RAs with TCU updates have the rev-hunting issues reported on some early RAs.

This may sound silly but whats revhunting??