TechnoMotive Convenience Modifications

Imagine the following scenario. It is a hot, sticky, August afternoon. You've been running errands all day in heavy traffic. You've got the air conditioning on full blast, and it is barely keeping up. Finally, the last errand is complete and you are on your way back home. The traffic starts to thin out and the drive becomes more pleasant. You miss the last light right before the expressway, and end up first at the red light. On your left, someone pulls up and starts revving their engine. Well, you are not one to recklessly race on the street, but the road ahead looks clear enough - you decide to give the guy a lesson in 0-60 acceleration. You hit the light perfectly and launch well, but soon you hear a low pitched growling whine from the engine as its RPM goes over 4000, and the engine doesn't feel as strong as it normally does. You move to second gear, but get the same results - and you see a blur go by on the left. Ooops! You forgot to turn off the air conditioner!

Wouldn't it be nice if the engine computer turned off the air conditioner when the RPMs got too high or when you put your foot through the floor? There is really no reason why it can't - on the DSMs, the ECU has direct control of the air conditioner clutch relay! Not only are you robbed of performance due to the drag of the air conditioner compressor, but you are risking the health of the compressor by driving it at such high RPM. A couple people have actually had the compressor "explode" when they missed a shift and ended up driving the compressor at over 7000 RPM.

This is a perfect example of a convenience modification. This modification does not really affect performance of the engine directly (after all, you can reach over and turn off the A/C yourself!), but makes the ECU do something nice and convenient that the factory could have programmed in from the start.

Here are some simple things we've added that we believe should have come from the factory.

• Better handling of air conditioner - The A/C compressor turns OFF if past 5000 RPM or throttle past 85% - will return to ON if RPM remains below 5000 and throttle below 85% for more than 5 consecutive seconds. (By the way, we don't advocate driving beyond the limits of the law, of your abilities, or of your car's abilities, but theoretically, if you happen to be in Montana, 5000 RPM is good for about 104 mph cruising, higher on non-AWD models.) Note: The second generation ECUs come from the factory with the 85% throttle shutoff, but do not have the 5000 RPM limit.
• Security package - ECU will refuse to supply spark or fuel to the engine unless a certain pedal sequence that you specify is entered after key is turned to ON position for first time. Much better than aftermarket alarm cutouts that can be bypassed by the savvy thief. What are the chances a thief is going to have a spare DSM ECU? Now includes a valet mode! Read our instructions on how to use the security mode.
• ECU failure code blinker - Frustrated that Mitsubishi didn't provide you with an easy way to read the sensor failure codes? Fret no more - you need only turn your key to the ON position without starting the car. If there are any error codes set, the CHECK ENGINE light will blink using its own special form of Morse Code to indicate the failures.
• Speed sensor failure indication - The speed sensor plays an important role in the determination of engine idle speeds. Some people have reported that their cars mysteriously die when they stop at an intersection. After much pulling of hair, they finally determined that the speed sensor was broken. Without the speed sensor, the ECU will take the engine right to the normal idle point of 750 RPM. This speed is not enough to maintain a good engine vacuum supply for the power brake booster. The engine ends up dying because it is unable to idle at 750 RPM with that big of a vacuum load. For some reason, the factory does flag the error code internally, but fails to set the CHECK ENGINE light. We feel that decision ignored an important debugging opportunity.