2018 Panigale V4 to... something else.

MaverickiB

Well-known member
Disaster struck and my V4 decided it no longer liked the OEM plastic thermostat housing. It split, causing one of the hoses to detach, and purged all of the coolant it had into my belly pan. The racing belly pan did its job and kept the majority of it from reaching the track. Was only a few laps in to the first session of the day, and reaching that part takes hours of disassembly, so the day was effectively ruined. The techs there said they have seen that part fail on 4 V4s over the past few weeks, since it is just cheap plastic.

Will be swapping over to this. Recommend it if you track your V4 and don't want to splurge on a completely different radiator setup that bypasses it.

 

BMW Alpina

FOUNDING Member & Administrator
Staff member
Disaster struck and my V4 decided it no longer liked the OEM plastic thermostat housing. It split, causing one of the hoses to detach, and purged all of the coolant it had into my belly pan. The racing belly pan did its job and kept the majority of it from reaching the track. Was only a few laps in to the first session of the day, and reaching that part takes hours of disassembly, so the day was effectively ruined. The techs there said they have seen that part fail on 4 V4s over the past few weeks, since it is just cheap plastic.

Will be swapping over to this. Recommend it if you track your V4 and don't want to splurge on a completely different radiator setup that bypasses it.

Hi MaverickiB,
First, I am glad that your belly pan catch your coolant and you and your bike are ok.

Second, I want to say thank you so much for posting this information. This is great/perfect timing because I haven't assembled my throttle body so I can replace my plastic thermostat housing easily.
I just placed an order at HSBK racing, Thanks again (y)😃
 

MaverickiB

Well-known member
Hi MaverickiB,
First, I am glad that your belly pan catch your coolant and you and your bike are ok.

Second, I want to say thank you so much for posting this information. This is great/perfect timing because I haven't assembled my throttle body so I can replace my plastic thermostat housing easily.
I just placed an order at HSBK racing, Thanks again (y)😃
Can't help but think you should have asked if it comes in gold, haha.
 

BMW Alpina

FOUNDING Member & Administrator
Staff member
Can't help but think you should have asked if it comes in gold, haha.
I was actually thinking to anodized it in gold, but, with the constant heat from the cylinder head and the hot water coolant, i think it will fade the gold anodizing fast so I decided against that,
BUT ;)
I will polished it a bit more (if needed) then PAINT them in ANODIZED Red color with my usual Dupli-Color HEAT RESISTANT Paint 🤩

1615091365858.png


so the finish will look like my lower suspension link :cool::
IMG_8822.JPG
 

MaverickiB

Well-known member
Forgot to update here. No big changes, just finally got my Sicom rear rotor installed. Ordered it in August of 2020 and recieved it in May of 21. Covid sucks.
mavericktsu-post-2021_05_08_18_03.jpg
Fighting through some fueling issues currently. Not sure why, but Termi bricked my T800 tune. The bike is basically unrideable following a firmware update on the device. Slowly rolling on the gas, RPMs reach 4k or so and then just stop. Continuing to roll the throttle does nothing until a certain amount of degrees, then it surges to 7-8krpm. If you hold the throttle at that point, it will maintain that rpm for a few moments and then die out to barely above idle rpm despite the throttle still being open. I suspected a TPS or MAP issue, but reverting to the OEM tune yields zero issues whatsoever. Throttle and RPM stay perfectly synched and everything runs great despite the multitude of lambda error codes.

Termi has unfortunately abandoned me. They refuse to acknowledge their device could be an issue. I asked if they could replace the map in my account with a different map just for the sake of troubleshooting, to which they responded in the professional equivalent of "fuck you it isn't our fault and that's final."

I'm wary or spending another couple hundred dollars on another one of their tunes only for the problem to persist. I think I'm just gonna settle with OEM until a real tuning solution comes out. I'm hoping what will likely be just a day or two on track with OEM fueling (lean) won't cause any notable damage. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on engine temps.
 

BMW Alpina

FOUNDING Member & Administrator
Staff member
Forgot to update here. No big changes, just finally got my Sicom rear rotor installed. Ordered it in August of 2020 and recieved it in May of 21. Covid sucks.
View attachment 4576
Fighting through some fueling issues currently. Not sure why, but Termi bricked my T800 tune. The bike is basically unrideable following a firmware update on the device. Slowly rolling on the gas, RPMs reach 4k or so and then just stop. Continuing to roll the throttle does nothing until a certain amount of degrees, then it surges to 7-8krpm. If you hold the throttle at that point, it will maintain that rpm for a few moments and then die out to barely above idle rpm despite the throttle still being open. I suspected a TPS or MAP issue, but reverting to the OEM tune yields zero issues whatsoever. Throttle and RPM stay perfectly synched and everything runs great despite the multitude of lambda error codes.

Termi has unfortunately abandoned me. They refuse to acknowledge their device could be an issue. I asked if they could replace the map in my account with a different map just for the sake of troubleshooting, to which they responded in the professional equivalent of "fuck you it isn't our fault and that's final."

I'm wary or spending another couple hundred dollars on another one of their tunes only for the problem to persist. I think I'm just gonna settle with OEM until a real tuning solution comes out. I'm hoping what will likely be just a day or two on track with OEM fueling (lean) won't cause any notable damage. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on engine temps.
Wow, that is very unfortunate,...
Perhaps @ggok can help diagnose the issue?
 

HKMP7

First 9 & Moderator
Staff member
Forgot to update here. No big changes, just finally got my Sicom rear rotor installed. Ordered it in August of 2020 and recieved it in May of 21. Covid sucks.
View attachment 4576
Fighting through some fueling issues currently. Not sure why, but Termi bricked my T800 tune. The bike is basically unrideable following a firmware update on the device. Slowly rolling on the gas, RPMs reach 4k or so and then just stop. Continuing to roll the throttle does nothing until a certain amount of degrees, then it surges to 7-8krpm. If you hold the throttle at that point, it will maintain that rpm for a few moments and then die out to barely above idle rpm despite the throttle still being open. I suspected a TPS or MAP issue, but reverting to the OEM tune yields zero issues whatsoever. Throttle and RPM stay perfectly synched and everything runs great despite the multitude of lambda error codes.

Termi has unfortunately abandoned me. They refuse to acknowledge their device could be an issue. I asked if they could replace the map in my account with a different map just for the sake of troubleshooting, to which they responded in the professional equivalent of "fuck you it isn't our fault and that's final."

I'm wary or spending another couple hundred dollars on another one of their tunes only for the problem to persist. I think I'm just gonna settle with OEM until a real tuning solution comes out. I'm hoping what will likely be just a day or two on track with OEM fueling (lean) won't cause any notable damage. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on engine temps.
That Sicom rotor is nice.
Sorry you are having issues with Termi. Hopefully it gets fixed soon.
 

craig bush

Well-known member
@MaverickiB sorry to hear about the issue bro. It’s exactly issues like this that have me hesitant to add an exhaust.

Maybe it’s time to go MoTec?

It’s interesting to me that stand-alone engine management is so common in the automotive aftermarket performance community, but almost nonexistent in the bike community. Anyone have any insight why that is?
 

MaverickiB

Well-known member
@MaverickiB sorry to hear about the issue bro. It’s exactly issues like this that have me hesitant to add an exhaust.

Maybe it’s time to go MoTec?

It’s interesting to me that stand-alone engine management is so common in the automotive aftermarket performance community, but almost nonexistent in the bike community. Anyone have any insight why that is?
The disappointing part is the tune has worked perfectly well for me for the first 2 years or so of running it. It has always been buttery smooth, then suddenly went to shit after a forced update. Not sure if they changed the way the dongle communicates with the bike in order to better suit the newer models, but my poor 2018 has been effectively kicked to the curb.

MoTec is the dream, but I do not have 20k to spend, lmao. It seems like tuning issues are mostly prevalent with companies that link back to Audi. Talking with a Woolich rep quite a while ago when the V4 first came out, he said the problem they're having is the ECU is setup to detect non-OEM tunes. Even with the UpMap device, if you leave the lambdas connected, they are "disabled" by the device but still residually take measurements and the ECU slowly reverts its way back to OEM. Third party tuners can get a tune in the ECU but cannot get it to remain unmolested.

Super gay. Holding out, been hearing "just a few months now" as the ETA on a real tuning solution for 3 years now.
 

BMW Alpina

FOUNDING Member & Administrator
Staff member
The disappointing part is the tune has worked perfectly well for me for the first 2 years or so of running it. It has always been buttery smooth, then suddenly went to shit after a forced update. Not sure if they changed the way the dongle communicates with the bike in order to better suit the newer models, but my poor 2018 has been effectively kicked to the curb.

MoTec is the dream, but I do not have 20k to spend, lmao. It seems like tuning issues are mostly prevalent with companies that link back to Audi. Talking with a Woolich rep quite a while ago when the V4 first came out, he said the problem they're having is the ECU is setup to detect non-OEM tunes. Even with the UpMap device, if you leave the lambdas connected, they are "disabled" by the device but still residually take measurements and the ECU slowly reverts its way back to OEM. Third party tuners can get a tune in the ECU but cannot get it to remain unmolested.

Super gay. Holding out, been hearing "just a few months now" as the ETA on a real tuning solution for 3 years now.
Totally agree with you that the cost (and economic of scale) is the main barrier to entry on why stand-alone system is not popular with bike as much as for car... I mean a ratio of a MoTec system you mention above compare to the cost of the Panigale V4 is well almost like buying another bike 😅

Please correct me if I am wrong, but the UpMap is simply an interface to load a map to the ECU, right? but it is not a "piggy back" that have to stay connected forever (like a Power Commander)?
Because if it is a piggy back, then yes, I agree that the ECU will "fight back" to get as close as possible to the original tune since the ECU still have the original tune in it's memory.

From my understanding is, if you re-write your ECU with a new tune, that mean the ECU no longer have a memory of it's original tune since it had been written out with a new tune so there is no way to revert back to it's original tune.

Even if somehow there is a hidden safety function or "smart" optimizing function that cause the ECU to "drift" , well, first of all, there is only a limited amount of "drift"/ optimizing trimming that it can do from the newly written tune. I think it's more like some "auto-trimming", so it should not be that much of a drift.
And even if (somehow, someway) it goes too much trim after certain miles, most ECU can be RESET back to zero trim simply by disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it again (or use a OBDII scanner to force reset).

I am sure our forum member @ggok will be able to explain this better since he has done so many different tunes/hardware to tune on his bike.
 

craig bush

Well-known member
I agree cost is the main prohibition. I should have asked - “why is it so expensive?”

MoTec is quite popular in the supra community - you can go MoTec with a motorsport spec custom wiring harness for under $10k.
 

BMW Alpina

FOUNDING Member & Administrator
Staff member
I agree cost is the main prohibition. I should have asked - “why is it so expensive?”

MoTec is quite popular in the supra community - you can go MoTec with a motorsport spec custom wiring harness for under $10k.
I think it is "economic of scale", the more unit sold, the less the margin to break even, the lower the cost.

Plus the performance advantage of using a stand alone unit like MoTec for our bike might be minimal for most non professional riders, so it's not really worth it, while with car usually a stand alone system is use when adding forced induction...
 

MaverickiB

Well-known member
IIRC, it has to communicate with a proprietary IMU, which requires a proprietary relocation bracket, which requires a battery and electronics cradle, and so on. I might try to contact them and see if they sell a harness/sensors setup compatible with the OEM IMU/BBS/etc.

Edit:
Shot SBU an email about it. Hopefully they respond with good news. A bare bones harness that works with OEM sensors would he a godsend and would likely lead to me going with Motec. I'll also have to check around and make sure someone local can tune with Motec.
 
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craig bush

Well-known member
IIRC, it has to communicate with a proprietary IMU, which requires a proprietary relocation bracket, which requires a battery and electronics cradle, and so on. I might try to contact them and see if they sell a harness/sensors setup compatible with the OEM IMU/BBS/etc.

Edit:
Shot SBU an email about it. Hopefully they respond with good news. A bare bones harness that works with OEM sensors would he a godsend and would likely lead to me going with Motec. I'll also have to check around and make sure someone local can tune with Motec.
If they’ll do that, I’m down for a group buy.
 
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