Ecu pulling 6 degrees of timing

[Joeshmeph99]

Just took my car to get tuned today and when I went to pick it up my tuner mentioned that he couldn't figure out an issue with my car.

Around 2600 rpm, 3500 rpm, and 4500 rpm the car was pulling about 6 degrees of timing consistently no matter what he did.

He mentioned that it was doing this through knock learning and even when he disabled the knock sensor it still pulled the same amount of timing at the same rpm every time.

I had noticed the 2600ish rpm hesitation on a previous tune (e tune) and he recommended cleaning grounds which I did and it had no effect.

The new tuner recommends I get a new ecu and see if that fixes it. Said he has no idea what else it could be.

Any recommendations for trouble shooting steps before I shotgun an ecu at the car?

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

[Joeshmeph99]

2005 sti
Custom stock location garret 3071 turbo
1000cc injectors
Unknown fuel pump
In line fuel filter
Idx fuel rails and lines with both factory fuel dampener.

Grounds have been cleaned in engine bay.
All coil packs, connectors, spark plugs are new.