ECU flashing tools
- Thread starter muddyboots
- Start date
m0rk said:
Those files are useless. If the car starts at all with one of them, it wont be running for long.
As for the hardware, I have one of the ''tuning tools'' here. Its potentially lethal fot the car.
People buy these things off Ebay in the hope of making some quick money. Its just not that simple.
If for example, there was a sudden voltage drop when writing to the ECU, then the communication to the ECU is lost, and the only way to get the car running again is to de-solder the eprom chip.
What kit do you use then, and what extra safeguards do you take to prevent losing power to the ECU ?
muddyboots said:
I would think he is probably using something like flashbooster, this displays the voltage during the flashing, doesnt really stop the problem but its a guide and this hardware is tried and tested with good service and a strong team behind it.
I have flashbooster and the cheaper ECU flasher, both work but the flashbooster has the dealer support and covers many more cars, including all the newer TDI with the EDC16 ECU's and the VAG petrol cars also
Right I understand.
However, having a display showing voltage is all well and good, but if you lost power for some reason (dodgy connection etc) it's only going to confirm that it's happened, rather than prevent it ? Or does it provide some kind of backup supply ?
However, having a display showing voltage is all well and good, but if you lost power for some reason (dodgy connection etc) it's only going to confirm that it's happened, rather than prevent it ? Or does it provide some kind of backup supply ?
micky 32 said:
Correct, but you can do a few things to reduce the risk ie watching the voltage, flashing while you have the battery on charge, removing the fuse for the cooling fan so that doesnt cut in and drain power during the flashing.
Also its just as important that the computer has plenty of power, dont use a laptop with a low battery!
Atleast using decent equipment like flashbooster you can sort out most mistakes using the flashbooster toolbox.
Tuning cars is not just having the correct equipment, its even more important to have the backup and experience behind you. All ECU flashing equipment is useless without a quality tuning file and you wont find them on ebay at £9.99 a disk!
yellowperil said:
Yes thats correct, I use the Byteshooter, master.
Its the best tool available to professional tuners. Too many people are starting to think its a very simple business to be in.
The Byteshooter/flashbooster, costs £1000's to buy, and is only a small % of the equipment needed.
muddyboots said:
The voltage display is crucial. It allows to monitor the levels of the voltage before starting the write.
If its dipping heavily, then sometimes the car battery wont even give a high enough voltage when connected to a maintainence charger. For example some BMW ECU's must be kept above 13 volts constant for safe work.
Chiron
Guest
got it today
Right then,
A follow up to the original bit of my post. The re-flasher off ebay arrived today and I've been doing a bit of investigating with it. First of all the interface is a fairly proffesional bit of kit, USB interface and a well manufactured surface-mount PCB using some quality components. The casing is robust and well moulded and the leads and connectors are also high quality. After a bit of digging I discovered that the unit is actually made by a company called Telway www.one-stop-factory.com and appears to be compatible with VAG-COM as well.
The interesting bit is the selection of tuning files. There are thousands of them and all appear to be genuine ( it would be hard to produce that many fakes). When viewed in a HEX editor you can see the maps. They are also strucutred into directories that makes me think that this entire collection has been copied from somewhere. Most of the files and directories are in Italian and there are several pointers to the fact that they were created by an Italian company and the name Piovan Franco crops up a lot. There are also references to WinOLS.
I will report back when I discover some more info.
Right then,
A follow up to the original bit of my post. The re-flasher off ebay arrived today and I've been doing a bit of investigating with it. First of all the interface is a fairly proffesional bit of kit, USB interface and a well manufactured surface-mount PCB using some quality components. The casing is robust and well moulded and the leads and connectors are also high quality. After a bit of digging I discovered that the unit is actually made by a company called Telway www.one-stop-factory.com and appears to be compatible with VAG-COM as well.
The interesting bit is the selection of tuning files. There are thousands of them and all appear to be genuine ( it would be hard to produce that many fakes). When viewed in a HEX editor you can see the maps. They are also strucutred into directories that makes me think that this entire collection has been copied from somewhere. Most of the files and directories are in Italian and there are several pointers to the fact that they were created by an Italian company and the name Piovan Franco crops up a lot. There are also references to WinOLS.
I will report back when I discover some more info.
Excellent, thanks for the feedback. It doesn't sound too shabby a piece of kit then.
Have you got a link to which one off Ebay it was ? Or the sellers name ?
Have you got a link to which one off Ebay it was ? Or the sellers name ?
Chiron said:
Not sure if this should be posted.
The OBD tool is a very shabby tool, which is an illegal copy of a proper tool.
The files on the disk are stolen.
Im surprised that people think its so simple, and that somone would sell that many files when they have put years of hard work into their knowledge.
Also, Im amazed at how poeple are happy to upload files, which they have no idea about. Where are they from? How much is the boost and fueling increased by?
The tool I use was £3800, and is only a small part of the kit needed if something goes wrong.
Chiron
Guest
I'm not sure I would call it a "shabby tool", its a well made bit of kit that seems to have been designed correctly. I don't see how you can say that the files are stolen, I disagree, it could be that they are from the original creator who is the character selling them on ebay.
However I do agree that it is NOT a simple task to re-map a car. I worked on EDC16 ECU's and Siemens Diesel ECU's. These ECU's have at least 8000 calibrateable variables not including the maps. Each of these ECU also have hundreds of maps each as big as the main fueling maps ( of which there are usually about 5). It would be very easy to write to the flash memory in what you thought was a main fuel map and end up re-calibrating cruise PID algorithm with potentially disastrous results. - its not something to try at home.
However I do agree that it is NOT a simple task to re-map a car. I worked on EDC16 ECU's and Siemens Diesel ECU's. These ECU's have at least 8000 calibrateable variables not including the maps. Each of these ECU also have hundreds of maps each as big as the main fueling maps ( of which there are usually about 5). It would be very easy to write to the flash memory in what you thought was a main fuel map and end up re-calibrating cruise PID algorithm with potentially disastrous results. - its not something to try at home.
Hi mate
I may not be thinking of the right tool in that case. There was one ( Ihave one here as I took it apart to see what they had done, and it was awful.
As for the files, they are usually without the writers permission. Every file should really be for each specific car anyway.
I may not be thinking of the right tool in that case. There was one ( Ihave one here as I took it apart to see what they had done, and it was awful.
As for the files, they are usually without the writers permission. Every file should really be for each specific car anyway.
These interfaces may be OK for doing your own car but its another matter if you have paying customers, who is going to tell them if this hardware melts and fries the ECU in the process!
I must admit some of the ebay stuff is much better than others.
The main advantage with something like byteshooter is the range of cars it covers, including the 1.8 T and 2.0 petrols and the EDC16 diesels
As for files, find a supplier you are happy with and stick with them. I sure wouldnt want any ebay software running my car!
I must admit some of the ebay stuff is much better than others.
The main advantage with something like byteshooter is the range of cars it covers, including the 1.8 T and 2.0 petrols and the EDC16 diesels
As for files, find a supplier you are happy with and stick with them. I sure wouldnt want any ebay software running my car!
yellowperil said:
We checked a few of the files, and they were anything from simply increased fueling, to immobiliser codes not even matching.
Chiron
Guest
I guess that would be my main concern in using some of the maps, if it did screw up the immobiliser then I would be in trouble. I guess it depends on which areas of the flash it writes to. ( can the immobi be re-synchronised using VAG-COM?)
I probably won't try this on my own car's ECU just yet anyway but test it on another donor vehicle first ( a friend has a few spare cars 'cos he's just been banned). I would love to find out who wrote the files, it looks like somebody's lifes work on the CD, everything from Ferrari's to Ducati's to Mercedes vans...
I probably won't try this on my own car's ECU just yet anyway but test it on another donor vehicle first ( a friend has a few spare cars 'cos he's just been banned). I would love to find out who wrote the files, it looks like somebody's lifes work on the CD, everything from Ferrari's to Ducati's to Mercedes vans...
If you want to have a play with the tool, you can try to read ok. Just dont try to write anything to the ECU.
If the immobiliser code doesn't match, there is a risk of locking the ECU
If the immobiliser code doesn't match, there is a risk of locking the ECU
I have APR stage 1 software which i'm very happy with, but i'd like to try custom code too. Can i use one of these cheap tools to copy my stock, APR and cc software so that i can chose which one to run at any one time, since each software code is sevral hundred pounds i cannot afford to erase them with another code. I have no need for any base maps and only require the tool to save and restore my own maps so am i right in thinking i will have no imobilser issues.
Cheers.
Cheers.
wild willy said:
Big companys like APR and Custom-Code are going to have used encoded software so i cant see this working but dont take my word for it. I VAG software is also encoded but its been cracked by the hardware companys
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