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oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 9:31 am
by rayray
well a word of warning if you've got a preface and you are using a cheapo chinese vagcom and it starts playing up... dont attempt a reflash... sadly I did... it worked before right!
it read the ecu fine, test flash was all good too. then it just started failing when it came to writing the new flash... attempted a reread it came back with the old tune... I attempted a rewrite ecu flash reported it was all good... nope! she's corrupted ecu id comes back wrong now...

so... kido matt is on the road till later in the month so suggested RTR in melbourne (wascsupposed to driving down there this weekend :-) ) and there's chiptorque... I know its a long shot but anyone know of any canberra local places that can bench flash it?

Re: oops bricked my ecu, bench flash canberra?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:37 pm
by clancey
rayray wrote:well a word of warning if you've got a preface and you are using a cheapo chinese vagcom and it starts playing up... dont attempt a reflash... sadly I did... it worked before right!
it read the ecu fine, test flash was all good too. then it just started failing when it came to writing the new flash... attempted a reread it came back with the old tune... I attempted a rewrite ecu flash reported it was all good... nope! she's corrupted ecu id comes back wrong now...

so... kido matt is on the road till later in the month so suggested RTR in melbourne (wascsupposed to driving down there this weekend :-) ) and there's chiptorque... I know its a long shot but anyone know of any canberra local places that can bench flash it?


Hi Mate,

Did you take a backup of your original rom? If it's still initialising you may still be able to revert to that version. Although I suspect you may have already tried that...

Cheers

Re: oops bricked my ecu, bench flash canberra?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:21 pm
by rayray
you are correct... tried... failed. Won't initialize. Cheers though :-)

Re: oops bricked my ecu, bench flash canberra?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 11:31 am
by rayray
Ok so no luck at RTR in Melbourne (although I really appreciate their efforts and Dan and his crew are really nice guys).

Chiptorque's employee with the skillz to unbrick the ecu has moved on... :shock:

Does anyone else know of anyone that can do an unbrick? (I've looked at the methods on Nasioc/Tactrix/iwsti etc... and will probably be making a trip to Jaycar/DSE to purchase necessary components :( )

I think mailing to Tactrix could end up being a little too expensive...

Re: oops bricked my ecu, bench flash canberra?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 1:34 pm
by bradr
rayray wrote:...Chiptorque's employee with the skillz to unbrick the ecu has moved on... :shock: ...


And their new location and contact details are...?

Do you know what their name is? Google? Facebook? Linkedin?

If Chiptorque don't know (or won't say) there must be someone on here who does. Does Kido know?

Just some thoughts.

cheers,

bj

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 1:57 pm
by rayray
Chiptorque said he was 'moving on' and I asked if there whether I could even perhaps get his details/location and they said its not automotive, and that was it.

Have sent Matt (Kido) an email as he originally said he'd be back at home next week, he was super helpful with the RTR guys but since they aren't into opening the ECU, its was a bit beyond their abilities... I really do appreciate their efforts though.

Bought the required components from Jaycar just then... cost me $7... still not sure I want to do it myself though, its been awhile since I picked up a soldering iron... and soldering on to my ECU just seems to be taking a big jump forward :lol:

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 2:52 pm
by bigBADbenny
Good stuff!
If Chiptorque can no longer unbrick ECU's then its probably time we started to DIY the process.

I've read the "How to unbrick your ECU like a boss" thread on IWSTI, the hardware required seems fairly straight forward.
I'm sure Matt could help us get sorted as regards the right pins to solder to...

In preparation, I made hi res photos of my ECU whilst it was out.

AFAIK, your next best solution could be to find a S/H ECU and get the keys reprogrammed for your car, which can be done for beer at any Subaru dealer ;)

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:43 pm
by rayray
Quoted $376.20 for coding a new ECU...

$2224 for the ECU itself... and they are apparently on backorder already :lol:

Ahh Subaru retail...

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:44 pm
by zch91
That's actually cheaper than I thought it would be.. :lol:

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:56 pm
by bigBADbenny
rayray wrote:Quoted $376.20 for coding a new ECU...

$2224 for the ECU itself... and they are apparently on backorder already :lol:

Ahh Subaru retail...


I did mean from a wrecker, and your friendly local Subaru dealership ;)

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 5:18 pm
by <GB>
might be worth asking logicar

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:20 pm
by rayray
Thanks GB but no luck at logicar either...

But the required 'watchdog' circuit is now built... just to work out the wiring out of my VAGCOM cable and I should be good to go.

Amazing how inspiring cold canberra weather + 12km ride to work can be.

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:48 pm
by bigBADbenny
Please keep us posted with the approach and sources you're taking to DIY this.
We need unbricking in Melbourne :)
For reference here is the thread I found helpful, but if there's an easier way to get started with the hardware let me know:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/ecu-tuning- ... -boss.html

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:22 pm
by rayray
That's the main source I've been using along with this:

https://www.tactrix.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=41

and... some generic ODB2 cable references... assuming I have some success, I'll write up something more formal... not sure I'll get a chance to look at it till the weekend with social commitments but I am feeling a fair bit more confident...
plus the lack of other options plus it looks like Matt is on the road till July from his facebook page... I haven't actually chased him up since initial emails though as I was looking for quicker options.

Re: oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:31 pm
by KiDo_Tuning
Looking at setting up PLMS in Adelaide to fill the hole left by Chiptorque, we discussed it last year but this may motivate him :)
http://www.plmsdevelopments.com/elec_repair.shtml