Bricked ECU, first Bench Flash
I have been playing around with mappings using ECD suite and a cheap Galleto cable. I have been posting updates in my
"sweet turbo delete" thread. I also posted a glowing review of the Galleto cable and software on Amazon, which I have just now deleted.
Anyway, one night I bricked my ECU.
So I did some research and turns out the Bosch EDC15 has a recovery mode that can be accessed by combination of grounding a pin on the eeprom chip while powering up and then flashing using a "slow baud rate recovery mode".
The Galleto cable does not have these options and simply reported a communication failure. As did VAG-COM.
The MPPS V16 cable and software is much better! (Amazon.ca review posted, awaiting review)
Here is my bench flashing rig, running off a cheap old booster pack (with build in "ignition" switch):
Here is a close up of the adapter I build using a old OBDII extension cable female end, some custom sized clips, and lots of heat shrink tubing. I thought that colour coding the grounds, hots, and single K-line would increase my chances of success:
While still on the bench, I went ahead and hooked up my VAG-COM cable:
There were about five different faults, sensors not reporting in. Logically, I re-installed the ECU in the car and cleared codes.
This is where things get weird, yet start to make sense, all at once...
There is a weird cyclical clacking noise for a few seconds after turning the ignition on and before starting. This is the same noise I heard the night a bricked my ECU. That night it only happened once, during the code load, and I assumed it was a low battery power glitch type thing but this time it happened consistently on power up, and there were no other power symptoms.
I was able to connect VCDS and found two re-occuring faults:
"quantity adjuster
lower limit reached" and "quantity adjuster
upper limit reached".
After clearing the codes, I would get the clacking noise, and they would come back. At this point my memory is fuzzy, did I load the same code file from the night I bricked my ECU or a previous one. At this point I think I went ahead and loaded a previous version, which allowed me to clear the codes, and start the engine.
So maybe it was a bad file after all.
Either way, I unlocked a new skill: ECU Bench Flash
And the Volkswagen is running the best it has ever run without a turbo! Details here:
sweet turbo delete
No regrets!