Butchered ECU, Motor Lost - Be Careful Out There (pics)
03-21-2011, 05:57 PM
#1
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Butchered ECU, Motor Lost - Be Careful Out There (pics)
Hi, guys -
I am posting this here as a PSA. I'm not naming names or pointing fingers, but I'm going to tell you all about a local (Palatine, IL) customer of ours who bought a 55 Kompressor a few weeks ago. The client bought the car locally and had it inspected by a local dealer. The car was brought to our shop just a few days after purchase with a CEL and a number of misfire codes.
The super-short version: the client might need a new engine. The car is mechanically stock, except for the ECU (below) which currently has a stock file on it, but which was obviously modified in the past.
This is NOT what an ECU is supposed to look like, everyone. Be careful who you let touch these cars.
I am posting this here as a PSA. I'm not naming names or pointing fingers, but I'm going to tell you all about a local (Palatine, IL) customer of ours who bought a 55 Kompressor a few weeks ago. The client bought the car locally and had it inspected by a local dealer. The car was brought to our shop just a few days after purchase with a CEL and a number of misfire codes.
The super-short version: the client might need a new engine. The car is mechanically stock, except for the ECU (below) which currently has a stock file on it, but which was obviously modified in the past.
This is NOT what an ECU is supposed to look like, everyone. Be careful who you let touch these cars.
03-21-2011, 06:15 PM
#3
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It's flux and blistering/over-heating on the board. The chip was off the board and put on ... not carefully. I'll get some pics of the other side.
Last edited by Speedriven1; 03-21-2011 at 06:18 PM.
03-21-2011, 06:51 PM
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Porsche 991S, Cayenne S, 1972 BMW 3.0CS E9 Coupe
Why a new engine? Even though the ECUs are VIN encoded I thought that ECUs can be simply replaced and reflashed, etc.. Use SDS to extract the coding from the old ECU then put a new ECU and input the coding (?)
http://www.autocomputersystems.com/rrservice/
http://www.autocomputersystems.com/rrservice/
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03-21-2011, 06:54 PM
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Why a new engine? Even though the ECUs are VIN encoded I thought that ECUs can be simply replaced and reflashed, etc.. Use SDS to extract the coding from the old ECU then put a new ECU and input the coding (?)
http://www.autocomputersystems.com/rrservice/
http://www.autocomputersystems.com/rrservice/
03-21-2011, 07:09 PM
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Porsche 991S, Cayenne S, 1972 BMW 3.0CS E9 Coupe
My question was can't your customer just replace the ECU? Why a new engine? Or are you saying that driving on the bad ECU damaged the motor in some way (misfiring, etc..) What's happened to the motor that you can see?
03-21-2011, 07:57 PM
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2006 E55, 2007 GL450
Just goes to show you the value of a dealer PPI...
PPI's sgould be backed with warranties.. the cost of which would depend on the PPI result....
That sucks!
PPI's sgould be backed with warranties.. the cost of which would depend on the PPI result....
That sucks!
03-21-2011, 08:06 PM
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Eurocharged Performance ML63 and TT lambo
wow thats crazy! There is only a handful of companies that I am aware of that have ever soldered a chip to the ecu.....us not being one of them...
Sad to say, I have seen the "ecu blob" before many a time....
It would have to be a mech issue, as yes they could have just re-coded a new ecu.
Sad to say, I have seen the "ecu blob" before many a time....
It would have to be a mech issue, as yes they could have just re-coded a new ecu.
03-21-2011, 08:19 PM
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Eurocharged 2004 E500, Eurocharged ECU/TCU 2005 SL600, 2010 Caddy SwaggerWagon
Is it not common practice to pull that chip to read the current file, in case the customer isn't happy with the file that he/she is about to purchase? Then if not satisfied, the pulled file is then reflashed via the OBD port? I didn't think it possible to read the current tune via the OBD port.
Either way, what a horrible job.
Either way, what a horrible job.
03-21-2011, 08:39 PM
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Eurocharged Performance ML63 and TT lambo
Is it not common practice to pull that chip to read the current file, in case the customer isn't happy with the file that he/she is about to purchase? Then if not satisfied, the pulled file is then reflashed via the OBD port? I didn't think it possible to read the current tune via the OBD port.
Either way, what a horrible job.
Either way, what a horrible job.
03-21-2011, 08:52 PM
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2003 E55 & 2014 GL550
Insert geezers voice here, but back in the day, I thought that was the only way you could program some of these ecus. Cory did mine in front of me and lemme tell, it was a helluva lot nicer that that disaster!! Wow!
They are all plug and flash like most guys now days!
They are all plug and flash like most guys now days!
03-21-2011, 08:55 PM
#17
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The engine lost compression on some of the back cylinders. Bad scene.
03-21-2011, 08:56 PM
#18
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We (and OE tuning) flash these cars over the OBD. No reason to open up the ECU.
03-21-2011, 08:59 PM
#19
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Still, no telling what the original owner was sold or how he was sold. Lots of guys out there buy a bag of tools and think they're tuners, you know?
Bad scene. Bad scene.
03-21-2011, 09:01 PM
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Is it not common practice to pull that chip to read the current file, in case the customer isn't happy with the file that he/she is about to purchase? Then if not satisfied, the pulled file is then reflashed via the OBD port? I didn't think it possible to read the current tune via the OBD port.
Either way, what a horrible job.
Either way, what a horrible job.
As stated before: we do this over the OBD. Guys like EC have tools that can do this with pin connectors (though you still have to open the ECU, it's not even 10% as invasive as this mess).
There is ZERO need to physically remove the chip in this day and age, and guys like Todd at Proto can do it without leaving much in the way of evidence. This is a hack job.
03-21-2011, 09:03 PM
#22
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03-21-2011, 10:01 PM
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I thought tuners were way passed this and all flash over the port now.Last car that had this done was an obd2 M3 in 96 right when obd2 came out and rms and AA tuning were installing piggy back chips in the ecu.
