When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I highly doubt you bought a used ECU for $250 and am even more skeptical Kleemann was able to erase the old vin coding and rewrite it with yours.
i bought a used gle550 ecu that was in a huge accident for $300 on eBay, works just fine on my e63S. I saw some cheaper and some more expensive on eBay when I was searching
Obviously this is a 2015 thread and I finally tuned my ride in 2018 by AMS in West Chicago IL and it was flawless. No issues for them to close on oem ecu then to tune the eBay ecu
I would think if a Merceded ECU was bad, Mercedes verified bad that they replace it for free? Warrantee or not. Just saying.
Nope. ECU is considered an emissions component. All Emission components are covered up to 80k miles. At least in the US I believe. Perhaps elsewhere too.
OK, so these last 2 posts don't make sense because I requested the one before them to be pulled as I missed the digital barcodes on my OEM ECU. On to what should have been posted:
Here is what you look for if you are going to get a used ECU. Notice the character string underlined in red. This should match for a suitable ECU. For my string, I found about 6 options on Ebay averaging ~$600 for my string.
Blacked out ECU label is my OEM. Label below is my 2nd ECU (if I were to have one. ).
I hope one of the tuners will chime in, but from what i know, in order to clone the 2nd ECU for your VIN, the tuner has to physically open the stock ECU and extract data from it.
I am afraid this action alone will be a dead giveaway. Besides seeing that it was physically opened, i am certain that MB can see that data was extracted at some point.
If there is a way around this i am not aware of, i am getting a tune today!
I hope one of the tuners will chime in, but from what i know, in order to clone the 2nd ECU for your VIN, the tuner has to physically open the stock ECU and extract data from it.
I am afraid this action alone will be a dead giveaway. Besides seeing that it was physically opened, i am certain that MB can see that data was extracted at some point.
If there is a way around this i am not aware of, i am getting a tune today!
Your concerns are valid. However, I can tell you that a tech would have to examine the ECU practically with a microscope. Very difficult to find the signs of tampering. This is not anecdotal. It is a fact. Also, I can tell you first hand that I had major warranty work done with an ECU that might Have been data-extracted and not even a blink.
Lastly, I have yet to hear from a single person on this site how they were denied warranty work as a result of suspected ECU tampering or the like.
^ +1 Most techs are really not that bright, and wont ever go that in detail to check for tampering. Most reputable companies who do open the ECU's, you cant even tell it was touched.
Btw kudos to vrod for helping me navigate the second ecu concept and setting me up with the right tuner!! Before he guided me I thought this was all theory
Just resurrecting this thread to share what I know about this. Mercedes dealerships consider ECUs to be a TRP. Meaning Theft Related Part. Dealerships are not allowed to sell TRPs without having the currently installed component back at hand. As far as I know Mercedes can only code a blank ECU back to the car, meaning the ECU has to be brand new (not previously coded to another car) for Mercedes to code/ marry it to your car. There is no official way of coding a used ECU through the star system. And as for these new ECUs, there is no blank file you can install on a used ECU to turn them bootable through the Star system, you have to buy a new one in order to have a second ECU for your car.
For the older generation ECUs, you could take one and blank it out to code it again to the car using Star.
But here is the thing, for the new cars even though Mercedes won’t sell you a brand new ECU, they will however sell a brand new ECU to a registered Indy Shop, so you can go to one and buy one through them. Then have it coded to your car through star by going to a MB coder who has a star system. This way you can technically have two ECUs married to your car.
The only way to copy your original ECU file to a used ECU is though breaking the seal for the original ECU and copying that file to the used ECU you acquired. Which makes the whole point moot as Mercedes techs these days check the sealing bead on the ECU to see if it has been cracked open and if they notice any irregularities in the seam, the flag the car right away, I know cause this happened to me.
The reason why I am writing all this is to know if you guys can clarify something for me, say you have successfully managed to code two ECUs for your car, is there any way Mercedes can find out if you swap them out by tracing the data logs? I mean the ECU keeps track of your car’s odo count, so say I one day swap the original ECU and put a tuned second ECU in there, run the car for a few months. Say I want warranty support now, so I put the original ECU back in, so the original ECU now suddenly sees a different ODO reading (ODO reading is stored in another module in the car, not the ECU, ECU can just read it), if that is the Case, does the ECU keep track of these sudden jumps and changes? And can Mercedes technically find this out? Or there would be no way of Mercedes knowing this?
Just resurrecting this thread to share what I know about this. Mercedes dealerships consider ECUs to be a TRP. Meaning Theft Related Part. Dealerships are not allowed to sell TRPs without having the currently installed component back at hand. As far as I know Mercedes can only code a blank ECU back to the car, meaning the ECU has to be brand new (not previously coded to another car) for Mercedes to code/ marry it to your car. There is no official way of coding a used ECU through the star system. And as for these new ECUs, there is no blank file you can install on a used ECU to turn them bootable through the Star system, you have to buy a new one in order to have a second ECU for your car.
For the older ECUs, you could take one and blank it out to code it again to the car using Star.
But here is the thing, for the new cars even though Mercedes won’t sell you a brand new ECU, they will however sell a brand new ECU to a registered Indy Shop, so you can go to one and buy one through them. Then have it coded to your car through star by going to a MB coder who has a star system. This way you can technically have two ECUs married to your car.
The only way to copy your original ECU file to a used ECU is though breaking the seal for the original ECU and copying that file to the used ECU you acquired. Which makes the whole point moot as Mercedes techs these days check the sealing bead on the ECU to see if it has been cracked open and if they notice any irregularities in the seam, the flag the car right away, I know cause this happened to me.
The reason why I am writing all this is to know if you guys can clarify something for me, say you have successfully managed to code two ECUs for your car, is there any way Mercedes can find out if you swap them out by tracing the data logs? I mean the ECU keeps track of your car’s odo count, so say I one day swap the original ECU and put a tuned second ECU in there, run the car for a few months. Say I want warranty support now, so I put the original ECU back in, so the original ECU now suddenly sees a different ODO reading (ODO reading is stored in another module in the car, not the ECU, ECU can just read it), if that is the Case, does the ECU keep track of these sudden jumps and changes? And can Mercedes technically find this out? Or there would be no way of Mercedes knowing this?
SUBSCRIBING! I would love to know the answers to this as well. Basically the only thing holding me back from ordering a tune.
Just resurrecting this thread to share what I know about this. Mercedes dealerships consider ECUs to be a TRP. Meaning Theft Related Part. Dealerships are not allowed to sell TRPs without having the currently installed component back at hand. As far as I know Mercedes can only code a blank ECU back to the car, meaning the ECU has to be brand new (not previously coded to another car) for Mercedes to code/ marry it to your car. There is no official way of coding a used ECU through the star system. And as for these new ECUs, there is no blank file you can install on a used ECU to turn them bootable through the Star system, you have to buy a new one in order to have a second ECU for your car.
For the older generation ECUs, you could take one and blank it out to code it again to the car using Star.
But here is the thing, for the new cars even though Mercedes won’t sell you a brand new ECU, they will however sell a brand new ECU to a registered Indy Shop, so you can go to one and buy one through them. Then have it coded to your car through star by going to a MB coder who has a star system. This way you can technically have two ECUs married to your car.
The only way to copy your original ECU file to a used ECU is though breaking the seal for the original ECU and copying that file to the used ECU you acquired. Which makes the whole point moot as Mercedes techs these days check the sealing bead on the ECU to see if it has been cracked open and if they notice any irregularities in the seam, the flag the car right away, I know cause this happened to me.
The reason why I am writing all this is to know if you guys can clarify something for me, say you have successfully managed to code two ECUs for your car, is there any way Mercedes can find out if you swap them out by tracing the data logs? I mean the ECU keeps track of your car’s odo count, so say I one day swap the original ECU and put a tuned second ECU in there, run the car for a few months. Say I want warranty support now, so I put the original ECU back in, so the original ECU now suddenly sees a different ODO reading (ODO reading is stored in another module in the car, not the ECU, ECU can just read it), if that is the Case, does the ECU keep track of these sudden jumps and changes? And can Mercedes technically find this out? Or there would be no way of Mercedes knowing this?
Yes they can find this out. Yes tuning is a risk and I don't think you should tune your car nor anyone with ongoing concerns about warranty.
They can find out anything really easy without even checking the ECU. For example they can just look at the TCU and see max trq that it has seen. So easy, BAM, you burned.
You guys are over thinking this. It's pretty simple! If you go in for warranty work and dealer is happy to do the work, and knows MB is going pay them, they wont even look for reasons. They just do the work. They like money. If they are unhappy and want to find a reason to deny, or think MB won't reimburse them, then you might be sunk if it's engine related and you have tuned. You think you will be able to fight their techs on their own systems in court because you did an ECU swap or fancy OBD flash? LOL.
So, if you want warranty with no lost sleep at night, and no attempted fraud if they want to deny and you want to lie, then don't tune. If you tune you take the risk, and if warranty is denied, it's on you. I think it's very unlikely, and you probably won't have claims denied. But there is that risk.
If you are so concerned about flipping between tunes yourself, get a MyGenius and have at it. No extra ECU required, faster and easier then swapping.
They can find out anything really easy without even checking the ECU. For example they can just look at the TCU and see max trq that it has seen. So easy, BAM, you burned.
You guys are over thinking this. It's pretty simple! If you go in for warranty work and dealer is happy to do the work, and knows MB is going pay them, they wont even look for reasons. They just do the work. They like money. If they are unhappy and want to find a reason to deny, or think MB won't reimburse them, then you might be sunk if it's engine related and you have tuned. You think you will be able to fight their techs on their own systems in court because you did an ECU swap or fancy OBD flash? LOL.
So, if you want warranty with no lost sleep at night, and no attempted fraud if they want to deny and you want to lie, then don't tune. If you tune you take the risk, and if warranty is denied, it's on you. I think it's very unlikely, and you probably won't have claims denied. But there is that risk.
If you are so concerned about flipping between tunes yourself, get a MyGenius and have at it. No extra ECU required, faster and easier then swapping.
good to see you back. did you get the issues sorted with your engine?
They can find out anything really easy without even checking the ECU. For example they can just look at the TCU and see max trq that it has seen. So easy, BAM, you burned.
You guys are over thinking this. It's pretty simple! If you go in for warranty work and dealer is happy to do the work, and knows MB is going pay them, they wont even look for reasons. They just do the work. They like money. If they are unhappy and want to find a reason to deny, or think MB won't reimburse them, then you might be sunk if it's engine related and you have tuned. You think you will be able to fight their techs on their own systems in court because you did an ECU swap or fancy OBD flash? LOL.
So, if you want warranty with no lost sleep at night, and no attempted fraud if they want to deny and you want to lie, then don't tune. If you tune you take the risk, and if warranty is denied, it's on you. I think it's very unlikely, and you probably won't have claims denied. But there is that risk.
If you are so concerned about flipping between tunes yourself, get a MyGenius and have at it. No extra ECU required, faster and easier then swapping.
You definitely need to have a good relationship with tour dealer service advisor and know which MB master techs is working on your car so any concerns about tune impact on warranty issues can be discussed.
I had a horrid experience going to a chicago dealer for a flat tire and was threatened to status my car because they saw my after market air filter set up from UPD and told me to remove it, despite coming in for only a flat tire which is ridiculous.
Find a a good dealer and treat your service advisor and. MB tech really well and that will help
There is a Youtube video out of a chap, who bought a second-hand ECU with matching model number. He then unsolders the ePROM of his "dead" ECU as it contains the security info so your key works again and solders it into the second hand unit and smiles. Merc dealers can read the security info via their Star diagnostic and can reprogram that security info into a NEW unit worth a king's ransom.
02-10-2019, 11:48 AM
).
