Changing ECU

[DeeTurbo]

Hi,

I'm planning on changing my ECU. I have sourced one of the same plate as mine with the CPH (BSI), key with transponder chip and I have the security code as well.

I there anything I should know before swapping the bits over?

[Niall]

Nope. Just bang the ECU, BSI and chip into the key and it should start!

Why are you changing out of interest?

[HDIkyle]

As said you are straight away there

[DeeTurbo]

The reason why is, my memory on my ECU has reached its maximum 50 and I get a "communication error" when trying to clear the MAF fault I'm having (with PP2000). I first thought it just my cheap clone device playing up but after reading other threads it sounds like I won't be able to get my car sorted without getting another ECU installed. My PP2000 works fine on other cars so it's not that.

Is there anything else I should try before swapping stuff. I have tried two new VDO MAF's and checked the wiring from the MAF to the ECU?

[Toms306]

Maximum fault memory is that? Why can't you just clear them?

[DeeTurbo]

The way I understand it is basically the memory for fault codes can only be cleared 50 times on my car and it looks like the last fault that had occurred stays in the ECU.

This was taken from another forum;

These ECU's use EEPROM chips which have a limited number of guaranteed read/write cycles.
For safety and reliability as well as legal reasons they decided to allow 50 write opperations.

Later systems might use more up to date components but still limmit the opperations allowed
and some actually lock-up after the max number allowed.

For pugs, it's easy to check how many are logged-on by going to 'History' in PP2000 and seeing how many entries
are stored.

So if you get the light up don't just clears the codes and leave it, you should find out whats causing it and fix it.

[Toms306]

Oh right, didn't realise that. You better crack on with swapping a replacement on then.

[DeeTurbo]

Dam straight, the cars been feeling really slow because of it.

Also there seems to be another fault rearing it's ugly head. The last couple of days since the temp outside has been dropping, the car when I starting from cold starts hunting at idle. It was that bad last night the car almost stalled. I've got a feeling it might be the FPR playing up as the car doesn't turn off as it use to, it seem to do one revolution more sometimes. The injectors were replaced this time last year. I thought it might of been them causing the dodgy idle at first.

[Toms306]

Mine hunts at idle too, and makes a fuss starting.........and grey smokes like a bugger in the cold! What milage is yours on?

[DeeTurbo]

300 miles off 300k miles haha

Mine doesn't smoke and it's been fine up until this time last year when It started to hunt and miss on a cylinder, this only happened after starting from cold and temperatures were below 3C, after a leak off test it showed an injector at fault so changed the set and that sorted it.

I've had it since new and I've serviced it after the warranty ran out. It's had an oil and filter every 6k. When I use to drive a lot that use to be 4 times a year sometimes more.

It's still on the original clutch too!

Have you tried to sort the hunting?

[Toms306]

Wow. Thats certainly done well then!

Nah, I'm not keeping the car much longer so not gonna look into it, I'm almost certain it's an injector fault though, but no codes are present currently.

[Mr Whippy]

Thing is if you reset with generic OBD, the PP counter doesn't 'see' it I'm fairly certain.

I thought the PP counter simply stored other data with the reset and it was that which clogged up the space in flash (ie, storing the history of resets)... so there is only finite space (like 10 texts on old phones haha)

That is what I believe any way... possibly worth seeing if there is a 'reset' counter in PP to clear all previous logs and start again at 1.


Not sure which memory is used for fault code logging either... starting to read into the different chips a bit now so might be able to advise better in the future. I have a feeling the 8 pin chip storing the car coding (security), immo data, and car config data (matches to BSI where required) is where fault codes go. If that is the case maybe it does have a limited reset life-time.
I'd have to get an ECU and force codes a few times, then reset via generic OBD, then check the flash mem on the different chips.

Then do the same again but reset with PP, and then check again hehe...

Uh, tiring work but interesting

Dave

[DeeTurbo]

Wow. Thats certainly done well then!

Nah, I'm not keeping the car much longer so not gonna look into it, I'm almost certain it's an injector fault though, but no codes are present currently.

Yep, it has severed me well. It's only ever broke down on me once and that was my own fault I risked a long journey with a noisy low pressure fuel pump. The pump started to make a funny noise the night before a trip from Wolverhampton to Watford. It got down to Hemel Hempstead then the pump packed in and I was stranded in the M1 roadworks blocking a lane. I should never of tried it and I should of got a new pump that morning. It was my second week at a new place of work and I thought it worth the risk but I ended up being four hours late. That was when I had 140K miles on the clock. Um, I might get a back up pump now as this ones done a little more miles then the first lol.

Thing is if you reset with generic OBD, the PP counter doesn't 'see' it I'm fairly certain.

I thought the PP counter simply stored other data with the reset and it was that which clogged up the space in flash (ie, storing the history of resets)... so there is only finite space (like 10 texts on old phones haha)

That is what I believe any way... possibly worth seeing if there is a 'reset' counter in PP to clear all previous logs and start again at 1.


Not sure which memory is used for fault code logging either... starting to read into the different chips a bit now so might be able to advise better in the future. I have a feeling the 8 pin chip storing the car coding (security), immo data, and car config data (matches to BSI where required) is where fault codes go. If that is the case maybe it does have a limited reset life-time.
I'd have to get an ECU and force codes a few times, then reset via generic OBD, then check the flash mem on the different chips.

Then do the same again but reset with PP, and then check again hehe...

Uh, tiring work but interesting

Dave

I shall try it on my girlfriends car, she's got a 206 with the same engine but hers is the three plug version ECU.

I'll try on her car to check how many slots are left then clear a fault using my old ELM unit and then see if the slots have gone down.

[Niall]

Wow. Thats certainly done well then!

Nah, I'm not keeping the car much longer so not gonna look into it, I'm almost certain it's an injector fault though, but no codes are present currently.

Yep, it has severed me well. It's only ever broke down on me once and that was my own fault I risked a long journey with a noisy low pressure fuel pump. The pump started to make a funny noise the night before a trip from Wolverhampton to Watford. It got down to Hemel Hempstead then the pump packed in and I was stranded in the M1 roadworks blocking a lane. I should never of tried it and I should of got a new pump that morning. It was my second week at a new place of work and I thought it worth the risk but I ended up being four hours late. That was when I had 140K miles on the clock. Um, I might get a back up pump now as this ones done a little more miles then the first lol.

Its done well then and is just proof to tom that not every single 306 on the road is a crock of shit that breaks down all the time!

[Toms306]

Its done well then and is just proof to tom that not every single 306 on the road is a crock of shit that breaks down all the time!

It just backs up what I've already said though....it is the previous owners that ruin 306s!! No previous owners and this ones only killed a fuel pump, an injector and we'll ignore the 50 faults codes lol........but 300k is damn good for any car!

[DeeTurbo]

Wow. Thats certainly done well then!

Nah, I'm not keeping the car much longer so not gonna look into it, I'm almost certain it's an injector fault though, but no codes are present currently.

Yep, it has severed me well. It's only ever broke down on me once and that was my own fault I risked a long journey with a noisy low pressure fuel pump. The pump started to make a funny noise the night before a trip from Wolverhampton to Watford. It got down to Hemel Hempstead then the pump packed in and I was stranded in the M1 roadworks blocking a lane. I should never of tried it and I should of got a new pump that morning. It was my second week at a new place of work and I thought it worth the risk but I ended up being four hours late. That was when I had 140K miles on the clock. Um, I might get a back up pump now as this ones done a little more miles then the first lol.

Its done well then and is just proof to tom that not every single 306 on the road is a crock of shit that breaks down all the time!

This is the thing and what I've said for years, if you service your car properly there is no reason it should fail on you. There are lots of people out there that don't do any form of maintenance on their cars and wonder why they break down. It's a shame when you end up buying a car off someone like that.

The guy who's got the most recorded miles on a car has almost done 3 million miles! It's a 1966 Volvo P1800. The guy had the engine stripped and checked when he hit 300k miles and his mechanic said there was no signification wear on any parts. Now that gives me a little more hope that I could get a few more miles before my engine needs major work.

The other thing I've thought is I think regular use is better then not being used as much.

[Toms306]

There are lots of people out there that don't do any form of maintenance on their cars and wonder why they break down. It's a shame when you end up buying a car off someone like that.

Exactly this!

[DeeTurbo]

There are lots of people out there that don't do any form of maintenance on their cars and wonder why they break down. It's a shame when you end up buying a car off someone like that.

Exactly this!

Yep, previous owners can be c**ts.

The code issue I think is partly my fault and the mechanic that did my cam belt last time. Mine because I kept clearing a TPS fault instead of getting it replaced and the mechanic because he did a bad job on my car and kept trying to clear a fault that he caused when he broke a connector on the fuel pressure sensor. I blame him for the injector as well because of the way he changed the fuel filter.

I only got the water pump and cam belt done by a garage because I had a bad experience doing one when I was a kid. I always think they should be tighter then they should be lol. But I'll be doing the next one myself as I don't trust any garage now.

[Niall]

There are lots of people out there that don't do any form of maintenance on their cars and wonder why they break down. It's a shame when you end up buying a car off someone like that.

Yeah wankers eh?


Not looking to buy a used skoda octavia in the next month are you....?

[DeeTurbo]

Not looking to buy a used skoda octavia in the next month are you....?

Any service history?

[Niall]

Lol never mind. Tom will know what I meant by it. But yes has full skoda history.....not that that means anything.

[Mr Whippy]

I shall try it on my girlfriends car, she's got a 206 with the same engine but hers is the three plug version ECU.

I'll try on her car to check how many slots are left then clear a fault using my old ELM unit and then see if the slots have gone down.

That sounds like a plan.

Hmmm, it turns out I have the kit here to clone an ECU... I didn't realise I have the wires I did in my box of tricks hehe.

So in theory you don't even need a BSI/key. Just an ECU with the same plug count ideally, and possibly hw/sw but I'm sure that isn't important if you make any appropriate changes needed. You obviously also need your original ECU to be cloned.

Not sure how you go on if you only have the security code, that would possibly be a bit more in-depth because I have a feeling the code is encrypted and that just adds more layers of fannying around that probably make it more cost effective to just buy a new ecu/bsi/key!



I'll need to look into this but if anyone needs anything like that doing it's relatively painless once you have the right bits and bobs (quite a few bits and bobs but I already have them so that makes life easier hehe) *and* the original ECU as said.

Dave

[Toms306]

Not looking to buy a used skoda octavia in the next month are you....?

Any service history?

If I were you I'd check for a turbo change in the service history.

[Niall]

Not looking to buy a used skoda octavia in the next month are you....?

Any service history?

If I were you I'd check for a turbo change in the service history.

and two clutches and a DMF. But good news! Its only on 69k!

[DeeTurbo]

If I were you I'd check for a turbo change in the service history.

and two clutches and a DMF. But good news! Its only on 69k!

Wow, I hope they replaced that all under warranty?

[Poodle]

It's a company car, he abuses it. Hard.

[Niall]

It's a company car, he abuses it. Hard.

What? how dare you im very sensible as it happens!! lol

Actually, none of the failures were my fault. The original clutch went at 9 months old due to a leaky master cylinder, they replaced just the friction plate (at a cost of over 3k to skoda) and now the DMF (which should of been done with the new clutch) has gone wrecking the clutch as well.

Oh and the turbo sounds like your driving the streets of San Andreas! lol

[Poodle]

Haha yeah yeah, anyone ever told you you'd make a good racing driver? :p

[Niall]

Haha yeah yeah, anyone ever told you you'd make a good racing driver? :p

Oi my driving is fine thanks. Jonny 1045435 clearly liked my driving though. Think he likes the way i handle roundabouts and speedbumps lol

[Jonny81191]

In my intoxicated state i found it most amusing and funny and it made me chuckle and i though it was fun