S3 ECU Removal

Sandip

Sandip

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I've tried getting my car mapped twice now and on both occasions it has failed to flash the ECU.

Encrypted chip on the board perhaps???

Has anybody ever had or known an S3 or any other 1.8t to actually have a chip physical put onto the board (ecu). If so what tuners do this???

Last query, is there any precautions to take when removing the ecu, i want to take mine out to have a look to see what inside

Any info greatly appreciated:icon_thumright:
 
My previous S3 (2000 X reg - APY) had been remapped by a chip being soldered to the ECU before I bought it. I had no idea it was remapped as it was the first S3 I had driven.

I then went to get it remapped by posting the ECU to a tuning company and they phoned me to say it had some old style chip -board in it. As a result it needed a custom remap made for the ECU which cost a small amount more (additional £100 and took an extra day). I received the ECU back and it was much the same as it was before, but perhaps a little pokier, but not much in it really over the previous map. It was a more modern remap though.

With regards to removing the ECU it was relatively easy but the wiper scuttle (grille thing) is brittle and hard so be careful. I didn't remove it, just flexed it slowly up and then removed the ECU from it's slider rails. So just be careful, take your time, and be gentle. All the time the ECU was removed, I left the car unlocked in the garage and didn't attempt to operate anything - just to be on the safe side.
 
Last edited:
Hi Sandip,

Sometimes these cars can cause problems when trying to load a remap on them, for (sometimes) reasons unknown or because:

-You have an expired Revo or APR trial
-There is a Superchips remap on the car and they have used a protection board
-There is a broken wire between the OBD socket and the ECU

If you want to remove the ECU, it is located underneath the scuttle panel, we often have to remove the ECU on the 1.8Ts to remap them for this reason. No soldering or chipping required though!
 
crystal-clear said:
Hi Sandip,

Sometimes these cars can cause problems when trying to load a remap on them, for (sometimes) reasons unknown or because:

-You have an expired Revo or APR trial
-There is a Superchips remap on the car and they have used a protection board
-There is a broken wire between the OBD socket and the ECU

If you want to remove the ECU, it is located underneath the scuttle panel, we often have to remove the ECU on the 1.8Ts to remap them for this reason. No soldering or chipping required though!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info bud, i tried 4yrs to put a Revo and APR trial, both failed. Tried last year to put APR stage 2, that failed. And today Revo stage 2 was attempted and failed. Not sure about the broken wire between the OBD and ECU, i scan the car every week or so and recently did logs, never had an issue with scanning for faults or doing logs.

If i took the ECU off and had a look inside, would it be obvious if it has had a chip installed/protection board??
 
The Bosch ME7.5 in these car should be able to be flashed over the OBD, and if for any reason it can't be then it should almost certainly be able to be bench flashed. Unless as previously stated it has an encryption board.

If the ECu hasn't been removed before it can be a little bit of a pain as they have a proctective case around the ecu which stops one of the plugs being removed but it's not impossible.
 
beachbuggy said:
The Bosch ME7.5 in these car should be able to be flashed over the OBD, and if for any reason it can't be then it should almost certainly be able to be bench flashed. Unless as previously stated it has an encryption board.

If the ECu hasn't been removed before it can be a little bit of a pain as they have a proctective case around the ecu which stops one of the plugs being removed but it's not impossible.
Click to expand...

I think it has been removed at some point, my scuttle panel has been a pain ever since i bought the car

Should i disconnect the battery before removing the ECU ?
 
Mine had to be bench flashed at Stealth as Vince said the ODB way wasn't having it
 
Either way it can be remapped, you just need to take it to the right people :)
 
Does sound like a wiring issue.

From what i understand, theres a wire in the OBD plug that needs either grounded or pushed high, which enables the write mode in the ECU. If this wire is broken the ECU wont allow writing.
 
My S3 failed revo stage 2 the tuner removed the ECU and mapped the ECU out of the car
 
aragorn said:
Does sound like a wiring issue.

From what i understand, theres a wire in the OBD plug that needs either grounded or pushed high, which enables the write mode in the ECU. If this wire is broken the ECU wont allow writing.
Click to expand...

Would a wiring issue not also cause me to have issues getting onto vag com to scan for faults and do logs
 
crystal-clear said:
Either way it can be remapped, you just need to take it to the right people :)
Click to expand...

:icon_thumright: I've visited a mapper after i visited Awesome and he has assured me he'll put Revo on if that's what i want but i've decided to remap mine from scratch. Can't wait!!!:racer:
 
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