Flashing Ecu

hi, is there anybody who has remapped ecu using a profile downloaded from internet or bought off ebay, and it worked? what OBD2 lead is required, and what software?

i can't afford £320-£450 for a chip, but was willing to shell out for Ross-Tech's VCDS kit for £210 and share the cost with a friend. however, it seems that VCDS does not allow remapping, though it would let me set certain things back to normal if they were inadvertently changed during the process.

meanwhile, i ordered an elm327 bluetooth obd2 unit for £5 on ebay and will connect to mobile phone app. this will hopefully allow me to check fault code.

I know what you are both saying. However, I bought the car for £440, so rather than spend £300 on it I would rather take a chance to see if it benefits me and put that money towards my next car, if need be. I have another car to get from A->B, albeit it is only a 1.1 litre!

Engine is 2001 1.9 TDi 115PS with 220,000 miles. I would probably only experiment mildly, if i did so, due to the mileage. The £300 would be more worth it if I was going to take it to extremes I imagine it will be either fun or frustrating to try, and I will go back to the original file after, but now I have a bee in my bonnet to see if I can get it to work, and I already told my friend I was doing it and want to look clever I like the idea of seeing if I can set it to automatically close the windows when it is locked, reduce the alarm sensitivity, even maybe turn cruise control on in future.

I spoke to someone at Autoscan, who also make OBD2 software for the engine management, but they do not have all these extra features than VCDS has. It seems only a normal cable or bluetooth connector (which I bought) is required for OBDG2 diagnostics software, but a KWP2000 connector box would be required for flashing the ECU.
Can anyone recommend a cheap but working source of KWP2000 connector box?
I am slightly confused as the cheap cables seem to be variously called 'VAG COM' , 'KKL' , '409.1' , 'ELM327'. Anyone shine a light?

In addition, for newer Audis, the full VCDS requires a cable from the manufacturer (Ross-Tech), which contains a dongle. However, for the B5 you can just use VCDS-Lite (reads some stuff for free, and has more features for $99) on one of the cheap cables.

KWP2000+ box on ebay has 2 different supported vehicles lists:

PROGRAM TUNED FILE
AUDI/VOLKSWAGEN BOSCH EDC15x DIESEL
AUDI/VOLKSWAGEN BOSCH ME7X (Boot Mode)

Compatible Vehicles
A4 1.9 TDi VP37 Bosch EDC15V
A4 1.9 TDi VP37 Bosch EDC15VM
A4 1.9 TDi VP37 Bosch EDC15VM-1M
A4 1.9 TDi PD Bosch EDC15P

Being the last of the B5s, I believe mine is PD? Spare tyre well plate says:
Type 8D5 0F4
TDI 1.9 85KW M5S
Engine AJM
Trans DUK

Not bad mate! Pity I'm in Scotland

aragorn said:

AJM is a PD engine, with EDC15P

When you brick the ECU with your lead, how do you plan to fix it?

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is this caused by poor quality lead and bad connection? Or just had software and profiles?

Oranoco said:

Pay for a proper remap or chip. If you have a DBC car it's your only option as the ECU isn't flushable. If you have DBW it can be flashed. If you can't afford £300 chip you certainly can't afford the engine damage caused by a **** internet download.

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Is AJM with EDC15P a DBC or DBW?

aragorn said:

Bad software, bad map, bad lead, bad flash, inexperience, bad luck, etc etc.

If your going to do down the road of flashing ECU's, the FIRST thing you need to know is how to recover a bad flash.

The second is the provenance of any maps your putting onto your ECU. If you cant write it yourself, and dont know how to read the map and ensure what you have is actually any good, then you need to know the files are coming from someone you trust to produce quality work.

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looks easier than i imagined, after reading this thread today:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=375099
laptop is good and battery is fine. i'm thinking clean install XP or 7 before trying, then try small tweaks eg. increase idle 5% so it works like a cruise control in 5th at 30mph, or set a 81mph speed limiter for driving round france, try reducing egr to see if fuel economy improves.

if flash does not take correctly, does it mean you can no longer continue via obd2, and must remove the ecu? at that point, would sending it off via the postal service of a company such as listed above be an option?

are these cables going to be functionally the same? the connectors look identical, but maybe there is some sort of comms chip built in? are the CAN ones all backwards compatible, or should i get an older cable for a 2001?
KKL 409.1 cable - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161408044679
K+CAN 1.4 cable - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291120192454
CAN 1.5 cable - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271514146649

what about this box for flashing?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281251352594?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649