HELP ME WITH THIS PLEEEEASE!!!

[vw754]

put my car on some diagnostic machine and it read " ECU FAULTS DETECTED" -ECU LOCKED- WAT DOES THIS MEAN? CAR STILL RUNNING OK.....

APART FROM "DEF" DISPLAYED IN INSTRUMENT CLUSTER,WHICH IM HAVIN A NEW CLUSTER FITTED IN 2 WEEKS. A4 TDI (B6) AWX ENGINE

MACHINE WAS TEC OR TEX- SOMETHING CANT REMEMBER!

 

[Sebastian]

Could have been a "TEXA" tool...

Maybe you should give us a complete diagnostic protocol? Right now it could be the immobilizer or a simple relay.

P.S.: A more specific topic would help you next time too...

 

[vw754]

it was a texa! he said he could programme my brand new clocks to my car,but wen i told him if he messes up its 390 quid ,he decided not to go ahead,but said il plug my machine in see wat it throws.

he went into instrument cluster or fault and it read "ecu errors found"
"ecu blocked" if it were blocked i think there would be serious problems,unless it due to my instrument cluster fault,cars still running no probs. is there any relays that have got something to do with fuel gauge?

Also with vag-com it dont come up with these"ecu blocked" errors

maybe once new cluster is installed it be ok

 

[Sebastian]

Honestly? I have no clue what you are talking about. Would you mind elaborating a bit more? Start why you went there and what your original problem was... Also, what do you mean by "brand new clocks"? Do I get you right that VAG-COM did not show the "ECU blocked", but TEXA did?

 

[vw754]

ok,my instrument cluster is faulty,no fuel gauge working and where the trip(miles) should be it displays "DEF".

I've had all wiring checked (ok) and new fuel sender fitted, the fault has been diagnosed as "instrument cluster (dash pod/clocks) faulty.

I purchased a brand new cluster from audi, and my local garage said he can recode these to the car,so when i finally got round to the garage,he plugged in his diagnostic equipment(texa) and fault showed as

ECU ERRORS FOUND "ECU BLOCKED"

HE SAID HE DIDNT WANT RISK RECODING THESE, BECAUSE I TOLD HIM IF YOU MESS THE JOB UP YOU GOT PAY 390 FOR A NEW SET OF CLOCKS!
I THINK I SCARED HIM HOPE THIS HELP YOU AUDI A4 TDI (B6) 2001
VAG-COM DONT SHOW THIS FAULT

 

[Sebastian]

ok,my instrument cluster is faulty,no fuel gauge working and where the trip(miles) should be it displays "DEF".

Ok, that is pretty sure a dead cluster.

I've had all wiring checked (ok) and new fuel sender fitted, the fault has been diagnosed as "instrument cluster (dash pod/clocks) faulty.

Agreed, another dead M73 (Magneti Marelli) Cluster.

I purchased a brand new cluster from audi, and my local garage said he can recode these to the car,so when i finally got round to the garage,he plugged in his diagnostic equipment(texa) and fault showed as

ECU ERRORS FOUND "ECU BLOCKED"

Was the "new" cluster already plugged in at that time?

VAG-COM DONT SHOW THIS FAULT

You seem to have access to VAG-COM, could give us a COMPLETE Auto-Scan? It has to include at least engine and instrument cluster!

 

[vw754]

no,never plugged new cluster in,booked in at audi monday(rip offs)
let them do the honours,fitting and recoding my new cluster

My real concern was,when the texa machine indicated 'ECU ERRORS' "ECU BLOCKED" WATS IT SAYING? IS IT SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT?

 

[Sebastian]

Again, please give us an Auto-Scan - when VAG-COM really does not show the fault codes but the TEXA does I most likely say ignore it.

 

[madvw]

sounds to me like somebody has exceeded the number of allowed tries to login to the ECU with an invalid SKC.

In effect, the ECU has locked you out and must be replaced - unless anybody knows on how you can unlock blocked ECU's?

 

[edmorales]

ecu blocked means that you will have to re match the engine control unit with the immobiliser control unit. if the engine starts, this means that one of your keys has a weak transponder signal making the immobiliser think that an unauthorized key was inserted in the ignition

 

[vw754]

thanks! madvw scared me for a bit after a few phone calls i was told the immobiliser story,maybe its a week transponder,car runs/drives ok. what sort of transponders are needed? ive heard ot crypto 48

 

[edmorales]

transponders are built in with the keys.also have the reader coil checked

 

[Sebastian]

The cluster does not lock itself or says "DEF" (which stands for defective) when you put in wrong logins too often. Magneti Marelli cluster are known to have a weak architecture, so you can bet that it IS truly defective when this DEF is being shown.

I'm also having a REAL hard time believing that the transponder is bad, nor do I think the reader coil is the problem. For example reader coils themselves fail very rarely, mostly it's the connection from/to them.

However, I'm asking AGAIN for a complete diagnostic protocol (e.g. VAG-COM Auto-Scan) - instead of making yourself crazy and people coming up with ideas that are mostly blind guesses, you should truly post some hard facts.

P.S.: You are using way too many smilies.

 

[vw754]

sorry but i aint got protocol,my friend has and he's 95 miles away.

cars booked in at the stealers on monday,1 thing that gets me is -they said when they re-code new clocks to my car they will first save all data off my (faulty "def" ) clocks and transfer to new clocks.

I have said to them data is faulty on my old clock,so if you save that and transfer to my new clocks,you will transfer corrupt data over as well! They said theres no other way! so i could be still gettin def displayed,is there another way?

 

[Sebastian]

sorry but i aint got protocol,my friend has and he's 95 miles away.

Cool, so why don't you ask him to email it?

I have said to them data is faulty on my old clock,so if you save that and transfer to my new clocks,you will transfer corrupt data over as well!

Nope, not necessarily. They will not transfer the whole data, only some necessary points and even if these were corrupt - it won't damage the new cluster.

They said theres no other way!

Incorrect. If in doubt they can always put in the stuff manually without digging it out of the original cluster - the misGuided Fault Finding will even ask them "Is the original cluster still installed?", so if you answer with "No" - it will do the manual input.

 

[vw754]

he not on net....well not yet anyway so audi can do it!! with out messin it up!! THANKS SEBASTIAN...Ihope your rite im nervous

 

[madvw]

The cluster does not lock itself or says "DEF" (which stands for defective) when you put in wrong logins too often.

Your right it doesn't, but we're talking about the ECU being locked, not the cluster. The ecu will lock you out for upto 255 minutes if you repeatedly get the SKC code wrong.

vw754: Perhaps the operator of the TEXA had a go at logging in to the ECU, failed, and temporarily locked it - thats why you were able to login OK with VAG-COM later on.

 

[vw754]

oh i see ok,checked with vag-com last night version 311 (3 something anyway) no fault codes found,so maybe your right,probably got locked for a time limit,i was told this last night that it dont lock completley or your car would'nt going nowhere,but they lock for a certain time.

 

[Sebastian]

...but we're talking about the ECU being locked, not the cluster.

See, this is where I would not be so sure. I have my doubts that the ECU is truly locked and vw754 confirmed that again by telling twice that VC did not found a fault code - but TEXA did. Now there is the question who is wrong, VC or TEXA.

The ecu will lock you out for upto 255 minutes if you repeatedly get the SKC code wrong.

You are right in general, however this must not be true in any case. We've seen more than enough cases where ECU's do not lock when wrong SKC's are being used - had a 2004 Touran which didn't do that yesterday.

...thats why you were able to login OK with VAG-COM later on.

As far as I understood he did not use the login function, he only read fault codes.

The "ecu locked" code normally gets set when you tried to start the engine but the start was not permitted. The lock times we talked about here are not supposed to prevent an engine start if you use an authorized key - in other words a set lock time will not set this fault code normally.

We have customers coming up with problems like that every once a while, telling that there multi-brand diagnostic tool reads fault codes where VC doesn't - also vice versa, VC find something where the is nothing. The problem here is who you believe, the expensive one or the "cheap" VC. Normally the explanation is that the you also used the one that found the codes to clear them, but there are also cases where there is definitely something wrong - mostly it's not VC that's wrong.

 

[markyp2002]

well as was mentioned earlier you said that the local garage said he could program your new cluster?well i thought you had to login to the ECU to do this?

so maybe he just entered the SKC code wrongly a few times and locked it out?

TEXA maybe running on a different protocol so when VC was connected it didnt see the lockout?

 

[Sebastian]

well as was mentioned earlier you said that the local garage said he could program your new cluster?well i thought you had to login to the ECU to do this?

In general correct, but what he said was that the garage could do that and the the new cluster is not installed yet. In other words, there would not be a need yet to use a login.

so maybe he just entered the SKC code wrongly a few times and locked it out?

Again, a faulty SKC is not supposed to throw such a fault code.

TEXA maybe running on a different protocol so when VC was connected it didnt see the lockout?

An AWX engine supports KWP-1281, if a diagnostic tool wants to talk to it - it needs to use that protocol. It's quite possible that the AWX supports generic OBD-2 too, but that's a different thing and won't even allow stuff like login and such.

 

[vw754]

he didnt login,1st he checked for faults then he give up!