NefMoto

I want to start by saying that I just stumbled onto this forum last night, and this is all very new to me. About a month ago I had an o2 sensor short out in my b5 s4, and now have this code locked in two ecus (a revo stage 2, and a giac/awe stage 3):

 18042 - Accelerator Position Sensor 2 (G185): Signal too High
P1634 - 35-00 - -

Both ecus still run the car, but won't come out of limp mode. I replaced the o2 sensor, and bought another ecu. That fixed the issue, but now I have these two bad ecus. I took them apart and neither shows any physical damage. That brings me to the point of finding this forum. I was trying to save these ecus from going in the trash, but I am also wondering if the ecus are toast, can the software still be saved? My new ecu is another awe/giac stage 3 tune, but only has the pump program, and no boost controller. 

So I started playing tonight with the dead stage 3 ecu. I read the flash and saved it to tunerpro, I downloaded the xdf file for the ecu, but made no changes to the bin file. My first thought was maybe I could just re-write the flash to the ecu and the code would be gone. That was probably a silly thought, the ecu is just as it was before. It still runs in limp mode with the same code. I assume the revo box will do the same. But I now have the stage 3 bin file saved, and I also have a spare stock a-box on the shelf. I am wondering what all is actually in the bin file, if I write this file to my spare a-box will I have access to my boost controller? It seems that the giac flashloader must do something to modify the bin file itself to change settings, but there has to be something in the ecu to start with to allow these changes, as my current ecu doesn't have this feature.

What I am after here is, is there anything I can do to save these ecus, and is there any reason I shouldn't flash the stage 3 tune to my spare ecu? I would read and save the stock file from it before doing so as a "just in case", I just don't need another dead ecu on the shelf.

Thanks

Join the club.  I just ran into this o2/throttle issue with my car.... make sure you replace all o2 sensors.  that fault i believe fried one my ecu's.   u can save the stock abox file and flash over it.
but if the issue is still there you could ruin another ecu.

The faults you have should be strictly related to the hardware. If you reflash the original tune from the bad ecu, it should work fine on another ecu without problems. I am in the process of getting familiar with the electrical repair of these types of ecu, so If you're interested in letting them go please let me know!

vwaudiguy u got pm.

I played around a bit tonight. I saved the a-box flash and wrote it to the stage 3 box to start just to be sure that the throttle code was a harware issue. It is, as it was still present with the a-box flash in the ecu. I then put the stage 3 flash back into the ecu, and it still has the code, and still runs in limp mode.

Next I tried writing the stage 3 flash to the a-box, the flash seemed to write ok, it reads through vag-com as an m-box, and the giac flashloader recognizes it as a giac flash. I was able to set it to the pump program, and able to adjust the boost setting using the boost controller in the flash loader. The only problem is that the ecu will not run the car :( I don't know why for sure, it will crank, but not start. I thought this was strange because I was able to write the stage 3 flash over the a-box flash in the original stage 3 ecu and it still starts and runs the car. Any idea why this might be?

The revo flash seems to be untouchable, it will not read. Not that I really had intentions of ever going back to it anyways.

As for the hardware issue in the ecus, do you have any idea on a fix for this? Any idea what component gets damaged?

I just did some more searching and found my answer to why the stage 3 flash won't start the car in the spare a-box. It seems giac's flashes are specific to the serial eprom in the ecu they are loaded into. But it looks like this can be fixed as well: http://nefariousmotorsports.com/forum/index.php/topic,115.15.html

There is no serial eeprom on the s4 ecus, you should be able to write the a box without issues.  might try flash it with a stock m box bin first then the giac file you have. 

You may want to try and code out the error you get, i always wondered also if that will fix the issue with hardware, if you take the code out of the software.  if you want i can take a look at your computer see if i find any hardware issues.

Don't think it's a good idea to code out an accel position fault..Especially when the ecu obviously has a hardware fault!

Are you sure, this thread leads me to believe otherwise, it describes exactly what I am trying to do.

http://nefariousmotorsports.com/forum/index.php/topic,150.0.html

When the stage 3 tune is flashed to the a-box, there are no codes present. In vag-com and on the giac flashloader, everything looks to be correct, it just won't start.

I can't come up with any other explanation as to why I can flash both ecus with the a-box file, have them both run the car (the bad one in limp mode, but running), then when I flash the stage 3 file over the a-box file, only the bad ecu will run the car (again in limp mode).

As for the other two ecus I would prefer to repair the hardware issue inside them. I just need to figure out what needs to be changed and where to get it, hopefully it's something digikey will have. If anyone knows of a company, or individual that is able to repair these for a reasonable price, let me know.

the giac file could be bound to a specific ecu, and not work on any other ecu but the one on which it was originally flashed.

I have been trying to find information on cloning ecus, but almost every thread suggests that to do so will require a special eprom burner. I was hoping to be able to do this with my vag cable. Anyone have any pointers either way? I would rather not spend $150 on the burner I will probably use one time. I could probably have awe add the features to my current ecu for that much.

I can also confirm that downloading a GIAC file and uploading to another ECU will not allow the car to run.  The ECU seems ok, and the GIAC flashloader will work with the new ECU (and you can change programs even) but it will not start the car.

It definately sounds like a hardware issue to me.  I saw this or something very close on a 1.8t jetta that had damaged o2 wiring.  I ended up adding an external ground at the ecm for testing and the car ran and had no faults.  It should be pretty easy to test and duplicate, as the fault indicates it was an internal ground in the ecm for the throttle position sensor or sensors (I can't recall exactly how it was wired).  Look at the ecm circuit board closer and trace back from those pins.

2.7T S4 ECUs do have a 4k serial eeprom. This serial eeprom stores the adaptation channels, immobilizer info, and error codes. It also contains unused space that a tuner like GIAC code use to store extra info.

The NefMoto software does not currently support reading and writing the serial eeprom because only some of the sectors are accessible. You should try the Mono Scan software and see if it can read and write your serial eeprom.

Cool, I downloaded the monoscan software today. I'll try it out this weekend.

Anyone have any monoscan pointers? When I connect, and select read eprom, it will begin to display lines of code like it's working, then it says something like lisence key not found and disconnects. I can't find anything about a key in the monoscan manual, or the monoscan website?

Ok, I now see how to register the software, it seems like kind of an odd process. I was looking on the monoscan discussion page, and I see where "hound dog" says there is no write function for the eprom. It seems like it will read the eprom, but I'm not sure how to then write that to my new ecu.

It seems that I am probably not savvy enough to get this working on my own with the tools and knowledge I currently have at my disposal. But here is the tune I am trying to get working on my spare ecu. It is totally unmolested, exactly as it was when it was read from my bad ecu. Maybe someone can get it going.

Muppet...You need to copy the contents of the serial eeprom from the bad ecu to the good one. I think this would allow the giac tune to work again. If you want to ship me the ecu's I'll do it for you. PM if interested.

What process would you use to do this? Would you de-solder the eprom and read it with a programmer? I am interested and I can ship you the ecu's, but I am interested in the process as well.

you can read the chip in-circuit using a programmer that can read the serial eprom (small 8 pin chip).  Sometimes you may need to remove it to write.

Get an SOIC8 test clip and an eeprom programmer that supports the 95040 serial eeprom. Then you can read and write the eeprom without removing it from the ECU circuit board.

Cool, I was going to get a programmer to start playing with my mkIII ecus. I was going to get the moates burn 2, but I don't think it will support this. I suppose the willem gq-4x would be the way to go? I didn't know which eprom was the serial on the s4 ecu. I was expecting it to be on the back side. I am assuming it's number 7 in these pictures?

(http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x263/_muppets_/b5s4ecueproms.jpg)

(http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x263/_muppets_/b5s4ecueproms2.jpg)

Thanks for all the help so far, I will see about getting a programmer soon.

I use a Willem programmer for all my flash and serial eeprom needs. If I recall correctly number 7 is the serial eeprom, and it should have 8 pins.

you say you cannot read or write the serial eeprom with nefmoto, but i read one out with a programmer and it has "NEFMTO" as a string in the eeprom on one that was flashed with your software.

The KWP2000 protocol stores the workshop code as part of the flash erase command.

I just got my gq-4x in the mail today along with the soic 8 adapter clip. Is there some trick to reading without de-soldering? When I search 95040 in devices I get four options, I have tried all four, and the log says read complete, but the code just reads FF FF FF the whole way down the page. I also got a plcc44 adapter for my mkIII vw ecus, and these eproms read out as they should. I have tried flipping the clip around both ways, and pushing it down, it looks to be making good contact at all the pins. Any pointers?

Update:  ;D I installed the other driver on the cd and it read on the first try, I wrote it to the stock a-box, and have totally re-created my awe stage 3 ecu. It seems to run the car fine, which is good because my "new" awe stage 3 ecu has been running kind of sketchy. I think someone may have tweaked it a bit. Thank you so much for the help guys. I still have two bad ecus, but at least I can use the software on them.

Nice work! Congratulations, I love that feeling when your doing something you can't quite figure out and all of a sudden it just clicks...(or breaks). And then it starts to make sense.