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Author Topic: How to prepare a spare MED9.1 ECU?  (Read 115033 times)
f1torrents
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« Reply #15 on: January 29, 2014, 03:06:20 PM »

You will have to solder the pins in place.
Just a heads up.
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Basano
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« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2014, 07:01:27 AM »

Thanks! What's the rationale behind the soldering?

Spent a bit of time looking at the pinouts (as much as I could without physically having the ECU and BDM frame in front of me) and wrote it up here:

http://nefariousmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=5024.0title=

But curious about the soldering as it looks like the spring loaded pins have worked in the past?

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f1torrents
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« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2014, 09:08:25 AM »

It's those spring loaded pins that need to be soldered to the little green board.
You just get several boards with the BDM stand and a bag of the spring pins.
It's up to you at assemble them.
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Basano
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« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2014, 12:40:27 PM »

Ah, gotcha. (sorry, I though you'd meant some soldering on the ECU PCB itself)

That's fine if it comes flat pack. I should be able to solder the spring pins onto the BDM PCB's.

Thanks
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Basano
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« Reply #19 on: February 03, 2014, 12:43:29 AM »

Hi all,

Spare ECU arrived on Friday Grin (this time around it really was an MED9.1 thank goodness). It also still had the connectors and an inch of wiring harness attached which is nice since I can reuse them a bit later.

Some pictures attached so you can see what I'm talking about (login to see the photos).







I began by removing the shear bolts that hold the clamps in place around the connectors. I drilled out the bolts, starting with a 2mm drill bit and working up (in hindsight, I may have been better off using a hacksaw to cut a slot in the bolt head and using a screwdriver since I had to use some gas pliers and eventually a screw extractor to get the stumps out). Clamps off and then the locking slides on the connectors can be moved and the connectors come off.










Good grief man, but how painful is it to open these things!!!

I took it slowly and carefully, but even so... I first heated the ECU in the oven at 60 degrees celsius for 10 minutes (I reckoned this was safe enough since the engine bay probably approaches this on a hot summers day). Then I used a broad spatula to lever up the sides. I weighed things up and chose to use a spatula instead of a screwdriver since I wanted to apply the pressure along the whole side, not just at a single point like a screwdriver. The spatula didn't leave any marks on the casing either which was neat and tidy.



As I levered up each side, I inserted a flat bit of metal in each corner to keep it up. A knife blade did it nicely for me. Then once I had all four corners raised, I could slip a knife into the gap and run it down gently, slitting the silicon. I didn't push the blade in very deep in case I nicked the PCB and components.





It was still tricky since the PCB inside was sticking to both the top and bottom cases (silicon). But a bit of patience and gentle pressure meant I eventually got the case off as you can see.













Question - when you re-assemble it, do you put a bit more thermal compound on? That's the white stuff you can see. Also, do you put any new silicon on? It could get pretty messy...

I'm truly glad this is a spare ECU since I would be pretty nervous to try this first time on my own ECU. Maybe you get better with practice, but the whole experience needed quite a lot of brute force.

BDM frame should arrive this week and and I'll go about setting it up when it does.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2014, 12:55:25 AM by Basano » Logged
prj
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« Reply #20 on: February 03, 2014, 03:24:45 PM »

To get the bolts off:

Take an angle grinder, make a cut in each bolt.
Take a hot air blower, heat them up, until you can use a normal flat-head screwdriver to undo them.
Much faster than what you are doing Tongue

I would not bother with the white compound.
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B234R
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« Reply #21 on: February 03, 2014, 04:29:57 PM »

Yes, the method prj suggested works good, I would also recommend to do it that way.

Only difference is I use a dremel with a small cutting wheel.
Makes for a sharp groove and allows a tight fit with the flat-head blade, so no slipping and ruining of tools.

On the last MK6 GTI I did the bolts could be unscrewed right away, no heat needed.
Those bolts are stupid shit, totally useless.

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Basano
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« Reply #22 on: February 05, 2014, 02:49:32 AM »

Thanks guys,

BDM will arrive this afternoon, so will try and assemble it (understand I'll have to solder the pogo pins myself).

Remember the connectors and inch of wiring harness? I used those and made my bench harness.

With a bit of trepidation I plugged in my VCDS and scanned the ECU - it lives! Looks a bit frankenstein - lying there on the table all exposed with VCDS plugged in. Lots and lots of fault codes (obviously since it's not plugged in).

To answer another question I saw raised, the freeze frame data in the fault codes had the mileage, even though there's no cluster or anything else attached. So it must be remembering this mileage somewhere.
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oldcarguy85
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« Reply #23 on: February 05, 2014, 05:30:59 AM »

Thanks for the info on mileage! I was asking about that in the med9.1 thread. I'm still curious if it keeps track of the mileage in the ecu though. I guess it does unless it reads the mileage from the cluster for freeze frame data (unlikely). If you can post your bdm read of your spare and the mileage in freeze frame maybe I can find the location of the mileage.

Thanks!
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Basano
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« Reply #24 on: February 07, 2014, 03:08:00 PM »

Some pictures of the setup I’ve put together.

Bench harness to connect ODB tools to ECU. I used the connector that came with the ECU to build it. The DB9 connector lets me tap into the CAN BUS wires to monitor the traffic. The little PCB is my general purpose sniffer / ECU simulator tool Grin The other cable is a male to female ODB connector again with the CAN BUS wired to a DB9 connector. Really handy when plugging ODB tools into the car and monitoring what they are doing.



ECU powered up and connected to VCDS.



It’s alive!



BDM100 clone tool, ODB clone flash tool and BDM frame. Still need to assemble the BDM frame Sad never enough time. What is the point of the little PCB’s that come with the BDM100 clone Huh They look utterly useless.



Frame comes flat packed and you need to put it together yourself.



Spring loaded pins, have to be soldered to the little PCB.



Hoping to get BDM done soon so I can move ahead and get an immo-off file next.

Every day, a few more little steps.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2014, 03:13:34 PM by Basano » Logged
oldcarguy85
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« Reply #25 on: February 09, 2014, 07:15:10 PM »

well i finally got my spare ecu and managed to bdm read the whole thing. i also flashed it with the eeprom ad flash from a full BDM read of a GOFL R ecu i found on the interwebs.  not a bad sunday night! now i have to take the plunge and actually pull my ecu!

side note for OP (or anyone) - have you been able to find any immo off info?  seems it's possible, but no one wants to divulge publcly.  would be really nice to just immo off the spare ECU and not have to open my original  (risking damage).

-Jordan
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oldcarguy85
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« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2014, 07:17:39 PM »

FYI for ayone iterested. i used a propane torch to loose up all the sealant ad "securty" glue. you have to be careful wth it, but it allows for very directed heat (and works quickly)
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ddillenger
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« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2014, 07:22:11 PM »

It is possible, but the first person to publicly divulge it will likely be drawn and quartered.
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oldcarguy85
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« Reply #28 on: February 09, 2014, 07:32:49 PM »

It is possible, but the first person to publicly divulge it will likely be drawn and quartered.


Is it really that complex, or are people just hoarding the info? The fact that people don't want to share really makes me want to find out, then share lol
« Last Edit: February 09, 2014, 07:45:53 PM by oldcarguy85 » Logged
RaraK
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« Reply #29 on: February 09, 2014, 08:15:14 PM »

its not terribly difficult, however there is a certain level of lively hood involved, and med9 is still a profitable platform for many professional tuning firms.  These solutions are not freely available for some time likely.


Ill gladly give you the immo off solution for your golf R,  but you must tell me where you live Tongue

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