tridoc
17th August, 2010, 10:02 AM
(caution long post...sorry)
Looking to see if anyone can offer some insight, I have what appeared to be a straight forward problem, but like they say no all things are what they seam. So let me unravel my situation:
I have a customer who was referred to me for not being able to set its monitors. Some may or may not know that here in the states (Calif.) in order to register your vehicle or transfer title, one must pass an emssion test (aka: Smog test) which for OBD II complaint vehicles includes no MIL (aka: Check engine light ) can be commanded on nor have no more than 2 monitors (1 for mdls '01>) not completed. Now here is where I come in, I get a call from the new owner letting me know that no codes are present and no mil illuminated but can not get the monitors to complete and has driven various "recommend" drive cycles with over 1000 miles, to no avail.
As some of you might know, on VAG vehicles one can force / generate readiness status (those that don't know, i'd be happy to post in an other thread what are some of the common addresses / channels to utilize).
So much to my surprise other than the 3 continous monitors (CCM/Fuel Trim/Misfire) and 1 non-cont monitor (evap, which oddly sets almost instantly), I can not get any of the monitors to run to completion.
Upon further testing and investigation it was discovered that this vehicle was once equipped with a forced induction package (super-charged) along with being ECM "tuned", which of course was removed prior to selling without the new owner knowing. I could not determine who or whom was the tuner>>> but somehow the OBD II has been "tricked" to the point that one can disconnect any componeat without even triggering a fault... infact even with the airmass disconnected it runs like a bat out of hell !
I first looked into the possiblity of re-flashing the PCM... but could not find any such flash available to us independants via the factory (VAS 5054 or J2534). A call to our local dealer was made and they assured me that the could restore the original settings... only to be told 2 days (and $150.00) that they could not and a new PCM (ECU) would be req'd.
I took it back and located a donor (used, exact #'s) ecu, not knowing where the OBD II protocol is located, I decided to read and transfer the eprom from the orig to the donor. Which on the onset seemed sucessful>>>> vehicle immo light went out and started.... I let it run for awhile while I preped to generate readiness, when I noticed that I was low on fuel. Drove to the Gas station (ran great!), put fuel in, drove back and let it run while I got my laptop out >>>> the engine died and could not be restarted >>> no codes, no spark, no injector pulse >>> immo light behaves normal >>> will come on for a second then goes out>>> no codes in immo, key is recognised, start is authorized. Since I knew the SKC for the vehicle and the donor ecu, I put the donor unit back to its original state and proceeded install / code the donor ecu via vag-com. All indicated a succesful initialization.. no immo or pcm faults... but no start condition still.
So where did I go wrong! Something I should have done ?, something in the flash as well (AM29F400BB) ? I was reluctant do so, cuz I thought OBD II was contained there. Has anybody ran into this before? customer is driving his car with the original ecu while I re-group..... he would surely like to get his car regristered or back to seller or buy new ecu.
Any thoughts ??? If you stuck it out and read it..... Thanks in advance for you patience !!
Looking to see if anyone can offer some insight, I have what appeared to be a straight forward problem, but like they say no all things are what they seam. So let me unravel my situation:
I have a customer who was referred to me for not being able to set its monitors. Some may or may not know that here in the states (Calif.) in order to register your vehicle or transfer title, one must pass an emssion test (aka: Smog test) which for OBD II complaint vehicles includes no MIL (aka: Check engine light ) can be commanded on nor have no more than 2 monitors (1 for mdls '01>) not completed. Now here is where I come in, I get a call from the new owner letting me know that no codes are present and no mil illuminated but can not get the monitors to complete and has driven various "recommend" drive cycles with over 1000 miles, to no avail.
As some of you might know, on VAG vehicles one can force / generate readiness status (those that don't know, i'd be happy to post in an other thread what are some of the common addresses / channels to utilize).
So much to my surprise other than the 3 continous monitors (CCM/Fuel Trim/Misfire) and 1 non-cont monitor (evap, which oddly sets almost instantly), I can not get any of the monitors to run to completion.
Upon further testing and investigation it was discovered that this vehicle was once equipped with a forced induction package (super-charged) along with being ECM "tuned", which of course was removed prior to selling without the new owner knowing. I could not determine who or whom was the tuner>>> but somehow the OBD II has been "tricked" to the point that one can disconnect any componeat without even triggering a fault... infact even with the airmass disconnected it runs like a bat out of hell !
I first looked into the possiblity of re-flashing the PCM... but could not find any such flash available to us independants via the factory (VAS 5054 or J2534). A call to our local dealer was made and they assured me that the could restore the original settings... only to be told 2 days (and $150.00) that they could not and a new PCM (ECU) would be req'd.
I took it back and located a donor (used, exact #'s) ecu, not knowing where the OBD II protocol is located, I decided to read and transfer the eprom from the orig to the donor. Which on the onset seemed sucessful>>>> vehicle immo light went out and started.... I let it run for awhile while I preped to generate readiness, when I noticed that I was low on fuel. Drove to the Gas station (ran great!), put fuel in, drove back and let it run while I got my laptop out >>>> the engine died and could not be restarted >>> no codes, no spark, no injector pulse >>> immo light behaves normal >>> will come on for a second then goes out>>> no codes in immo, key is recognised, start is authorized. Since I knew the SKC for the vehicle and the donor ecu, I put the donor unit back to its original state and proceeded install / code the donor ecu via vag-com. All indicated a succesful initialization.. no immo or pcm faults... but no start condition still.
So where did I go wrong! Something I should have done ?, something in the flash as well (AM29F400BB) ? I was reluctant do so, cuz I thought OBD II was contained there. Has anybody ran into this before? customer is driving his car with the original ecu while I re-group..... he would surely like to get his car regristered or back to seller or buy new ecu.
Any thoughts ??? If you stuck it out and read it..... Thanks in advance for you patience !!