A stupid newbie question

[Classictinker]

Hi guys (and girls?).

I've been interested in the whole ecu reprogramming subject for a long time but I'm finding it hard to get a foot in the door. Could somebody possibly suggest a good place to start. For instance, what hardware/software do I need to get going in a basic way? The only vehicles I have access to right now are a 2007 transit 2.4 tdci and 2 alfa gt 1.9jtd. One of the alfas is a standard 2006 1.9jtdm 150 the other is a 2004 1.9jtd remapped + egr delete so being able to download and compare the 2 cars maps would probably be helpul...or not .

I have a motor trade/motorsport background (from years ago) and I spend a fair amount of time dicking about with arduinos etc so learning how to read/write to eeproms shouldn't be a huge problem.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, I hope this is the correct forum for this post???

[Classictinker]

Ok so over the last few days I've worn google out with endless searches . So far I "think" I've discovered that I need either a bdm100, kess or k-line or possible 2 or even all of them...is this correct?

[al70]

kess is for obd read, ktag for reading on bench, really no need for bdm100 if you have ktag, they will do you for the cars you have, goodluck.

[Classictinker]

kess is for obd read, ktag for reading on bench, really no need for bdm100 if you have ktag, they will do you for the cars you have, goodluck.

Thanks for the reply. I'll get hold of a clone ktag 1st and see what sort of a mess I can make of the wife's car with it ) I may get the kess at the same time as the clones are quite cheap, certainly compared to what I paid for a cloned vcmii a few years back.

[al70]

go to scrapyard and pick up a selection of ecu's to practice on, have fun
pick up a matching ecu for the wife's car, tune it with pops and bangs, popcorn limiter and install it without her knowing

[Classictinker]

go to scrapyard and pick up a selection of ecu's to practice on, have fun
pick up a matching ecu for the wife's car, tune it with pops and bangs, popcorn limiter and install it without her knowing

Wow I'd love to be able to do all that...or even be sure what they mean . I think I know what the pops and bangs is but the popcorn limiter has me baffled ...I'll have to pop back to google and carry on studying I think my brain will melt very soon...so much new info going in there over the past week or so I love the idea of grabbing some ecu's from the scrapyard and the local one is only a mile down the road If I get one for the wife's car (Alfa gt 1.9 jtdm 2006) which numbers on the ecu do I need to pay attention to? I can't remember if hers is an edc16 cf3 or edc16c39 cf4 but I'll plug multiecuscan in tonight and find out. I've had to cancel my order for the cloned kess and ktag cos wifey spent the money on crimbo prezzies but it's payday next friday so I'll order ktag as soon as the money shows up in the bank before wifey wastes it on things like food and bills

[Classictinker]

Bugger from what I read pops and bangs probably won't work on a diesel as I won't have any spark ignition to play with unless retarding the diesel injection has the same effect but I doubt it would ignite in the exhaust like petrol can. My little triumph gt6 does it naturally but my tvr chimaera doesn't. I wonder if I'll be able to read the tvr's eeprom with ktag . I doubt ktag will even know what a lucas 14cux is ... they're kind of stone age these days

[al70]

I'm just kidding C.T. I'll check ktag this evening when I get home and check for another solution if ktag doesn't support, you'll need matching hardware and software numbers for the alfa, check ebay if you can't find one in the breakers

[fuzz1]

Read the post on the ktag n kess clones. Most have to be reworked first.

[Classictinker]

I'm just kidding C.T. I'll check ktag this evening when I get home and check for another solution if ktag doesn't support, you'll need matching hardware and software numbers for the alfa, check ebay if you can't find one in the breakers

Cheers Al There's a u-pull-it about 8 miles away so I could always check there as well as the local scrappy is a bit of a rural affair . I won't order anything until I hear back from you re. ktag.

[Classictinker]

Read the post on the ktag n kess clones. Most have to be reworked first.

Hi fuzz. I'll have a search for the post now, thanks.

[Classictinker]

I searched on here for the rework info and started reading the sticky https://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forum...ag+kess+clones but it seemed to degenerate into an argument most of which was way over my head . Once I have a ktag I'll try looking again as the post I saw didn't have the photo's that I think showed what needs sorting out.

[al70]

Hi C.T. unfortunately the TVR is not listed in kess or ktag, something to work on when you gain a little experience, as far as clones go I've been lucky so far, there are horror stories around about clones failing and causing a huge headache, so it's hit and miss with the clones, only advice I can give you is buy one with a red PCB, there's guys about selling reworked clones with purple PCB
and I believe they work great if you're going go start practicing on scrap ECUs you'll get an idea how the tool is working, a spare ecu for the alfa would be the way to go, you can get a full read for the alfa with ktag, eeprom + flash, post the files, someone will do immo off or clone for you so it runs OK in the car, there's hundreds of clones on ali x, some even sell both kess+krag together for a good price, check the product reviews before you purchase

[al70]

Instructions are quite clear in ktag

[al70]

i'm sure you've visited this site but here's a link in case you haven't came accross it