just123

iTrader: (1)

I intend to get my standard ecu remapped by andy f, I managed to sell my PPP ecu for over £350 and bought a standard one for buttons, question is it straight forward to map this year also would it be possible to flash a ppp map to it with a tactrix cabel

car will be getting a VF29 Turbo and uprated tmic and fuel pump before mapping

Splitpin

Not sure I understand the context of the question. Whether or not it's "straightforward" to map these ECUs is a moot point if you're taking it to Andy to map, surely?

If you want to do it yourself, you don't need a Tactrix cable (as I'm sure I've told you before). All you need is an ISO9141 dumb interface, a couple of wires and a switch, plus a laptop obviously. However, the hardware is useless by itself, it's the software that actually does the work. The open source lot have supposedly got the 99/00 thing sorted now (took them long enough) so you'll probably find software somewhere to do it without paying for an EcuTeK tuner licence. Or you could write your own, didn't take very long.

It's more than possible to dump a ROM image off the PPP ECU and reprogram it on any other one, provided you (or the software you've got) knows how. The procedure itself is entirely straightforward, provided you don't accidentally turn the ignition off while programming.

just123

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that splitpin, the main point was i heard that MY99 remaps are not very reliable that it can render the ecu useless, prob just rumor

If i wanted to flash a map to it is it just via the obd2 port??

Splitpin

No, it isn't a rumour, it's founded in fact, although like many such urban legends it is subject to a degree of distortion, misunderstanding and Chinese whispers, to the extent that the claim that they're "unreliable" is, IME, plain wrong.

The rumour stems from the fact that when the 99-00 ECU is flashed, the microcontroller's entire memory is erased and then replaced - including the part which contains the program used to actually erase and reprogram the ROM.

This isn't a problem under "normal" circumstances, but, if, as mentioned above, power is interrupted mid-flash, you end up with a situation where the program code the ECU needs to boot from to do anything has been erased, but not as yet replaced. An analogy would be having a PC without any disk drives or operating system. The hardware works, but without soft- (or firm-)ware you can't do much with it - including, obviously enough, load any new software on.

This situation is different from the newage ECUs, on which the flash kernel is held in a protected part of the ROM that is not erased, so even in the event of a failure or interruption to programming you can start again quite easily.

There are two distinct "other" ways but basically yes, the normal way is via the SSM port, with an extra voltage applied which enables the erase/rewrite capability on the internal ROM.

However, as said, the interface hardware is irrelevant without knowing how to put the ECU in flash mode, erase it, send the new ROM and know how to interpret the messages it sends you back.

As for being "not very reliable", I've got an ECU on my bench that has been flashed over 1500 times, while the one in my car is up over 200. It is possible to "render them useless" under a certain set of circumstances (which a newage ECU would survive without much issue) but if you really know the hardware even the awkward ones can be recovered. It's not like Andy hasn't done this more than a few times before so no reason to think yours won't run smoothly.