Who has Bricked an ECU

[Toyota John]

If you have bricked an ECU, post why it happened and if/how your were able to recover it. I have not bricked mine just curious what options that are. I have had a few failed writes but never bricked.

[steve99]

Not bricked my own however all known "bricks" due to use of incorrect definitions when editing rom or writing using incorrect definition .

Basicly its operator error. resulting in a corrupted rom that is checksum corrected being written to the ecu.

If you write a rubbish or corrupt rom with any system your going to brick the ecu.

Before anyone says system X will save you , I dont think it will, I will give you a checksum corrected rubbish rom with the correct CALID to write with system X and I am reasonably confident it will write it and its curtains.

Using OEM boot loader/mode or "recovery mode" as some systems refer to still requires the ECU to recognize CAN buss and respond to commands via the OBD port.

Once you write a complete rubbish rom that sends ecu off with the fairies or causes it to constantly reboot due watchdog timer, it no longer responds to commands via OBD port and your screwed with any system.

Then its remove ECU and soldering directly to board to write via serial interface of the SH72531 mirco controller, or possibly hardware bootstrapping the micro into user boot mode. I don't know of anyone who has successfully pulled this off yet.

Most systems will recover from a partial write as long as the ecu is still in programming mode, ie you don't turn off ignition. Or the ecu does not get into some kind of looping state and is still able to communicate via obd port.

[Toyota John]

I heard that if you send the ECU to Tactrix or ECUTEK they can recover a bricked ECU? I knew about using the wrong definitions and that would brick an ecu. I did that on purpose to see what it would look like. The last time I flashed my friends car It took 6 tries for it to take. I was really getting nervous lol.

[steve99]

Originally Posted by Toyota John

I heard that if you send the ECU to Tactrix or ECUTEK they can recover a bricked ECU? I knew about using the wrong definitions and that would brick an ecu. I did that on purpose to see what it would look like. The last time I flashed my friends car It took 6 tries for it to take. I was really getting nervous lol.

They can do it for the last gen WRX ecu's but i don't believe anyone has done a benchflash on 86/brz ecu yet

Failed write almost always due bad physical connection or low battery volts in car . Bend the pins inwards on your tactrix adapter its likely due to bad connection. Never attempt to flash a car with a low or suspect battery.

Check by doing a READ and wiggling adapter to see if its stable.

some of the obd ports on these cars are sus- always chech with a READ and see if its stable before you write.

[vgi]

@Toyoya john what did you use, ecutek or tactrix (with failed writes)?
Also, search. As far as I remember there were couple occasions with failed writes using both tactrix and ecutek and all were recovered. For ecutek you'll need to contact them, for tactrix contact mike on RR forum, I think he'd send some special version of ecuflash that is able to recover the ecu. Something like that, I can't remember for sure.

[Toyota John]

I have never had ecutek fail but the tactrix cable fail to read once and failed to write 6 times in a row. It didn't seem to be a problem it just started over like normal reflash. I may try bending the pins in or get a obd2 cable extension. The tactrix cable seems to work ok on a virgin plug but once a different plug has been used to becomes less reliable.