Can I use VIDA to swap out my ECU for a new (used) one?
My '07 V70 XC has been the subject of a few posts here but I wanted to zero in on one question I have.
Long story short, I bought her with a broken valve, tore her down, took the head in to the shop, they shined it all up and fixed that valve and a couple others, I got her back together and running like a champ. I have never had that sort of low end torque and pickup and overall pep from an XC70 and I've had 5 of them.
In about 2 days I started getting hard starting/bad running and eventually needed to replace the alternator. For reason of pure stupidity, I did this without disconnecting the battery. At one point, after a small ark right between the ECU and the power steering bottle I did disconnect the battery.
Got her all back together and she started fine but the accelerator didn't do anything. I traced this to a fuse protecting the throttle position sensor and she started and ran seemingly fine. This, I figured, was the cause of my arc.
But she was now dragging a big and after some debugging I found that I had no spark on my #2 cylinder. I ruled out the plug and coil pack by simply pulling out the plug and coil pack on #1 and #2 and started her on 3 cylinders. #1 was popping, #2 was dead. stopped the car, switched the connectors between #1 and #2 and now #2 was popping and #1 was dead. I also tried swapping out a coil pack from a wreck I had and new plugs all to no avail. The high voltage wire is giving me a nice even 14.4 V and the ground is solid and to be safe a ran a fresh ground to the block. All other cylinders fire and you can drive her around just fine, just a little bumpy and sluggish.
My last hope was the 3rd wire which traced back to the ECU. I cut it there and confirmed with my ohmmeter that I had traced the right wire and jumped the entire length of it with a new 14 gage wire. No difference. Also, she's throwing about 10 codes about all sorts of different components having low voltage, (low circuit I think is the language on the scanner).
So I think it's the ECU, that I somehow fried that. I called a dealer and they told me if it was the ECU they could flash the replacement I had bought (which I very much believe to be compatible, most of the numbers on it match up, including the part number and it came from an '07).
I just got off the phone with the dealer who now says they cannot do that and if it was the ECU (which they have no idea if it is or isn't) the only option is a new one for $1500 which they can program. This sounds like hogwash to me as I have read several posts about flashing ECU's.
I had a bootleg copy of Vida at one point, but now it says the license is expired and this copy was a pain anyway as it would only run on windows 7 so I had to get an old laptop, install win 7, install Vida but I could get in there and look at all sorts of cool stuff while my car was running.
A license for Vida is $500/year or $60 for 3 days. I'd spring for the $500 (I guess I'd start by seeing if I could get it done in 3 days first) if I could have some assurance that with this software I could flash the new (old) computer and copy the firmware from my existing computer to the new (old) one. But I don't even know if that's possible and I'd hate to spend the $$ only to find out it really is impossible.
So that turned into a longer story than I wanted, but the question remains, can we take a computer from on '07 XC 70 and make it work in a different '07 XC 70? And if so, how?
Thanks,
drGian
update from dealer XC 70 #2 won't spark
After having my car for week, the dealer finally called me today and said having exhausted any other explanation they agree with me that it's the ECU. So now I have just one more question (for now at least) to address. Do I re-activate (which it seems I can do easily) my copy of VIDA and try the reprogramming myself or do I send it out to Xmodex. I'm going to call them now and see if they can, in fact help me, and if they can, and it's reasonable, I'm inclinded have then handle it. I have waaaaay exceeded the time any reasonable family would allow their patriarch to spend in the pole barn working on that '07. If I even mention that #2 cylinder to anyone I know they just leave the room and my wife has retained a lawyer I think (I'm kidding)
Not to mention that I now have my older daughter's '02 here with a bad ABS sensor (I hope) because I get intermittent 'pull over immediately' warnings and the ABS works on and off (we have nice layer of snow here so I can test in my driveway). I may post about that car yet as it has a few other weird issues, but one thing at a time.
So, to summarize my question, do you all recommend, now that we know (as best we can) that it is the ECU that I
a) re-activate VIDA and try to stand up the new(used) ECU with the code copied from the fried ECU or
b) send them both to XModex? (sorry if I spelled that company's name wrong but you know what I mean)
Very grateful for any input, as always,
drGian