I Destroyed MC Gearbox ECU in my GT

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goranw

Junior Member
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I managed to mess up the MC Gear box ECU SW in my GT by playing around with Launch X431. "Gear Unavailiable" in the instrument cluster and no possibility to start the engine. Any more that have succeeded wirh this ?
 
goranw said:
I managed to mess up the MC Gear box ECU SW in my GT by playing around with Launch X431. "Gear Unavailiable" in the instrument cluster and no possibility to start the engine. Any more that have succeeded wirh this ?
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What exactly did you adjust on the x431?

What was wrong before this problem that made you plug it in and adjust things?
 
Surely if you have just changed settings it can be recovered.

Who was it that reprogrammed Stuart’s GT3 ECU to make it drivable on the road ?
 
Pretty sure like any computer, the past data is sitting somewhere in binary form waiting to be restored.

I’m no expert in these systems though
 
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Been there, done that, got the medal... The good news is that it can be re-flashed and restored to factory settings. The bad news is that you need a good copy of the original software, knowledge where to plug the wires on the mother board and also how to modify the check-sum so that it works after you shut the car off for the first time after the virginised TCU has been re-installed in the car. Where are you based?
 
cheburator said:
Been there, done that, got the medal... The good news is that it can be re-flashed and restored to factory settings. The bad news is that you need a good copy of the original software, knowledge where to plug the wires on the mother board and also how to modify the check-sum so that it works after you shut the car off for the first time after the virginised TCU has been re-installed in the car. Where are you based?
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Sounds horrid
 
ChrisQP09 said:
Sounds horrid
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it was - I first sourced a used TCU which worked. However, when my original ECU was copied to SD3 as per the Maserati service procedure and then onto the good used one, they both became corrupted. More radical measures were needed - both ECUs were opened, a physical connection with the motherboard made, the firmware was deleted and new firmware from a 2013 car was flashed. As you can imagine Maserati don't want to know and offered a new ECU, which would have also become corrupted should the service procedure been followed. The last hurdle is that the check sum needs to be modified, but that's small beer in comparison to the previous problem. Now, I have a spare TCU with 2013 firmware, which is part of my pension pot - they aren't getting newer or cheaper...

I have lost some data such as gearbox hours etc, but there is no way around it, also other modules on the car corroborate the mileage, thus I am not too fussed.
 
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cheburator said:
Been there, done that, got the medal... The good news is that it can be re-flashed and restored to factory settings. The bad news is that you need a good copy of the original software, knowledge where to plug the wires on the mother board and also how to modify the check-sum so that it works after you shut the car off for the first time after the virginised TCU has been re-installed in the car. Where are you based?
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I vaguely remember your thread about it, but don't remember exactly what caused it?

As there is at least a couple of you that have done this now, it would be very nice to know what NOT to do with a x431. As I'd really like to avoid it if possible.
I've adjusted PIS and done gearbox re-learns several times over the last couple of years during fault finding and that seems pretty straight forward, so I assume you guys are doing more that just that?

Or is it a case of something crashing during adjustments?
 
cheburator said:
it was - I first sourced a used TCU which worked. However, when my original ECU was copied to SD3 as per the Maserati service procedure and then onto the good used one, they both became corrupted. More radical measures were needed - both ECUs were opened, a physical connection with the motherboard made, the firmware was deleted and new firmware from a 2013 car was flashed. As you can imagine Maserati don't want to know and offered a new ECU, which would have also become corrupted should the service procedure been followed. The last hurdle is that the check sum needs to be modified, but that's small beer in comparison to the previous problem. Now, I have a spare TCU with 2013 firmware, which is part of my pension pot - they aren't getting newer or cheaper...

I have lost some data such as gearbox hours etc, but there is no way around it, also other modules on the car corroborate the mileage, thus I am not too fussed.
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Wow..cluster f*8k pf a problem.
So your TCU is worth a few quid? Perhaps the OP may need it?
 
Sam McGoo said:
I vaguely remember your thread about it, but don't remember exactly what caused it?

As there is at least a couple of you that have done this now, it would be very nice to know what NOT to do with a x431. As I'd really like to avoid it if possible.
I've adjusted PIS and done gearbox re-learns several times over the last couple of years during fault finding and that seems pretty straight forward, so I assume you guys are doing more that just that?

Or is it a case of something crashing during adjustments?
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Yes interested to know what was done to cause this.
I also use the launch x431 for the same jobs, PIS, wear index reset, gearbox relearn etc as well as plugging in our other cars without issue.
 
I wanted to change PIS to get the clutch to grip a little faster and harder. Choosing GT and PIS on X431 unfortunately gives the result 327 not for example 4.16. So I instead I choose Ferrari 430. When Ferrari 430 was choosen a flipper play started in the instrument cluster, but now cheking PIS it was 4.16. I never wrote any new value to the system, only checking. unsure to when what happened the X431 also crashed, it said system crashed, restart or cancel. So a lot of things happened and in the end it probably wrote a 1 or 0 in the MC ECU so it will not work any more. I am sure a cloning of the new OK ECU to the old ECU will get the old ECU working again. But, it was a very expensive learning. I will not use the X431 wit h Maserati tuning again. I have used it before on several Maseratis without problem but don´t want to end up here again. I am not new to vehicle management systems, have been working with them for 40 years.
 
goranw said:
I wanted to change PIS to get the clutch to grip a little faster and harder. Choosing GT and PIS on X431 unfortunately gives the result 327 not for example 4.16. So I instead I choose Ferrari 430. When Ferrari 430 was choosen a flipper play started in the instrument cluster, but now cheking PIS it was 4.16. I never wrote any new value to the system, only checking. unsure to when what happened the X431 also crashed, it said system crashed, restart or cancel. So a lot of things happened and in the end it probably wrote a 1 or 0 in the MC ECU so it will not work any more. I am sure a cloning of the new OK ECU to the old ECU will get the old ECU working again. But, it was a very expensive learning. I will not use the X431 wit h Maserati tuning again. I have used it before on several Maseratis without problem but don´t want to end up here again. I am not new to vehicle management systems, have been working with them for 40 years.
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Quite worrying if it was caused by software crash.
Can you speak to Launch? I know they won't pay to have your car sorted, but there maybe crash logs on the tablet that they can use to prevent this happening to others.
 
FWIW mine is 2013 (MY14) GranTurismo Sport MC-Shift (gearbox model CFC301) and using the Ferrari 599 301F software seems to always make the most sense with the figures.
 
Sam McGoo said:
Quite worrying if it was caused by software crash.
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Sounds like a bit of an edge case (technical term) but yes. Not great to fail catastrophically like that.

This is why I'm quite a fan of cheap scanners to read (and reset basics). Less chance of issues like this, but, of course, less capability of doing your own work.

C
 
goranw said:
I wanted to change PIS to get the clutch to grip a little faster and harder. Choosing GT and PIS on X431 unfortunately gives the result 327 not for example 4.16. So I instead I choose Ferrari 430. When Ferrari 430 was choosen a flipper play started in the instrument cluster, but now cheking PIS it was 4.16. I never wrote any new value to the system, only checking. unsure to when what happened the X431 also crashed, it said system crashed, restart or cancel. So a lot of things happened and in the end it probably wrote a 1 or 0 in the MC ECU so it will not work any more. I am sure a cloning of the new OK ECU to the old ECU will get the old ECU working again. But, it was a very expensive learning. I will not use the X431 wit h Maserati tuning again. I have used it before on several Maseratis without problem but don´t want to end up here again. I am not new to vehicle management systems, have been working with them for 40 years.
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Update us please once is sorted how did you get it back working ...
 
midlifecrisis said:
I think the lesson here, is to leave stuff alone and not meddle.

Just because you can, or someone on the internet said it was easy, doesn't mean you should.
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Bit presumptuous. Seeing that he has been doing it 40 years I don't think this is just a case of some random plugging it in for a fiddle.

In my case, earlier this year, if I'd gone to a dealer with my gearbox problems, I almost certainly would have had a £4k + bill for a new clutch and still had a gearbox fault (which was actually a wheelbearing).
And twice in 4 years the Launch has saved me from similar.

Yes, don't go in with no knowledge at all and start messing about, but DIY is still possible if your sensible.
Maybe it's more about using non OEM equipment and software.

I don't like the sound of crashing causing this, so I will certainly be more cautious going forward and maybe as catman says, I'll use my cheap generic obd reader just for codes and the like, and save the Launch for emergency use only....
 
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