A cautionary tale!
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:52 pm
So, like, my uncle's buying the car from me...
And I go to put the old ECU chip in it, because the nature of work it'll be doing for the next 6 months at least won't really see much benefit from it, and I fancy passing on the Poloace love to some 1.0 padawans.
Simple enough to swap the stuff back over, and then get the box safely back in it's underbonnet home. BUT....
Car won't go! Leading me to the ultimate embarrassment of unc coming by to take another look-over while i'm there draining the battery endlessly turning it over, checking for HT current with the leads on the bodywork (sparkalicious), and pouring aerosol cans of god knows what crap (mostly methanol based) into the injector trying to "unfreeze" it (it was bloody cold, and had hit a time of day where all the dew in the air was becoming insta-frost condensation) and encourage the car into life.
Give up, and decide maybe the chip's fried. Unhook the ECU. Take a glance at the end....
No.1 pin is all bent to buggery. What?! Must have happened when I was connecting it up, as it was already screwed in place and the angles were tight.
Straighten it up, reconnect everything a lot more carefully and properly, and turn key...
Ker-whuh-whuh-whuh-whuh-BRRRRMMMMM
(luckily he was there to see this happen)
So all you modders out there putting chips in your Polos... BE CAREFUL of the (typically!) poor aesthetics concerning attaching / detaching the cable. You have to loosen the clip, then undo all the screws, free up the box, THEN finish removing the plug from the socket. And similar in reverse, get it held loosely in place, screw it down then click it home.
There's another one to pop in the haynes manual with a "!" in a triangle, i think.
And I go to put the old ECU chip in it, because the nature of work it'll be doing for the next 6 months at least won't really see much benefit from it, and I fancy passing on the Poloace love to some 1.0 padawans.
Simple enough to swap the stuff back over, and then get the box safely back in it's underbonnet home. BUT....
Car won't go! Leading me to the ultimate embarrassment of unc coming by to take another look-over while i'm there draining the battery endlessly turning it over, checking for HT current with the leads on the bodywork (sparkalicious), and pouring aerosol cans of god knows what crap (mostly methanol based) into the injector trying to "unfreeze" it (it was bloody cold, and had hit a time of day where all the dew in the air was becoming insta-frost condensation) and encourage the car into life.
Give up, and decide maybe the chip's fried. Unhook the ECU. Take a glance at the end....
No.1 pin is all bent to buggery. What?! Must have happened when I was connecting it up, as it was already screwed in place and the angles were tight.
Straighten it up, reconnect everything a lot more carefully and properly, and turn key...
Ker-whuh-whuh-whuh-whuh-BRRRRMMMMM
(luckily he was there to see this happen)
So all you modders out there putting chips in your Polos... BE CAREFUL of the (typically!) poor aesthetics concerning attaching / detaching the cable. You have to loosen the clip, then undo all the screws, free up the box, THEN finish removing the plug from the socket. And similar in reverse, get it held loosely in place, screw it down then click it home.
There's another one to pop in the haynes manual with a "!" in a triangle, i think.