VS M4.4 tuning dead? Start again here?

[gwcook]

A couple replies: First, I think maybe the reason I wasn't able to log is because I needed to flash the modified BIN onto the ECU to allow it to enter listen mode (correct me if I am wrong).

I was trying this in the car- and no clue if my computer is running anything on those ports as you mentioned. My list of ports only goes up to 256, and the only one listed as "in use" is COM3. If it makes any difference, I'm running Windows 11 on a laptop with a Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz (64 bit) and 16gb ram. One of my usb ports hasn't worked in like a year, but the other has worked just fine so that's the one I've been trying to use.

I bought a sacrificial ECU to mess around with (got the P/N from the list on M4.4 wiki, and it looks to be exactly what I ordered), and just set it up on the bench. I'm using a power supply that can go up to 16v, so I set it at 15v to ensure I was meeting the required threshold for flashing.
Double checked all of my connections to ensure they're matching what's shown on the wiki and everything seems alright, and no loose connections etc.

So I opened up TunerPro RT, and currently have the rev5b.xdf loaded along with the 608_rev5b.bin. I installed the M4.4 flasher plugin, and updated the comport to #4 (which matches what I have the cable on in device manager, I also updated latency to 25).

When I supply power to the setup, the LED on my cable turns on. I then open up the M4.4 flasher plugin, and it says:
Preparing flasher
Preparing to erase flash
Starting erase
Timeout erasing flash
Erase failed

I tried it again, this time went like this:
Preparing flasher
Preparing to erase flash
Starting erase
*I then clicked on the "flash" button*
*Selected 608_rev5b.bin*
Preparing flasher
Failed to initialize flasher: The port 'COM1' does not exist.

I thought maybe that meant I needed to try to use COM1 as my port, so changed the cable to that in device manager and matched it in the M4.4 flasher settings - This time, instead of "Failed to initialize flasher: The port COM1 does not exist.", it provided the response something like "Access to COM1 denied".

So now I'm pretty stumped, and wondering if my computer is the issue here.

Does this give y'all any direction on where I may be going wrong?
Appreciate the responses so far.

[Chuck W]

Have you done all of this step setting up TP?

Setting up TunerPro:
.....
Step 6: Install the Flasher Plugin. Extract the Flashing Plugin .zip (or .rar) and place the 2 files in the TunerPro root folder. In TunerPro, go to Tools -> custom Tools -> Edit Custom Tools. Click New Tool. Give it a name like "Motronic4.4Flasher", then select Tool Path, and select the .exe file you downloaded. Then under Cmd LIne Params add "$(CurBinPath)" COM1 <<<<<Copy and Paste that directly. Change COM1 to whatever Com line you're VAG-COM cable is connected to. Click ok and exit the tools windows.

[gdog]

What ChuckW said above..

RE this comment by gwcook:

I bought a sacrificial ECU to mess around with (got the P/N from the list on M4.4 wiki, and it looks to be exactly what I ordered), and just set it up on the bench. I'm using a power supply that can go up to 16v, so I set it at 15v to ensure I was meeting the required threshold for flashing.
Double checked all of my connections to ensure they're matching what's shown on the wiki and everything seems alright, and no loose connections etc.

Looked on the wiki regarding ECU bench connections and saw this:

Step 3: Hook up jumper wires to your ECU like the following. Connect power(+14V) to pins A12,A26,A27 on the ECU. Connect a ground to either A13,A18,A28,A42, all ground pins are tied together so only one connection is needed. Connect +13.5V to pin B8 on the ECU (not populated as standard), this is the bootmode pin and will allow the ECU to go into programming mode. Then connect pin 7 of the VAGCOM to pin B36 on the ECU. The ECU must share the same ground and power as the VAG-COM cable!

I don't agree that you don't need to hook up all the ground connections at the ECU. There's a reason for all those grounds; to distribute the current load over multiple pins. This is especially critical during flashing since that takes a significant load to erase flash memory.
Also the wire gauge is important too. I'd recommend at least 14 gauge (or thicker) wire coming from pwr supply for both pwr and ground wire connections and then that can fan out to slightly smaller gauge wires (14 to 16 gauge) going to the individual ECU pins. This is what I have on my bench programming setup, and even then, I need to turn up my pwr supply to 16v to get consistent flash erasure and programming success. I don't use a different voltage supply for B8 programming pin; just hook it to the other pwr+ pins.

I'd also recommend you grab the whole ECU connector and aluminum base mount from a donor car (have a pic-n-pull near you?). This way it's not as easy to make a mistake hooking ECU pins to individual wires, which is quite error prone IMO!

Not saying this is your problem, but if you're not hooking up to your ECU this way, it very well could be..

[Truby]

Also searching for 0261203077 (2.5 N/A USA) binary

Or just any N/A USDM M4.4 Binary

did you find one? i am looking for the same, to swap out my siemens ecu for a M4.4.
Then replace the MAP sensor with a 3bar one, slap a turbo on it, and see what it does

[Chuck W]

Also searching for 0261203077 (2.5 N/A USA) binary

Or just any N/A USDM M4.4 Binary

did you find one? i am looking for the same, to swap out my siemens ecu for a M4.4.
Then replace the MAP sensor with a 3bar one, slap a turbo on it, and see what it does

At that point, just use a turbo ECU and flash/tune from there. The only thing really missing is the wiring for the BCS/TCV.

I've yet to see anyone with a decoded NA bin.

[Truby]

Or just any N/A USDM M4.4 Binary

did you find one? i am looking for the same, to swap out my siemens ecu for a M4.4.
Then replace the MAP sensor with a 3bar one, slap a turbo on it, and see what it does

At that point, just use a turbo ECU and flash/tune from there. The only thing really missing is the wiring for the BCS/TCV.

I've yet to see anyone with a decoded NA bin.

Sorry,i should have been more specific. Yes, i have a turbo 4.4 ecu here. I was going to try and use the map sensor rather than converting the wiring to use an Air Flow Meter. I have been searching for hours, trying to find the pin out for the Siemens ECU, so i can see how the Map sensor is wired into the ecu. Will a M4.4 recognise the inputs, if they are wired differently from the Air Flow Sensor?
Ideally, if you could use a MAP instead of the airflow sensor, you remove a bottleneck / restriction, and its a nice NA -> Turbo platform.
I will drop the M4.4 in with a 2.5T tune on it and see what it does
Might do some pin tracing from the Map sensor to the ecu as well.

thanks for you comment tho, appreciate it!
Truby

[Chuck W]

Ah, OK. Is it the Fenix 5.2? I'm not really familiar with it or the earlier 850's.

I do have a copy of a '96 wiring diagram book HERE.
In it, they do have the wiring schematics for the Fenix 5.2 and the Motronic M4.4. With a little detective work, you can find the MAP(pressure sensor) (7/81) and the MAF (7/17). Pin A4 seems to be the signal from each sensor in the harness.

The pinouts of the M4.4 in more detail can be found HERE.

Sorry, can't help you much from there. I didn't come up with any more detailed searches for the Fenix 5.2 stuff.

Using the turbo M4.4 bins that are used for tuning, (The -608/607 bins from the M4.4 Wiki), you can probably build something to do what you want, but it's going to take some serious work on tuning.

[Chuck W]

I do want to add, that when folks had been doing the M4.4 conversion on the older (non-Montonic M4.3) cars, the only thing they were missing was the OBD2 diagnostic port/wiring to do logging, etc. The ECUs just plugged right in. These were all turbo cars, though.

*shrug* You could also just do a standalone ECU of sorts and just start fresh, That's a $$ outlay though.

[Truby]

Ah, OK. Is it the Fenix 5.2? I'm not really familiar with it or the earlier 850's.

I do have a copy of a '96 wiring diagram book HERE.
In it, they do have the wiring schematics for the Fenix 5.2 and the Motronic M4.4. With a little detective work, you can find the MAP(pressure sensor) (7/81) and the MAF (7/17). Pin A4 seems to be the signal from each sensor in the harness.

The pinouts of the M4.4 in more detail can be found HERE.

Sorry, can't help you much from there. I didn't come up with any more detailed searches for the Fenix 5.2 stuff.

Using the turbo M4.4 bins that are used for tuning, (The -608/607 bins from the M4.4 Wiki), you can probably build something to do what you want, but it's going to take some serious work on tuning.

That is far and away, the best wiring diagram book i have seen. thank you so much!
about to start flashing and see what happens

Truby

[gwcook]

What ChuckW said above..

RE this comment by gwcook:

I bought a sacrificial ECU to mess around with (got the P/N from the list on M4.4 wiki, and it looks to be exactly what I ordered), and just set it up on the bench. I'm using a power supply that can go up to 16v, so I set it at 15v to ensure I was meeting the required threshold for flashing.
Double checked all of my connections to ensure they're matching what's shown on the wiki and everything seems alright, and no loose connections etc.

Looked on the wiki regarding ECU bench connections and saw this:

Step 3: Hook up jumper wires to your ECU like the following. Connect power(+14V) to pins A12,A26,A27 on the ECU. Connect a ground to either A13,A18,A28,A42, all ground pins are tied together so only one connection is needed. Connect +13.5V to pin B8 on the ECU (not populated as standard), this is the bootmode pin and will allow the ECU to go into programming mode. Then connect pin 7 of the VAGCOM to pin B36 on the ECU. The ECU must share the same ground and power as the VAG-COM cable!

I don't agree that you don't need to hook up all the ground connections at the ECU. There's a reason for all those grounds; to distribute the current load over multiple pins. This is especially critical during flashing since that takes a significant load to erase flash memory.
Also the wire gauge is important too. I'd recommend at least 14 gauge (or thicker) wire coming from pwr supply for both pwr and ground wire connections and then that can fan out to slightly smaller gauge wires (14 to 16 gauge) going to the individual ECU pins. This is what I have on my bench programming setup, and even then, I need to turn up my pwr supply to 16v to get consistent flash erasure and programming success. I don't use a different voltage supply for B8 programming pin; just hook it to the other pwr+ pins.

I'd also recommend you grab the whole ECU connector and aluminum base mount from a donor car (have a pic-n-pull near you?). This way it's not as easy to make a mistake hooking ECU pins to individual wires, which is quite error prone IMO!

Not saying this is your problem, but if you're not hooking up to your ECU this way, it very well could be..

Thanks a ton for the reply, I think I got it to work!

No issues with the installation/setup for the M4.4 flasher plugin, I had everything properly set up there.

Included another ground ECU pin in the harness and bumped the voltage up to 16.2v, opened the flasher plugin with the bin already loaded into TunerPro, and it automatically provided the following outputs in the plugin window (approximately, can't remember for sure what it said verbatim):
>Preparing flasher
>Preparing to erase flash
>Erasing flash
>Flash erased
>Preparing to flash
>Flashing
*here the little green progress bar began to fill, i think it also said something about installing flash*
>Flashing complete

I then closed out of the window after nothing happened for a while, and shut off the power supply.

A couple questions just as a sanity check:

1. Does this seem like a successful flash? I'm not sure of any way to confirm that it actually did what it claimed to have done (in other words, do the outputs of the plugin in my case align with what a successful flash outputs in your experience?)

2. I never had to click on the "flash" button in the bottom right corner of the plugin window to select the .bin, does this mean that it automatically selected the bin I had loaded into tunerpro and flashed it onto the ECU? The plugin just started doing things as soon as I opened it.

3. I flashed the 608rev5b.bin file onto the ECU - are there any mods I need to make to the .bin maps prior to installing the ECU into my car and starting it? I have a stock US spec '98 V70R (stage 0, quite a few new OEM parts like vac lines, PCV, plugs, distributor, TCV, etc.), the only real changes I've made that would affect a tune would be that I've manual swapped it, and done an SAS delete (I will be getting another diode to install into this sacrificial ECU to accommodate that prior to installing it). I'm not sure if the euro spec HPT maps are compatible with the US spec HPT hardware, and definitely don't want to be replacing an engine if the .bin isn't compatible and makes explosions in the wrong places.

Lastly (for now), a note on the flashing that may help some others in the future: the only way I was able to get it to work was by restarting my computer (using the power button and waiting at least 10 secs before turning back on, not just clicking the restart button), opening TunerPro RT and flashing once everything was connected. Was unable to do another flash without restarting everything again.