Originally Posted by HDDP
The BCM processes the info for peripheral systems and accessories that do not have a direct affect on engine / drivetrain operation. Every aspect of this car is monitored / manipulated by one module or another... ECU FMU (engine & fuel) PCM (drivetrain) BCM (body parts & accessories).
With regards to the original post... The real engine management is handled by a small EPROM chip that is soldered onto the mother board. This contains the operating software... Removing the original EPROM from the motherboard is what takes place when you send the ECU to a "tuner" to get it flashed... The reason it must be removed is because it circumvents the OEM security measures that are built-in to prevent manipulation of the software... It's a tedious task that should not be attempted unless you have experience removing them from mother boards... That being said, instead of purchasing a new ECU (mother board) I can get you a new EPROM chip and install an "old school" clip device that allows you to pop the chip in-and-out with a pair of needle nose pliers... Then we can copy your OEM software onto the second EPROM and you can mess with the maps with the security of knowing you have the OEM operating system backed-up.
This is something I wasn't going to mention too much about yet, but since HDDP as brought it up I might as well. I have been setting up for a while now in order to offer an ECU reprogramming service. Its not much help to you guys in the US but I can remove your ECU EEPROM backup your OEM software and store it on my server for later use. What may be of more interest is a mod to the ECU to add a port to allow you to connect to the internet and upload modified files. I am still working on the difficult part which is to locate all the maps and checksums so that and write some code to allow the user to relatively safely alter the maps themselves to suit whatever other mods have been done. This is all hard fought information gained from hours spent trawling through and reverse engineering the code, so those that have already done it, quite understandably, don't give it away freely. This has meant me doing it myself and I still have away to go as I have to use my car daily and cant afford for it to be out of action for any length of time. I will post up some pics of the ECU 'surgery' when I get the ECU back out of the car later next week. In the meantime here is the EEPROM:
and this is the sort of ZIF socket fitted in its place (pic is actually the through hole type off my programmer but the SMT version looks the same).
