I had some strange things happen when performing the flash on my ecu. All is good now, but I thought I'd pass the information along in case anyone runs into a similar problem with the ecu going into recovery mode and not being able to start the car.

Here's the email I sent to Jerry right after I attempted the flash.


Hi Jerry, I tried to flash the car tonight and I'm having some problems. I connected fine, had the car and laptop hooked up to power, the cooling fans turned on to high, the ecu file was deleted and then counted up to 100% with the performance tune reflash. A box came up saying that not all of the packets were verified and suggested a reflash. When I tried to reflash it said my ecu was in recovery mode and asked if I wanted to reflash to factory. I chose "yes" and then repeatedly got the message "can't connect to dme". I turned off the key and restarted the car to see if all was well and then turned off and reattempted the flash but kept getting the can't connect message. I then turned off the key again, unplugged the usb and tried to start the car. This time, I heard a short buzz when I turned the key and the starter wouldn't turn over. I tried this a few times with each key and then disconnected the battery for 10 minutes. When I reconnected the battery and unlocked the door I was able to start the car and drive a few miles, bas esp was on but then went off during driving and it did feel a bit more peppy. When I got home I turned off the key, and then when I tried to restart it, it again wouldn't turn over and I got the short buzz and no cranking. Please help....

I called Eurocharged the next day and the tech remoted in to my laptop and kept getting the can't connect to dme error and suggested I send them my ecu.

Here's what ended up working for me. I disconnected the battery for 10 minutes again like I did right after the flash, reconnected it and then unlocked the doors with the key fob. After this I was able to start the car. I switched the key back to the on position and this time tried the flash using a Windows 7 laptop instead of the XP one I was using prior. This time the flash took and everything was good. I called the tech back to let him know and he said he had not heard of anyone being able to start the car after the ecu went into recovery mode. I'm not sure if I was just lucky, or if the 10 minute battery disconnect and door unlock was the trick to getting the car to start and ecu to become flashable again.

Anyway, I thought I'd share.

 

Thanks for Your detailed write up on this issue. As time moves on other sources of information about this car sem to be disappearing. Neither Chrysler nor Mercedes wants anything to do with this car so keeping this site with all its records not only saves us time and money, but will help Crossfire owners 20 Years from now as well.

 

I'd say that if the programing was done in Windows 7 then you should use a computer running Windows 7.
Win7 programs run like cr@p most times on XP.

 

Sounds like a good theroy. Did you have the battery on trickle charge when you started your flash? Also, I had my window open and reached into the car so that I wasn't opening and closing the door while checking on the progress. Some cars are moody when flashing and power is surging to turn on the dome light. My car took a few tries to get Eurocharged tune to take but I am used to using a very different tune. The guys there walked me through it. Very good support. I too was flashing from Window XP. I would alow for a day or two if flashing daily driver incase you need to get to work the next day. They do answer support questions on weekends. Im working on running some logs soon. I put a few hundred miles on the car since the performance flash and it seems to pull a bit harder now. Sprint booster and exhaust come next!

 

Yes, I had it on a charger. Interesting idea about having the door closed with the window down while flashing. I did it with the door open and window up. I had a scary result on my first flash attempt so I wanted folks to know what worked for me in the end. That is a good suggestion about allowing a day or two just in case of a problem. I have also been very happy with Eurocharged so far. Best of luck with the sprint booster and exhaust.