348 ECU Chip removal

There used to be a really good tutorial on how to remove the EPROM chips from the 348 ECUs at http://www.club348.com/technical/Tech/ECUnchipHow2/Howtoaccessyour348ECU.htm but it looks like it's gone now. So in the interests of helping out our resident madman Ernie on doing a chip swap, here is a crash course (pics correspond to steps):

1. Remove the ECU cover panels; remove the two 10mm nuts holding the ECU in place, then disconnect the large black connector. Remove the ECU from the car.

2. Flip the ECU over onto its back.

3. Carefully pry the tabs along the outer edge up.

4. Remove the outer casing.

5. The circuit board is a sandwhich style; push the white plastic pins through that hold the boards together.

6. Gently pull the outer plastic connectors apart.

7. Press the tabs in on either side of the metal pins. Note that one row will slide out while the bottom two rows stay in place.

8. This is about the most difficult step - very carefully pull the top board away and out from the main black connector.

9. Once it is free of the black connector housing, pull it up.

10. Unfold the sandwhich boards and lay them flat.

11. Note that the EPROM is under the white plastic shield roughly where my index finger is pointed.

12. Remove the plastic shield.

13. Shield removed, EPROM is visible with software version sticker attached.

14. Gently pry the chip from the socket.

15. Removing the chip.

16. Close up of the removed chip and vacant socket. Note that the semi-circular notch on one end of the chip indicates the "top" (pin 1).

That's pretty much it, plug your new chip in and reverse the steps for re-assembly.
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Nice, Eric! So easy a Caveman, uh, I mean, Ernie could do it!


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LOL!

What amazes me is Ernie has never torn into his ECUs - probably the last damn thing on his car that hasn't been R&R'd yet!

 

Fantastic Eric!!!

Thanks for sharing.

And no, no I haven't had to open up my ecu's. Oh I've R&R'd them plenty of times, but have never opened them up. But I will be opening up those suckers pretty soon.

 

Your a fuuuuunnyyyy boy.

 

Very cool.

 

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=303982 Chas-3, #7

Eric is a good friend that bailed me out BIG TIME and his chips are in Chucks 348, the test mule for the cam drive chain tensioner. They are a know good part that works every bit as well as Chuck states, you really cant feel it at idle, its that smooth all the way to redline.

Eric's chips and the marker light replacement and you are set for Bonneville and the emissions station.

 

LOL!

 

My pleasure - get those crap chips out and let's see if the new ones give you some improvement. It's also important to note that Dave's connector kit is still a must-do item as the new chips won't do squat if the sensor signals are not getting through correctly.

Thanks Dave! Least I could do for you after all you do for us.

 

Eric- Is the 348 the only chip you have done?

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Yes, that's the only one. If somebody has a Motronic 2.5 or 2.7 ECU and has a bad chip, I can burn them a new one as long as there is a good chip to copy a file from. I believe the 5.2 systems and up had the chips soldered to the board.

Just to clarify, these aren't performance chips - they contain the OEM instruction code. Given the age of the these cars it seemed prudent a couple of years back to pick up an EPROM chip reader/writer and make backup copies of the code for if/when the original chip starts to degrade or outright fails.

 

Warning: You are messing with shock sensitive materials here so always make sure you and the box are insulated. Try not to be working over a rug, or carpet. Always touch your finger or a tool to metal before touching the board or chips to discharge possible static electricity. If you are doing this in a particularly dry environment, make sure you use an abundance of caution. It is really easy to fry a board or any of those old chips and transistors with an inadvertent blast of static electricity.

 

Big time!

But he still wants me to be tortured just a little bit more before I can have some of his gold thingamaggiggers.

Hahahaha
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Ernie,

I question the value of a eprom replacement in your ECU's because they are from a volvo or something. Iirc the Bosch part numbers on those ECU's were not ferrari. Maybe DaveHelms can tell you if there is anything else important in the bosch box besides the Erpom. It could be that the PO's after the flood just dumped any old ECU box in your car to get it running and then sold and it would be faster if you drove your car down to my house and plugged in my known good ECU's to see if it makes a difference in your car before you do all that work and find out there is no improvement.

 

Ernie, your ECU boxes aren't OEM? I thought only your chips were a reflash job. Take the fat one up on this and try his ECUs before you tear yours apart. Hold onto the chips I sent as spares if you ever need them (the code version should be the same as fatbillybob's).

 

Erik- Great idea on saving the EPROM contents. You are an exemplary example of what makes FChat so great.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Nice write-up Eric

 

UH......dude.......what are you talking about??????

Where did you ever get the idea my ecu's were out of a "Volvo", or that they "weren't" Ferrari ecu's????? If, and I do mean IF, they were out of a "Volvo" they wouldn't be able to run my 348 because the mapping would be completely different. The ecu's have two different colored stickers on them, one blue and one yellow, and each one does have a different number on them. But that doesn't mean the Motronics aren't Ferrari ecu's? I have had those ecu's swapped from one side to the other so many times it silly, and each time I have had them swapped they have ran the engine no matter what bank they were on. We even have swapped them in your drive way, then changed them out with your spider ecu's, and when I had your ecu's in my car it ran worse than with mine. Then when we put mine back in it ran fine.

"Volvo" ecu's.......PULEEEEZE

Chubba you need to put the moonshine jar down.

 

Thanks guys. It was originally some great posts a few years back by No Doubt on 348 ECUs that got me thinking it would be a good idea to dig a little deeper into the Motronic system on these cars.

That's good news. I remember a long while back someone posted a cross reference on Bosch ECUs from other cars that *might* work on the 348, but as I recall there could be subtle differences between the ECUs themselves, and the programming on the chips would be different in any case.

 

WTF?!

VOLVO? Different part numbers?! ERNIE....!!!

I guess we might have surpassed the FIVE install/disconnect cycle life of those connectors? Is that possible? Naw... its got to be the headlight.

VOLVO? Ohhh Eric..... what's going on out there?

 

E,

Ok my bad. I never rembered you trying my ecus. And I thought we looked up your ecus nuumbera
Once and not being able to find them. But I am old..

 

Dave, if I knew what was going on with Ernie's car... can you believe he is running KIA crank sensors?!?! Who the heck told him to do that?

 

And don't forget about my Hyundai purge valves, and Citroen front wheel bearings.

 

And the Chevy alternators and Ford connectors that come stock!

 

AND.............. Acura alternators, and BMW injector connectors.