Hi guys,

Long story short: I crashed my VAP tuned (no crank pulley installed) base V6 on the track this summer and it spent 3 months at the workshop getting fixed. While fixing it, they had to reflash all the ECUs, so I am pretty convinced my tune is gone.

So; can I flash the previous ECU file I got from VAP again? Or do I need to go through the whole process of downloading the current ECU file first, sending it to VAP, waiting 24-48 hours and getting an adjusted file back?

/Jonas

 

Pretty sure you need to download the current tune to the flasher and send it to VAP. If I am not mistaken if you try to reflash without doing this the flasher will get bricked. To be sure I would email Stuart or Chris at VAP before doing anything.

BTW sorry to hear about your crash.

 

OK, I guess you’re right, won’t rush this and make some unnecessary mistake.

And thanks. It was indeed quite disappointing at the time but I’m over it now.

 

Just dug out the instructions I got from VAP for the Flasher/Tune application. Unless things have changed (these are from 2016) what I said above is correct. I attached the VAP instruction below.

 

Connect the handheld programmer and see what it says. If the last thing it did was load a tune and the ECU is now stock, the handheld programmer is now useless. I think the manufacturer can reset it, but that it's almost as expensive as a new device. If it sees the tune in the ECU as matching what it last loaded, you're set.

 

Sounds to me like he will brick the flasher following your advice if he described his situation correctly.

 

Hmm yeah I’d better wait until I get Stuart’s answer I think. Bummer if I need to order a new programmer…

 

By connecting it? To download the current tune to the flasher as you suggest requires connecting it anyway. I'm saying that once connected, he'll know without any other action. If the VAP tune is still in place, the flasher will indicate that and all is good. If the tune was replaced with stock the flasher is already useless; not bricked, but "married" to the ECU with the old tune that's no longer there. The flasher won't allow a download from the ECU if the last thing it did was to upload a modified tune. To "unmarry" the flasher is expensive by design.

 

I think you are correct. I stand corrected sir. Probable would brick if he tried to reload the tune based on the original stock file.

 

I see two possibilities here:

1) ECU still has VAP tune - flasher will indicate this from the tuning menu, and all is well.
2) ECU has been flashed back to stock - flasher will refuse to do anything, probably giving a message indicating that the ECU doesn't match the expected state. Flasher is useless without a factory reset.

 

Correct. VAP can get credits from the flasher company to "unlock" a device that is no longer properly paired to a previously flashed vehicle. From what they've told me, it's $300-$400 USD to unlock if that happens.