There is water damage to my '05 XJR's ECU due to a water duct being clogged. I see that a replacement ECU needs to be programmed to the VIN of the car so the DTC codes can be read properly and this matters if the car needs is registered in a state that requires emissions inspections. However does anyone know if the car will otherwise run normally ? Or is this an immobilizer issue as well and/or will it be in restricted performance mode until the VIN is programmed? Obviously I can otherwise match the ECU part numbers but getting it programmed is more time consuming.

 

Please take this with a big hand full of salt as Im no expert on the Jag software. I don't think the problem will be the vin but something called the vidblock, i think, and it basically contains the setting for the car. If you can get an ecu that has come from a car with the same spec as yours then you could be good to go, but if it's ecu is read then the vin wont match. Also you may get errors if the specs don't match as the car is or isn't finding stuff it is expecting. I believe, from previous threads, you can re-virginate a used ecu via the official Jag software and the vidblock data re-witten to it from another module on the car. all this is done via IDS/SSD