ECU Swap discussion/help

[SPD_FRK]

Terms/Information
ROM File - Essentially this is the Hex (short for hexidecimal), or Binary file that is written to the ECU.
Definition File - This is what EcuFlash uses to define the different parameters within the ROM file in order for you to edit/adjust them in EcuFlash
Load% - This is the load of the engine, N/A Engines will see a maximum of 100% load, Turbo setups can range from 200%+ depending on the specifications within the ROM file.
Elements - You will see these in the definition files, and see it mentioned a number of times. The number of Elements corresponds to the number of rows/columns within that specific scaling (ie...RPM or Load%).
"Big Map" - A feature found in the Tephra Mods for the Evo ECUs. This basically increases the number of elements within the ECUs map to allow more precise tuning, or higher load% range.

*more to be added

**UPDATED 6.5.10**


Current ECU swap information/options.
I am still working on more information for both the V6 and 4cyl platforms, but below details the up to date known facts. Everything below s broken down into the 4cyl, and V6 specific applications, so be sure you read the information per your platform and do not mix them together. Any information that is deemed "universal" between the V6 and 4cyl will be indicated.

4 Cyl ECU Swap options
OEM 01-03 Galant ECU - For applications with a turbo you will need to flash an Evo ROM file to your ECU, for N/A Applications you can simply tune with the stock ROM file. On the turbo application you will not be able to log/monitor Knock so keep that in mind and see the option below.

Full Evo ECU Swap - Will require re-wiring of the Galant Harness to match corresponding pins. Will also need to obtain the Evo Knock sensor, install and wire up in order to read and log Knock counts


V6 ECU Swap Options
01-03 Galant ECU - Stock ROM file will work for an N/A application. You will be able to monitor/log Knock with the stock ECU. If the vehicle is 5-spd swapped you will end up throwing codes (detailed below). This may prevent you from passing emission testing unless the currently found "fix" is used.

01-05 Eclipse M/T ECU - Stock ROM file will work for N/A application. Can still monitor/log Knock with this ECU. Benefit of this ECU swap for those who are 5-spd swapped is that you will be able to pass any emission testing as no code will be thrown. This conversion will require you to re-pin the ECU connectors accordingly. It is suggested to remove the entire Galant wiring harness to get the best results as you will be eliminating 30+ wires from the harness.

BlackHeart Motors Ecu Swap Guide



Universal Items (Applies to both 4cyl and V6 platforms)

01+ 5-Spd Swapped Galants will throw the following codes;

p0753 Shift Solenoid A
p0758 Shift Solenoid B
p0763 Shift Solenoid C
p0768 Shift Solenoid D
p0743 Torque Converter

These codes all refer to the solenoids that are part of the Valve Body assembly;

UNDERDRIVE SOLENOID VALVE
#2 - Underdrive Solenoid Valve
#3 - Second Solenoid Valve
#4 - Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid Valve
#5 - Overdrive Solenoid Valve
#6 - Low-Reverse Solenoid Valve

Removing the valve body assembly from the transmission is pretty easy, but will be messy as transmission fluid will remain in the valve body even after the transmission has been drained. You will need to obtain the Solenoid Valve Harness (#22) from the transmission. This is plugged into the 5 solenoids listed above, and is held into the transmission case by a retainer clip. Remove the retaining clip from the connector and you can remove the entire harness from the transmission. Using this harness, connected to all 5 solenoids will prevent the above mentioned codes from being thrown on the 01-03 5spd swapped Galants. You simply just have to plug the harness and solenoids into the existing B-38 connector (grey connector) which is not used when you swap the 5spd in.


The FSM states each solenoid has to read 2.7 − 3.4 Ω, with no specification on years so this applies to 99-03 in general. It was thought to be possible to splice in a resistor to simulate these readings, which has been tried before by GOOSEY on TGC with 4 out of the 5 working and removing the thrown codes. For some reason (yet to be determined) the 5th resistor "fried" and did not work. Still awaiting specific as to which resistor it was (possibly the TC solenoid section). I will be working on more obtaining more specific information from the solenoids and wiring harness to find a possibe bypass from using the currently found method. Once more developments have been found this will all be updated.

[SPD_FRK]

I am a total noob on this stuff, so can I ask for some more detail on the openECU diasable stuff?

[boostzealot]

yep i can tell you what i know. you need to get a tactrix cable and then download the software for open source ecu. that alone will get you started. if you want to log (which you do) you need to pick up a copy of evoscan. i love this logic based ecu logging program. it'll tell you everything, i mean everything. this is mainly why i never needed a full standalone. it was already there.

[SPD_FRK]

I just went on google and search openECU and got to their website openecu.org...holy crap I need to read a lot lol. I downloaded the ECUFlash already to see what I can learn about the program...but it seems most of the information will be found reading the other information on the site and pulling the raw information from an appropriate ECU. I will have to check out the evoscan stuff next then. I can understand a bit better now just from what I have read of the openECU so far why you haven't spent the money on a full standalone setup...definitely keeps everything budget friendly this way which I know is a big plus for you and myself even.

[SPD_FRK]

What are the codes we are getting from doing the 5spd swap on the 01+ models? There is some heavy discussion of the Ecu swap/Flash stuff in a thread on TGC that I have been posting in, beam514 I know you mentioned the code issue as well. If somebody can post up what the code/s are from the 5 spd swap on the 01+ 8th Gen that would be great. I am working on doing the Ecu swap in my 99 so I can tune via EcuFlash for my build as well.

From what I have read on the subject though I know if we find the appropriate 00 Ecu it will still be flashable, and remove the codes from being thrown on the 5spd swap. This is an alternative but making sure you get the right Ecu with the flashable processor is the difficult part of it.

[SPD_FRK]

Codes from the 01+ 5spd Swapped Galant, obtained from WhiteGalant on TGC;

p0753 Shift Solenoid A
p0758 " " B
p0763 " " C
p0768 " " D
p0743 Torque Converter


The solenoids I can understand it searching for those, but the TC code throws me off because I am not sure what sensor/reading the ECU is looking for on that. Is there a TC sensor I am forgetting/missing on the 01+ Galant vs the 99-00?

[SPD_FRK]

I believe I found the solenoid information in the FSM (23B-68). These are a part of the Valve Body like I assumed, and I found the one I believe is connected to the TC code;

2. UNDERDRIVE SOLENOID VALVE
3. SECOND SOLENOID VALVE
4. TORQUE CONVERTER CLUTCH CONTROL SOLENOID VALVE
5. OVERDRIVE SOLENOID VALVE
6. LOW-REVERSE SOLENOID

THis is the diagram of the VB, the Valve Solenoid harness is where we would have to splice into or figure out a "hack" to fix the codes from being thrown.


FSM (23A-281) states each solenoid has to read 2.7 − 3.4 Ω, no specification on years so my guess from the information is this applies to 99-03 in general. It might be possible to splice in a resistor pack or similar to simulate these readings...


Now just to figure out a way to bypass, or simiulate those solenoids and "hacking" the 01+ 5spd swap codes would be a thing of the past.

[Cali]

when you do a 5 speed swap and also swap the ecu those codes should disappear.

save yourself the hassle and just buy a boomslang harness for the swap. i wish would have known about that before i did my swap.
as far as using ecuflash just read read read some more...the basics are pretty simple such as disabling the immobilizer, scaling injectors, etc.

you can also add tetra mods to your rom too. a quick search on evom will show you how!

[ivory8g]

ah so thats what I was thinking you can do a straight evo ecu swap. I have seen a lot of people start to flash their eclipse 01+ ecu's with the evo rom and use ecuflash to start scaling injectors and what not so they dont have to worry about harnesses. Matt there is an eclipse i know in fort collins that i helped with his turbo project that flashed the evo rom to his oem ecu and it seems to be ok with subaru 440's and a 16g. he hasnt tuned it yet and doesnt have a tactrix cable yet so i couldnt peek into the software yet to compare his and my own.

[SPD_FRK]

when you do a 5 speed swap and also swap the ecu those codes should disappear.

save yourself the hassle and just buy a boomslang harness for the swap. i wish would have known about that before i did my swap.
as far as using ecuflash just read read read some more...the basics are pretty simple such as disabling the immobilizer, scaling injectors, etc.

you can also add tetra mods to your rom too. a quick search on evom will show you how!

The thing we are trying to avoid and minimize with the 01+ ECU swap is the additional expense. The only thing people are having issues with on their flashable 01+ ECUs is the Solenoid codes being thrown out, which in turn fails emission/inspection testing. I am going to check with our head trans builder at work on Monday to see what information I need to gather from the ECU feed on these solenoids so we can work up a hack to simulate the sensors. The other option I can toss out is just pulling the Valve Solenoid harness from the stock A/T Valve Body and plug it into the harness (with the solenoids connected), which I imagine would eliminate the codes.

ah so thats what I was thinking you can do a straight evo ecu swap. I have seen a lot of people start to flash their eclipse 01+ ecu's with the evo rom and use ecuflash to start scaling injectors and what not so they dont have to worry about harnesses. Matt there is an eclipse i know in fort collins that i helped with his turbo project that flashed the evo rom to his oem ecu and it seems to be ok with subaru 440's and a 16g. he hasnt tuned it yet and doesnt have a tactrix cable yet so i couldnt peek into the software yet to compare his and my own.

You can do a straight Evo ECU swap, but I imagine on our cars there will be a lot of wiring alternations to match up the pins correctly with the 8th Gen wiring harness. The Eclipse guys are flashing the Evo ROMs onto their ECUs and tuning from those maps preset in the Evo ROM files. I was hoping to order a tactrix cable myself so I could meet up with that guy (saw his build stuff on C3g) and read his ECU. Dragon34x on C3g is also running EcuFLash to tune on his SDS build and has been getting good results with no issues either.

The point of this discussion is really to start educating the Galant community/owners on the EcuFlash stuff because it seems they have fallen "behind" in terms of these areas. I can't comfortably tell a fellow Galant owner to go out and buy an Emanage, or standalone, or Evo ECU when they have a flashable ECU already. If the solenoid codes are the only thing holding people back on the 5spd swap and 01+ Flashable ECU then we just have to collectively find a way to bypass those codes in the ECU or wiring.

[ivory8g]

Preach on brotha. Yeah I just never got into the evo scan and ecu flash because it seemed to be huge for the dsm market but not suo much in the galant community. I have lots of reading to do and matt if you got a cable that would be awesome perhaps we could hook up with Damon(boosted eclipse) and we could check out the different parameters

[SPD_FRK]

Moved thread to the 8th Gen Performance section rather than the V6 section as this pertains to both.

Updated the original post to breakdown the information from the 4cyl and V6 models. I have also updated information on the 4cyl in light of some more information based on the Evo ECU and Eclipse M/T ECU pertaining to the Knock reading/logging. I am reading more on the V6 stuff also from the 3000GT platform as they are finding the 98-99 ECU for them is flashable. I have the ROM file for a 99VR4 which if possible to alter (which I am still learning), it may be a "fix" for the V6 Galant to read load past 100% similar to how the Evo ROM flash does for the Eclipse ECU folks.

Preach on brotha. Yeah I just never got into the evo scan and ecu flash because it seemed to be huge for the dsm market but not suo much in the galant community. I have lots of reading to do and matt if you got a cable that would be awesome perhaps we could hook up with Damon(boosted eclipse) and we could check out the different parameters

I wasn't planning to get into the stuff at all. I had planned on running an Emanage Ultimate for my setup, but that is another $400-500 to spend. If we can figure this stuff out more and I can make the EcuFlash stuff work for me I am going to stick to it. The 4 cyl platform is pretty much "set" with the Evo or Eclipse ECU with the only difference between the two being the Knock reading/logging section.

johnathansgalant on TGC also stated the A/T and M/T Ecu's cannot be flashed the same. Specifically the A/T ECU cannot have the Evo ROM flashed to it and run aparently. I posted on Club3g to get verification on that so we will see what that comes out as. If possible to alter the Evo ROM file to work on an A/T ECU then there is no difference...but I cannot say for certain at this time.

I want to buy that cable to do more of this stuff...but gawd I want my engine first LOL.

[SPD_FRK]

Well I spoke to one of our transmission builders here at work today about the VB Solenoids. I explained that the 99-00 ECUs won't throw these codes after 5 spd swapped, but the 01-03 ECUs will. I also mentioned the resistor fix that had been tried, he wasn't sure why the 5th resistor would have crapped out if the other 4 worked (and prevented thrown codes).

From the sounds of this though we need to try and look at the ROM file for the 99-00 ECU, as well as the 01+ Ecu to see what changes are made to cause the ECU to look for these sensors on the 01+ ECUs. The other option to fix the codes from being thrown is to tap the valve solenoid harness, with the solenoids connected, into the transmission wiring harness. You would really just need to toss the solenoids/wiring into a box and have the wires running out from that. Unless we can determine what specifically is different in the ECU's ROM file on the 01+ this is the only "fix" for the codes (short of swapping the entire ECU to Evo or other as noted in the original post).

[SPD_FRK]

From my build thread;

Anyways, with the discussion of the 01+ ECU swap going on, and the codes being thrown I was after the Valve Body solenoids and harness tonight. This is a fairly easy, but messy task. Even with the transmission fluid drained out, removing the valve body assembly will still allow some remaining fluid to drain out. I was easily able to obtain the 5 solenoids, and the harness out of the transmission which I will use for the 5spd code "hack" that I suggested in the ECU Swap thread here. All 5 of the solenoids are identical (MD758981, 8703 stamped on each one of them), I also verified the solenoids are all the same from 99-03 with our transmission builder and numerous parts catalogs.

Pan, and Valve Body assembly removed;


Valve Body assembly split apart. The one on the left contains the 5 solenoids I was after, they have a retainer type bracket that holds them in (8mm), this will slide off and you will need to gently pry the solenoids out with a flat blade screwdriver.


The gold nugget of the night. The Valve solenoid harness, and all 5 solenoids;

[ivory8g]

you know what we must do Matt!

[SPD_FRK]

:clap: you know what we must do Matt!

Exactly, now bring Ivory down here and plug this in! If it works then we just need to hit the Junk yard for another setup, I can fab a box to put this stuff into so it looks "legit" at least too.

[run1206]

Wow!! you're really diggin into this SPD_FRK
Hope you can find a wrokaround to the 5 codes
As stated on TGC for my swap i'm mocking up my boomslang harness to be a "conversion harness" (thought i would stay auto and boost, but did 5spd swap instaed for now). Currently working on the pins and such with jonathansgalant, will post up pics of the setup when i finish, might be early Feb. when i do.
Good job on the discussion!

[SPD_FRK]

Thanks man, I guess I am just a little mazed nobody has (that we know of) even tried this method. When you think about it pulling the VB solenoids and harness seems like a "no brainer" fix since the ECU is apprently looking for these solenoids on the 01+ ECU. The B-38 connector isn't used once you swap to a 5spd because there is no long a Valve Body for the ECU to control or read. Clearly with the 01+ 5spd swaps we need to retain these solenoids in order for the ECU to pick these up, if this works like I would assume it will...this truly is a "plug and play" fix for the codes.

All 5 solenoids I pulled out are related to the 5 codes the 01+ 5spd swaps are getting

[run1206]

so all you gotta do is figure out how to get the valve solenoid harness reconnected to the ecu after the swap with the solenoids connected right?

[SPD_FRK]

so all you gotta do is figure out how to get the valve solenoid harness reconnected to the ecu after the swap with the solenoids connected right?

From what I have been told so far is the only connector retained from the A/T to the 5spd is the connector that goes to the A/T shift selector (B-39). The B-38 terminal isn't even connected to anything after swapping in the 5spd because there is not Valve Body harness to connect to on the 5spd. The harness I pictured above is the valve body harness, and solenoids which just plugs right into the existing connector that runs to your ECU

[ivory8g]

im off today matt!

[SPD_FRK]

im off today matt!

Get down here LOL

[whitegalant]

Hey marc did u wire up ur speedo?

[beam514]

come on CO guyssss I'm sitting here all antsy!

[SPD_FRK]

Marc just took his car to Advance Auto to get codes read....


Solenoid codes are GONE! We have one code that popped up (besides his O2 codes), the code that we are focusing on now is a P1751 A/T Control Relay. From searching this code is due to short circuit to ground/open circuit. Marc check his Fuse box and found the A/T fus is missing which is likely leaving this circuit as "open" since it is not getting any power to the relay. He is going to get a new fuse plugged in and get the car reset and checked again to determine for sure if its the fuse causing this, or possibly just a ground wire not hooked up.

All in all, the solenoid codes issue is now a thing of the past folks!

[beam514]

OMG. SUCH GOOD INFO. AHHHHHHH

now to search for an 01 ECU lol

[run1206]

Good Job!!!!!!
+1 rep to you for doing this, hopefully the A/T relay code can be fixed by that fuse as well. Now all the other members 02 and up who want the swap can do it without worrying about the codes!

[SPD_FRK]

Thanks guys, Marc just put a fuse in and had it scanned again and no more codes!!!!

Fix has been found!

[m-rod]

Great job Matt! 02-03 guys must be ecstatic at this info!

[SPD_FRK]

I believe the 01 folks get these issues too if I am not mistaking...so 01-03 is all covered if I have looked at everything correctly.

Either way this makes a huge leap forward for us 99-00 guys who want to tune and use the flashable ECUs I am so excited I kind of feel sick lol