Removing Ecutek licence/encryption

[bgibson]

Hi! This is my first post here and I'm still very new to OpenECU so please forgive me if I ask a stupid question.

I have recently bought the cable and downloaded the software required to dump the ROM from the ECU of my MY02 STi. I've tried all variations of jumper blocks, green connectors etc and timing and there's no way I can download the ROM.

I'm pretty sure it is due to the Ecutek tune I had done on my car about a year ago. Is there any way I can reflash my ECU with a stock ROM and get rid of this encryption? I'm pretty pissed off that a tuner can sell me the Ecutek product and basically lock my ECU without once mentioning the effect of the encryption to me. Hopefully there's some way to get around it as the next option could be a little nasty and messy.

I think I've been mislead and I have every right to demand my ECU be put back to exactly the same state it was in before it was touched.

If anyone has any ideas how to accomplish this I'd really appreciate the suggestions.

Thanks,
Ben

[merchgod]

supposedly any ecutek dealer will flash it back to stock for free, thereby removing the ecutek "lock".

[ravenhil]

So it is true that ECUtek tuners do lock their client's ECU! I've friends who are willing to let me meddle with their wrx but I couldn't get around it. I suppose his applies to all versons of ECUtek?

[bgibson]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've spoken to a couple of Ecutek tuners and both are more than happy to flash the standard maps back in but they also tell me that the Ecutek licence (and encryption) stay with the ECU.

I guess I was wondering if it was possible to reflash all the re-writable memory (including wherever they have put the licence and encryption) with a standard ECU image which would hopefully remove the aforementioned licence and encryption.

Cheers,
Ben

[Freon]

You might want to read this thread:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... ?t=1027462

It's long, but worth the read. Several Ecutek tuners seem to say they can essentially remove Ecutek altogether from your ECU, setting you back to an original Subaru calibration, presumably allowing you to then use a Cobb, Ecuflash, etc. I don't know if they give you a refund with that, but I doubt it.

You may be better off trading your Ecutek ECU for an identical one but without the license. A pain for sure, but you stand some chance to get some money back for the license.

Other than that, you're really going to have to forward specific questions to Ecutek or the shop/person you paid for the Ecutek license. They're going to have better info, and after all, you've paid them for a license and support. The link above might be a good read before you talk to them, though.

[gonads]

Thanks for the reply Freon. Sorry I'm going under a different username than before (bgibson) but I didn't realise my first attempted registration was successful.

I noticed in the NASIOC thread that David Power was producing a tool to allow Ecutek vendors to set the ECU completely back to stock, including removing any encryption. I didn't see any confirmation that this is now available and I was wondering if maybe you had heard more on this one? All vendors in my part of the world have insisted that removing the encryption cannot be done.

On the other hand a crack to allow me to dump and modify the ROM from my encrypted ECU would be fantastic as well. It's been widely tested in courts around the world and shown that legally no tuner or company has any genuine IP rights to the maps on your ECU. If Ecutek won't give us the tools to set everything back the way it should be then maybe someone has come up with the tools to allow people like me to get around their bullshit. I wish I had more expertise in this area as it's the sort of thing I'd be happy to share if it stopped someone else from going through what I'm dealing with at ATM.

Cheers,
Ben

[Freon]

Well, Ecutek is claiming they do give out the tools to their tuners to unlock it. I'd contact them directly, maybe they can help you out.

[radsdau]

On the other hand a crack to allow me to dump and modify the ROM from my encrypted ECU would be fantastic as well.

Can of worms, can of worms.... to whoever actually releases this 'crack', they'd better have a lot of money and legal expertise behind them, because my guess is that Ecutek would not just sit by and watch it happen. As Dave P has said, ET done a lot of work on their stuff, and whether or not ROM IP rights can be contested in a court of law, it would still be ripping off some commercial IP.

I'm staying clear of this one thanks...

[Freon]

Indeed I don't understand the need to go down that road whether or not it might peeve Ecutek. Contact Ecutek. It seems like they are giving users options to un-Ecutek their cars. Ben@Ecutek posted as much several times in that NASIOC thread linked above.

If nothing else you can always do a sell/trade for your Ecutek ECU for someone with a non-Ecutek ECU, as long as you don't have an immobilizer ECU.

[blurexwagon]

Hello, I'm equally new and in a similiar circumstance, but I was easily able to pull my base ROM, especially since my reflasher left the jerry-rigged white connector under my dash...

My flash must be older than the o.p.

My question is, how will the Ecutek respond to being reflashed by Openecu? thanks in advance.

[blurexwagon]

Hello, I'm equally new and in a similiar circumstance, but I was easily able to pull my base ROM, especially since my reflasher left the jerry-rigged white connector under my dash...

My flash must be older than the o.p.

My question is, how will the Ecutek respond to being reflashed by Openecu? thanks in advance.