Transfer remap from different car?

[pbirkett]

A mate who owns a Seat Ibiza TDI Sport 130 with a Jabba remap is selling his car to get an Ibiza FR 1.8T, and has said that if possible, he would like to give me his ECU (in return for mine). We have checked the numbers on them and they look the same, but my feeling is that this is not really something safe to do.

Can anyone at all knowledgeable on these things tell me if this is safe to do or not?

[Jimmy]

Paul,

Not a diesel but I'm sure the same would apply:click here

Hope this helps.

[Jimmy]

Oh hang on a mo that's no use whatsoever. The first reply was sensible but then it degraded into the usual vRS v 4x4 v Diesel debate. Sorry....

[SkodiRS]

Apart from changing security numbers you wiould probably have to have the map tweeked.

Should work ok but won't be as good as it possibly could be.....same type of engine but no 2 engines are exactly the same.

[pbirkett]

His is a standard jabba map anyway, not a custom one, but yeah, you are right.

What I want to know is what kind of risks would I be taking - surely the warranty would be kaput? And is there anything else thats likely to go wrong?

Bottom line is, would YOU do it?

[Dr Zoidberg]

The warranty will be invalidated same as if you had done this direct to your car.
Jason transferred the ECU from his rolled furby to the replacement and got it up and running with a bit of tweaking via VAG-COM to reset the immobiliser , so it is indeed possible betweek skodas.
I can't imagine there will be many differences between the skoda and seat so you should be ok.

[Stimps]

Might be worth considering that it may (or may not?) be possible for a dealer/buyer to spot the ECU swap on the cars, which could cause problems* when you come to sell...

* assuming anyone would actually check prior to handing over the cash

[tfboy]

Have you tried calling Jabba to see what they say? I know they'll revert a tweaked ecu map to a stock one. Maybe for a nominal fee they would expertly transfer from one car to another.

I may be talking out of my backside, but I wouldn't want to swap ecus between different model cars. Doesn't the ECU state which manufacturer / model it is for?

[pbirkett]

Originally Posted by tfboy

Have you tried calling Jabba to see what they say? I know they'll revert a tweaked ecu map to a stock one. Maybe for a nominal fee they would expertly transfer from one car to another.

I may be talking out of my backside, but I wouldn't want to swap ecus between different model cars. Doesn't the ECU state which manufacturer / model it is for?

My friend is calling Jabba, but what you have said is what I thought TBH, that because its a different model of car that it would in some way different (we already know for a fact that mine and his cars have different gear ratio's) that it would be dodgy.

[Lummox]

Also your ECU would have the chassis number stored in it from the Ibiza. You can write yours next to it but not overwrite it completly.

[Bagpuss]

I reckon you could probably swap the ECUs without too much hassle, but it is definitely possible for the dealer to tell that the ECU did not originate on the Skoda.

As far as I'm aware, all VAG ECUs have the build options for the car encoded into the flash. In the early days of tuning the TDi PD engines, the tuners were simply replacing the roms on the ECU. Consequently, the new roms didn't have this information encoded into them, and the dealer was easily able to spot a 'chipped' ECU simply by trying to read the memory area that was supposed to contain the build information.

If you swap the ECUs, then you will have build codes for a SEAT, which could well be spotted by the dealer.

Bagpuss.

[pbirkett]

So basically, would you say it is not advisable? I dont wanna do anything that will cause problems later...

[DGW]

I would keep the original ECU if I were in your position. Having the wrong ECU in your car could lead to major warranty problems even if the swap is successful.