Is There a limit to how many times you can flash an ecu
Newbie
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 64
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From: NorCal
A typical Flash memory can be flashed 100,000 times or more without failure, so I don't think you need to worry about over flashing it.
As far as detection goes, they can only tell if the program in the flash is not the factory one. If they suspect you don't have the factory program, then they can do a test to see if it does not match. What they do is run a checksum of the memory contents. You can think of a checksum as a signature, the idea is to have a unique signature for any program that is loaded in the memory. This basic concept is that they sum the contents of the memory which generates a signature for the program in the memory. If the signature does not match the factory one they will know right away. There is always the possibility that a non-factory program could produce the same checksum (signature) as the factory program, however the chances of this happening are so slim that you can basically discount it all together.
To make a long story short, if you are not running the factory ECU program they can tell. However if you reflash back to the factory program properly, they cannot tell.
As far as detection goes, they can only tell if the program in the flash is not the factory one. If they suspect you don't have the factory program, then they can do a test to see if it does not match. What they do is run a checksum of the memory contents. You can think of a checksum as a signature, the idea is to have a unique signature for any program that is loaded in the memory. This basic concept is that they sum the contents of the memory which generates a signature for the program in the memory. If the signature does not match the factory one they will know right away. There is always the possibility that a non-factory program could produce the same checksum (signature) as the factory program, however the chances of this happening are so slim that you can basically discount it all together.
To make a long story short, if you are not running the factory ECU program they can tell. However if you reflash back to the factory program properly, they cannot tell.