VEMS motronic, need some help

[a4kquattro]

hey all, I'm helping a friend of mine who just bought a VEMS ECU with the motronic connector on it for his AAN project car. For testing purposes I'm trying to get it running on my stock 93 US Spec S4.

I'm able to communicate with the ECU at a crude level, in that I was able to run the download-config.bat file and retrieve the current configs from the ECU. However, when I try to open MegaTune to start tuning and configuring the ECU I select the standard 12x12 map selection and it comes back with a strange error about it expecting a certain hello string and receiving a bunch of junk characters instead.

What could be the issue here? Should I expect that a basemap for the AAN is already installed? Do I need to flash the firmware?

Anybody have an AAN basemap I can start with? Any help would be great, thanks!

[GazzaG60]

hi mate.
do a firmware upload again. sounds like either its corrupt or needs you have a conflicting code/map/megatune setups.

ensure your map is written for the same firmware and megatune versions.

if you get no hello from AVR then put a paper clip between pins 2 and 3 on the cable. power on ignition and then remove clip and plug in laptop. this forces the AVR into burn mode so you can flash it.

dont have an aan map. there are a few about that can be used on vems.hu.
use these as base and get here runnig. generate a ve and spark table first and use judgement to tweak known areas before you get it running. then try the autotune and spend a bit of time on writing the lambda table. the vems seems very good on hitting AF targets


hope this helps.

[a4kquattro]

is there any way using a terminal or something along those lines to tell what firmware version is installed in the ECU? Before I flash over it I'd like to know whats in it, on the off chance that its somehow newer than the latest version posted on the website.

[GazzaG60]

there are tools to interegate the chip. thiunk you need to build your own cable for it though and connect to the board.

megatune may tell you that. it does if there are inconsistencies.

as i was gonna start from marcels base map i neede the same versions as he had which were 1.0.73 i think. so that all ive used. im all for newer developments but if the wheels are not falling off no need to try and bolt them back on. ill have a look later at mine.

there are a fair few more aans running vems than aby's mines an aby so... not many over here. i struggled to find somebody in the UK running vems let alone on a 5 pot. not sure if im the first or not over here.

im looking at a link gen 3 tonight for a subaru. will let all of you know suitability ofr the 5 pot.

[a4kquattro]

ok, so I uploaded a new firmware and applied some coolant and airtemp patches as stated in the audiaan wiki page. I can now at least open megatune.. however I'm unable to get successful communications using the test button...

[GazzaG60]

you need a map to upload. never updated the sensor patches. maybe i should.

get marcels map. download the code to match it. upload the firmware. open megatune and open the map. it will ask to burn it to the controller at that point. sounds like you had no map in there. when burned turn off ignition and close megatune. turn on iginition and open megatune. it will automatically load the map that on the ECU at that time..

[a4kquattro]

when you say 'upload the map', its not immediately clear in megatune how that is done. under the file menu I have an 'open' option which searches for files of type '.msq' which doesn't seem to match any of the configs I've found that marcel has posted. Could you be more specific?

[a4kquattro]

very, very strange. More data from testing it more today. I can upload a firmware image no problem, and the firmware will verify also without any problem. When I go to upload a config using the firmware loader tool it says it found no errors, but when I go to verify the config in the same tool it comes back and says that the serial port is flooded with junk data?

[GazzaG60]

http://www.vems.hu/wiki/index.php?pa...werAndTraction

load this page

there is a link configs and tables - a zip file.

save the file

open it. it has 2 files 1 msq and a txt

use the file open to load the msq.

[a4kquattro]

Ah, thanks for that

Still having issues, but at least now I think I understand _why_, but will need help in figuring out how to correct the problem. I tried loading the msq config into megatune but the problem is that the software will not communicate with the ecu. I think it has to do with the configuration of the version of megatune I'm running rather than a problem with the ecu or actual communications.. here's why:

I've got two versions of the VEMS upgrader tool on my hard drive, only ONE of them will connect to the ecu and allow me to do a firmware upgrade/verify: V3GUI-audi-1.1.24 ... the V3GUI-release WILL NOT talk to the ECU.

What to do next?

[GazzaG60]

load the firware that marce has. i think its 1.0.73RC or something like that. id have to check. even though its a RC it works great. or so my engine thinks.

when you put a map in be sure to change the reqfuel first before tryinfg to start for your size of injectors. lots of vems maps ive seen are set to 4.5ms which i think is around the 65lb mark. i have mine set at 8ms at present for the standard injectors on a 4 bar.

[a4kquattro]

tried that, firmware loaded ok but same megatune problem, it will not communicate with the ECU

Could you point me to the specific version of megatune you are running and where you got it from? Any changes or did it work 'out of the box' for you?

Keep the posts coming, your help is much appreciated!

[GazzaG60]

http://www.vems.co.uk/VEMSTech/VemsMT1.1.23rc.zip

thats what im using. marcel txt tells me he is 1.1.23 also. it looks like a 12x12.

go 12x12 high boost.

[a4kquattro]

NOW we're getting somewhere!

I tried connecting with the high boost 12x12 but it exited out saying that the expected signature wasn't the same as what it received from the ecu.. but this time it was clear readable text.. it was expecting 1.1.x and found 1.0.x (from the 1.0.73 firmware you suggested I load).

I copied over the vemsv3.ini file from the firmware folder into the megatune folder and now its working!

I'm not sold on this 1.0.73 firmware though, are you sure thats what you are using? It seems that megatune wouldn't work out of the box if this were the case?

Irregardless, progress, woohoo!

[a4kquattro]

sonofagun, the same exact download package link for megatune over on vems.hu appears to be different, 1.1.23 firmware with the package I (re)downloaded from vems.co.uk works perfect?!? :wtf: