HP Tuners for 2005-2015

Mine was "a month old" when it gave me problems.

Edit: Not implying that any of the issues that have popped up are just USB related. I'm sharing the fact that I've had issues with the USB and passing that along to you guys so you can minimize the risk of this happening yet again, due to the USB.

 

USB was likely fine, had been driving for 10 min prior doing logging on my laptop.

Got back to the garage. Saved the log, disconnected and reconnected to the truck in vcm scanner to make sure things connected fine. Closed the scanner opened up my tune and flashed.... Then write error time out.
Fml

 

Sorry to hear guys.. I've had it happen twice (Both USB related) so I know your pain.

 

Is there anything we can do with the bricked ecu to get it back up n running? (Outside of what I mentioned above, getting eBay ECU of same part number, plug it in, get imobilizer to work, and rewrite vin? )

 

Generally speaking no, there's not unfortunately. There are some tools out there but they're expensive and from what I have been told are not a sure-thing. It requires soldering to the board and such.

As much as it sucks, the easiest and most reliable way to get back up and running is with a junkyard ECU. Even more sucky, be thankful you don't have a '15 Manual Transmission. There are virtually 0 in the used market and they're ~1300 from Toyota.

My suggestion for those who flash often is to pick up a spare ECU and reprogram the VIN. Keep it laying around for the rainy days like today. I now keep a spare..

I know you guys don't think the USB might be an issue, but please take my cautionary warning seriously. As new as you think yours might be, that doesn't mean it isn't suspect. I had just flashed another member of this forum's truck and it was fine. I unplugged and relocated to my own. Initiated the flash and mine failed. I was several hundred miles from home and had no way to get home and to work the next day. The communication protocol or whatever for the write process is so fragile on these Denso ECU's that a single break in the communication stream can cause issue. My USB would log fine, flash etc. but if it was bent or moved in a certain way it would lose connection. Trust me when I say the USB is a potential source.

 

Gotcha gotcha, its definietly not out of the realm of possibilities... i have been transporting my usb cord wrapping it up all over the place. Personally if thats the case i really thing @HPTuners needs to rethink how they go about flashing these Denso ecus.... send the file to the MPVI2 dongol first, then have the dongol flash the ecu with the file stored locally... that away you could go as far as unplugging the Usb cable from the MPVI2 and the flash would still succeed

Does one need to get the exact year model part number for the ecu or do ranges of ecus work? IE 13-15 auto trans for my 2013 v6 auto? Part number on the sticker on my ecu is 89661-04G60

Also, are 4x4 trucks ECU's different than prerunners?

 

Really sorry also guys, I’ve been here and done this, yes it sucks. I even sent out my bricked ecu to try and be fixed with no luck. I went ahead and bought a brand new ecu from Toyota and also a cheaper used one as my backup. Unfortunately like many have said “you pay to play”.

 

Bolded above is what killed mine. In and out of the truck, in and out of the house, in and out of the office day to day.

If you want your HPTuners credits to transfer, you'll need the same part number (Example: 2015 Tacoma 4.0L 6spd manual non X-Runner - 89661-04K00) so that way you'll have the same Calibration ID. If you use a different calibration ID (which could be done) and update the VIN, you'll need to re-license that ECU with HPTuners ($200 for the credits) to have access again. Going with the same part number and updating the VIN will not cost you any additional credits.

So yes, the truck can run on other year ECU's of the same "generation", but it'll cost you.

 

gotcha done. Found my exact part number ecu on ebay....

Is there any chance that HPTuners has the ability to unbrick an ecu and return to stock if you send it to them... i mean they were able to crack the things in the first place!

 

I'll let them answer for themselves, but I'm 99.99% that's not possible.

 

Wow. Is that 3 people in 2 days? I’ve been pretty cavalier about loading a tune just whenever. Now I’m scared.

 

Just like @JustDSM stated you can run other years and cal ids. I’m running an updated cal id for 2012 as my main ecu flashed with HPT. My backup is the old version and was super cheap when I bought it and is only used to get me back up and running if my main ecu fails.

 

I was thinking the same thing! Throw some buffer on the MPVI2 to store the tune locally and have it perform a checksum to ensure that it received valid data prior to writing to the ecu. This would help eliminate failures from janky USB cables or flaky Windows systems. It's not gonna protect us from every possible ecu brick scenario but would be a good start and possibly significantly reduce these expensive failures.

I haven't purchased an MPVI2 (yet?) and frankly I am struggling as I'm not a gambling type and would rather not have the cold sweats and heart palpitations every time I convinced myself to upload a tune.

 

Damn, this "bricking" thing is terrifying.

I hope HP can sort out a solution, especially because I'm in the 6sp 2015 unobtanium category.

 

Likewise

 

Cool deal.... Luckily i found the exact same part number ECU thats currently in my truck, located in northern cal, should be here in a couple days. Fingers crossed its as simple as pulling the old one out, plugging the new one in, doing the 30 min imobilizer re-init, and have her start up. Not worried about the Vin # right now. just looking to get back up n running.

Luckily i have 3 street legal moto's and an 11mi commute to work in sunny socal... otherwise id be screwed.

 

Agreed. The MVPI2 dongol itself has internal storage of some kind as you can do logging to it directly. Tune files are less than 1MB... so tiny. Send to dongol, do checksum to make sure files match, MPVI2 starts flash and literally only reports back progress to the computer... none of this sending one bit at a time to the MPVI2 and instantly fail when a bit isnt received immediately. @HPTuners

Also did anyone notice a difference from early on software to current, that early on did the write all in one fell swoop, THEN Verified.... now it seems like write and verify have been lumped into one motion, possibly a single bit write, then single bit verify, which could be bad.


I just find it very odd that 3 of us have bricked things in a very similar window, especially after someone like me never having an issue before with 30+ flashes...

 

Yeah I noticed a difference. I feel the the write/ verify in one motion is not as smooth as I have had the flashing process pause for a brief moment.

 

Correct, If the entire ECU is being erased, you wanna get software back on there as fast as possible, doesnt matter if a bit is bad. Then verify after, and if verification on a bit fails re-write.

 

It would be nice to have @HPTuners add some words of wisdom here.