URD Supercharger Install on a post-09 Tacoma

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage you may do to yourself or your engine/truck. This is solely for informational purposes.

I really wanted a URD supercharger, but I quickly found out that the URD kit was not compatible with 2009+ Tacos due to a change in ECU connectors. After years of patiently waiting for a compatible kit from URD, I took matters into my own hands and successfully installed an MK2 kit on my 2010 truck. As a lurker, I thought I'd contribute by detailing the install and what I learned along the way.

So I actually completed the install in May 2014 and I've been meaning to make this post since. But I kept forgetting to take pics of the finished install, and everyone agrees a thread without pics is worthless. This weekend, a deer decided to commit suicide on my taco's bumper, so while taking pics of the damage for insurance purposes, I finally remembered to take pics of the supercharger. So apologies if I could've saved someone some trouble had I posted this earlier, but the good news is that this post can now serve as a semi-how-to as well as a long term update. After almost 10 months of boosted driving time, I can happily report that I've had zero issues with the supercharger and urge anyone on the fence to JUST DO IT and thank me later.

Here's a pic of the finished install. Pay no attention to the dirty engine bay, it's been a cold winter.





As I already mentioned, the main reason for the URD kit not being compatible is due to the change in ECU connectors. I read some posts here and there claiming they had either the APR X1 or UCON EMS directly spliced into the wiring harness of 2009+ Tacos, but I really didn't like the idea of permanently modding the wiring harness. I had no idea if it was going to work, so I wanted the ability to bail out and go back to stock. Some suggested that an adapter could be made, but I couldn't find anyone that actually attempted it. After a bit of promising research on wiring schematic differences between the years, I decided to go the adapter route. Creating the adapter is really the center of this install, and by far the most difficult. Once the adapter is created, the supercharger install proceeds as normal, which is pretty much bolt on and go.

In 2009 tacos, the ECU was changed to have 6 connectors instead of 5. The good news is that the electrical wiring stayed the same, so the wiring was pretty much one to one, meaning every pin on the pre-09 ECU had a matching pin on the 09+ ECU, with exception to a few ground and vcc+ pins. Also, with exception to just a few wires, the wire color codes matched up between the two ECU's which helped tremendously. The bad news is that the grouping of the wires among the connectors was totally different. For example, the wires from one connector on the 09+ ECU would end up mapping to multiple connectors on the pre-09 ECU. This made soldering the adapter a challenge and required some planning ahead.

In summary, the goal of the adapter is to allow a 09+ tacoma with 6 connectors to run a pre-09 ECU with 5 connectors. I created the adapter prior to installing any supercharger components and drove the truck on the pre-09 ECU for a while to make sure everything was gravy before attempting the supercharger install. Once you're running the pre-09 ECU, the supercharger install is the same.

I started by sourcing a spare 09+ ECU (can be nonfunctional) and a pre-09 ECU complete with all 5 connectors. The pre-09 ECU should come from a Tacoma with similar specs, 2wd vs 4wd, auto vs manual, etc. Finding the pre-09 ECU with connectors ended up being a huge pain in the ass, with multiple people screwing me. The problem is when tacos are parted out and the engine is pulled, it's usually complete with the engine wiring harness. 3 of the connectors of the 5 ECU connectors are on the engine wiring harness so they end up selling with the engines. The other 2 are located on the cabin wiring harness and usually stay on the truck with the ECU. I called maybe 20 salvage yards on car-part.com that showed stock for pre-09 ECU and only 2 of them claimed to have the ECU connectors and would also consider cutting them from the wiring harness. Most yards were reluctant to provide the connectors since the wiring harnesses are themselves sellable parts and cutting the connectors renders the entire harness useless. One salvage yard charged me $100 extra for the connectors on top of the ECU cost, but upon arrival, it ended up only having 2 of the 5. The salvage yard had the shady "Absolutely no refunds" policy, so I was screwed out of that $100. Another person offered the other 3 connectors for $50, but he ended up sending me just 2 of them, with one of them being damaged and unusable. After a bit of coaxing, I got my money back. Finally I found the needed connectors from a local guy selling a complete engine with harness. He allowed me to cut off the connectors from the harness. Apologies for the long rant, but this was the biggest headache of the install. In summary, if buying from a parts salvager and they say they can provide the connectors, make damn sure that they have all 5 connectors.

Next, I opened up the 09+ ECU and proceeded to remove the main connector from the ECU board. This is the only part needed from the 09+ ECU, so sourcing a non-functional one for as cheap as possible is ideal. I clipped each lead leaving enough to allow soldering a wire.



Here's the main connector fully removed from the board ready for soldering.



The next step is the tricky part. The wires from the five pre-09 ECU connectors must be matched up and soldered to the corresponding pins on the 09+ main connector. In order to minimize the possibility of error, I first mapped the pinouts and double and triple checked the schematics before starting to solder. Here's the diagram I put together.

**edit**
http://imgur.com/n6E8Bkb
Feel free to reference this diagram, but props to Shredo for putting together a much easier to read diagram which I've verified against my final wiring. It can be found in post #22.
**edit**

Each pin from the top pre-09 connectors A-E connect to a corresponding pin on the bottom 09+ connectors I-H. The drawing tool I used was too primitive to draw connecting lines between the connectors, and the sheer number of wires would probably make it unreadable. Please PM me if you plan to use this diagram, as I may have made a few undocumented changes during the actual soldering. Also, there is an additional group of wires for the automatic transmission that is not documented in this diagram, which I can provide more details on if needed.

Since the leads on the main connector are densely packed in an array, I had to plan ahead and solder from one end of the grid to the other. Already soldered adjacent wires blocks access to those pins behind it, so if one wire in the middle of the grid is missed, all the wires blocking access must first be unsoldered. There are over 100 wires to solder, so add a case or two of beer to the required parts list. Props to whomever hard-spliced this in-situ in the truck. Just thinking about it makes my neck and back hurt. Here's the finished harness with the solder joints heat-shrink wrapped to prevent short circuits.



Once the harness was ready to install, I removed the existing stock 2010 ECU from my truck, plugged in the harness, then plugged in the pre-09 ECU. I prayed to the car gods and turned the key. It started and died immediately. I almost gave up at this point, I thought my little experiment had failed. Then I ran across this thread, http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/315635-ecm-swap-wrecking-yard-ecm.html. It turns out the pre-09 ECU must be paired to the immobilizer system. Huge thanks to Toyotacerttech for posting the pairing procedure. After the pairing procedure using a jumper wire, the truck started right up and ran like a top. I drove it around for a bit and no CEL/error codes popped up. All of the functions controlled by the ECU, 4WD hi/lo, TCS, as well as all of the indicator lights in the dash worked perfectly. I was incredibly lucky to get the harness right on the first go. ABS, TCS, and 4WD have since been thoroughly tested this winter in the snow.

After a week or so of driving N/A on the pre-09 ECU, I proceeded to install the URD MK2 supercharger. I bought the kit used at a good price and it came with the APR X1 engine management system. I initially just installed the APR X1 along with the timing gears and cooler thermostat and ran the N/A tune. This alone made a huge difference, it really woke up the 1GR-FE. After verifying there were no issues with the APR X1, I then installed the rest of the kit and haven't looked back since.

The new kits now come with UCON EMS and while I have not personally verified that it's compatible, since my truck is able to run a stock pre-09 ECU, I am 99.99% sure that it will work. I am currently thinking about upgrading to the UCON EMS to open up my options for more power. PM me if there's any interest in my current APR X1 setup.

As for the later years, I believe the wiring stayed the same, but other features controlled by ECU were added such as the Exhaust Air Injection System on 2012+ models. I believe this is the reason why Toyota needed to switch to the new connectors in the first place because the pre-09 connectors didn't have enough unused spare pins to control the AIS. So for those years, YMMV, an AIS delete might be an option.

Ok, so I wrote a book there, but hopefully this helps someone out.

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UPDATE: I went ahead and swapped out the APR-X1 with the UCON EMS and can confirm that the wiring harness adapter works flawlessly with UCON EMS as well. I did a quick session with Scott, the official URD tuner, and he was able to load up the proper map without any issues. Drove the truck around town today and happy to say it runs just as good as the APR-X1 if not better. I'm inclined to say the UCON runs a tad bit smoother, but it could just be a placebo effect. I validated the wiring diagram that Shredo put together, it's available in post #22. Props to him for putting that together in a more readable format.

Here's some details of the UCON install:

I was able to use the stock post-09 ECU brackets, instead of the brackets that came with the APR-X1. However, the mounting holes are different between the pre-09 and post-09 ECUs, so I only used one screw per bracket. You could easily drill another hole in each bracket (top and bottom) but I thought the single screw on both brackets was sufficient. Here are pics of the bracket and screw positions I used.


Top Bracket



Bottom Bracket


Using those screw locations, the ECU ends up a bit further back to help make room for the wiring harness adapter.

The UCON is mounted to the ECU via industrial strength velcro. The connector for the USB cable didn't have a lock on mine, I bought it used, so it may have broken off. To prevent the connector from getting inadvertently disconnected, I used some duct-tape on the connector.




Here's pics of the finished install. Hard to see the UCON hiding behind the harness adapter, but you can see the green UCON ECU connectors plugged into the Pre-09 ECU.




It was a super tight fit with the APR-X1 due to how to the APR-X1 mounted in front of the ECU. I had difficulty with the APR-X1 + harness adapter clearing the glove box. The way the UCON EMS mounts to the side of the ECU creates a lot more space. Using the bracket positions I detailed earlier, I had no issues at all with UCON and harness adapter clearing the glove box. Because of this, I highly recommend going with the UCON over APR-X1.

Next step for me will be to upgrade to Stage 2 and 3. To be continued...

 

AWESOME! This needs to be a sticky! Major props to you sir!

My only confusion, is that i could have sworn that the '09 was the first year that the ecu connectors changed. Not '10. Is that a typo, am I incorrect, or is there a specific half way point when the '09 ecu connectors changed from the 5 plug to the 6 plug style?

 

I was under that impression too as I wanted to look in to URD but couldn't with a 10+ year model

 

Well....looks like i found my answer.

http://urdusa.com/store/p1260519056....html?osCsid=62f70b7dc3c08396285dedcb4b4ceea4

4Runner's and FJ's

 

Krisxone, which vehicle did you source your '09 ecu from?

 

Thanks for catching that Torspd. It was late and I was working from memory, so I must've been a year off, should be fixed now.

I can't be 100% sure since it was almost a year ago, but I probably sourced it from a 2008 Tacoma with similar specs to my truck. The reason being, I wasn't sure of any incremental changes between 2005-2008, but if there was any, I wanted it to be as close to my 2010 model year to increase the chances of compatibility. Let me see if I can find my receipt from the parts salvager to verify.

The ECU controls the TCS, ABS, 4WD, as well as the auto tranny if so equipped. So to maximize your chances of having all of that still work, I think the most important thing is for the donor vehicle to have similar specs. When I did the schematic comparison between pre-09 and 09+, I actually used what was labeled as an 2005+ schematic, so in theory, any pre-09 ECU should work.

 

I bet krisxone has more tricks in his sleeves as he anxiously waits for incoming package! Good luck to you and I cross my fingers and toes that all goes well for you! Your one hecka of a scientist!

 

Awesome work. Just wondering if this affects the odometer mileage or any other specifics that might be of concern.

Thanks for the leg work on this.

 

Nope, swapping the ECU did not change the mileage. I had that concern as well and was glad it worked out.

No other concerns except for the wiring of some of the wires. I mentioned some ground and +12 wires had to be adapted. I will be out of town for a little over two weeks, but when I get back, I'll be switching over to a UCON EMS provided by SOOORUNNER. When I do, I'll document the exact wiring I used, which pin wires to which pin, etc. and take pics of the harness installed in the tacoma.

 

Awesome. Thank you.

 

Beauty setup OP. Thanks for posting your hard work for others. Your rep is far too low for a post of this magnitude, let me help you fix that!

 

Dam im so glad someone finally did this good read and awesome right off my hats off to you kind sir

 

So I have come across some nay-sayers stating ecus cannot be swapped between vehicle years particularly the 2nd gen tacomas. This thread is proof against that but I just wanted to ask some questions.

Your pre-09 ecu was working and programmed to the previous vehicle's VIN, you just reprogrammed the VIN on the pre-09 ecu to match the VIN of the 09+ correct?

If I purchased a brand new pre-09 ECU from the dealership or wherever it won't work since it will more than likely have to be programmed. Or can the pre-09 ecu be programmed for the corresponding year (2005-2008) and then just have the VIN from the 2010 vehicle programmed into it?

I have an xrunner so theoretically the ecu programming should be similiar between pre-09 and a 2010 but I'm sure there might be other factors that affect other models.

 

I had a bad ecu that was fryed and they got me a new ECU for my 2013 tacoma they did not say they needed to program it to my VIN who told you you needed a VIN programmed in your ECU???

 

Great wright up looks like a good fix to our problem. I have the ECU and connectors rounded up, but have not pulled the trigger on building the jump harness yet. I can see it requires a lot of prep and precise skills. Seeing your success makes me want to start mine.

 

Thank you for pointing out my misconception. VIN has nothing to do with it, it's the immobilizer that has to be programmed. At least now we have clarification thanks to my confusing myself.

Lucky! I can't find a donor ecu on this island (hawaii). Still though at least it's a possibility to tune my 2010.

 

Do it!

 

Thanks for the green reps Sterdog, Ostrichsak! 6327 points, you guys are some heavy hitters.

I'm back in town, but the body shop that's fixing my truck has been busy. They said I should be getting my truck back on Monday or Tuesday. As soon as I do, I'll post up the wiring details and whether the UCON from SooRunner works out.

 

What's 6327 points? I always forget about my rep score and we had a big conversation about this over a meet/meal last year and my score was pretty darn high at one point. I was in competition for top score and wasn't even aware what my score was. lol

I just checked and it's currently: 548,786

I guess all that hot air is good for something since some people see the benefit of my posts through all the bullshit.

BTW, I thought I had posted to this thread thanking you for the information but I'm not seeing a post so I guess that was in my head. Great contribution and a fantastic first post to the thread. Keep the information coming!

 

The 6,327 is my rep score just from the two of you giving me greens. I don't know how it works on this forum, but I know on other forums, when you give someone greens, its rep power is a function of how many rep points the giver has. Now only if you could cash rep points in for prizes...