Flashing/Datalogging your WRX for $30.00

Warning / Disclaimer

You assume 100% risk by reading/attempting any of the activities described below. There is a level of risk involved with flashing your ECU. If you aren’t careful you could make your car undriveable. Romraider has a great section on the risks.

Also please don’t copy and paste this all over the internet. When I get it finished I will post it in the forums. Thanks for understanding.

Photos

What You Need

Hardware
1. Laptop w/ a good battery or power adapter – I’m using an EEE PC 900
2. Alpha-bid Cable – Photo of Mine
3. Tactrix Jump Block Connection – 2001-2002 | 2003-2005 – Photo of Mine

Software
1. Romraider
2. ecuExplorer
3. ECUFlash – It needs to be version 1.29a and I’m still trying to find a download link. You can use ecuExplorer instead to flash.
4. Learning View
5. OBD2 Cable Drivers (FTDI) – WinXP

Installing / Configuring

NOTE: This install is for Windows XP only, install with Vista will definitely be different.

1. Unzip the FTDI Drivers you downloaded to a folder on your desktop
2. Plug in the Alpha-Bid cable and the “found new hardware wizard” should pop up.
3. Choose the Advanced option and Have Disk and point it to the folder where you unzipped the FTDI drivers. Click Continue if it makes a fuss about the drivers being certified.
4. NOTE: When going through the next step make sure to write down what Com Port number the cable is using. Mine was using Com Port 3.
5. We now need to change the baud rate from 9600 to 4800. Right click on My Computer and select properties. Select the Hardware tab and then the Device Manager button. Under COM / LPT ports there will be an FTDI Com Port, mine was listed as Com Port 3. Right click on that port and click properties. Click on the settings tab and change the baud rate to 4800. Click OK on all the dialog boxes.
6. You need to install the remaining software listed above. Each software site has their own install instructions so I’m not going to rewrite them here. Make sure you have the .NET Framework installed though, some of the software might require it. You can download it here. Also make sure you have the newest Java installed.
7. You are now ready to head to your car and test things out.

Connecting Everything In The Car – Datalogging

To datalog you only need to have the Alpha-Bid OBD2 cable plugged in.

1. Plug that cable in to the OBD2 port located under the steering wheel.
2. Plug the USB end into your laptop. Try to use the same port everytime as this will help make sure you always get the same port number.
3. Turn the key two clicks forward to the ON position, but don’t start the car.
4. The easiest way to check if you’re good so far is to open Learning View and see if you’ve got a COM Port listed at the top, if you don’t make sure the cable is securely plugged into the laptop and OBD2 port.
5. Click Connect. You should see your ECU Info, A/f Learning, and Fine Learning Knock Correction Table.
6. Now close Learning View and open RomRaider Logger. I always need to click refresh (green circular arrows) before it connects. You will know it connected because in the upper right hand corner the message will change from Connecting to ECU to Reading data.
7. You are all set and can record data by either clicking the Log to file or pressing the rear defroster button. Turning the rear defroster will start the recording of data and turning it off will stop it.

Connecting Everything In The Car – Flashing the ECU

Coming Soon, I want to make sure this section is perfect before releasing it. You CAN flash with this cable though.

Programming Voltage Too Low

Conclusion

Special thanks to qikslvr from LegacyGT.com.