How to Send an ECU File Request That Gets a File Back: Full Read, Label, VIN, Tool and Method

‘Do you have a file for EDC17C64?’ That was the whole message, no numbers, no read attached. There are more than 300 EDC17C64 files in the catalogue: 04L997021 with 1646, 04L997021H with 3084 and 3912, 04L997022A with 3096 and 3913, and so on. The answer to that message is always another question. Here’s what a request should contain so that the answer is a file instead.

The five things we need

1. A full read. Flash and EEPROM, both, as separate files or the tool’s own container. On EDC16 the EEPROM is an external 95xxx chip and OBD tools don’t read it; on EDC17 and MED17 a bench or boot read includes the internal EEPROM and often an external one too; on Denso, Delphi and Siemens SID boxes the layout varies. If your tool only gave you one file, say which tool and which method and we’ll tell you whether that’s enough.
2. A label photo. Straight on, in focus, the whole sticker. Every number matters, including the ones that look like batch codes.
3. The VIN. It settles engine code, gearbox, market and year without you having to look them up, and it lets us cross-check the software level.
4. The symptom, in one or two lines. ‘Cranks no start after used ECU fitted’ is a different job from ‘runs, EML on, P0401’. What you want (stock, immo off, virgin, DPF off, EGR off) follows from the symptom, and we’ll say so if we think you’re asking for the wrong thing.
5. Tool and method. KESS3 OBD, KTAG bench, Flex boot, PCM Flash, Autotuner, BitBox: it tells us the read’s format and what you’ll be able to write back. A file prepared for a boot write isn’t always the right shape for an OBD write.

How we match a request

We start from the software number, because it’s the most specific: the Bosch 1037/10SW, the VAG version, the Ford 14C204, the PSA 98xxxxxx80, the Continental 10xxxxxxAA, the Nissan T-code. An Audi A4 EDC17CP44 request with 8K5907589C 0005 10SW012359 goes straight to that file; with only 8K5907589C we’d offer 0004 (10SW009271) and 0005 and ask you to check the ident. Then hardware, to make sure the file will physically fit. Then the read itself: we look at the immo area, the checksum state and whether someone has been in there before. A read that already has a tune or an immo off in it changes what we prepare.

For prepared files (immo off, virgin, DPF and EGR solutions) we work from your read, not from an archive copy. That’s why the read has to be complete. A virgin file made from someone else’s EDC16CP35 is a different thing from a virgin made from yours; the injector codes, adaptations and the VIN inside are yours only in the second case.

What ‘not available’ actually means

It means one of three things, and we’ll tell you which:

• We don’t have that exact software revision archived. The catalogue is built from real reads; if nobody has read a particular 04L906026 revision before, it isn’t there. We may have the neighbouring version and explain the risk of using it.
• The ECU type doesn’t support what you asked for. Immo off on Mercedes FBS4, virgin on some VAG immo 5 boxes, a DPF off on a controller where the emissions logic can’t be safely removed: we’d rather say no than send a file that bricks it.
• Your read is incomplete or damaged, so we can’t prepare from it. Usually fixed by re-reading in a different mode.

Can I send a partial read from OBD?

For a stock file lookup, yes; the ident is enough. For anything prepared, no. OBD reads on EDC17 generally skip the EEPROM, and that’s where the immo data lives.

Do I need to send the read for an archive file?

No, but attach the label anyway. The ident from your tool plus the label lets us confirm the version before you pay.

How long does it take?

Archive files are instant downloads. Prepared files depend on the ECU: common ones inside a working day, rare ones longer, and we’ll say so before you order.

Use the request form for anything not in the catalogue. If you’re not sure what to read or how, our OBD, bench and boot mode guide and the ECU label guide cover it before you start.