Well,
As some of you might know I have been having a minor problem with the Upsolute software I recently installed on my 2004 996 turbo. It will trigger PSM and ABS failure lights while using full throttle from fourth gear or higher. I spoke to Rene (NA Distributor for Upsolute) and he said he had a fix for these lights and I should send in the ecu. I was supposed to send this in a few weeks ago, but I've been out of town on business so it was postponed. Anyway, ecu was scheduled to go out tomorrow. This morning I took the car out for a quick spin before removing the ecu and ended up having a terrible experience. After a short pull in fourth gear, the usual PSM and ABS failure lights lit up, but then the Check Engine light came on as well. I was very surprised to see the check engine light too. It had never come on before. I proceeded to shut the car off and restart it which cleared the PSM and ABS lights, but the check engine light remained. I decided it was time to take the car home and less than a mile after the car shut off completely. I mean ALL the lights in the dashboard lit up and the engine just shut down while driving at 40 mph. Luckily I had an area to pull over. I tried letting the car sit for a while but when I tried to start it, it would just crank over normally but would not fire up. I then proceeded to disconnect the battery for 20 minutes since I was told that this method should reset all error codes in the ecu, but again the car just cranked and cranked but never fired up. In the end I was forced to call a tow truck to get my car back home, and being that today is a Holiday it cost me a pretty penny. Anyway, right now I am very upset. I don't want to contact the dealer just yet, since that would definitely void my warranty. Is there a way for me to check the codes and see what went wrong? Could it be that there is something that went wrong with the Upsolute chip? I can't imagine what else could have happened. The car has only 1500 miles on it. I've contacted Rene and he said he does not know what could have happened, but will be happy to take a look at the ecu and see if there is anything wrong there. He also said he would be willing to return my ecu to stock if I want to contact my dealer for assistance. If the ecu is returned to stock, would the boost values that are stored in the ecu be reset? The odd thing about what happened today is that besides the lights in the dash, the car drove fine. I was driving along at around 40mph and then it shut off like it had run out of fuel, which it didn't (3/4 of a tank remaining). It did not sputter or make any weird noises. It just shut off like someone had turned the key off. I thought it might be some kind of failsafe built into the ecu which shut the car down. I really don't think there is anything mechanically wrong. At least this is the impression I am getting. I plan to send the ECU to Rene tomorrow since he is being very helpful. Hopefully he'll be able to locate the problem. I'd appreciate any input from you guys.
Thanks.

 

Wow,
Sorry to hear about this. I am interested in what your problem was. I would like to know the answer to your question of whether the ECU remembers boost values even after resetting back to stock! I would contact Rene again if possible and ask him directly.
I can only provide you with hope , but it doesn't sound like a major catastrophe. GOOD LUCK!

 

Sounds like an ecu failure to me. I would send it back and have Upsolute test it as much as possible before returning it. I had a similar experiance which was remedied by reprogramming the ecu

 

MBailey,
could you give me some more details? Did you have the Upsolute software? Did it shut down while driving like mine did? Did they have to replace the entire ecu? Did you find the cause of the ecu failure (mechanical or software related)?
Thank you!

Mark M,
thanks! All I can do now is hope....

 

Mark, if you find out that something has been permanently damaged from this (which at this point seems highly unlikely) and you are planning on taking the car in for warranty work, for your own sake I'd ask the administration to delete this post. Just a heads up, good luck with everything and I hope the issue is resolved soon.

 

Mark,

I had the CE light come on shortly after I had the program installed a while back. However, after a couple of restarts the CE light cleared on it's own and ever since i've never had a problem with it. I have about 14.5K miles with the ECU.

Did you try restarting the car again to see if it will turn over?

It took me approximately 3-4 restarts until the CE light cleared on it's own, however, I never had an issue with the car dying on me.

In terms of installing the original program, it shouldnt be a problem with the dealer. A Stock ECU can have fluctuations in boost spikes, so dont worry about it. I had my stock ecu spike to 1.0. Very strange, but it's not uncommon.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-Best

 

Could the fuel gauge be malfunctioning and the car is actually out of fuel?

 

I had a very similar experience and it was the Mass Airflow Sensor, although it would at least start but would run terribly.

 

MarkL

You are out of gas. The tank is a saddle tank which makes measuring remaining fuel impossible. Several people have had the same problem since the fuel guage computes the remaining gasoline.

Because of your chip your gas mileage is not what it should be and the computed values are incorrect.

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I know for a fact that I am not out of gas. I filled it up a few days ago and have not driven it since. Hopefully Rene will be able to correct the problem if it is the ecu. I am sending it out tomorrow and I will hear back from him as soon as he takes a look at it. I will keep you guys posted.
Thanks.

 

I will hold off on my upsolute upgrade for awhile.

 

I had a GIAC unit with a IBE chip-switch. There was something wrong with the switch so that the ecu would turn off while driving and the engine would stop like you had turned off the ignition.. The car would eventually start and run again normally. I eventually correllated the failure with hitting bumps in the road. I took the carpet cover off the ecu and started the car. I then hit my hand on the metal plate which the ecu is mounted on and the car stopped and threw the ABS/PCM lights. I sent the ecu back and the entire switch unit was replaced and it has run flawlessly since. The rest of the ecu was fine and did not have to be replaced.
One question for you. Now that the car is down do you get any warning lights or is the information screen in the middle of the dash blank?

 

Sorry you are having trouble but thanks for sharing. Please keep us informed.

 

Mark,
Please post results. I really want to pull the trigger, but every time I get ready, another problem surfaces on this board.

 

There is a known problem with the fuel line suddenly disconnecting inside the gas tank on Turbos ( faulty design) . It creates the same problem - cranking but not firing. That shouldn't trigger the ABS/PSM lights and I'm not sure if it would trigger a CEL. Keep us posted .