I wanted to create this new post so it does not get lost in the shuffle of the other one.
I am by no means an expert on tuning with t7suite, but here have been many people here asking about t7suite, how it works, and how to get it to work.
There is a ton of information to be had by reading through the forum posts at ecuproject.com. I started out by reading pretty much every post on their forums over the course of a month or so and basically knew how to do everything (regarding connecting ECU and burning files) before actually buying anything.
There are a few routes to go and you have to decide which one you want. I decided to go the BDM route as it was the cheapest and also the risk of damaging an ECU is pretty much nil. If you were to go the can-usb route, and something got disconnected or it locked up during tuning, the only way to save the ECU is to use BDM.
My parts list:
a spare T7 ECU $45
BDM interface $15
Parallel port card + cable $20
2.54mm Pin headers (at least 20) $5
A pair of hemostats –already had
Soldering gun with needle tip
Solder
Spare USB jump drive
6 alligator clips
I purchased my ECU from ebay, ANY T7 ecu will work, any year, any model (including v6). The BDM interface can be found on ebay.de and occasionally on ebay.com. If your motherboard does NOT have a parallel port on it, you can purchase one on newegg.com, if you need to purchase one as I did, ENSURE that it WORKS in DOS and has drivers available. The 2.54mm pin headers can also be found on ebay quite cheap. I removed the pins from the plastic spacer as it was just easier to solder in that way. A pair of hemostats or some sort of needle nose pliers are very helpful in soldering in the pins. What ever type of soldering gun you decide to use, it needs to have a needle tip to make the process easier. The spare USB jump drive is necessary to hold the win 98 boot files and the bd32 program in which you actually do your burning with.
So, all your parts have arrived and now you need to install your pin headers into your ECU.
The ECU in a 9-5 is located behind the firewall, under the plastic shield. It IS possible to remove the ECU without removing the aquarium cover. You simply bend back the plastic housing (this is on RH side of car – passengers side in the US) There is a large black plastic/rubber cover, remove the 4 (10mm I believe) nuts to expose the ECU, then you have two more 10mm nuts holding the ECU in. Use a magnet so you don’t lose the nuts – if they fall, you can usually get them by knocking the passengers kick panel/carpet (INSIDE the car).
Use these pictures to help you install the pin headers after you have removed the board from the metal case: [courtesy of drew on ecuproject.com forums] – there are 10 of them. When I installed my pins, if you go in the exact center of the solder, the pins will actually GO THROUGH the board – this helps with stability – if you push them too far in, it’s quite simple to melt the solder again and pull them back out slightly. If you have access to ecuproject forums, the post where I got these pictures from is located here
![Image]()
![Image]()
Now you have everything you need to start your reading/writing/erasing of your t7 ecu! Here is a very rough picture I made a while ago on how you connect everything
![Image]()
Here is another picture on the CORRECT orientation of the connector from the BDM to the ECU. The red strip is not really necessary (some BDM devices are shipped with cables that do NOT have the red stripe) Pay attention to how the connector goes into the bdm and how the connector goes into the ECU.
![Image]()
Next you need to get your USB key ready so that you can use the bd32 program to read, write, and erase the files on your ECU.
The post at ecuproject.com forums that I used to assist me in this process can be found here
Ok, so now you have the bd32 program working – as in you can boot into dos, and start the bd32 program.
Now let’s power up the ECU. I used an adapter that I had lying around the house. The output MUST be DC and most people say for it to work that you’ll need at least 14-16 volts (don’t go higher than 16) and 1 amp. I simply cut the connector at the end of the adapter cable off to expose my positive and negative wires. I stripped the wires about 3/4 of an inch and clip my three alligator clips to each wire.
Here is a nice picture of where to hook your positive and negative alligator clips. Save this picture to your computer and PRINT IT OUT (just in case you forget to hook the cables up before restarting into DOS) In this picture, there are 2 neg and 2 pos on the left and 1 neg and 1 pos on the right (look closer if you don’t see them). Also, with the BDM, IGNORE the can low can high connections.
![Image]()
OK, so by now, you have successfully connected your computer to your BDM device, and your BDM to your ECU. Here is a quick guide on using BD32:
There are many bin files on ecuproject.com for you to use or to compare in making your own custom tune, even a biopower file for the 9-5! (thanks mackan)
I hope this guide has helped you guys understand this process and that I made it simple enough to understand. I may have made a few mistakes but I will be glad to edit anything that is pointed out to me.
I am by no means an expert on tuning with t7suite, but here have been many people here asking about t7suite, how it works, and how to get it to work.
There is a ton of information to be had by reading through the forum posts at ecuproject.com. I started out by reading pretty much every post on their forums over the course of a month or so and basically knew how to do everything (regarding connecting ECU and burning files) before actually buying anything.
There are a few routes to go and you have to decide which one you want. I decided to go the BDM route as it was the cheapest and also the risk of damaging an ECU is pretty much nil. If you were to go the can-usb route, and something got disconnected or it locked up during tuning, the only way to save the ECU is to use BDM.
My parts list:
a spare T7 ECU $45
BDM interface $15
Parallel port card + cable $20
2.54mm Pin headers (at least 20) $5
A pair of hemostats –already had
Soldering gun with needle tip
Solder
Spare USB jump drive
6 alligator clips
I purchased my ECU from ebay, ANY T7 ecu will work, any year, any model (including v6). The BDM interface can be found on ebay.de and occasionally on ebay.com. If your motherboard does NOT have a parallel port on it, you can purchase one on newegg.com, if you need to purchase one as I did, ENSURE that it WORKS in DOS and has drivers available. The 2.54mm pin headers can also be found on ebay quite cheap. I removed the pins from the plastic spacer as it was just easier to solder in that way. A pair of hemostats or some sort of needle nose pliers are very helpful in soldering in the pins. What ever type of soldering gun you decide to use, it needs to have a needle tip to make the process easier. The spare USB jump drive is necessary to hold the win 98 boot files and the bd32 program in which you actually do your burning with.
So, all your parts have arrived and now you need to install your pin headers into your ECU.
The ECU in a 9-5 is located behind the firewall, under the plastic shield. It IS possible to remove the ECU without removing the aquarium cover. You simply bend back the plastic housing (this is on RH side of car – passengers side in the US) There is a large black plastic/rubber cover, remove the 4 (10mm I believe) nuts to expose the ECU, then you have two more 10mm nuts holding the ECU in. Use a magnet so you don’t lose the nuts – if they fall, you can usually get them by knocking the passengers kick panel/carpet (INSIDE the car).
Use these pictures to help you install the pin headers after you have removed the board from the metal case: [courtesy of drew on ecuproject.com forums] – there are 10 of them. When I installed my pins, if you go in the exact center of the solder, the pins will actually GO THROUGH the board – this helps with stability – if you push them too far in, it’s quite simple to melt the solder again and pull them back out slightly. If you have access to ecuproject forums, the post where I got these pictures from is located here
Now you have everything you need to start your reading/writing/erasing of your t7 ecu! Here is a very rough picture I made a while ago on how you connect everything
Here is another picture on the CORRECT orientation of the connector from the BDM to the ECU. The red strip is not really necessary (some BDM devices are shipped with cables that do NOT have the red stripe) Pay attention to how the connector goes into the bdm and how the connector goes into the ECU.
Next you need to get your USB key ready so that you can use the bd32 program to read, write, and erase the files on your ECU.
The post at ecuproject.com forums that I used to assist me in this process can be found here
”matthewm at ecuproject forums said:
Ok, so now you have the bd32 program working – as in you can boot into dos, and start the bd32 program.
Now let’s power up the ECU. I used an adapter that I had lying around the house. The output MUST be DC and most people say for it to work that you’ll need at least 14-16 volts (don’t go higher than 16) and 1 amp. I simply cut the connector at the end of the adapter cable off to expose my positive and negative wires. I stripped the wires about 3/4 of an inch and clip my three alligator clips to each wire.
Here is a nice picture of where to hook your positive and negative alligator clips. Save this picture to your computer and PRINT IT OUT (just in case you forget to hook the cables up before restarting into DOS) In this picture, there are 2 neg and 2 pos on the left and 1 neg and 1 pos on the right (look closer if you don’t see them). Also, with the BDM, IGNORE the can low can high connections.
OK, so by now, you have successfully connected your computer to your BDM device, and your BDM to your ECU. Here is a quick guide on using BD32:
”matthewm from ecuproject.com forums” said:
”matthewm from ecuproject.com forums” said:![Image]()
Image Copied from xendus.se (Can I use this image?)
At the flashing prompt type "BD32"
Power up the ECU and connect the BDM
IMPORTANT! You must prepare the ECU once before Reading and Writing...
This Enables registers, Disables the watchdog and allows writing to the ECU
Type do "prept7.do"
BD32 Should confirm that ECU is ready to program and that it is "STOPPED" with the following.
"ECU is now prepared for flash programming or erasing."
![Image]()
To Dump Flash (as in copy to your USB key) type "dumpt7 filename.bin" [filename.bin can be named ANYTHING_YOU_WANT.bin]
This process should take about 20 minutes... [you will see a scrolling “…….” Across the screen]
Restart into windows and copy the original bin file to your hard disk, in-case the USB key gets corrupted.
To Erase flash
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BACKED UP FLASH FIRST!
The erasing step should not be [USUALLY IS!] necessary, but if you experience errors in the flashing stage, come back and try this.
Type "do eraset7.do"
Then type "md 0x0 128". This is done to verify that the flash is erased.
You should read 0xFFFF on every address from 0x0 to 0x80000. [After erasing the flash, it may take 5 seconds for it to read “0xFFFF” in the addresses – if it does not read that the first time you give the command “md 0x0 128,” wait 10 seconds and try again]
Restart into windows and edit the "Original.bin" however you like [using t7suite], ensuring you make a backup of the original, only ever edit a copy of the file. If you wish to change VIN and IMMOBILIZER numbers use the freeware T7tool http://xendus.se/t7tool/T7Tool.1.0.0.17.rar
[YOU CAN DO THIS IN t7suite!!!!]
You must convert your edited bin file to a Motorola "src" file to flash it back to the ECU
Use bin2srec in a windows command prompt to convert to the src format
Type "bin2srec modified.bin > output.src"
[This program can be found here . The windows command prompt is accessed by going to start > run > “cmd” You will see a black box pop up and you should be in the directory “C:\documents and settings\Your computer name” or something similar. For you to convert a file using bin2srec, the bin2screc.exe MUST be located in the same place that the command prompt is pointing to as well as the .bin file that you are converting. The output (src) file will also be placed in that directory, the conversion from .bin to .src takes about 3 seconds.]
To Write flash
Restart again using the flash key you created previously (with the previously created "output.src" copied to its root directory) and type
"do prept7.do" To prepare the ECU for writing.
"flasht7 output.src" To flash the ECU
This will take approx three times as long as reading the flash did. You will see a series of dots increasing in number, until completed.
If you run into problem when you are flashing try this:
- Double the delay parameter.
- If you didn't erase the flash - do it, and then try flashing again.
- The bottom field in BD32 should report "MCU: STOPPED" while you are using flashT7. If you for some reason have given the reset command you need to run the prept7.do script again in order to setup the registers and stop the MCU.
- You can ignore a "2: Type of S-Record is invalid" error as the ECU will still function.
There are many bin files on ecuproject.com for you to use or to compare in making your own custom tune, even a biopower file for the 9-5! (thanks mackan)
I hope this guide has helped you guys understand this process and that I made it simple enough to understand. I may have made a few mistakes but I will be glad to edit anything that is pointed out to me.
