Flashing a Vehicle

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When it comes to flashing vehicles, sometimes its all just too easy to plug in your flash tool or remove the ecu and just pull the calibration data with little or no thought to checking over the vehicle before starting. This is where many fail before they even start.

You should have some sort of procedure or method in which you follow prior to carrying out any modifications.


SHOULD A SUPPORT TICKET BE RAISED AND THESE STEPS HAVE NOT BEEN CARRIED OUT, THEN NO FILE SUPPORT SHALL BE GIVEN


  • Healthcheck of the vehicle, this should include a full visual inspection around the vehicle.

Is the vehicle in a worthy condition?

The state of the tyres is a good indication to how the vehicle is driven and maintained Under bonnet checks should include the state of oil and coolant levels, what state is the oil in?? Checks for oil leaks, gas leaks, split hoses and pipes etc etc Inside the car, start the engine, check for any warning lamps if any are illuminated is the engine idling ok, rev up ok, does it emit any smoke from the tailpipe, if so what colour

  • Healthcheck of the ECU

A good multi protocol scan must be used to interrogate the ecu checking for error codes Present, Intermittant or Pending

A quick live data check: airflow rate / manifold air pressure, atmospheric pressure, air/coolant temps


For petrol engines

Pre cat Lambda correction

Post cat lambda Reading

Injection time at idle

Fuel trim if present


For Diesel Engines

Airflow rate with EGR open/closed

Condition of DPF ie soot counter, back pressure, exhaust temps

EGR Position

Intake/turbo temperature


  • Then finally a road test of the vehicle

Does the engine accelerate cleanly

any smoke emitted at any time

condition/operation of clutch

condition/operation of transmission


After all these steps have been competently carried out and there is no fault with the vehicle, then the first stage of re-calibration can take place.


During the check over of the vehicle you will have noted, MAKE, MODEL, VERSION OF THE VEHICLE.

Depending on what tool you are using this data will help choose which method of tuning you are going to carry out, whether it be OBD or BDM style bench flash.