Removing gauges after deactivating immobilizer

[brad black]

if the ecu came from a 996r/998 then it never had an immo so it might work with just a reflash.

if it was virginised then it should run fine as long as all the immo system is connected.  this is not part of flashing, it's an external operation as such.

to disable the immo you change the flash file, it's just a 0/1 switch thing in the software.  then it will run without the dash, etc.

[thump]

I'm not sure where the ECU came from, I can ask him but I'm guessing it was from a bike that was parted out.

So Brad, if I understand correctly, the fact that the ECU is new and the bike runs fine does not necessarily mean that the immo was deactivated. I can't see any other reason (apart from an active immobilizer) that disconnecting the key antenna would disable the bike. You said the immo is not part of the flashing but a different operation - I'm just speculating but it could be he just flashed it and expected that to do the trick.

I will take it up this week and he's agreed to have another look, I'll hang out and watch his work and hopefully the issue will be settled. I'm hoping it isn't an issue with his software setup, the computer-y bits of a bike are generally beyond me (I'm more of a concrete thinker as my wife reminds me). Any tips on what I should be seeing?

Thanks all! I'm looking forward to resolving this, switching gauges and posting a pic or two.

[brad black]

to disable the immo you have to reflash the ecu with a file that has the immo switched off in the file code.

to virginise an ecu you don't reflash the ecu, you run the procedure required.  i can do it with the same tool that flashes, but it's not the same procedure.

if it won't run without the dash the immo is still active.

[thump]

Final Update:

I took it back to the shop and gave it another go, and now it's been properly de-immobilized. I've got the gauges off and it runs like a top.

The shop owner and I mused about what may have happened, here's a couple theories for anyone else who ends up in this scenario.

-he was using Ducati Diagnostic (the french program?) and emailing with its author after we ran into trouble. It's possible the first ECU got fried because the battery was weak and dropped it's output too low (despite being hooked to a tender) during the rewrite process.

-when he got the new ECU (also a 5.9MM from another M800) it initially didn't run the bike. He ran it through the process with the software, but did it on the bench, disconnected from the bike to avoid the problem he had the first time. After processing it the ECU ran the bike, which is why he'd thought he de-immobilized it at that point (the point at which I got it back and found it didn't run with the dash disconnected). In retrospect at that point he'd virginized it without de-activating the immo.

-today he repeated the process after giving my battery a good charge, this time with the ECU remaining connected to the bike. This time it worked and the immo is deactivated, I can disconnect the gauges and the key antenna, no problems.

It seems the difference was made running the software with the ECU connected to the bike as opposed to on the bench. This guy was ready to listen when I told him of the problem and he stood by his work, especially impressive when you consider what I paid him came nowhere near what he spent in parts, let alone time, to sort me out. I'd def recommend him to anyone in T.O.

Thanks very much to all the members who responded, helped to figure out the problem, give me the knowledge to know the immo was still working, and the confidence to go back and raise the issue with the shop. Much appreciated.

[thorn14]

Glad you got it figured out!

[thump]

Late final post - after deactivating that immobilizer last summer, I got me a motogadget tiny, cut a bracket, painted some stuff, dealt with wiring, and crammed it all into place. This is the result, thanks to all the members who gave their advice.