Hello!
I need help reprogramming my TCU of a 2006 Vanquish S.
Its AM but on all control modules its written Jaguar and since DB7 was on the XK platform I decided to make a post.
Is there anyone here capable doing such diagnosys?
Tricky part is that I live in Bulgaria and I am quite far away from UK where are located 90% of the shops which are capable doing such service.
I am looking for remote help , recommendations are more then welcome in this situation!

Briefly the problem is that the car does not work in the manual mode, called by AM - SSM - select shift manual.
Paddles are used to shift the gears in SSM and there was stored code for the upshift paddle - it was replaced with new part but this did not solve the problem.
For some reason the TCU module cannot be read by the diagnosys tool which I have and the car had small accident and battery was disconnected for a long time.
So my guess is that the module lost its configuration and needs to be reprogrammed since the old owner said everything was working prior accident and car have service history in AM just 130 kms prior accident.
So can anyone help me out with this problem?
Thanks!

 

HPP,
I have been looking into this for a friend in Florida, USA. A sophisticated attempt to steal his 2008 Vanquish left the transmission inoperative.
What I know: Vanquish uses an Italian transmission integrated with the differential. It is a semi-automatic manual transmission.
Jaguar XK/Rs are totally different and use ZF transmissions mounted to the rear of the engine.
Having dived deeply into IDS/SDD, editing the program, I can assure you that it cannot be used to work on the Vanquish or any AML.
The software that you need is the Aston Martin Diagnostic Service (AMDS) tool. I understand that it is strictly controlled. Unobtainable.
I thought that EU regulations required manufacturers make service tools available.
Check out: https://aston1936.com/2021/03/16/an-...every-toolbox/
Not tried it but haven't seen anything equivalent. If you find anything better, please advise.

 

Hello Bill!
Thanks for the feedback and your recommendations and assumptions are very accurate.
Transmission is Tremec - American unit, the hydraulic system / which operates the manual Tremec via 7 solenoids/ or the so called ASM system is developed by Magneti Marelli.
The same system is used in Ferrari F360 - called F1, in Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago - called E Gear, also in Maserati Quattroporte and Alfa Romeo 156 Spider I believe.
No idea why Aston went this path and choose this extremelly complex system for their flagship model but in 2000s people were crazy about F1 technologies. It is what it is in the end of the day.
I have semi-pro chinese diagnosys tool which reads all modules but the TCU , it says that the TCU is not equipped in the car.
I have managed to find wiring diagram of the TCU and tracked each wire in the interior , I had to remove dashboard and tons and tons of working hours to check each pin and I went to the conclusion that there is current going into the TCU and that it should work. I also took the TCU to a local specialist and he checked physically the circuit board.
I am pretty sure that the TCU needs relearning but the problem is that the software is unobtainable like you said and AMDS costs a lot money and it does not come with operation instructions , so even if I manage to get or rent one its not certain that I will be able to relearn properly the whole unit.
I asked few shops in UK for remote help and they seem uninterested in helping me out maybe from a financial prospective - which I can understand.
I will contact Steve from Aston1936 he seems very talkative and helpful in hes videos.

 

@HPP have you tried asking for help on the Aston Martin forums? Honestly there are none (that I know of anyway) that are as comprehensive as this forum for Jaguars, but I would recommend at least trying these three:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/...up.asp?h=0&c=6
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin-39/

Edit - the link to the third one, a Facebook group, isn’t showing up. Look for Aston Martin DIY on FB.

 

I will try them out, thanks for the reply!

 

HPP,
1. Do you mean that 12V, was confirmed at the TCM connector? If not, I would check that first.
Are the connector pins very clean? Try contact cleaner for good measure.
2. The Chinese diagnostic tool sends a CAN universal diagnostic code. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unifie...ostic_Services
and the vehicle sends appropriate CAN responses. The tool has a user interface (UI) that interprets the responses and provides a display.
If the diagnostic tool has not been programmed to understand the TCM response, it may just ignore it.
So, you could consider testing the TCM on the bench. Read the CAN bus connection (CANH & CANL): Connect a CAN bus tool in parallel with a 120-ohm resistor. Apply power to the module and confirm that the module is attempting to access the CAN bus. That will confirm operation and reveal the TCM node ID.
3. Reinstall the TCM and log the vehicle CAN traffic. Save as .txt, convert to Excel for analysis.
Look for the TCM message and responses. A lot of effort, but it could confirm TCM communications.
4. If all else fails, contact AML for help: can you send the TCM to someone (maybe Italy?) for analysis and reprogramming?

Keep us posted.
Bill

 

Hi Bill,
thanks for the suggestions.
I have confirmed 12 volts on the TCU and also I cleaned the both connectors which plug into the TCU.
Also I tracked each wire going into the TCU to the other end of the line and inspected for any damage or corrosion - everything looks like brand new and no signs of damage were found.
Your suggestion to test the module on bench is something which I will try out in order to see if there is any response from the module.
I asked few shops in UK if its possible to send the TCU for diagnosys and they said that its possible but it will prove nothing since gear and clutch position will not be calibrated according to the TCU signal.
I am pretty sure that its possible to test the module on bench, one guy in Slovenia reprogrammed all of my 911s modules on bench - without the car, its just you need to find the right person for the job.
Thank you once again for the suggestions , I will keep you guys updated!
Today I noticed a play in my right front end during test drive so I will deal this first for safety reasons and after that I am planning to dive deep into the electrical system of the Vanquish

 

pin 3 vehicle obd to pin 7 on your tool

 

My gut tells me that there is a secret handshake of some sort.
Magneti Marelli following Ford example?
Ex: Door open, ignition on, put in neutral, close door, pat yourself on the head three times, put in reverse, close door, open door, ignition off, restart? (Joking)
Maybe the Magneti folks would share a manual reset procedure under the circumstances?

Bill

 

In the manual its written that the TCU restarts each time when you leave the car without battery, but it does not say if you need to relearn it or not.
I doubt that even Aston would do such thing, maybe there is selflearning procedure but you need to drive the car at least 100 miles or so. I tried with a short 10 mile trip but nothing really happens and the keep alive codes are still there.
I would do a longer trip but there is some shaking in the front right part of the car and I need to check it first before I can step on the pedal
But yea the starting procedure is a little ritual and the car wont start if : door is open, if bonnet is open , if trunk is open, if the parking break is raised if the car is in gear , it needs to go to neutral in order to fire. Something which happened to me , when acceleration the bonnet latch opened a little bit just to give a signal to the sensor that the bonnet is open so the car went from 5th gear to neutral and you can basicly pull over or stop in the middle of the road trying to close your bonnet.
So yea there are some strange things with the car, no doubt about it.

 

HPP,
The TCM program is retained in in flash, read only memory. It is functioning sufficiently to allow partial operation.
On start-up, the program likely scans the hardware to see that it is present and ready for operation.
Since a paddle switch has been replaced, that is good place to look.
If the program does scan the paddle switch, it would want to confirm continuity. But the paddle switch is open, not pressed.
New theory: there is a high value resistor bridging the paddle switch to confirm continuity/presence of the paddle switch.
If the resistor is blown or continuity is not present for some reason, the program proceeds without the paddle switch function.
So, check both paddle switches to see if there is a resistor present. Anything noted on the wiring diagram?

Bill

 

Thats the wiring diagram / or at least part of it/ , under the steering column there is a socket which plugs the connector from the paddles. I tracked the wiring from the socket directly to the TCU and the lines had 0-1 ohm of resistance.
I am not sure were should I look for the resistor you speak about, I dont see any on the diagram.

 

You can use WDS to work with this AM. WDS hardware is a bit easier to obtain and @Cambo should have an AM disk for the WDS.

 

Note the 10K resistors in the gear selector switches. They are internal to the switches and allow the operating system to check continuity to the paddle switches. Check to confirm that the resistance (10K + 470) = 10.5K is seen between B (black) and U (blue). Same, 10.5K between black and white.
Look for (10K + 10K)/2 + 470 = 5.5K between black and yellow.
If any of those resistances are missing, the operating system will assume that the switch is missing or defective and likely disable the function.

Bill


ML, Please elaborate. What can we do with WDS in the 2006 AM? I'm looking for a way to help my Florida friend with a similar transmission issue in a 2008.

Bill

 

ML,
Thanks for the lead ...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/...f=70&t=1248581

I'll check with Cambo ...

Bill

 

Hi Bill,
I checked those earlier on my original paddle shifters - everything looked fine and the measurment were good.
Just in case I got another set of paddle shifters and installed them in the car and problem is still there.
I had to do this to completely eliminate the possibility of bad switch or resistor.
And just to be 1000% sure its not the + paddle, I swapped the pins of the + paddle and - paddle on the connector which enters the socket, same DCT I got after the swap of the pins.
I am now 100% sure that this has nothing to do with paddle shifters, its possible that the module gets some communication error from another module and it pops a shifter DCT.
The level of knowledge which is needed to pin point the problem here is just outrageous and basiclly each AM specialist has no clue what the problem could be.
It requires intense diagnose, maybe with another modules which communicate with the TCM , I heard Mike from Bamford Rose was speaking about an Aston which had problem with the retractable roof and they found the problem was in the passenger door module, it was giving false signal to the other module and stuff like that .

 

Thanks for the advice , I am thinking about this possibility. But I am not sure what to do with the WDS once I got it and besides that I have 0 experience working with this program.
Sure I got a problem but, first I need to diagnose it right and find the problem I think.

 

Bill: The roof and doors are likely on the same LIN bus. So, the error code mistake is reasonable.

While WDS may be easier to find than AMDS, I don't see any availability at this time. I have an interest in editing IDS/SDD and have successfully enabled XF BSM for the XK/R.

If I can get ahold of the AM WDS CD-13, I'll try to splice the files into IDS. WDS was GenRad and there is still a lot of GenRad in IDS/SDD through V130s and V140s.

If anyone can share those AM files, please message.

 

Won't be that easy, the WDS is Win95/98 machine, so the whole software is compiled to that target OS. But the modern OSes (XP-up) are not that compatible with 95/98, especially in case if the 95/98 sw is using some dirty hacks ( like WDS ). Then there'll be a big issues with the NIC driver - WDS is using the different NIC model to communicate with the vehicle and there's no drivers for 2000-up Windows. The NIC hw is different too actually.

 

I have a WDS with CD13 but walked OP through how to do the octopus with an aftermarket tool.

you can literally do it on an iphone lol. that and disable the key off first gear