Hello,

In the process of working on my current vehicle, I have learned that a 1997 XK8 ECU could be swapped, at the sacrifice of odometer readings with the instrument cluster and TCM. Is the same true for a 2006? Or is it more difficult / impossible with the newer ECU's?

I ask this, because I found a very nice 2006 XK8 which is hours away, the owner claims "the ECU failed, the dealer refused the work, and I don't want to get into the hood myself." He is not willing to go thru the business of charging the battery to read the codes for me (I don't blame him,) he has multiple offers lined up but I would be willing to trump them if the car is likely salvageable. (I plan to check the other common points such as fuel pump, tire life, shock mount life, oil in the air bypass, shifter Transmission Fault, etc.)

Do these suffer the same corrosion from capacitors that the older ECU's do? My thought is to first check that, and if I see it take the plunge on the good bet this would be the issue. But if the ECU looks fine, and is instead a different failure that isn't so easily approached, worst-case if I had to swap, I only would like to know it is possible.

Thank you in advance, once again!
-Jim

 

Actually - my apologies, if it matters, this is the XK8 Victory Edition. Different ECU entirely than the 1997, that's for sure... Is this swappable?

 

no they don’t have cap problems.

it should be as easy as just saving the old vid block, install new ecm, upload old vid and then run immo.

x103 and later supposedly can’t be done without a a brand new ecm but that trick might work.

or ids engineering mode to copy and paste the donor’s vid block into the instrument pack and maybe the bpm as well

 

Depending on price, the car might be a steal. In this situation, you can't determine if the ECM has really failed. Of course, you also can't easily tell if there's a problem with the engine/transmission. Given the vin, you can get a used one for $100-200. With a refund if it did not. You can always bring a battery with you for testing.

I don't think the ECM from a 1997 will work. It would be nice to know why the dealer thinks the ECM has failed. Does it have PECUS error message?

 

But, that leaves him without an ECM for his current car the 1997.

 

not compatible at all

to even try this you need a used ecm from an x105 on ebay

 

If it's cheap enough, and you're a gambling man, may be worth a punt. As noted though, if it isn't running, what else could be in trouble?

 

Your advice was spot-on on my Engine Fault / rotary switch. You were exactly right to go in the direction of P/N circuit diagnosis.

Would you be so kind as to point me to any sort of procedure for doing this VID save/restore? A special tool I should obtain to connect a laptop to the ECU?

 

@xalty and others - please disregard; After reviewing http://www.jagrepair.com/images/TSB/...ID%20block.pdf and thinking about this a bit, I decided this sounds like too much of a gamble, as @michaelh put it.

Thanks for the advice - I am going to dodge this bullet...