I'm truly happy to be wrong, but as I say I tried to restore my files numerous times to no avail. I will go into this in further detail and it's not perhaps as black and white as I have intimated and I want to be expressly clear/transparent and us unbiased as I possibly can. At this point, I'd like to highlight that I think my previous posts (here and in other topics) have simply tried to balance the negative consequences with the good ones. There is very little said about RS Tuner on this forum, other than advice about how to use it and the (rightly so) positive reviews of its performance and value for money. I am very much
not the only person to have had problems though and problems with it are little if ever discussed. There are both threads here and on other forums and I've spoken to a couple of people who have heard of the same issue rearing its head elsewhere.
Frankly, Henk was less than forth coming with software files or any method for me to resolve the situation in a manor which would result in a completely unlocked (free from RSTuner) ECU without using a third party other than myself. He did however press me to go and use tuners with which he has a business relationship. Most of which would simply write their calibration to the ECU using the RS Tuner. I don't personally have any tuning software or the experience to use it, so I cannot comment with regard to the technical ease (or even possibility) of creating the appropriate calibration file to use with the RS Tuner. Either way, funnily enough I had already been to one of the tuners he recommended and they could not access the ECU at all. Hypothetically, if it had actually worked the end result would have been an incredibly limited choice of tuner and I'm still stuck with an ECU that requires the RSTuner to tune and consequently I'm tied to a very small list of people which will no doubt diminish further over time. It's also worth mentioning that I was told my ECU was sent (by a recognised RS specialist) to be reset by another specialist, after he could not gain access to the ECU himself. The ECU came back and could not be reset by them.
I concede that I did not follow up Henk's only proposed solution, which was to go to well known specialist in Leeds whom he claimed can fully reset the ECU. Whether they would or could completely remove the RSTuner software I do not know, as I didn't pursue it for a number of reasons:
- It would cost me equal or more than just replacing the ECU/UCH/Keys in fuel and labour.
- I disagree on principal that I should be forced to either use them for mapping (however good they are), or fork out yet more fuel and more labour to be able to use my choice of tuner and thus making it incredibly expensive in the process.
- If I were to have had the car mapped in Leeds then I would either need to pay for a hotel, or have the car badly mapped. How could they possibly do a good custom tune including both up to temp and cold start in just a single day without costing me a fortune in labour.
I don't consider the offered solution to my problem either reasonable or acceptable, on the basis that I was not made aware of these consequences in advance at any time, regardless of the fact Henk claims it says so in an email confirmation (it didn't). I had no contact with the specialist in Leeds at all, so please don't anyone think I am inferring any wrong doing or negativity towards them.
I'd be very interested to hear what you find Fatty! Genuinely, the ideal out come is that you will be able to both prove it can be done and hopefully provide an easy method. The key here in my opinion is that being technically possible is not a real solution. A real solution is one that is both viable in money and ease. It would save a lot of ball ache, stress and money no doubt for someone further down the line and frankly it would fill the void that Henk has created (in my opinion quite deliberately to suit his business agenda).
