Thinking of putting together a loaner kit for ECU/DRBII

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sat Aug 17, 2019 6:28 pm

I got the micropod clone working for DRBIII and Witech functions on my shop laptop. Its not something that I want to lend out however. I was thinking of getting a second setup with some older cheaper laptop, keeping it in a pelican case, and then it can be shipped around and shared.

I was thinking an MPPS cable could be included as well for DIY ECU tuning.

That being said, any thoughts on how to execute this? Need a cheap computer, an older Toughbook might be nice. Not sure how to handle deposit since the combined sum for this stuff adds up pretty quick.

Other thoughts?

WolverineFW · **Posted:** Sat Aug 17, 2019 7:17 pm

Your deposit should be at least double your replacement cost or some jerk off will just keep it.

Seen this happening lately on other forums for other vehicles for loaner ECMs or TCMs. Some jerk keeps the loaner because the deposit is too low and they just see it as a cost of acquiring their own.

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GordnadoCRD · **Posted:** Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:55 pm

^agree^

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Here's the problem that I see with this, and I say this as someone who would *love* to have it as an option:

You'd need to be able to do it for less than a dealer's time to do the same with a DRB-III that they already have.

I realise that this won't apply to everyone, but we have four dealers within 30 minutes of our home who have DRB-IIIs. Their charge to make any changes that require one: an hour of shop time. That translates out to approximately $120 on average in our neck of the woods.

A DRB-III emulator might be a possibility, but I'm not sure that the cost to make that could ever be recouped. Having said that, it would help in the (very) long term with ensuring that these vehicles can be kept running.

TKB4 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:41 am

Similar to what I suggested years ago about making up a pack of various sensors that are needed at times to troubleshoot and rent them out with a large deposit and of course they would have to be marked so they wouldn't get swapped just prove whether needed to buy one .

Perhaps a Front control module would be useful too. I have one i won't need for a long time.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sun Aug 18, 2019 11:34 am

WolverineFW wrote:

Your deposit should be at least double your replacement cost or some jerk off will just keep it.

Seen this happening lately on other forums for other vehicles for loaner ECMs or TCMs. Some jerk keeps the loaner because the deposit is too low and they just see it as a cost of acquiring their own.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

Ya I agree. Heck a pelican case is about the cost of an older laptop. The cloned tool is fairly cheap as well, so the total cost for all this with double deposit could steel be good.

casm wrote:

Here's the problem that I see with this, and I say this as someone who would *love* to have it as an option:

You'd need to be able to do it for less than a dealer's time to do the same with a DRB-III that they already have.

I realise that this won't apply to everyone, but we have four dealers within 30 minutes of our home who have DRB-IIIs. Their charge to make any changes that require one: an hour of shop time. That translates out to approximately $120 on average in our neck of the woods.

A DRB-III emulator might be a possibility, but I'm not sure that the cost to make that could ever be recouped. Having said that, it would help in the (very) long term with ensuring that these vehicles can be kept running.

Ya I wasn't really planning to do this as a money making venture. But heck at $120 per use you got me thinking about it. $XXX and you can do whatever you need at your leisure and its delivered right to your door!

Some dealers also don't have a DRBIII anymore, or the vehicle needs an ECU replacement which means it needs to be towed. Or even you need to do some advanced troubleshooting and the DRBIII or witech is just the ticket for it.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Aug 18, 2019 2:30 pm

Sir Sam wrote:

Ya I wasn't really planning to do this as a money making venture. But heck at $120 per use you got me thinking about it. $XXX and you can do whatever you need at your leisure and its delivered right to your door!
Some dealers also don't have a DRBIII anymore, or the vehicle needs an ECU replacement which means it needs to be towed. Or even you need to do some advanced troubleshooting and the DRBIII or witech is just the ticket for it.

Any possibility of just a software package or application that you could just load on a laptop that would emulate the DRBIII and it's functions?
That would be real sweet and you could just sell the software on line and not have to fool with shipping and deposits, etc.....

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sun Aug 18, 2019 7:38 pm

WWDiesel wrote:

Sir Sam wrote:

Ya I wasn't really planning to do this as a money making venture. But heck at $120 per use you got me thinking about it. $XXX and you can do whatever you need at your leisure and its delivered right to your door!
Some dealers also don't have a DRBIII anymore, or the vehicle needs an ECU replacement which means it needs to be towed. Or even you need to do some advanced troubleshooting and the DRBIII or witech is just the ticket for it.

Any possibility of just a software package or application that you could just load on a laptop that would emulate the DRBIII and it's functions?
That would be real sweet and you could just sell the software on line and not have to fool with shipping and deposits, etc.....

Sure, thats available for purchase to anyone right now. Heck you could go buy it here today:
https://www.americankeysupply.com/produ ... LYQAvD_BwE

A setup working computer with Witech and the DRBIII emulator that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is a different story.

The clones of the Micropod II are cheaper, but if you read around on here there have been lots of variable success stories with getting them to work. One complete setup working loaner computer solves that issue.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:05 am

Sir Sam wrote:

Sure, thats available for purchase to anyone right now. Heck you could go buy it here today:
https://www.americankeysupply.com/produ ... LYQAvD_BwE
A setup working computer with Witech and the DRBIII emulator that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is a different story.
The clones of the Micropod II are cheaper, but if you read around on here there have been lots of variable success stories with getting them to work. One complete setup working loaner computer solves that issue.

I see what you mean, $1800.00 OUCH! Not cheap! :shock:

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:37 pm

WWDiesel wrote:

Sir Sam wrote:

Sure, thats available for purchase to anyone right now. Heck you could go buy it here today:
https://www.americankeysupply.com/produ ... LYQAvD_BwE
A setup working computer with Witech and the DRBIII emulator that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is a different story.
The clones of the Micropod II are cheaper, but if you read around on here there have been lots of variable success stories with getting them to work. One complete setup working loaner computer solves that issue.

I see what you mean, $1800.00 OUCH! Not cheap! :shock:

No its not! And the cheapo clone that I got takes some work to get setup and going, which some owners here have reported issues with, and not everyone wants to deal with.

Thinking of putting together a loaner kit for ECU/DRBII

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