Hi there,

I'm located in New Zealand,

I have nearly completed my 1242 MPI conversion on my Fiat Panda.

Unfortunately the ECU has an IMO and I have the key but not the matching control box.

ECU is: IAW 8F .5T

I do have an EEPROM programmer (TL866II), which I've tried to use to remove the immobiliser. But after further research and failed attempts, it looks like the immo is set in the Motorolla HC11 chip.

Is this correct? (I have a UPA programmer for the HC11 on it's way from overseas)

Has anyone else done this themselves?

Am I correct in thinking the immo off bin file should be pulled from the HC11 chip circled in yellow not the eeprom (red / pink circle).


Can't wait to finally get my car started.

Ok, so for the sake of posterity I'll update what I've learnt so far.

Yes, you do need a USB - UPA programmer to read the HC11F1 chip circled above (where the IMMO bin file is located). I removed it from my first ECU with a heat gun, but might have destroyed the board in the process. (the chip was fine just something else went pop on the board as I didn't contain the heat properly)

Anyway, I put the HC11F1 chip into the 68PLCC adaptor my UPA-USB came with. It didn't read.... After freaking out and reading a bit (as it was a Chinese clone) I realised the reader got shipped to me with the switch on the DC voltage setting not the USB setting. Shown with yellow arrow is the dc setting. Just lift the pin joiner and move across.


So it read the chip perfectly, I saved the 512kb bin file as Factory settings, made a copy, and uploaded that onto the immo off program I had. Ran the program and it was a success.

Then I uploaded the new bin file to the chip, super excited I went back to the ecu to solder it back on.

This is where my soldering skills ruined me, I made a few mistakes, then some more, then I tried to lift it off again using a heat gun but I accidentally lifted some of the circuit board with it. So now I have a good chip and a broken ecu.

Back to the drawing board... I then decided it should be safer to program the chip on my other back up ecu in line (or on the board with no soldering) This hasn't given me much luck yet..

Next I found someone on trademe (local ebay) wrecking a punto 1242 8v MPI, so I'm in the process of seeing if I can just get another ECU code box with ring and matching key.

I see how the ring connects to the code box, but how does the code box connect to the ECU? I don't recall seeing any loose cables on my current ecu wiring loom.. This time I don't want to be missing anything, so do I also ask for a cable that runs from the code box to the ecu? Is that a thing?

Thanks for the help guys!

I've done it! Finally found solution for wiring up the IAW 8f 5t ECU to the UPA USB programmer (used a china clone), without having to desolder the Motorola HC11F1 chip!

See attached what I did,



I also took a video which I'll edit and put up on youtube for step by step. Just wanted to make sure my car started after uploading the modified file first! (It did )

this guide might work on other IAW ECU's obviously use at your own risk.

High res photo here: