So, I am absolutely brand new to tuning. I am starting a summer project with a friend, and do not yet know what vehicle we'll be messing around with. I know OBDII is a universal system, so (from a noob perspective) it stands to reason that programming the ecu via the OBDII interface should be a universal process.

Is there such a hardware available that will allow for universal programming? I understand the roms themselves are different across platforms, so I would need a base rom to customize for each vehicle before changing and uploading parameters.

That being said, is there a universal flashing device that could upload whatever rom I could get a hold of? I have seen a few devices that claim to be universal, but I cannot tell if they're fake. Thank you for your advice and kindness.

Edit: I have looked here on the forums and cannot seem to find an answer

Flex,kess,autotuner,cmd flash,byteshooter,pcmflash,bitbox

Be smart. No china clones. Use genuine tools with proper support. Yes it is pricy to start as individual - but it pays off when you will check costs of bricked/damaged ecu to replace.