Badazzvette

I want to give everyone here a heads up on what to do and what not to do if your program fails in the middle of the procedure.

First I want to say thanks to Ken Kelly for calling me back within a few hours (he called me at 10:15 PM last night) of sending an email to carputing.

Here's my saga....

Initially, I purchased a 4 license cable and Edit from Carputing last year. I've been thru numerous programmings without a hitch. Then, a couple of months ago, it happened. I was in the middle of a flash when the programmer stopped counting up! I was not happy, to say the least but kept my cool. At that point, I had no choice but to turn the ignition key off and back on to see if the flash would finish. It did not I then closed the programmer software and re-opened it to attempt a flash. At this point, the software said it had found an new VIN and asked me to license it. It said it found VIN 1 So at this point, I had the most highly valued '98 Corvette in the world (VIN 1 has to be worth something, right?) I let the software use a VIN (not happy at all about this because one of my friends now doesn't have a VIN slot available to program his car with) Amazingly though, the flash worked and my car started and off I went. Well lo and behold, it happened again to me a few more times, but each subsequent time, it recognized VIN 1 as being licensed and would complete the flash after going thru the same procedure outlined above.

Now here's the scary part; this happening to my car was an inconvenience but it happened to my friend's car as well. We had successfuly flashed his PCM 2 times and on the 3rd attempt . It gets even more strange.... His didn't come up with VIN 1, it came up with VIN 2 when we reconnected to try again. Another license wiped. Now there are 4 licenses used for 2 cars

Now comes the real problem, because up to this point, it was just an annoyance and the probability that the cable would have to be sent back to Carputing to get it straightened out. Yesterday, I went to flash my car (probably was going to be the last time for a while because I've got it running good now ) and the flash failed again. I thought, ok no biggie, I'll just start over. When I went to re flash, the software stated that I didn't have any licenses left to use and to contact Carputing . I checked, and the software reported it found VIN 1 as it had several times before, so WTF is going on here. My car is not anywhere and I'm going to either have to have it towed or wait for Carputing to straighten out the problem (which isn't an option because it's my only ride). I got the bright idea to unhook the battery before Ken called me to see if that would help at all, and now the PCM won't even talk to the software. Ken told me that the PCM can't boot because the program isn't there, so on a flat bed she went to the dealer this morning.

It's going to cost me at least $60 plus towing to get this straightened out (plus a PITA because I had to find an alternate vehicle). Ken said he would attempt to recover the PCM but that it would cost me $50 plus I would be without my car for at least 2 days minimum. In his defense, he said he would talk with Dave (at Carputing) since Dave does the cables about the problem, so I don't know if they were going to get my PCM working without a charge to me. That's the best case scenario. Worst case, I have to get a new PCM and that will cost me an additional $150 for the unit itself plus labor and God knows how long to get the part in and installed.

My ride is at the dealer right now, so we'll see what happens from here. I realize that there is an inherent risk in programming, however, there seems to be a bug or glitch in the flashing process that I think needs to be worked out (it could be my cable).

Lesson learned, don't unplug the battery if you are in the middle of a botched PCM flash. In retrospect, I should have let Ken and Dave figure out what was going on and let them address the issue. That is still something that needs to happen and once I get my car running again, I will work with Ken and Dave on this.

I'll keep you all posted as to what happens.

email me at quicklt4@hotmail.com if you have questions or comments and want to keep them private.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

I've heard flashing Corvettes is much more unreliable than flahing Fbodies because there is some kind of computer bus that is active all the time. If you so much as breathe while you are programming, it will cause some bus traffic to the PCM which messes up the flashing process. I've heard it said that you should set the laptop on top of the car, run the cable through the window, get out of the car and shut the door and do all your programming outside the car. Don't even let your dog wag his tail next to the car!

strokedls1

iTrader: (1)

I wonder if the laptop could be a problem. A buddy of mine burnt to edit cable by using a T21 IBM that grounded it out. I wonder if it is a computer issue, or just some inherant problem with the corvette computers. Good luck with a speedy fix.

Ed Blown Vert

iTrader: (2)

Well, I recently lost two PCM's. And I am pretty sure the cause was the serial ports on my laptop.

Ken has one that that he is trying to recover. The other was reflashed by Chevy.

SS891

iTrader: (1)

Have you tried not telling the dealership what you have done, let them diagnose the PCM failure and attempt to get your 8yr/80k mile emission warranty to replace it? PCM's are covered emission parts under federal guidelines for 8 years, 80 thousand miles for replacement, not re-flashing.(unless you have a good connection )

Just play dumb and see if it saves you some dough. Worst case, you still have to pay for the PCM, but chances are, the tech will not be able to figure it out. Especially if the PCM will not communicate properly.

Just my .02

McRat

Good Grief! Hope it all works out OK.

LS1Edit use on a Corvette can be a hair-raising experience.

When I first got my Edit, I just downloaded my stock program. Safe, right? ARRGGGHHH!!! None of the dash instruments would work anymore and some other stuff. Unplugging the battery got it to work again.

On one flash, I ended up with a "hunting" idle. It idled between 2000 and 500 at random.

Yeah, but I still play with it.

Badazzvette

Update:

The dealer was able to get the PCM flashed back to stock. It didn't run all that great considering my mods, but they got it running. I did a PCM read and verified that it was the same as my original by comparing values in Edit. I took the newly read file, made the appropriate changes and now I'm again I was thinking that I might have to buy a new PCM ($230), instead it cost me $60 plus towing for the reflash. Next time I flash it, I'll be sitting in the dealer's lot so there's no hassle getting a flat bed.

I'm going to discuss the VIN licensing with Ken and see if they'll take care of it since VINs 1 and 2 aren't exactly valid.

I'll keep you all posted.

BTW, for the poster that mentioned having the dealer do the work as warranty work, my car has 93K miles on it so that would not have worked, but thanks for the heads up on that one.

Ed Blown Vert

iTrader: (2)

That is why I have a spare.

horist

that's why I have a spare also I killed my PCM once (uas using a USB to serial port and lost connection during the write process).
Now whenever I'm at the track tuning... I always make sure i have my spare PCM with me...

Ed Blown Vert

iTrader: (2)

Good idea, didn't think to bring it when I race. DoH!