JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

Called Superchips and spoke with Randy, today. I want to use my tuner on my wife's Trans Am or sell it and recoup some money back out of it, but, dude says Superchips is not able to do it and the only way to do it is to dump the stock tune back into my car ... can't do that becaue I just paid to have it tuned professionally.

This ****'s rediculous. What can I do?

horist

nothing... most of the tuners work like this... best bet would be if you can get someone local to read your PCM w/HPT (or if the tuner will help w/it) , then restore your car to stock to unlock the superchips, then reflash your car... other than that you've gotta paperweight unfortuanetly

02 wife

Wow That Sucks!

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

Thanks horist. That's what I was contemplating doing, but, I'm so happy with my tune, I don't want to mess with it. Another guy saved my Superchips tune as a .bin file ... to my flash memory drive.

Can't it be read by HPTuners or Edit and dumped back into the handheld the same way it was extracted?

slow

iTrader: (7)

All companies who sell tuning knowledge work on a locking principal, and for good reason.

You MUST put the files back to stock before it can be used on another vehicle, otherwise everbody would just pass the units around, and the company would not make any money. This is also why i reccomend everybody i talk to who has another tuning product, to always go back to stock, before being tuned with a new one.

Ryan

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

It blows man. I could give a **** less about the stock tune that's currently in the handheld. I just need it VIN-UNlocked.

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

I guess I'll dump the current stock tune back to my PCM and then have my current tuner to charge a minimal amount of $$$$ to reflash my current file back into the PCM and overwrite the stock .bin.

horist

Well... any of the tuners can read it, but the problem is writing is where you run into licensing issues... HPT is the only one that someone w/a license for the same year (99) can reflash/write your PCM w/out losing one of their licenses or having to buy another license

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

I wouldn't ask anyone to do anything illegally. I can legally dump it back into the PCM and then have my car's PCM reflashed with the stock .bin file from my current PCM settings ... with the .bin file from my tune last weekend.

DynoDR

iTrader: (1)

Can't Tunercat do that also?

horist

Not sure, given the licensing scheme probably, but I don't have any experience w/it or it's software

99FormulaWs6

Where are you located Jeb? There are probably many people around you that would do this for you it wouldn't take but 10 min. or so. It's perfectly legal to have someone else's HP Tuners on your car. Think about it like this, If I copy MS Word onto a CD and put it on mine and your computer that's piracy right? However If I create a word file on my computer and save it and put it on yours that's not piracy right?

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

I'm near Orlando. Superchips guy said I could dump the stock tune back in my PCM to UNlock the VIN lock. Then, I could sell it legally because I wouldn't be using it for more than one car that way.

Good ideology about the software logic. I just wonder how Superchips would look at it? Even though it surely would be legal to use on ONLY one car, I wonder if they would have an issue with tampering with the code and changing their program that's inside the box? I'm just paranoid about the method of UNlocking the thing.

By dumping it back to my car, and then having my PCM reflashed with the .bin file from last week's tune ... well, that would be legal. But, by going into the Superchips box and changing their code, I wonder if that would be illegal?

Regardless, I think they should do it for their customers free-of-charge. I live 10 miles from their facility in Sanford and they won't return my email or phonecalls. I don't know why I thought they would help me with this simple issue.

Hey ... just thought of something. Their program is probably burned into the rom chip. The stock tune is probably in non-volatile ram. Maybe if I just either remove the memory battery or cross 2-3 pins out ... think that might delete the stock tune that has it VIN locked? Probably not, but, would it be worth a try?

Technoman64

iTrader: (6)

Is the Superchips Tuner is VIN locked? Even if you put the car back to stock tune will it work on another VIN #? With Predator you have to send the unit back to them and pay $75.00 to erase the VIN lock before it can be used on another car. And then it locks to the new car, etc, etc...

Just wondering if you will still have issues after putting the stock tune back in your car.

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

Well, Randy at Superchips affirms that the only way to use it on another vehicle is to dump the tune back into the PCM on my car. So, I have to think that it will be good after that. I initially called Superchips to ask them how much they would charge just to reset it for me. He simply said, 'We can't do it'. I then asked, 'But, are you telling me it just cannot be done and that it's not possible to UN-lock the VIN lock?' He replied, 'The only way it can be done is, like I said, to re-flash your car with the stock tune. This will allow another car to use the device.'

So, to answer your question to the best of my knowledge, according to Superchips, it will be usable if I dump the stock tune out of the device and back into my car.

horist

sounds like the superchips programmer is setup just like an HPP3 ...

The whole "VIN Lock" term is generic... LS1 Edit was considered VIN locked when in Actuality it's VIN AND PCM locked (you can't just change another PCM to your VIN and get it to work) ... same goes for these handheld tuners... they're locked to the PCM until they verify you've removed any of their tuning

Now w/edit it's permanently locked to that PCM w/a license... but the hand held ones are usually reusable so long as the stock tune is restored.... (Exception is Predator )

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

Thanks horist. I thought there was some sort of text field that had a specific code; maybe 0=unlocked 1= locked.

I appreciate you providing your input. It clears my mind and is in line with what Randy at Superchips was telling me. Of course, I'm sure if they had the time, they certainly have to resources to back my stock tune out of the handheld; however, I'm sure they are too busy with internal production-level work and research, which is understandable.

I appreciate all who responded. It's been a very helpful thread. I hope others have read and learned as much as I have about the handhelds, here.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Go in the Florida section and call out for someone in
the Orlando area w/ a '99 HPTuners license (I have
'00, '01, '02). Might oughta be someone between Tampa,
Daytona and Melbourne who can help you out, read it
for you, you "put it back to stock" and then reflash,
badda-bing and handheld for sale.

"The only way it can be done" is not a credible remark
in my book. They choose not to. That's the deal.

slow

iTrader: (7)

I don't think it is as easy as plugging it in and pressing "reset to stock"

the custom tune probaly screwed up the vin locking. It is probaly a smart device that looks for more than the vin to marry it to a vehicle, ex. checksum?

Ryan

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

Well, on the first tune, the Superchips .bin was saved to disk. This weekend, it's getting flashed back to my PCM. After the communications exchange between the PCM and the handheld, (car back to stock) I'm having the PCM re-flashed with my current tune. This will put everything back to normal. To test it, I'll flash my wife's Trans Am with the handheld ... to test it ... should work OK.