LadyDriven

I have a box of spare parts in my closet that came with my car, and have a spare PCM. Is there any way to have it tested to see if its any good? I was thinking of sending this one away to have tuned while I do a few modifications, but don't want to bother if its junk. I'm not sure why the old owner would have had a spare

draggin97s10

iTrader: (2)

one way to find out put it in pretty easy to do.

LadyDriven

Yeah, I thought about that, but if there's an actual way to test it, I'd rather do that!

Gojira94

iTrader: (4)

Part # on the outside of it by chance? Hard to test one of these but you might find out its origin. Could be a spare the previous owner bought so he/she could swap tunes with a wrench. Let's see if its GM part # identifies the year it's for (maybe not necessesarily for a 95, could be for a 94). Hell, you might even open it to make sure there's not anything obviously burnt/ shorted on any of the PCBs before you consider further investigation...

LadyDriven

There were two stickers on it with numbers (one looked like a VIN?). I'll post them up later, I'm at work and the spare PCM is at home

Gojira94

iTrader: (4)

Sounds good-

Looking for the shorter 8 digit number, probably starts with 1615 or 1617...

draggin97s10

iTrader: (2)

i usually keep my spare with me at work . u could test each port individually by ohm reading i beleive but that doesnt sound fun to me

LadyDriven

Yeah... plus I have NO idea how to do that, I'm still learning!

draggin97s10

iTrader: (2)

well i dont know exactly because you will need a chart telling you the ohm readings for each one. but if you have a voltmeter u can start learning

LadyDriven

The boyfriend has a multimeter (or something like that) that he was planning to teach me to use this weekend so I can check some other stuff on the car, would that work for this as well?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, still trying to learn here!

stevo9389

you can take it to a dealership and they have some rig that will test it. they did one for me and then threatened to charge $400 to have it flashed with a stock tune. one of the local tuners made one out of an old engine harness and a computer power supply but i havent seen it in years since he moved on to LS based cars.

draggin97s10

iTrader: (2)

yes a multimeter will work of you can figure out what the ohm reading will be. ohm is the resistance the the wire carries. And NO question is a stupid question we are all here to learn and i will share as much information as i can with everyone

The boyfriend has a multimeter (or something like that) that he was planning to teach me to use this weekend so I can check some other stuff on the car, would that work for this as well?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, still trying to learn here!

LadyDriven

Well I got lucky. I'm a service writer at a small shop, and we deal with the local Pontiac/GM dealership a fair bit for parts. I called and talked to the guy I usually our parts through and mentioned this, and he said he'll have one of the techs test it and put a stock tune on it for free. If it turns out to be in decent condition, I'll send it off to be tuned somewhere (any suggestions?) and keep the current computer in my car for now while I'm doing some work on it, so I can still drive the car around the yard when I need to.

draggin97s10

iTrader: (2)

mail order tunes are good for baseline but youll need fine tuning done by some1 local.

LadyDriven

lol I'm on a damned island, there isnt anyone local

Gojira94

iTrader: (4)

Sounds like you're in good hands with the test. If you can get it somewhere for a dyno tune, you might have it programmed for a very agressive setup, maybe too much advance, etc. for street use but have extra hot for strip runs. Then drop the other streetable PCM one in and drive 'er home... have fun with it.

LadyDriven

Hmmm hadn't even thought of that! That's a great idea!