I posted this in the PCM section yesterday, but got no response so thought i'd try here instead.
My PCM won't communicate with any of the software I have (Freescan, Datamaster, Tunercat) so tonight I bought a replacement off of e-bay.

The replacement is for a Caprice but is the same type and # as my Firebird, what I need to know now is, can I just flash a stock Firebird file on to it?. And will Tunercat communicate with it using $EE def file?.

Sara Lou

 

If the pcm is the same year then it is the same PN, just need to reflash it.
94-5 are the same but 93 would be different, 96s are the same and in 97 there was no Caprice.

Did the pcm lockup while trying to program or have you just never gotten the software to connect?

 

You should be good as long as you follow the advise above. BTW 96 and 97s are close but not the same. We loaded a 96 file in a 97 once and it was very unhappy. Did not fry the PCM mind you it just would not run right

 

My spare PCM came from an L99 Caprice. Programmed my 94Z file right over the top of it, worked fine. I think it was the first PCM ever programmed using LT1Edit that actually drove a car.

 

Good point on the L99 donor. Being not an LT1 part these might be found cheaper despite being the same exact hardware.

 

The car is running fine with the PCM on it at the moment, but the fans don't work which I traced down to the PCm is only seeing 180* when the car is boiling over.
At first, Freescan wouldn't communicate, but Datamaster would. Over the last couple of weeks its got progressively worse and now Datamaster won't communicate either.
I tried hooking up Tunercat yesterday in the hope of recovering it, but TC wouldn't communicate either, it kicked the fans on for a second, then shut down saying no communication.
Datamaster will log until the car is started, then it looses the conection and throws every DTC code in the PCM, it reconnects for 2 seconds, then disconnects again.

I'm going to replace the PCM in the hope this cures it, if not then its tracing wiring!!

Sara Lou