PCM Diagnostics & Tuning HP Tuners | Holley | Diablo

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Old May 21, 2018 | 08:40 PM
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Default Computer issues

Took my car to the shop to get it tuned after pulleying down last year and he said the computer was locked or something so he had to retune it all over since he couldn’t read or adjust the tune( so he did and it worked fine). So i took it back to have a lil tuning work done and some dyno runs and the shop is saying the same thing that he can’t read the tune or change it. Is the computer shot? How does this happen? Should I replace with factory comp or aftermarket? All suggestions are appreciated thanks

Last edited by lbm13186; May 22, 2018 at 07:14 AM.
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Old May 21, 2018 | 09:26 PM
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Not really sure about your situation but I beg you to make a copy of your tune file as a backup the next time you get one you are satisfied with. You could likely restore operation if you had a copy of this file.

Rick
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Old May 22, 2018 | 06:34 AM
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Rick

how do you “make a copy” I’m trying to learn more regarding tuning and any info helps
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Old May 22, 2018 | 08:43 PM
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Hello,

You personally can't make a copy but the person making your tune file can. Simply ask him to save you a copy and e-mail it to you or give it to you on a thumb drive. Think of it as an insurance policy. I'm even more **** and crazy than only keeping a copy of my file . . . I plan to keep a second PCM configured with the same tune file when I take my El Camino on long trips. These spare PCM's are cheap in the junk yards these days and think about it, no dealer or repair shop will be able to help you if your primary PCM fails. So I plan to keep a configured spare in my truck when I travel.

Yes, you might think nutty but I don't see any other repair course of action in these cases.

Rick
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Old May 23, 2018 | 03:56 PM
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Thanks for the heads up rick

if anyone has any input on how this could have happened or if it's for sure locked or bricked LMK any help of suggest is appreciated
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Old May 23, 2018 | 04:01 PM
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Computers age, fact of life, its one of the horizon events that is/will be the death bell in the future,
eventually you won't be able to get a ECU just because of age, and the ones you find will be 20+
years old with old internal components.

These cars will likely have one of the longest runs because they had high volume and a nice long run being built and sold by GM..

I predict it will be rare to find one not running a 3rd party ECU in the next 7 to 10 years.
Just because you won't even be able to get the same spec components for even a shop to rebuild one..

We shall see..
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Old May 31, 2018 | 06:34 AM
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ok thanks guys

If anyone else has any suggestions please lmk
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Old Jun 2, 2018 | 02:10 PM
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Originally Posted by pdxmotorhead
Computers age, fact of life, its one of the horizon events that is/will be the death bell in the future,
eventually you won't be able to get a ECU just because of age, and the ones you find will be 20+
years old with old internal components.

These cars will likely have one of the longest runs because they had high volume and a nice long run being built and sold by GM..

I predict it will be rare to find one not running a 3rd party ECU in the next 7 to 10 years.
Just because you won't even be able to get the same spec components for even a shop to rebuild one..

We shall see..
Yeah I don't know about any of that. The Delphi computers are about as robust as you can get without going full aerospace. Sure as hell a lot tougher than late 80's early 90's Bosch stuff in BMWs which are still going strong and the performance chip market for those is bigger than ever
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Old Jun 5, 2018 | 07:27 AM
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No one has any suggestions on how this could have happened or what I should do to stop it from happening again once I buy a new comp?
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Old Jun 5, 2018 | 09:37 PM
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I'm advised that with my primary 896 and my spare 411 PCM, that if I accidentally remove either the red connector or the blue connector with power applied to either of these PCM's, I stand a very good chance of damaging these two PCM computers. This has not happened to me but the fellow here locally who did my tune gave me this advice. Not sure if this could have happened to yours but you asked for a possible answer.

Rick
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