BoredTruckOwner

Hello all,
Long time lurker trying to get into tuning the LS based engines. My truck was completely gone through by the PO when he was chasing lean and misifire codes, he replaced the ECU with a reman unit that is missing a hardware number on the label. OS version is 12593058, I'm not too sure if this is just me using a wrong DXF for the OS but comparing it to a different bin almost all my trans tables are zeroed out. Recently took it on a 200 mile trip and noticed that my TC never locked up in cruise or in normal driving. The shift time tables are also zeroed out, I've got some weird shifts which is why I was looking at my tables in the first place. I've attached my bin for reference, but as I am new to the game, how would I go about flashing. I'm using LSDroid and TP RT, can I flash the bin from a truck with the same hardware( engine, trans, etc)? I'm mostly confused on the whole different OS thing. The truck is an 03 Sierra 4x2.
Thanks

NSFW

If the XDF doesn't match the operating system, the values you see in Tuner Pro could be completely unrelated to the values that actually get used in the PCM.

One of the key things we need (for the open-source tools to take off) is a repository of factory bin files and XDF files, on a place like GitHub, where the XDFs can be updated relatively easily, but so far nobody has stepped up to do that.

I think that if you can find a bin file for your transmission type, and a corresponding XDF, you can rewrite the OS and calibration portions of the PCM to use the new operating system, but I don't know that for certain. Those features were added to the app because it worked when we tried it, so there's that. I suggest trying it on a spare PCM first.

My main concern is that it might be necessary to reflash the parameter blocks at the same time as the OS blocks. The current version of the app leaves the parameter blocks unchanged when flashing the OS, because we didn't want to surprise anyone by changing their VIN or losing licensing info for commercial tuning tools. But if that approach doesn't work reliably then we'll tweak the app to make it write everything at once, and we'll add some guidance about the potential side-effects.

BoredTruckOwner

First off, thank you all for all the hard work you guys put into this.
I found out the XDF differing would cause issues earlier today, I figured it being a 2017 remain PCM it might have a newer OS so I went searching. I found the bin for an identical truck a model year newer, it had the XDF for the OS it had. I just tried writing it (OS+CAL) with the only thing being changed being the VIN and vats disabled. The write failed and is currently in recovery mode.
Edit V2: Stock bin flash in recovery mode was a success.

I'll be running to the salvage yard this weekend to grab a spare PCM, so count me in for any testing you guys need. I wrongly assumed that since my truck was a 03.5 that I could use an 04 bin for the same truck but that does not appear to be the case. It also may be the fact that I did not pull the ABS or BCM fuses, I'm also not sure how this relates to the flash, but after it recovered my check engine was on, DTC P1518 which translates to loss of communication between PCM and TAC module.

BoredTruckOwner

Went out and experimented today, pulling the ABS fuse seems to have solved the problem, as for the DTC, that recurs regardless of whether or not the flash was successful or not.

NSFW

I've run into the P1518 thing a couple times - not usually, but occasionally. It makes sense, because the PCM stops talking with the TAC during the flash process. I'm told that it never happens with commercial tools, so I assume there's a way to tell the TAC not to worry about it, but I don't know the details. We do send a "clear codes" request but it clearly doesn't always work. It hasn't happened in my last dozen flashes or so, but I don't think anything relevant changed since the last time it popped up, so it's probably just chance that it happens or not.

When you say "write failed" what did PCM Hammer say after the write? I mean, did it say that all of the memory blocks matched, or did it report that one or more of them didn't match?

Thanks for giving it a try, and thanks for bearing with us, and thanks for helping us get the bugs out.

BoredTruckOwner

Yeah, it made sense to me as well, clearing the codes through torque has worked everytime. I've found out the hard way not clearing codes before starting up will cause it flash "Reduced Engine Power" on the DIC. I dont mind a few hiccups, it's much more convenient than cutting into the harness to rig in a MS. There may have been a small miscommunication, I'm using LSDroid for flashing as last I checked PCMHammer didn't support flashing the P59 PCM, or I may have misread the github. I was trying to get the OBDLink setup with PCMHammer but kept getting initialization failures when I was testing it out. LSDroid kept saying the success message wasn't received, since that night I've been checking for the success messages after each block is written. Funnily enough, pulling the ABS fuse fixed it but I've been able to write calibrations without pulling anything.
Flashing with PCMHammer would be much more convenient, although knowing that I can flash my PCM back to stock at any time just by having my stock bin on my phone grants me peace of mind as I venture into OEM tuning.

NSFW

You read right, PCM Hammer can read P59s but can't flash them yet.

I just recently started talking with a guy who might be able to help figure out what we're doing wrong there. Stay tuned.

BoredTruckOwner

That's awesome to know, been messing around and finally got my trans shifting the way I like it. Oddly enough when I went to get my winters out on went to start the truck up and noticed my gas gauge was reading backwards. Tried inverting the table in the tune but that just pegs it empty with a full tank. The strangeness continues.