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Old Aug 3, 2007 | 12:24 AM
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i have a 94 firebird formula lt1 4l60e, i went to there website.. got prices on the tuner. and RT tuner? what one do i need? also. it said nothing about a usb cable to connect? all it said was you can buy it and have it on your comp right when you purchase an they will send you a cd with the software if you want for 10 bux.. what about a usb cable to connect to my comp to my car?
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Old Aug 3, 2007 | 07:52 AM
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You have to buy the cable seperate.

http://www.akmcables.com/
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Old Aug 3, 2007 | 11:17 AM
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When you go to flash your obd1 lt1 make sure to yank out both of the fan relays and the Air pump relay. The voltage surge from them comming on will kill a pcm during flash. Also make sure to put a battery charger on the vehicle at roughly 10 amps or so.

enjoy.

Yes you have to buy the cable seperately.


Originally Posted by JTSLP559
i have a 94 firebird formula lt1 4l60e, i went to there website.. got prices on the tuner. and RT tuner? what one do i need? also. it said nothing about a usb cable to connect? all it said was you can buy it and have it on your comp right when you purchase an they will send you a cd with the software if you want for 10 bux.. what about a usb cable to connect to my comp to my car?
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Old Aug 3, 2007 | 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1curious
When you go to flash your obd1 lt1 make sure to yank out both of the fan relays and the Air pump relay. The voltage surge from them comming on will kill a pcm during flash. Also make sure to put a battery charger on the vehicle at roughly 10 amps or so.
Also do not pull the cable out while it's reading the PCM. It's not like a code reader it will fry you PCM.
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Old Aug 4, 2007 | 11:13 AM
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alright cool. yea i know about all of that. my buddy was tuning his 97 gt-42-76R supra and somethign was up with his aem while it was reading. and someone in the shop tryed to pull the cord and son of a bitch **** hit the fan!. the guy went crazy. so what tuner cat? just regular? or the RT? an damn can i get a use cable? lol
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Old Aug 4, 2007 | 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted by JTSLP559
i have a 94 firebird formula lt1 4l60e, i went to there website.. got prices on the tuner. and RT tuner? what one do i need? also. it said nothing about a usb cable to connect? all it said was you can buy it and have it on your comp right when you purchase an they will send you a cd with the software if you want for 10 bux.. what about a usb cable to connect to my comp to my car?

You don't need the RT stuff, it is for early computers with plug-in chips. You also need the EE definition file. I wouldn't worry about the fan relays, they cycle on & back off at the begining and stay off. Just make certain your battery is fully charged. A PCM "fried" while reading it? That is a new one to me. I have flashed hundrds of LT1 PCMs over the years, with the fan relays left in place, with no problems.

Good luck, Ed
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Old Aug 4, 2007 | 06:32 PM
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sweet. thanks bro. i appreciate all your help. how much is that ee file you speak of? an where do i get it
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Old Aug 5, 2007 | 01:02 AM
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The voltage dip from the fan cycling can cuase the flash earase procedure to drop programming voltage below 12.5 volts. Once this happens the chips are impossiable to prgram as the ram will not store the boot loader on a hard Processor reset like this.

Pull the relays hook up a battery charger.


Originally Posted by Ed Wright
You don't need the RT stuff, it is for early computers with plug-in chips. You also need the EE definition file. I wouldn't worry about the fan relays, they cycle on & back off at the begining and stay off. Just make certain your battery is fully charged. A PCM "fried" while reading it? That is a new one to me. I have flashed hundrds of LT1 PCMs over the years, with the fan relays left in place, with no problems.

Good luck, Ed
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Old Aug 5, 2007 | 01:03 AM
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If memory serves me correct here " I haven't bought anything from TC in years" usually they include one definition file of your choosing in the charge for the software. I think that maybe the charge for the LT1 stuff is a bit higher but not by much.

Good Luck.

Originally Posted by JTSLP559
sweet. thanks bro. i appreciate all your help. how much is that ee file you speak of? an where do i get it
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Old Aug 5, 2007 | 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1curious
The voltage dip from the fan cycling can cuase the flash earase procedure to drop programming voltage below 12.5 volts. Once this happens the chips are impossiable to prgram as the ram will not store the boot loader on a hard Processor reset like this.

Pull the relays hook up a battery charger.

Sorry, the lower threshold is not 12.5 volts, you are off over a volt. Also, be careful with battery chargers when programming. High battery voltage can cause problems also. If you are going to connect a charger, it's best to set it on "low". High enough voltage and you will get an error message when attempting to program. A fully charged battery be best.

OBD1 tunercat used to come with the 42 definition file, and the EE had to be bought extra. Not expensive.
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Old Aug 6, 2007 | 09:42 AM
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Here is the datasheet for the Rom on the PCM. 12.0v programming voltage. When you drop below 12.5 the regulator on the pcm can't keep the 12.0 voltage going.

Intel AN28F512

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/data...article=801881

JIC someone else makes this BS claim again.



Originally Posted by Ed Wright
Sorry, the lower threshold is not 12.5 volts, you are off over a volt. Also, be careful with battery chargers when programming. High battery voltage can cause problems also. If you are going to connect a charger, it's best to set it on "low". High enough voltage and you will get an error message when attempting to program. A fully charged battery be best.

OBD1 tunercat used to come with the 42 definition file, and the EE had to be bought extra. Not expensive.
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Old Aug 6, 2007 | 10:51 AM
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So because you read it on the internet makes Ed wrong? I agree with what Ed has said regarding his experience. I too have done 100's of flashes and never unplugged a fan relay with no problem. I have done several with low voltage even, around 10.9-11.0 with no problems. This doesnt make your information bad, but it doesnt make our experiences undeniable either. Maybe the first year tech just out of school that tested it made a mistake?
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Old Aug 6, 2007 | 10:58 AM
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Thats the actuall datasheet from Intel. I geuss they don't have a clue on how to program the chips they make ? ah yeah, Ed is wrong. If you want to gamble with the health of the PCM thats your bussiness. But looking at the numbers of lt1 flash fialures its fiarly obvious there a cuase and I told you what it was above.

Caveat Empor with Ed Wright.


Originally Posted by 1320
So because you read it on the internet makes Ed wrong? I agree with what Ed has said regarding his experience. I too have done 100's of flashes and never unplugged a fan relay with no problem. I have done several with low voltage even, around 10.9-11.0 with no problems. This doesnt make your information bad, but it doesnt make our experiences undeniable either. Maybe the first year tech just out of school that tested it made a mistake?
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Old Aug 6, 2007 | 11:33 AM
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I guess the things that happen to us dont really happen then cause intel says so? Sounds like the matrix?

Maybe the intel is wrong? lol.....How many satelites failed due to wrong or bad information from test labs? Its pretty funny actually , they can hardly tell you if the sun is up let alone wether or not there product will function correctly.

I ve done hundreds and hundreds of pcm reprograms, which is probably only a percentage of what ed has done. I have had one failure that I can remeber, it was and H2 (obviously an ls engine). I know people that have had multiple failures on relatively low number of flashes, and all I can attribute the failures to is the connection, or lack of reliable connection.
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Old Aug 6, 2007 | 12:46 PM
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LT1 pcms program differently then ls1 series pcms. The use a different chip. the Ls1 engine use a 29f040 based chip which has a lower programming voltage.

Sounds like someone is going to have a bad flash one day and blame it on the software.


Originally Posted by 1320
I guess the things that happen to us dont really happen then cause intel says so? Sounds like the matrix?

Maybe the intel is wrong? lol.....How many satelites failed due to wrong or bad information from test labs? Its pretty funny actually , they can hardly tell you if the sun is up let alone wether or not there product will function correctly.

I ve done hundreds and hundreds of pcm reprograms, which is probably only a percentage of what ed has done. I have had one failure that I can remeber, it was and H2 (obviously an ls engine). I know people that have had multiple failures on relatively low number of flashes, and all I can attribute the failures to is the connection, or lack of reliable connection.
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Old Aug 7, 2007 | 07:49 PM
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Those numbers are very different than my contact at GM gave me back in '94 when I was reverse engineering that box. He told me to "try to keep BATTERY voltage to at least 12 volts". He said the threshold was "Just under 11.5 volts". I did pull the fan relays back then because I was flashing my stuff into cars with the Tech1A (Tech2 didn't exist back then). It let the fans run the whole time it was programming. I've seen battery voltage drop into the high elevens, still with no problems. When LT1Edit and Tunercat shut the fans off, I quit pulling relays, and have never had a problem. I've seen a local kid at the track programming his with an Hypertech programmer, fans going and listening to the radio! He must be living right. I wouldn't try that.
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Old Aug 8, 2007 | 08:21 AM
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They may very well program on the lower threshold of 11.5 volts but its doubtful if that approach will work everytime. I have had problems with loosing PCM over the years and stumbled across that data sheet some tiem ago. Having given it a very good read I changed my procedure for flashing lt1 cars. Since then I have yet to loose a 94/95 box to low programming voltages.


Originally Posted by Ed Wright
Those numbers are very different than my contact at GM gave me back in '94 when I was reverse engineering that box. He told me to "try to keep BATTERY voltage to at least 12 volts". He said the threshold was "Just under 11.5 volts". I did pull the fan relays back then because I was flashing my stuff into cars with the Tech1A (Tech2 didn't exist back then). It let the fans run the whole time it was programming. I've seen battery voltage drop into the high elevens, still with no problems. When LT1Edit and Tunercat shut the fans off, I quit pulling relays, and have never had a problem. I've seen a local kid at the track programming his with an Hypertech programmer, fans going and listening to the radio! He must be living right. I wouldn't try that.
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Old Aug 8, 2007 | 09:11 AM
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I try to not let them fall below 12 v.
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