I have a buddy with a 98 Z28 who wants to tune his car but the pcm was locked by a previous tuner. Can a dealership reflash it back to stock to unlock it? or is there any other way to unlock this PCM? BTW it was locked with HP tuners.
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I have a buddy with a 98 Z28 who wants to tune his car but the pcm was locked by a previous tuner. Can a dealership reflash it back to stock to unlock it? or is there any other way to unlock this PCM? BTW it was locked with HP tuners.
Nope.
Gonna need another PCM because you can BET that his tuner isn't going to unlock it. Over the years I have heard of all kinds of "reasons" that were given by tuners that lock PCMs. Little to none of them hold up to honest scrutiny; it's a way to strong arm customers into coming back to them for updates.
The only PCM I ever locked was a supercharged Vette, and the owner asked for it to be done specifically. He wanted it done because previously the dealership reflashed it stock when it was in for something un-related.
If it were a later model PCM I could unlock it for you through the hardware, but as is always the case; "not for 98s".
Yep! Heard this myself before. To the OP he just rendered your PCm pretty much useless.. Replace and go elsewhere for your tunes.. good luck..Quote:
Originally Posted by Frost
it probably wouldn't hurt to have your buddy ask him to unlock it and return it to stock.....I've heard of some tuners doing that. They'll unlock it but put the stock tune back in. These locked pcm's go way back to the days when no one tuned hardly and the ones that did wanted their "secrets" kept......kinda like the injector tables are now. Only a matter of time though before that info gets out just like all the other info. No way I'd take a car to a tuner that locks his tunes these days.
Locked PCM's piss me off. I had to BEG my last tuner (before Frost) to not lock my PCM. I wasnt going forward with the tuning session if he didnt agree to not locking it. I had to tell them I was moving across country soon, so I wouldnt be able to come back. Good luck with it.
Ok I'll pass the info along. Thanks guys.
And from what I understand the '98 PCM is a one year only PCM so finding one for cheap is that much more difficult. Just great.
I bet Frost has a whole box of them laying around. :D Seriously though, shouldn't be that hard to find one really. I'll dig around and see what I can find.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cutlass
I have a PILE of PCMs. I have one 98.
I thought I remembered you telling someone a month or so ago you had a 98 pcm. Kinda figured you were not in short supply of pcm's laying around either. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Frost
hey frost can you check your pm's.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 0rion
I don't ever keep them long.
If the shop that locked the PCM is a reputable place such as Nelson's Performance (a board sponsor here) I know for a fact they will unlock the PCM by request with the agreement that it is put back to OEM programming. In my past experiences, most customers don't even know they are locked until the get their car to me. Also through the years, Nelson was the only one that ever worked with myself and my customer on one that was locked fwiw.
Well apparently my buddy's local speed shop sent the PCM to some place in Pennsylvania and they were able to unlock it and returned it to the stock programming. Not sure who they are or how they did it.
PCMforless most likely.
They use a software approach.
I can unlock 99-02s through the hardware.