1998 corvette PCM concerns

[Wendells28]

I am new to HPtuners. Currently I have a 98 corvette that I would like to make minor adjustments to the cooling fan set speeds and transmission shift points. My concern comes from reading a post about the PCM's of these vehicles becoming "bricked" and no longer operatable after adjusting parameters and writing the new file to the PCM. What can be done to eliminate, or at least minimize, the chances of this happening. I know PCM voltage is critical but what other factors or steps should I be aware of. Any feedback or personal experiences with this would be greatly appreciated.

[horsepowerguru427]

I read that if you use a bench harness that it eliminates the issue for the most part. I hear that writing an OS from a different PCM will brick your current. Voltage drops and Communications losses are obvious reasons why a bench harness is a more stable way of doing it. Ive even read that at one point there was a bug and if you didnt upgrade to the newest updated VCM suite (circa2015) then you really werent protected from it. I havent had the pleasure of playing with a 97-98 PCM yet, so this isnt first hand experience, just what ive researched on the GOOGLER

[Wendells28]

Anyone with recent experience with this?

[04silverado6.0]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/11609933411...mis&media=COPY

You can always upgrade to a p01. Much more options for custom os and better tune ability.

[Wendells28]

That is what I would like to do, eventually. For now I just want to change a few parameters, but fear bricking the computer......

[blindsquirrel]

There's a risk of 'bricking' anything during reprogramming, whether it's a '98 PCM or an E38 or a guy in the dealership with all the factory tools reprogramming a passenger door module. Nature of the beast. There is no way for anyone using any tools to have zero risk of problems reflashing a module.

[abc]

Yep, nature of the beast. I have a 99 and 00 with P01's and between the two, I've reflashed them several hundred times and never an issue with an MPVI2.

[04silverado6.0]

I have had to bench flash nearly every single 03 silverado ive tuned.

[Wendells28]

I guess I'm just looking for a little peace of mind. The silverado example is great information! I haven't heard this about the 98 corvette, but wondering if others have had common problems with it. Thanks everyone for the great info

[04silverado6.0]

Definitely build you a bench at least.

[Wendells28]

Great advice, thank you

[04silverado6.0]

https://www.customecm.com/tune-file-...arness-pinouts

https://www.ebay.com/itm/11619018159...mis&media=COPY

https://www.ebay.com/str/gelectronic...mis&media=COPY

The guy with the power supplies is awesome. Ive bought literally hundreds from that seller. Im biased to the netgear branded ones. If you are going to be playing with pcms it doesnt hurt to have extra connectors and some 12v supplies. I actually pulled a 5v ref from a p59 to test a throttle body under juice, fun projects.

[Wendells28]

Pulling the corvette pcm to do on the bench everytime seems like a pain, hopefully that's not the road I have to go down

[Alvin]

I run a spare DLC basically just for tuning 03-06 trucks because they are terrible about flashing/reading

You could do the same.

I've never bricked a 98. Just a FYI. You could always try finding a spare first.

[STAGEUP]

I have had to bench flash nearly every single 03 silverado ive tuned.

Get an MPVI 1. It will solve this issue

[bk2life]

Get an MPVI 1. It will solve this issue

i have one, all i ever had for the last 10 or so years.
still have to bench a few ECUs

[04silverado6.0]

Im using the 2+. Just fixed a p59 in a 03 2500 today that bricked from tis2000. Tried to ground the pin into recovery mode with no success. New pcm it was.

[2xLS1]

Bench flashing a C5 PCM every time you need to change something is not really a viable option considering where they are located. I've flashed the 97-98 Vette and 98 F-body PCMs (same PCM) hundreds of times over the past 20 years, many with the old HPT Serial cable and have never bricked one.

[Wendells28]

Right, what a pain..........I'll get an extra just in case. I knew there would be someone that had some experience with the early C5, thank you for a little reassurance!

[2xLS1]

Last time I saw any of those PCMs even available to purchase they were $500 and higher. (Ebay) They are becoming rare and people that have them know it. Be aware I use older HPT equipment and software, not what they are selling now that some people are having a lot of problems with on the older vehicles. So take my experiences with a grain of salt. It is pretty rare now days I'm even asked to program one of those.