Hello Everyone!
My 1998 Corvette (4L60E) PCM got bricked after trying to flash it with HP-Tuners. Re-flashing on a bench harness and even soldering out the chip and writing a 98 Corvette .bin file to it directly with a programmer, did not help to get the PCM responding, so i had to look for a replacement PCM.
97-98 PCM's cost 700-800 $ online and are infamous for bricking, so i decided to go for "0411 swap" - a newer generation of PCM, installed on many GM 99-2002 vehicles.
I got a junkjard PCM for 150$ from a 2002 Chevrolet S10 4.3 pickup:
* Hardware type: P01, ECM, GM Gen3 V8, 4.3L V6 (P01 is an important code here since it means the hardware type)
* Operating system: 12212156
* VIN 1GCDT19WX28216643
Since the S10 pickup has different number of cylinders, has physical throttle cable (corvette has DBW) i have to change the Operating system completely.
I went to TUNE REPOSITORY and chose a Standard Tune file from a Corvette 2002 4L60E:
* Hardware type: P01, ECM, GM Gen3 V8, 4.3L V6
* Operating system: 12221588
* VIN 1G1YY22G325131942
I have purchased 4 credits - 2credits to license the new PCM + 2credits to license the stock file from tune repository.
So the next steps seems to be: hooking the PCM up on a bench harness, making sure i have stable power supplies to the PCM and laptop, opening the CORVETTE hpt file from the repository and choosing WRITE ENTIRE to write the file into the PCM. That will change the PCM's operating system to an 8-cylinder operating system and all the sensors (different crank sensor indexing between V6 and V8 cars), DBW etc should work (of course after re-pinning the PCM connectors from 8212 to 0411 diagram)
Currently i have several questions:
1. Am i doing everything right?
Yes you are.
2. Should i choose high speed or low speed option in the write dialogue?
Either is fine.
3. Any other precautions i have missed?
Make sure you have proper voltage to the PCM. The Write Entire process will take a few minutes.
4. Can i leave the repository corvette VIN as it is? I dont see a reason to change it.
No need to change the VIN. Just disable VATS and you'll be fine.
If everything will be successful with the flash, i will later post here wiring diagrams, notes for repinning the PCMs and also other information about this swap. There are multiple topics all around regarding this type of swap, but none of the topics are complete A-Z instruction so i thought that could be useful for other guys with this problem.
Thanks in advance for any input here!