just received my third PCM in the mail and it doesn't work still.
so now off to back probe all that you have mentioned in the previous post, but I cant do so till next weekend as a family reunion is going on this weekend.
I did order that baker electronics thing just for a try it was cheap so even if that does not work I wont be too upset about it. it wont be here for another week though.

I hope the tips you have all provided work for me, will be printing this all off here once I find my printer again.

quote Originally posted by mx3800supercharged: just received my third PCM in the mail and it doesn't work still. so now off to back probe all that you have mentioned in the previous post, but I cant do so till next weekend as a family reunion is going on this weekend. I did order that baker electronics thing just for a try it was cheap so even if that does not work I wont be too upset about it. it wont be here for another week though. I hope the tips you have all provided work for me, will be printing this all off here once I find my printer again.

Again, if whoever did your custom tune didn't disable the VATS in it correctly, it may not start, or if it does, it may not run right with or without your Baker Electronics VATS bypass module hooked up.

-ryan

quote Originally posted by Darth Fiero: Again, if whoever did your custom tune didn't disable the VATS in it correctly, it may not start, or if it does, it may not run right with or without your Baker Electronics VATS bypass module hooked up. -ryan

how much would you charge to remove the vats, but leave the other stuff how ZZP flashes the PCM if i pay shipping both ways?

quote Originally posted by mx3800supercharged: how much would you charge to remove the vats, but leave the other stuff how ZZP flashes the PCM if i pay shipping both ways?

The problem is I don't know what ZZP tried to change in the programming in their failed attempts at disabling VATS. And using the tuning software I'm going to use to make the changes, I may not be able to see everything they tried to change. If they changed something in the tune or OS that I can't detect and I can't change it back to stock, then anything I do to try to disable VATS probably won't work either.

Bottom line is if you want me to reflash your PCM with my custom tune that will guarantee VATS is disabled, I'm going to have to completely erase what ZZP did and replace that with a custom tune I make myself (not keeping any ZZP settings).

My recommendation to you would be to send your ZZP PCM back to them and request a full refund and a reflash back to stock (if it is your original PCM they reprogrammed). Then have that PCM shipped to me and I'll custom program it for you starting out with a known-stock tune.

My custom tunes are safe and perform very well in Fiero swaps. Whether or not they produce more HP or TQ than a "ZZP 1.0" tune or any other competitor's tune is unknown, but I can say they do work and work well based on the customer responses I've received over the many years I've been doing this. I can also say if you are searching for the "perfect tune" that will make maximum power, you aren't going to get that from any mail order tune sold by anybody in this business. Instead, you're going to need an in-person or dyno tune if you want to squeeze every ounce of power out of your setup as you can get.

In any case, my current pricing for a 1-time custom mail order tune is $95 + shipping / options.

Let me know via PM or email if you are interested.

-ryan

Reality is you are fighting a problem you dont have. Get a scanner on it and verify its a bad pcm first.

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Reality is you are fighting a problem you dont have. Get a scanner on it and verify its a bad pcm first.

How is a scanner going to tell him if he has a bad PCM other than if it can't communicate with it?

If somebody tried to disable VATS in the tune and didn't do it right, scan data may not reveal that issue.

I can tell you if ZZP uses HP Tuners to tune 1997 PCMs, then they WILL NOT be able to disable VATS in them.

[This message has been edited by Darth Fiero (edited 08-05-2014).]

Would you send out 3 different PCM's without verifying that they at least turn on?

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Would you send out 3 different PCM's without verifying that they at least turn on?

Exactly why I don't deal with ZZP, and always, always, always use Sinister Performance for my PCM needs.

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Would you send out 3 different PCM's without verifying that they at least turn on?

Considering you have to turn them on to reflash them I would assume at least that much was done.

So if you can request programming mode then you can obviously request pids. It would be a very illogical glitch to only lose the scanning mode and not the rest.

Also zzp doesn't just use hpt and cross their fingers. A local had a 97 zzp pcm in his dunebuggy.

the grounds for the PCM are excellent grounds
my switched power to the PCM works great
i back probed all that yesterday
just trying to figure out what to back probe to see if power it coming out of the PCM now.

I still have yet to figure out why my OBD port is not working.

and with the baker electronix VAT delete module it still does not work.
i figured as much as it says its for Passkey 1 and passkey 2, i have a passlock system.
but for $45 i had to try it

I've never seen a 1996 or 1997 3800 PCM used with PASSLOCK. AFAIK it was always PASSKEY 2 for these model years and 3800 applications.

PASSLOCK systems commonly communicated the fuel-enable signal to the PCM over the Class 2 data bus. 1996 and 1997 PASSKEY 2 systems used in vehicles equipped with the 3800 communicated the fuel enable signal over its own dedicated "fuel enable" wire connected directly to the PCM.

But like I said before, if whoever tuned your PCM didn't disable VATS correctly, then even the addition of a PassKey 2 bypass module MAY NOT FIX the problem and make the engine run with the incorrect setting in the PCM tune.

-ryan

[This message has been edited by Darth Fiero (edited 08-12-2014).]