Tuner lock bypass

Why do "tuners" think there map will work on several cars? Do they really think there tune is so good, it will work on another car without any changes?
And then the customer gets frustrated with how shitty there car is running. So now the customer has to take it to another facility to have it tuned. Only problem is, that other facility can't get into the ecu. Because the other tuner locked it. Now the customer is left with going through the trouble of the dealer recalibrating it. And hoping it works.
When a customer hires me to tune there car, that tune is now the customers. There's a part of me that thinks the other tuners just don't want anybody to see how messed up there tune is. Or maybe this is frustating talk after dealing with SCT earlier and having a customer from out of state trailer his car in, and we can't get it done today.
So if HPT is going to offer a tuner lock, there should at least be a way to return a vehicle back to stock with the hp cable.

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Originally Posted by scottie1134

So if HPT is going to offer a tuner lock, there should at least be a way to return a vehicle back to stock with the hp cable.

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That would render the tunerlock useless.
Not even the dealer can bypass the tunerlock used by HPT. No read/write access at all, only scanning.

Any good tuner can flash the PCM back to stock and start over. I have done it a few times.
And yes, I lock my tunes because there are a few wannabes in my town who copy tunes and sell them as their own. If for any reason somebody asks I can flash it back to stock. Nobody has asked yet...

Are you saying that with a tunerlock PCM it is possible with a different hptuners interface to load and write a stock file with vin corrected? This seems very strange cause i think there is no access on writing. I think the Tech2 also cannot write to stock, isn't it?

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Originally Posted by ingsteve

Are you saying that with a tunerlock PCM it is possible with a different hptuners interface to load and write a stock file with vin corrected? This seems very strange cause i think there is no access on writing. I think the Tech2 also cannot write to stock, isn't it?

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It is possible but not with a HPT interface. Special tools and skills are needed.
If you get a tunerlocked PCM a Tech 2 or HPT interface won't be able to overwrite, no access at all.

And once again, I have a customer from out of state, with a 2012 brand spanking new 800 miles on the clock, ZL1. And I can't tune it. Base line pulls were staying at 14.7:1 to 15.0:1 air fuel ratios at about 8 psi. And this was tuned this way. And there is nothing I can do about it. Just tell the customer, sucks to be you, in your brand new car, that you purchased all name brand parts from the same big name performance shop, And now your car is ready to pop at any moment. Tunerlock is something else...

^ i have a mdi and tech2, and have tried to flash pcms with a efi tuner lock and i beleive a hp tuners lock. I couldnt flash either. Even by tricking the computer into it being a brand new unit it still wont flash. It just freezes the tis 2 web program.

I know theres companys with affordable pcms to replace them with.

I've ran into this as well... I've even had the "other" shop tell the customer that I didn't know what I was doing and was using older software than him is why I couldn't get into the PCM... I update my beta nearly once a day so I know that it was BS and I know the symptoms of a locked PCM. The original tuner just didn't want to unlock the PCM so he wouldn't loose a customer.

I have dealt with locks for a long time and they are a two-bladed weapon.
It sucks when morons tell your new customer that you are a noob and can't get into the computer because you don't know what you're doing.

But it also sucks when another moron begins stealing your tunes and selling as his own. I hate when it happens
I prefer to have a good lock and not have my tunes stolen by wannabes.

I have in stock most PCMs to deal with this situations. If a tunerlocked PCM arrives I change it, tune the vehicle and get another happy customer. Then I unlock the PCM later.
I always explain the situation to the customer because some of them aren't comfortable changing the PCM.

The important thing is I can get into locked PCMs, noobs can't get into mine mua ha ha ha

Here is one issue that I see with the locked pcm's. Car is built and tuned to run at sea level. Another individual buys car tuned at sea level, but lives at 4800 ft. Obviously the car needs to be retuned, but is locked. No other option, but to replace the pcm and start fresh from what I can see. It would be nice if the new owner didn't have to replace the pcm just to be able to drive his car.

I dont really forsee that being a reason for hptuners or others to let you unlock a tune. There are a lot of individuals that make a living off of tuning. there being someway to unlock would be like giving up a college degree for a ponzi scheme.. To me, ECMs can be had for a little as 100 dollars... I can't see that being a big hurdle to overcome when an average person that owns a "built and tuned" car for as little as 15 grand....

Eric

From customers point of view a locked tune not only screwed them out of what they paid for and own, but also screwed them out of their PCM they own! Locking a PCM is a sure fire way to loose a customer, not keep them, you screwed them.

So far I have unlocked three, they were all locked to hide incompetence and not a good tune...

Not much has changed, people still buy aftermarket TBI chips that are worthless as tits on a bull!

Scarcity vs Abundance...

I've only locked a handful of PCM's mostly because of spending so much time dedicated to nailing down a tune on a big motor big boost deal when I don't want anyone jacking with it. Other than that, it's stupid to lock PCM's. Anyone is capable of tuning the vehicle in the same manner. Even if someone "steals" your tune, it's nothing more special than anyone else can do. Not to break anyone's heart. Ingenuity goes a long way with tuning, you can't just copy tunes and expect to keep a customer base when there are tuners that truly know what they're doing and you don't.

Being copied is flattering to most. It's funny to watch other "tooners" try to swindle a customer into taking their vehicle to their shop, then see them royally screw things up and bring it back to me to tune it the right way.

The problem with unlocked tunes is when some fool messes with the tune and blows the engine, then the owner or somebody else blames you.
They can blow the engine to pieces and flash the original tune and let you take the blame. This won't happen with a locked tune.

I have never damaged any engine and I plan to keep it that way. My reputation is very important to me so for turbo or very modified motors I always lock the PCM

For stock or bolt-on engines I don't care

thats really makes me indecision to lock the my tunes , but its hard to me when i know thats there is some fools tuners stolen my tune :mad: , and the fun of that when that fools play with my tune and makes a shitty performance on street and their tried to make a stupid backfire by tuning :doh: :shrug:
and after all of their shitty tune they locked the pcm hhhhhhhhhh :banghead:

Solution, buy an HP Tuner and tune the car yourself.

I'm starting to lock mine. Too many freelance "tooners" out there that copy stuff to sale as their own. What really bites is you do a person a favor and put a basemap on their PCM for them so they can check fluids and leaks etc before they bring a new setup to you and you give that service to them at a significantly reduced rate because they are bringing the car to you and then they decide they cannot wait for there scheduled tune date and take it to another flaky tuner in your area. So to get around loosing some calibration parameters that are proprietary locking the PCM is appropriate IMO. And if you have a good enough reputation then it will be known that a tune isn't crap or that locking is used to cover something up.

Obviously offering to unlock the PCM and flash it back to the original file that it came in with is an option if it ever came to that.

I agree 100% with you LSx
Too many tooners just waiting to have one custom tuned car in their hands to vopy the tune then resale as their own.
I started locking mine years ago. Nobody has complained yet or asked for unlocking. On the contrary, many of them came back for new tunes because of new mods.
Reputation is everything in this business.
In case somebody asked, I would just unlock the pcm for free and retunr it to stock or to a drivable base tune

I think what would be great is something similar to what Cobb uses. Where you can lock your Tune and it cannot be read by any other tuners. But it can be rewritten over.

I dont care if someone goes somewhere else and gets a new tune. I'm more concerned about intellectual property in my own tune.

This way you can lock and protect your work without potentially screwing the customer over.

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Originally Posted by xrelapse13

I think what would be great is something similar to what Cobb uses. Where you can lock your Tune and it cannot be read by any other tuners. But it can be rewritten over.

I dont care if someone goes somewhere else and gets a new tune. I'm more concerned about intellectual property in my own tune.

This way you can lock and protect your work without potentially screwing the customer over.

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Not possible with GM pcm's, sorry, this will likely never happen.