Bi-directional scan/program tool

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admiralhaye
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Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by admiralhaye »

Has anyone built or designed a cross platform bi-directional scan tool that also has the ability to program custom tunes?
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antus
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by antus »

The flashing functionality issues you'd hit would be specific to exactly what family of pcm your trying to program and the cross platform issues would be the same as you'd encounter writing any cross platform app. Can you be more specific? For what we mostly do (ALDL) the biggest cross platform issues are around how to support it's non-standard baud rate of 8192. Once that is solved its just a regular program.

Some PCMs dont have the flash functionality built in (such as Delco/Delphi '0411) and it uses a nonstandard packet size and increases the data bus speed by a factor of 4. In that case the issues are around unlocking the pcm to allow upload of self developed code to run the pcm, wiring that code without docs to a standard where it can safely reflash the computer and hardware support for the non-standard protocol.

Some PCMs do have the flash code built in, those ones are a lot simpler.
Have you read the FAQ? For lots of information and links to significant threads see here: http://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1396
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admiralhaye
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by admiralhaye »

I was mostly talking about obd2 can-c bus.
Being able to access some of the ALDL GM's would be nice. I suppose I'm just frustrated with the scan tool/programmer options available.....I own a 97 Tahoe with the 5 connector black brick. I just did a 4l80e swap and had to send it from NC to Ohio to be segmented.
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andy18
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by andy18 »

admiralhaye wrote:Has anyone built or designed a cross platform bi-directional scan tool that also has the ability to program custom tunes?
Oh yeah, Alientech, CMD, FG Galletto, MPPS, Byteshooter and many, many more. :D

GM / Ford / Chrysler HP Tuners.
GM, EFI Live

Also SCT, Diablo Sport, etc
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admiralhaye
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by admiralhaye »

Not one of these are a cross platform bi-directional scan tool with the ability to program custom tunes.each one may communicate and or program some cars. The closest scan tool I could find is snap on....if you have $10k and $800 a month for subscription .
Or you could buy an aultel if you want to put your faith in cheap Chinese crap.
Efi live is a great tuning tool if all you work on is LS GM's.
And you don't mind buying the tool and still spending pay per play credit $$
I guess I'm just greedy....I want it all
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Gareth
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by Gareth »

Or you could buy an aultel if you want to put your faith in cheap Chinese crap.
I wasn't aware that Autel had a pass through available. We have an Autel in the workshop, its a very powerful scan tool, has abilities a lot of other generic tools don't have for specific makes (cluster programming, key training, etc..) one of the best all rounders I have.
According to chemistry, alcohol is a solution...
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admiralhaye
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by admiralhaye »

They do have pass thru if you buy the $1300 j2534 cable.... still no custom tunability.
To be honest I'll probably end up getting the Autel.
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andy18
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by andy18 »

Ah yes, my bad, did not see the scanner part. No, no tool like this exists. Your best bet is Autel Maxisys for scanning and CarDAQ2 for flashing OEM. There is some softs out there that flash custom tunes via J2534, namely Tactrix. ECU Flash is a free software that will flash via Tactrix but not every make of course.
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by antus »

Yeah, and you can get clone MDIs off of aliexpress (J2534) but quality varies. I think the better question to ask is what do you want to do? You can make anything happen on any platform with virtualisation etc and then stand alone tools avoid the question of pc OS anyway. Having said that, its usually cheaper and simpler to run the supported OS for the tool you need. Pretty much all tools run on windows 7 or 10 (and probably 8, but who's going there?) so you dont really need cross platform to get the job done. Im a big fan of Linux, but no sain tool developer wants to pay the extra development/testing/support costs to support it when its a very small user base within an already small user base and at best case provides the same functionality they already provide.
Have you read the FAQ? For lots of information and links to significant threads see here: http://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1396
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admiralhaye
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Re: Bi-directional scan/program tool

Post by admiralhaye »

By cross platform, I meant automotive manufacturer.
Sorry for the confusion.
I'm in the US, I've spent the last 9 years at a Dodge dealership now I own my own shop and have been struggling to find an affordable scan tool that will communicate with multiple manufacturers on a dealership tool level.
There isn't one, not to mention custom tuning ability.
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