Hi all new to this forum, I just bought the trifecta tune and i had a problem when i was trying to flash my tune stopped at about 88% and it said check cable and junk like that. Now my laptop was not fully charged so i plugged it into my car with the laptop adapter and as it was flashing it canceled like i said. so i tried to start my car and it wouldn't start lights worked everything worked. so i sent the tpl file to trifecta so they could review it, they said that they couldn't see anything that would have cause it to cancel so luckily it was under warranty and they replaced my ecm that had failed so im wondering if it was the tune or my laptop charger causing the voltage to drop frying my ecm.
Trifecta tune problem 2014 chevy sonic
- Thread starter mattyd99
- Start date
Sneakerfix
New member
Was not the tune that caused the pcm to fail. What was the "other junk"?
But Anytime your doing something like this make sure your laptop or flasher is full . Your lucky the dealer didn't check the pcm for why it failed and covered it for free.
But Anytime your doing something like this make sure your laptop or flasher is full . Your lucky the dealer didn't check the pcm for why it failed and covered it for free.
rdss
Junior Member
Like sneakerfix said, make sure that your laptop is fully charged and I would only due tune updates on battery power. A full push I would plug it in before starting and leave it sitting in the driver seat untouched with the window down just to make sure the cable wasn't bumped.
rdss
Junior Member
I wouldn't move it while flashing. When it's logging it's just logging, you might lose the file while logging but it's not pushing/writing data to the ECM like when it's tuning. So moving and logging is okay, but make sure you have a full battery and if you're going to run it on a power source in the car make sure it running, while tuning you're pulling power from the battery that's trying to power the car and the laptop at the same time.
I'm surprised that they couldn't help you recover the ECM prior to having the dealer replace it.
I'm surprised that they couldn't help you recover the ECM prior to having the dealer replace it.
CheapFuneral
New member
Can I throw out there that it could have just been a bad ecm? Maybe you got lucky and this happened during a flash. (Lucky as in you weren't in the middle of a highway.)
If I die, bury me in my truck, because it's never been in a hole it can't get out of!
If I die, bury me in my truck, because it's never been in a hole it can't get out of!
Sneakerfix
New member
Doors lights radio and so on should be off when flashing
Kuntryboy865
New member
Why? I flashed my car tonight with the door open and radio on. Didnt have a problem flashing it.
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ScarabEpic22
Member
Simply to keep the battery from dying AND depending on the vehicle, having the door open can keep certain modules on the CAN bus "chatting" which could cause the flash to fail.
zb50
New member
I can see the point of keeping the battery from dying and I too worried about the "chatting" as you stated, but I did mine last night with the passenger door wide open, stereo on (turned to zero) while getting in and out of the driver side door (had to watch the one year old while flashing). I had no problems whatsoever. Awesome tune too!
If I have to do it again, which I probably will to another car, I will likely keep the doors closed and completely turn off the radio for that "just incase".
ScarabEpic22
Member
Think of it as a best-practice, usually wont mess you up but there's a chance it could. I'm betting Trifecta/BNR recommends it because there is that possibility and it will cut down on support requests.Newer vehicles are much better, but some older ones dont play nice on the CAN or VPW bus...I've flashed just a few vehicles
and after having 1 die on the side of the road mid-way through a flash while tuning due to a dead battery, I pay way more attention to it now. (Did a full flash of an ECM vs just a cal flash, took 5min vs 30s and killed it after the booloader [so recoverable with proper battery voltage].)Especially if you have something aftermarket like a HU adapter or something that clamps onto the CAN bus, thats when things get tricky as aftermarket modules dont always follow GM's guidelines for communications (and more importantly, when they should NOT communicate).
I never had a flash fail until I opened my door to check the progress one day because the laptop display went to sleep (system sleep was disabled for the flash obviously). It got stuck at 40% then it failed a half hour later after staying at 40% for most of the time. I had always done it by reaching through the window in the past but it was very cold out and the window was pretty dirty from salty roads so I didn't want to roll it down. I figured it wouldn't be an issue but I realized my mistake later since I probably caused chatter on the CAN-bus.
I had also left my dash cam plugged in, which I usually unplug during flashing. It makes the TPMS light come on sometimes (until you unplug and plug in the camera) and I figured it might be emitting EMI that might have been picked up somewhere else in the car.
The way I ended up dealing with it was turing on screen sharing on my MacBook. That way I could watch the Windows 7 VM over WiFi while it flashed from indoors where it was warm. This way I wouldn't have to open the door to see if it finished. Fortunately after rebooting my computer, and turning the cars power off for a minute, it allowed me to resume. EZFlash said it detected an incomplete flash and restarted the process from the beginning. I won't lie though, it scared the crap out of me when it said it failed.
BNRacing
Supporting Vendor
Off topic here, but love the avatar. Haven't seen a mooneyes logo in forever!
zb50
New member
Thanks! I'm a street rodder at heart.
GMs procedure is always have a battery charger on low charge while Flashing.System voltage drops and you will lock up the ECM, Very Important i have seen a number of ECMs lock up durring flashing from low system voltage.Also never have anything on in the car.And of course your lap top needs to be fully charged.
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