Hey guys, I have been thinking about buying HP Tuners. Anyways before I do I have a quick question... I have an 07' SS/SC and 2 PCMs for it. The PCM that is in it now is a INTENSE Racing Stage 4 PCM and I still have the stock PCM sitting around... I have searched all over HP Tuners forum and here on CSS but nobody has had a similar situation.

What I want to do is do a single car license for HP Tuners (2 credits), read the INTENSE tune off the PCM and save as a backup file, then switch in my stock PCM and read its tune and save it as a backup file, write the INTENSE tune to my original stock PCM and use this original PCM in my car, and sell my aftermarket INTENSE Stage 4 PCM because I will no longer need it. Basically I need to read 2 tunes off PCMs (with the same PCM VIN), and write one tune to a PCM. Then I need to perform a CASE Learn on the car (which HP Tuners is supposed to do...)

Now is this possible? HP Tuners uses the VIN as the license right? (Which would be the same VIN for both PCMs as the INTENSE PCM was rewritten with my VIN by them) Or would this require separately licensing both PCMs (4 credits) If this is not possible, what would it take (as far as credits?) to do this? Also do you think that the HP Tuners Pro is worth the extra money if you don't have a wideband right now? Thank you very much!

 

you wouldnt know until you read one of them. once u read one of them, then try to read the other it will tell you if you need to buy credits.

if its the same VIN it should

 

Soo your saying as long as both the PCMs have the same VIN written to them that HP Tuners will think they are both the same PCM and allow me to read and write to them at will?.. The PCMs definately both have the same VIN as INTENSE wrote my VIN into their PCM and my other PCM is stock...

 

you can read a tune and save it for free, you just can't save any changes to it. This should work as long as the intense pcm isn't locked, which I'm almost positive you can't do on cobalts. If your looking to buy hptuners pm me and I will get you setup with what you need.

 

Thank you for the information... I will need to read the INTENSE tune (which your saying is free) but will I then be able to write that tune back out to the stock PCM? That is the important thing there that I be able to essentially replicate the INTENSE tune soo that I can later modify it on the stock PCM. I know I will have to license one PCM for the car, but there is just soo much confusion for HP Tuners licensing because their website has information concerning licensing files, single vehicles (VINs), make/model/years, make/model, etc. As far as the tune being locked I think you're right with the Cobalt not being able to be locked, and besides INTENSE claims they don't lock their tunes anyways...

Thanks for the speedy information! BTW fast98, do you have both versions of HPT in stock and ready to ship same day?

 

Right now I only have the pro interface in stock, the standard I will have in a few days, I highly suggest the pro though. In hptuners there is a compare feature, you will be able to compare your intense tune to your stock tune and copy all of the changes. I dont know if you know it but Hptuners comes with 8 credits.

 

Hello,

I am also interested in this situation. I recently bought the HP Tuners from the website. I have an extra PCM I could use, but not sure how the credits work when used to license a car or a year/model. From what I have read on the HP Tuners site, it takes 2 credits to license the PCM, not the VIN number. Each PCM has a serial number associated with it. The software licenses the serial #, not the cars VIN number. So, you might have to use 4 total credits to use two different PCM's. Is this correct? Maybe I misunderstood. I am hoping I can just license an unlimited amount of 2006 Cobalts for 6 total credits?... Then I can license and tune both PCM's for my car, or any other 2006 cobalt that the software works with, correct?? Thanks....

 

its 8 credits for a whole year if im not mistaken.

also do what he said, go pro. then u can just read and save the one. then just compare it to your stock and make the changes manually. itll take more time but wont cost you more credits

 

You are wrong my friend. The credits are actually for the PCM ID# or whatever, not the vin. You will need to have separate credits for each PCM regardless of whether you use them in the same car or not.

And for the love of god, get rid of that Intense Stage 4 file.

Lucky for you, you can read a file for free. So read the Intense computer, save the file. Read your PCM stock, license that file. Then open a COMPARE FILE with your stock tune first and the Intense as a compare, then copy those changes. But for real, unles Intense rewrote the tune, their Stage 4 file is crappier than any I have seen. I was getting 11* of knock at only 4500rpms. And the car was backfiring.




It's 6

 

Well guys, I really hate to admit it but the INTENSE tune is the reason why I am thinking about getting HP Tuners in the first place... The tune is running really poorly. My mods are in my sig... Sometimes the car runs great, but rarely... I have bad part throttle and WOT hesitation and stumbles. The car trips Random Cylinder Misfire codes nonstop... I really don't know what to do now? I might send back the INTENSE PCM and try a ZZP PCM for the time being, because I really can't afford HPT Pro and a Wideband. If anybody remotely near me would happen to have HPT and does some tuning, I would definitely be interested in some work. I live between Pittsburgh and Greensburg, PA... I really don't want to have to spend $650+ and attempt to have to tune the car on my own, when it might just need adjusted... Thanks!

 

If you have HPTuners I could help you out. Do you have it?

 

Psykostevo,

I really appreciate the notion, but unfortunately I do not have HP Tuners. I am still trying to consider whether it is better to just buy the HPT or just try another canned tune or have someone tune me. I am not looking to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of the car and I am looking for something that is reasonably priced, but I do however want the car to run acceptably for what it has. What is your advice? Again, thank you very much for the offer, but as of now I can't take you up on it...

 

Unfortunately you made the rookie mistake I made a long time ago and went with the Intense Tuning. It was a mistake that eventually lead to me learning how to tune, so I guess I can be somewhat thankful their tuning was garbage.

 

Yea, I definitely see what you mean with the situation... However now I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place... INTENSE will likely let me return the PCM since it's not working well, however I need some sorta tuning to run these 60's and 2.8...

The computer tuning thing does scare me at all (I have a Computer Science degree and work as a Kronos Systems Analyst / Application Integration Specialist), I just don't necessarily feel like investing the money into a tuning system that I will only ever use a couple times. I really have no other interest in using the HP Tuners on any other vehicles or doing tunes for people on the side. That being said I really just want a PCM that actually works half decent or someone to tune me good enough to run pretty well.... I am definitely open for options at this point. Thanks again...

 

I guess take a peek and see who's in your area. You can always drive to Tom's River NJ, and get a kick ass tune from Tune Time Performance.

 

Hey, I think you were the same person who was trying the HHO generator.....good stuff.....have you read any threads here or tried to run on E85 ?? Seems there has to be a way to use less "gasoline" or oil component in our fuels,...maybe not 100% less, but some less anyways....I see this area as the next "internet stocks" (money to be made!!)

Thanks for answering some basic tuning questions and some HPT stuff. I do appreciate it and hope I can ask some othe dumb questions as I am a total NEWB with an unopened HPT box sitting in my Garage.....

 

Good to read some info on this subject and good to know there is a Compare function in HP tuners. (Also in the Standard VCM version I suppose?)

But I'm still in doubt if I really need the Pro version. I do not have AC in my car, so I can do the wideband cheat through the AC sensor feed in the VCM Standard version. Cannot imagine I will need the extra 0-5v signals, but the extra datalogging option seems very handy. If that really works well... Otherwise I can just hook up a laptop.

Please shine some real-life-tuner opinions on this, so I can ease my mind and buy it.
(Need to get rid of VATS soon for my European mid-engine LSJ conversion. )

 

Compare is an option in Stadard Version too.

Pro has a few options that standard doesnt, but mainly the big bonus is having the plug on the side of the data box for the wideband or whatever you want to plug in. If you ever change your mind later you can pay ~$200 to upgrade your box to pro.

 

Thought the upgrade was more like $289,- + shipping.
Still like to know how useful that Pro datalogging option is...

I ask this because sometimes a VCM suite pops up at Ebay and I only really need this to be able to tune my single LSJ engine here in europe.
(Anybody here with a program that is only gathering dust? )