tuning a vehicle that has already been tuned and locked...?

[C Murda]

if a car has already been tuned and the tuner has locked his tune am i able to at least save that tune to flash back in as a back up? what exactly are the limitations of a "locked" tune? does that mean it cant be viewed? it cant be messed around with? or it is locked completely meaning cant be touched at all i can only flash in my own tune and once that is done that locked tune is gone??

[cindy@efilive]

Locking is complicated, because the term locked is also used for a wide variety of other security restrictions, so the answer to your question will be dependent on exactly what was done to the tune file to begin with.

A locked tune cannot be read from the ECM. Historically, the ECM could not be flashed either unless the ECM was unlocked first.

Auto-Lock (EFILive's proprietary locking system which is available on selected controllers) prevents reading of the tune file, but allows the ECM to be flashed.

Security settings such as 'Cannot View or Modify' will also prevent the viewing and editing of a tune, but flashing is not affected.

There is a detailed locking FAQ available here https://support.efilive.com/kb_article.php?ref=3989-QOXM-1721

There are other files that cannot be read from the ECM too - typically for Custom OS's like switchable tuning, we use non-readable ECM space for the switching, so those tune files although not 'locked' cannot be read out.

Cheers
Cindy

[wait4me]

Have you asked the tuner if they locked the ecm? Have you asked them to unlock it? Have you asked them for a copy of your stock file?
What kind of vehicle is it.

As Cindy has said, some files are locked automatically due to custom os systems and the changing of tables to be other things. Making them no longer compatible with other programming software..
OR some computers just don't allow reading depending on the ecm.