98 LS1 PCM's

[Homeslice]

I just installed my new Flashscan purchase and upon reading the release notes noticed a warning that 98 PCMs cannot be read or written "yet". I am a little cautious to try until I am sure that my PCM is supported. What is the deal with this and when (if I am reading that correctly) will it be corrected?

edit- Well it seems after a bunch of forum searching that I spent a lot of money for no reason. I don't mind telling you that I am a bit upset by the fact that this "little" issue isn't placed prominantly in your store where more unsuspecting 98 owners can see it before shelling out large sums of money. You guys absolutely MUST advertise this to people who don't nessesarily have the time to spend all day reading through pages of forum posts!!!!! In my opinion maybe your priorities as stated in the obscure post about this problem need to be less biased toward delivering more content for the 99+ crowd and more on fulfilling your promise of a tuner for all LS1's like it says on the box and in your site. My car sits.. unrunable until this is fixed.

Not very happy,
Mike

[87gmc]

98 PCM is whole different beast compared to the 99-04 PCM. EFILive will be supporting it just not right now. The software for the 98's are being written by individuals.

[Homeslice]

98 PCM is whole different beast compared to the 99-04 PCM. EFILive will be supporting it just not right now. The software for the 98's are being written by individuals.

That's all fine... but I bought the product they sell on the site. A tuner for "LS1/LS6" engines. Not a tuner for "LS1/LS6 except 98" engines. Nowhere does it mention this small fact on their site. It's like LS1 Edit all over again.

Will EFILive work with my vehicle?
EFILive V6 has been certified to operate with the GM LS1 or LS6 Powertrain Control Modules (PCMs) and therefore carries full technical support from EFILive when used to connect to an OBDII, LS1 or LS6 equipped GM vehicle.

While EFILiveV6 may work on other GM, OBDII powertrains, at this time EFILive does not guarantee support for anything other than LS1 or LS6 powertrains.

EFILive welcomes comments and information regarding any attempts to use EFILive V6 with GM vehicles other than LS1 and will endeavor to assist where possible.

EFILive V4 is designed for pre-OBDII (ALDL) GM vehicles.

Hmmmm. Patiently awaiting a reply with a date I can expect to be able to use my investment. I don't buy milk with a promise that when we get around to milking the cow we'll send the milk to you.

[Blacky]

Although it is not explicitly stated, that FAQ was written before our tuning tool was released and is referring to the Scan Tool only.
I will fix the FAQ as soon as possible, sorry for the confusion.
I will also make sure that there is ample warning onm our web site of the status of the 98 product.

If you feel that you have been mislead, I apologise, it was not my intention to mislead.
Feel free to contact me personally (paul@efilive.com) if you would like to discuss the situation further.

Regards
Paul

[Homeslice]

Thanks to Paul for his quick action and excellent attitude. Talking to him made a bad situation much better.

[wait4me]

Everyone on this board are a bunch of good guys. Be nice and The information we all recieve is very inpressive, and Saves alot of time having to do your own research

[joecar]

The people at EFILive work very hard and do their very best; good will come of this.

[dfe1]

Hey Homeslice, I know it's disappointing when you get all revved up to do something and then find that you can't, but you'll be better off in the long run if you have a little patience. I know a few guys who used brand x software and wound up with toasted PCMs. Paul and the guys at EFILive are ethical and determined to do things right-- I'm sure they just ran into a few unanticipated problems with the 98 PCMs. Believe me, you're better off waiting than trying to flash your PCM with software that isn't quite right, or incomplete. I've used all the software that's available for LS1s, and I've been tuning LT1s and L98s for over 10 years. Based on my experience, I can tell you that FlashScan is the best tuning/scanning software package you can buy.

[Delco]

Hey Homeslice, I know it's disappointing when you get all revved up to do something and then find that you can't, but you'll be better off in the long run if you have a little patience. I know a few guys who used brand x software and wound up with toasted PCMs. Paul and the guys at EFILive are ethical and determined to do things right-- I'm sure they just ran into a few unanticipated problems with the 98 PCMs. Believe me, you're better off waiting than trying to flash your PCM with software that isn't quite right, or incomplete. I've used all the software that's available for LS1s, and I've been tuning LT1s and L98s for over 10 years. Based on my experience, I can tell you that FlashScan is the best tuning/scanning software package you can buy.

I would have to second those sentiments , I am a proffesional tuner that has been doing this for about 10 years now , I have all the packages but the EFILIVE stuff has always been the best and the best supported of anything out there.
The 98's were never intially going to be supported as it is such a small part of the market and so diiferent to the newer computers but it is the guys who have 98's here that wanted it so bad and a group of them have put the effort in so the Efilive team can add support for it to use on there current interface.

I may be wrong but I believe it will be a free update and unlocked program for all EFILIVE users who have flashscan for there other cars as well , so in effect the 98 users and efilive are doing it for no profit to the 98 community - before anyone says " you have to buy the interface" that is designed and costed on doing 2 licenses for 99 onwards LS1's and you can still use it on 2 99 and up cars.

8)

[Homeslice]

Well it was a matter of timing and a lack of notice. Had I seen the messages that are there now about support I would have been able to ask some questions about the future support and been prepared to wait.

You are absolutely right about the customer service, it has been top rate and personal. After talking with Paul I have decided to wait and see and in the mean time get my car tuned by a friend so that I can at least run it in the mean time. The main concern was that the car was down totally until it was supported and nobody had really pinned down a time frame for release of the 98 software. Coupled with the fact that there was no warning that it didn't support 98's the whole ordeal was a little trying to say the least. But like I said, a talk with Paul gave me the answers I needed to be informed enough to.

As far as the unlocked support for 98's, that really isn't a concern for me. I would gladly pay for licences for 98's as well provided I need them. I'm not a tuning shop so it's really a mute point for me. If this product makes good on it's promised capablilities it is certainly worth every penny. I anxiously await the completion of the 98' code.

Thanks to all,
Mike