Need to take truck for service tomorrow because the snapping/creaking sound/feeling has returned when taking off from a stop when truck is cold. The slip yoke lube solution only lasted about 200 miles, now its back.

Not sure whether to cancel and reschedule because it is darn cold in PA. this week, and the XCAL2 instructions from MT clearly state no tuning when less than 34 degrees. I was hoping to restore the truck to factory tune today but not sure of we will get out of the 20's today and I have no garages I can park in to warm up pcm...

Any of you cold weather climate XCAL2 users load tunes below 34 degrees ?

 

I would bet the main concern is for the battery voltage at those temps. Find a garage or parking garage, have your motor warmed up and battery charged and in good condition and all should be good. A parking fee would be a small price to pay for being able to load your tune. good luck.

 

i've done it atleast 4-5 times here the last couple weeks, i've yet to use the tuner over 30 degrees.. i did it once it was 9 degrees but i had the truck running for awhile.

im guessing if you just go for a drive and let the engine compartment warm up... it wont be a problem

 

Thanks guys, warming up truck first would warm up pcm from the engine heat. Didn't think of the obvious here !

 

Actually no, it's NOT out of concern for battery voltage, though that was an excellent guess.

Here's the deal - just make sure your XCal 2 is at normal room temperature by having it in the house for a couple of hours, etc. - and then start your truck up, and let it idle for a half-hour or so with the hood down, stationary, so that maximum heat is under the hood and thus the PCM gets as warm as possible. As long as the tuner itself and the PCM are at least 34+ degrees, you can easily tune them.

Though some people profess to tuning at below 30 degrees, that is not a smart thing to do, and as everyone knows, we strongly recommend against it. PCM's DO NOT LIKE BEING FLASHED at freezing or below temperatures, even though it's perfectly fine for them to OPERATE at say, 30 below zero - it's FLASHING them at freezing & below temps that introduces risk - what kind of risk - how about blowing the PCM and your tuner!?! Ever thought about how much static electricity is in the air at those temps?

the SCT tuner warns you of low voltage, by the way, once again, low voltage is NOT the issue as the tuner will catch that and prevent that at any temperature - it will come up and say LOW VOLTAGE - that is NOT the issue.

So that's the scoop - those of you who insist on tempting fate by flashing at freezing or below temperatures despite the fact that we have warned you not to, I wish you luck, but don't come asking us for any kind of assistance and PLEASE do not tell others that it's OK to do that - IT'S NOT OK!

Just the amount of static electricity there is in freezing air temperatures makes it easier to introduce a file corruption under those conditions. Now you might work that out by returning back to stock and then retuning again - but not in freezing or below temps, please just don't do that - it's too easy to prevent that and still flash your PCM all winter long, my friends.

Anyway, I've said enough - it's easy to take 30-60 minutes to get your tuner and your engine warmed up enough with the hood closed and the tuner inside the house outside it's packaging to get both the tuner and the PCM up to high enough temps to flash the PCM if you have to, so please, use a little commonsense, that's really all it takes.

Merry Christmas,

 

Haha, fellas he's not joking either! A file corruption would be letting you off easy if you tune below 34 degrees on a cold PCM. I don't know much about tuners, but I'd assume the electronics in them wouldn't like it either (much like Mike just told you).

You can EASILY fry your PCM and for that matter your tuner if they are below 34 degrees when flashing them.

Operating at below freezing and flashing the ROM at below freezing are two COMPLETELY different things.

Like Mike said, don't tempt fate on this one. Warm them up per his instructions or go to a heated garage for reflashing in the winter!

Duke

 

when i did my flashing at the <30 temps every time the engine had been driven atleast 15-20 minutes, and the xcal2 itself was warm. so i didnt feel there would be a problem.

 

Reading Mikes post reminds me of when I worked on jet aircraft. Always cold in the winter in Japan, and it never failed with all the precautions taken, including grounding the aircraft, special mats on the floor in shop, grounding points, plastic plugs over the connections, someone would touch the pins of a computer and fry the whole thing. Static electricity is not a good friend!