Well I just killled my PCM when my battery died in my laptop while flashing
I was going to send my PCM to Madtuner and get the chip socketed and pay for some extra chips.

Is it worth having it repaired and is it a major job? I also have the resistor soldered in for the obd1 knock sensor.

 

Saw a couple out on e-bay for $40 and $50 since you have your own code you can use part number 16188051 from any model and load your code on it. For that price I was thinking maybe I should pick up a spare and keep it handy , just in case..I think madtuner charges $50.00 for repair, a pluggable socket and spare chips would also work, as long as there is no soldering involved, takes special solder sucking gun, etc not to damage the board.

 

well i think I will send it to madtuner and have it socketed, he charges $75 and sells 2 extra chips for $30. I could get one out of the local junk yard for $45 but would like to be able to just replace chip if a flash fails again in the future.

 

Just read back and saw you have the knock sensor resistor mod on your PCM.. makes your direction look like the better idea.. I've loaded my code seems like a hundred times so far w/o problems , but I normally load in the garage with AC plug in laptop and charger on car battery. Plus I read the PCM first to make sure all connections, etc are working before I start writing (loading). I also do a lot of logging with laptop in the car on the road and have a small 150 watt inverter I plug into the lighter socket to provide AC power to the laptop (I have a 8 year old beater-upper Windows '95 laptop I use for tuning only) the battery does not last very long compared to the newer units. Inverters only cost $15-$30, sort of insurance.. . Guess I'm a little paranoid..

 

You aren't paranoid, I've been doing the same things you have for years too. Then again, when I first got into tuning back in the late 90s/early 2000s, I managed to fry 2 PCMs in a very short 2 weeks. Annoying, to say the least. Now my primary PCM is socketed and I keep a backup PCM in the Z just in case. I even have a 400W inverter wired directly up to the battery.

 

Do you loose your proramming license when socketing the PCM and replacing the chips with new ones?

 

Yes it is worth it. Fried 2 pcms myself after I switched to windows xp. Longs story.

No you shouldn't if you are using Tunercat or TunerPro. Just flash in your program and input your VIN and your good to go.