SCT Unit May Have Fried My ECU

[ijrdp]

2008 6.4L Lariat-Crew Cab-Long Box-4X4

Just had the rig take the tow of shame from my house over to the dealers lot.

Two days ago I was playing around with the SCT unit. I have had it for about 6 months and did pretty well with the canned tunes. Threw a custom tune on for the first time and right off the bat I have reverse but no foreward gears. I immediately shut it down and went to return to stock. That is where trouble started.
The sct unit got hung up attempting to set up the ECU. Tried a few more times to no avail. Got SCT on the phone the next day. They had me e-mail them the stock and flash tunes stored in the unit so they could make a recovery file. They made the file and sent it over to the sct unit. File didnt work. We tried a number of things but no luck. They closed for the day, and asked me to check all fuses and battery voltages before calling in the morning.
Check em, everything looked good. Got on the phone with SCT (acctually they called me as soon as they opened) went through a few more things. Updated firmware bla bla bla. Nothing. Then comes the "i have bad news for you" statement from sct. "looks like that tune may have shot your TCU" I have to tell you my heart dropped. They said I could send it it and have them replace it. Great customer service, but I cant have the truck out of action for that long. Especialy if there may be additional computer damage.
Well it is at the dealer now, will find out what the damage is soon enough.

I have to say that the service from SCT was awesome, but I am conscerned that their tuner firmware/software seems to lack a basic failsafe ability to prevent MAJOR damage to the delicate computers in these rigs. It was a custom tune that I was playing with, so I can't lay the blame entirely on SCT, but there should have been some type of failsafe other than just leaving good enough alone.

Anyone run into anything similar?

[ijrdp]

Just heard back from the dealer. TCM (Tranny computer) is fried. Damages look like
Towing to the dealer - $106
TCM replacement parts and labor -$745

Will I be using the SCT in the future? Hard to say, but attempting to rationalize it, I did save over $500 in fuel over the last 6 months. 7000 miles at an average of 17mpg vs 12mpg. And having that DPF off the truck is priceless.

The stock tunes did seem to work well, but I will certainly not be playing with the custom tunes.

To SCT's credit, they did offer to replace the TCM if I mailed it in. If I could be without the truck for that long, I would probably take them up on the offer. But for now, the dealer will have it done in 2 days, and ensure there is no other computer damage. That is well worth the money.

[giddyup]

what setting where you using to see that mileage?

[ijrdp]

Canned performance tune. Running the stock tires, and a leer canopy (if that helps out at all). Have run at just over 21 on pair of 300 mile unloaded trips comming back from canada. Those were all highway, with a total 2000 ft elevation loss over the first 100 miles and flat freeway for the last 200. Keeping it right at 60 with rpms running around 1650. The same trip with the DPF on was right around 15mpg.

[Abrannan19]

unfortunately fried TCM's and SCT custom tunes go hand in hand..we had 2 in a row on the same truck get fried,

[giddyup]

Originally Posted by Abrannan19

unfortunately fried TCM's and SCT custom tunes go hand in hand..we had 2 in a row on the same truck get fried,

what is causing this?

[POWERED SPARKLESS]

It almost hurts to hear things like this on new rigs.

On a side note what did the dealer say about warrenty, guess it is now void?

[ijrdp]

I was upfront with the dealer on the cause of the problem. I went in there knowing what I did caused this problem and did not expect them to warranty my own stupidity (cant imagine what a warranty like that would cost anyway)

They seem to be a pretty good dealer and did tell me that they don't "flag" mod'ed vehicles. They look specifically at root cause and handle it accordingly.

I am really more concerned with the ability of the SCT unit to fry a computer in the truck. That really scares the crap out of me. Their canned tunes seem ok, but I wouldn't touch custom tunes from any other outfit with a 10' pole.

[Big Angry Hillbilly]

The TCM is pretty weak on these trucks, when it comes to reprogramming. What job of truck do you have?

Take the old TCM, and send it to SCT and have them replace it anyhow, then you will have a spare.

Major TCM failure contribution factors:

-Low battery voltage during programming
-Low battery voltage in your scan tool/programming tool (if applicable)
-Scan tool/programming tool becoming disconnected during programming
-Programming tool locking up/freezing during programming
-Programming being loaded into the module is corrupt.

The TCM's in these trucks are pretty much JUNK, in my opinion.

[ijrdp]

Believe it is an early 08' job 1. Should have it back from the dealer today (fingers crossed) Forced to take a 180 mile road trip with the wife, kids, and dog in the Taurus this last weekend. NEVER AGAIN.