When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
It has ruined my pcm twice. They fixed it for free once when I payed all the shipping. They reflashed my pcm and sent me a new HPP3 the first time. It happened again and they pretend they dont know me. Word of advice espcially to A4 owners dont even consider it.
Notice how many people want to sell thier hypertechs? They suck ! For those of you whom it has worked, thank GOD. Their willingness to help once they break down your pcm is pitiful. I hope none of our vendors sell this crap. If it works 80% of the time it still makes it very unreliable! :mad
Boy Howdy.... I just gotta jump in and share my .02 worth.
My HPP3 worked perfect for the previous owner and is working perfect for me as well. I bought it used from a fellow member out of CA and have been pleased as can be. If you really got treated the way you say, I can sure understand your level of frustation with that plastic box.
I also used one on my 96 LT-1 and it really make that thing come to life.
Sorry about your experience and thankfully they're not all that bad.
Good luck,
How does it break your PCM unit? Something about the way it flashes the EPROM? On my LT1, everytime I flash with the HPP III I get an H64 and an H41 code, which once I clear them (immediately after flash via the paper clip trick) they do not return. Hypertech tech support had no answer for why this happens. I've got a new Compaq Evo 180 laptop PC and have been thinking about selling the HPP III, getting a cable adapter, and LT1EDIT software and having a crack at it myself 'from scratch'
Notice how many people want to sell thier hypertechs? They suck ! For those of you whom it has worked, thank GOD. Their willingness to help once they break down your pcm is pitiful. I hope none of our vendors sell this crap. If it works 80% of the time it still makes it very unreliable! :mad
What happens to your PCM when you try to program it? What is the DIC or the HPP3 saying? Or what is going on? You can't just come on and say HPP3 is crap without giving us some details as to what's going on.
I've had no problems with my HPP3, but I am trying to sell it because I "outgrew" it. IMO, HPP3 is great for a near stock A4 car or anyone who wants to swap rears without paying big bucks for custom programming.
That's what I love about opinions - everybody has one. My HPP3 is working just fine and I really like using it. To bad it didn't work for your car.
later,
Same with mine. It works great...no problems. I do parallel jump a second battery whenever I program...still 12 VDC but double the current capacity.
Ed
I've had two in the past. One for my '94Z28 and one for my '96 LT4. Both worked and never caused any problems, but neither car ran any better. Basically they both just ran the same. Sorry yours messed up your car. :mad
Always be sure battery is fully charged and healthy. Jumping one in sounds wise. Like others here, I'm only selling because my mods "outgrew" it. It works great for fans, shifts, and it was flawless handling my 2.73 to 3.42 swap.
After installing the Hypertech programming on my 97 several years ago I found out that I could not revert back to stock and had to re-install the HPP3 software to get the car running. After quite a few discussions with Hypertech over the period of 10 months I found that some where their code was messing with the C5s antitheft code (codes were set) and that was why the car would not start after reloading the stock program from the programmer. The only solution that worked was to get to the point where the car would not start and then remove the battery cable and let the car sit for a few minutes. Once this was done the car started normally. After doing a dyno run with the HPP3 installed and then a year later doing one with the stock programming re-intalled I discovered the HPP3 coding did not provide any performance gain so I never put it back into the PCM. The programmer is sitting in a box in my office just waiting for somebody to buy it.
Bill
Hypertech "power programmers" are generally accepted across the board as being useless. But they are brainless to use and so many people buy them because they fear actually hooking up a laptop to their car.
I had bought one initially for my LT1 swap before I learned of the alternate programs like LT1 Edit and Tunercat. Those two are half the price and allow you to adjust MUCH more on your car. And they allow you to actually tune to YOUR car, not some generalized tune off the HPP. Fuel + spark curve changes? I've been in cars that have used the HPP before/after and they have done nothing other than adjust the speedo for new gears, lower the fan switch temps, and change the line pressures in A4s.
$300+ for just that? And then to hear members from this and other boards get negative results... it doesn't add up as a good product to me.