Hi, All,

Got my new Hypertech Programmer in the post today, and I was quite excited to get home and try it. I got home, read through the instructions, then went out to try it on the car.

The car (programming wise) is a bone stock '97 vette coupe (LS-1), and as such I was expecting everything to go fine.

Plugged in the programmer, turned the key to "ACC", then pressed the up arrow on the programmer. The lights came on, all the copyright messages scrolled through, and the programmer identified my car as a 1997 Vette.

Then the programmer started checking.... something....

Progress was slow - to get to 99%, it took about 10 minutes, which is fair enough, but once it reached 99%, the DIC starts beeping like crazy and says "REDUCED ENGINE POWER!".

At this point, the programmer was telling me "Calibration Not Found, Contact Hypertech". Great. :rolleyes: It also tells me to turn off the car and disconnect the cable, which I did.

The car seems OK, no further warning of reduced power, but this seems a bit suspicious as the main reason I bought a Power Programmer over LS-1 edit was because it seemed "Fail-safe", which is kinda a requirement for Vette owners over here as there are NO CHEVROLET DEALERS....

Now - can anyone suggest what I might have done wrong? The car WASN'T running, the only electrical system that was running was the interior light which was turned on BEFORE the programmer was plugged in, and everything else was followed to the letter.... :confused:

Can anyone help me out here? I've tried phoning Hypertech but they're closed at the moment....

:cheers:

 

You're probably OK if you have no Check Engine light.

It's perfectly normal for the 'Reduced Engine Power' message and various other worrying goings-on while the HPPIII is flashing the PCM, so don't worry about that. Regarding the interior light, I wouldn't risk running ANY electrical accessories whilst the HPPIII is flashing the PCM. I also turn the HVAC (heater controls) unit off before starting with the HPPIII. The HPPIII gets all its power from the car battery and is quite power-hungry, so the less ancillary electrical load, the better. Also, NEVER open a door (interior light) or operate ANY electrical accessory during programming as this can cause a spike which could corrupt the PCM programming.

I've had my HPPIII screw-up a couple of times in the middle of a PCM flash and it has recovered successfully everytime. It simply resumes where it left-off.

I'm assuming you purchased an HPPIII for your model year (97)? They are year-specific.

Cheers,
Ian.
:cheers:

 

All the above is true. Personally, I always jumper in a second battery when progarmming. Same voltage but twice the amp capacity. The unit has very issues this way.
Ed

 

Had several instances where mine, messed up. Make sure your battery is fully charged.Both times it messed up due a low battery.30 minutes on the charger and it worked flawlessly.But do not do it with the charger connected...

 

Has anyone taken a good look at the settings it creates. I was wondering if the preprogramed tunes were conservitive for liability reasons. :confused:

 

When you try it again hook up a battery trickle charger so the battery will not run down. The first time I loaded the HPIII it took over an hour.
Bill

 

If your HPP3 is reading "calibration not found" or something to that effect then you could have have problems with any PCM reflashes your dealer might have made.

I bought a used HPP3 for my truck and when I tried to run it I got that error code. I talked to some truck guys and they told me it may be the reflash I had just got done at the dealer and it is so new that it was never programed into the "older" HPP3 since the guy bought it 2 yrs prior. I went back to the dealer, had em flash my old program back in and the HPP3 worked fine. Otherwise you have to send the unit to Hypertech and they will charge you to fix it unless you bought it brand new.

This may not be your problem but it's and idea and maybe this will help someone else reading the post. ;)

 

I bought the Programmer brand new from Lingenfelter and it is the correct one for my year (1997). My car is bone stock, programming wise, and as it has lived in the UK for most of it's life, it's never had any upgraded programming. It's exactly the way it left Bowling Green....

So you all think I should be safe to try it again, even though it said it couldn't find my configuration? :confused:

Also - once I do get it working, I want to stiffen up the shifts. Someone mentioned in reply to one of my previous posts that you could damage the transmission by loading it to 100% stiffness - is that the case? Any info on this much appreciated - my vette is my daily driver, and I seriously don't want to break it!

:cheers:

 

Col,

There are 2 schools of thought regarding increased line pressure via the Electronic Pressure Control (EPC) solenoid (eg. Hypertech, Predator, Superchips, et al). Some say it increases band holding power, reducing slippage and, therefore, extending the life of the tranny whereas others say too much line pressure runs the risk of blowing the pump bushing. I run mine at 50% Shift Firmness on the Hypertech. This gives a small but noticeable improvement in shift firmness whilst 'playing it safe'.

The most effective (and most drastic) mod is a valvebody shiftkit (eg. TransGo). This involves taking the valvebody apart and fitting replacement springs, modifying the fluid passages, etc to mechanically alter shift engagement and line pressure. This will also reduce shift overlap (faster shifts) and allow on-demand shifting.

Cheers,
Ian.
:cheers:

 

My HPP did the same thing the first time I used in on my '97 (in '97). I just started it again, and it worked. Don't do anything like open the door, roll down the eindows, etc. while it's discussing things with your car. I don't think it likes voltage variations.

Just yesterday we changed the auto shift points and rev limiter a few times. One time it signed off in the middle of an upload. After restarting the upload it worked fine. Our technique is to reach in thru the open driver's window, punch in the program changes, and let it do it's thing, while visiting every few minutes to see the progress. I get the impression that if you are making lots of changes, the download time increases, but perhaps not.

I've been running 100% shift firmness for aboout 65000 miles with zero problems.

HPPs on my Impala and Sonoma usually upload faster with no shutdowns, but they have far less complex software.

My $.02


[Modified by OldSStroker, 1:02 PM 10/1/2003]

 

Just had a thought, if a door is left open the car automatically switches off the interior lights after about 15 minutes. Don't know if that timer changes when you have the key in the accessory position, but could that have caused a spike at the time the HPP3 was talking to your car ?

Working through an open window (possibly with the roof off) sounds like a good idea.

P.S. Did you see my car on Sky Sports 3 last week ?

 

Bah! No! What show was it on?

:cheers:

 

Roof off!!!!???? Dude - don't you live in the UK??? :jester

 

Dumb question, but does the Hypertech work properly in the "ACC" position? Doesn't the ignition have to be in the "RUN" mode?

 

I looked for a "RUN" setting, but there doesn't seem to be one - I've been using the programmer from the setting where the dash lights up and all the electrical systems work, trying it on other settings and it didn't seem to be able to communicate properly with the car....

 

So - the latest. I've just driven 20 miles home, so my battery was at full charge, and when I got home, I took your advice and opened a window, rigged up the power programmer, and set it off.

It did all the checks, then said, "YOUR PROGRAM HAS BEEN OVERWRITTEN!".

WHAT PROGRAM?!?

My car, as I've stated loads in this thread, is BONE STOCK!!!

What the hell is going on with this thing? It keeps telling me to phone Hypertech 4000 miles away!?!?!

:smash: :smash: :smash: :smash: :confused: :confused: :confused:

 

I live in the south where the sun shines regularly, not "oop noth" where it rains all year long ! I lived in Manchester for 15 months so I'm speaking from experience :D You might still be able to catch the programme as a repeat this week. It was on Sky Sports 3 and was about the Redline sponsored Ten of the Best (TOTB) event at Elvington in August. They favour *** stuff and Vipers on the show but there's a nice shot of me blowing away the "very fast modified Honda Civic" they were describing, and a quick slowmo shot of me oversteering on the handling circuit.

That message you got sounds like a successful completion of the programming. I'd test it by driving, are your gearchanges firmer now ?

 

I'll look out for you on there. ********* and all.

The power programmer has been a flop so far. I spoke to Hypertech in the US, and they say that I've got a used Power Programmer. The problem being that I bought it brand new about 3 weeks ago from Lingenfelter.

I phoned Lingenfelter about this, and they said they ordered it directly from Hypertech when I ordered it, so this is all turning into a bit of a nightmare.

Hopefully Lingenfelter are on the case to sort this out now, so hopefully everything should be fixed up soon. Not before I've had to send all this stuff back to the US, though.... :rolleyes: