atljar

Im the 2nd owner of my car. So far Ive found lots of little quirks and items that bother(ed) me. Like rattling targa that there was an SIB, targa top seals that there is a SIB etc etc etc. I assume the first owner never complained about these items when car still was under 3yr/36k base warranty so Ive been chiseling away at updating items.

This weekends project was vehicle software. I used VCX Nano and a $40 subscription from GM TIS2WEB. Hooked up a programming power supply and went on my way. There were maybe 15 or 20 modules in the vehicle. All but 4 or 5 had updates available, many modules I was multiple software levels behind. The total process took maybe 3 hours.

What did I note?
- I nowhave a warning with Key on engine off on the cluster that says "Program available once car started". Thats a little odd??
- My pandora on my phone always was spotty connecting to the pandora App in the car. No issues since update
- The HVAC seems more willing to adjust fan speed up and down in Auto mode
- I swear the seat cooling fans work better??? This has to be my imagination
- The PDR video quality is drastically improved. I also installed the patch for the lap timer missing seconds even though I never had seen the issue. This update was a little different than everything else since it had to be done via SD card then you walk through the steps on the radio screen. There are TWO loadings needed which is where I think most the dealers mess this up. Program 1 installs, system reboots, then you need to install program 2.
- The parking brake will now auto release. A) If i sit there with car started and foot on brake for like 30 seconds or so the brake will release. B) If I have the Park brake on and try to take off, it will auto release. My manual said it should do that anyways, but it never would


Im sure there will be a couple other things of note. If nothing else its nice having all the patches applied for random erroneous DTC codes

Pacembellum

HorsePowerObsessed

Definitely interested in any other changes you note. I wasn't aware you could apply these updates at home so I'm very interested in hearing exactly what some of them fix/change.

atljar

I can check. What temp are you looking for? Coolant, oil or ambiant? And it shows it on the pdr recording or something on the cluster?

atljar

Several years ago it was mandated that car manufactures make available their diag and programming software though j2534 standard. Some car manufactures are more expensive than others but GM happens to be $40 dollars for a single VIN programming license. It's good for 2 years and will allow as many flashes as what their are modules in vehicle. So I should have another 4 or 5 flashes left for future updates. You can also buy access to the service manual and GDS2 diag system for additional costs

HorsePowerObsessed

Definitely good to know!

Pacembellum

atljar

No that display didn't update. For what it's worth, the cluster was one of the updated modules. Here is mine.

16SSA8

Would it be possible for you to post the SD card data for the PDR updates?

Greg00Coupe

atljar

Unfortunately those have been posted here in the past and were quickly taken down. GM had a direct statement saying the copies were copyright infringement

atljar

Ive had a couple people PM me asking what the specifics were of this. Here is what I used....

Hardware:

Software:
https://www.acdelcotds.com/acdelco/action/subscribehome (The single Vin $40 programming license)

Bill Dearborn

I don't see any difference between this and my 15Z display. Still lacking coolant temp. I never use this one due to lack of data.

Bill

atljar

Correct Bill, that was my point. There wasnt a display update done through the software changes.

Null Pointer

I've been waiting to see a post about using the VCX Nano on a C7. Thank you very much.
I have the VCX Nano (used it for Tech2Win on my C6). I understand what the GM TIS2WEB is. What is the programming power supply you referenced? Laptop? 32 bit or 64 bit? Windows 10 or something else? VMware workstation? TIA.

atljar

Programming power supplies are necessary for any sort of "safe" programming session on modern cars. They effectively hold voltage constant so you dont get any fluctuations in voltage when programming which can crash/brick a module. Its important to realize these are fundamentally different than a charger. A charger has a fixed amp output and will cycle on and off depending on the voltage seen. A programming voltage supply will hold voltage constant regardless of the amp load needed to maintain that voltage. So when programming its not uncommon for things in the car to cycle on and off depending on what you're flashing. This sudden draw, if you dont have a power supply hooked up, can drop voltage low enough to crash the session. I set my supply at 13.5v using a Duetronic DBL1600 which I was able to borrow from work. It took between 4a and 12.5a to hold that 13.5v throughout all the sessions so in reality the Duetronic was total overkill. You could easily get away with some of the cheaper Midtronics or Powermax power supply units.

If you're just programming a module or two, you could probably just use a jump box hooked up the the cars battery as a buffer. Doing the entire car like I did really necessitates a power supply.

I used a laptop, Windows 10 64bit. Make sure to plug in the laptop. Disable any screen savers and sleep/hibernate modes. The software was all run though a web Java interface on Tis2Web. With that said, the VCX also came with GM GDS2 software. This required running on a Windows 7 VMware to function, but it worked perfectly with my car as well.

NicD

I know he already replied but I'll add that his update may be entirely different than what you need which is why you want to do it on a per-vehicle basis and not just copy it and try it. Lots of different part numbers, different hardware numbers, etc even on a single model year and they all have to match and you can easily brick it.

dollarbill

01REDSS

Can a dealer do this for you? Cost?

atljar

It could be done if wanted, I have the DSC module in mine so I didnt perform any updates. Of course if you are looking for the rough track calibration, you would still have to fork out the additional $250 or whatever the cost is for the license.

I would certainly hope so! This technology is GMs, and I bought the license from GM. To update every module in the car like I did I would expect $300-$500 bucks billed at somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 hours