Three year struggle....sucks being stubborn

[Bounce247]

Hey all,

Ive been a member of many different forums for different interests. I normally try to contribute before asking for help but Im about at my wits end. Short story....

Picked up a 94 full size blazer about 6 years ago. Not a mechanic and admittedly horrible at maintenance. Blew the engine. My mindset at the time= engine blows, get a new vehicle. Had no sentimental attachment or investment. My friend who is a motorcycle mechanic says "no way. we can have a new engine in there in a weekend". Sound familiar? So that takes about a year to put in another SBC350. Also had transmission problems. Bought a tranny rebuild kit and was about to have it rebuilt. At the same time I was gifted a 99 Silverado that had a broken frame but supposedly good tranny and LS. You guessed it. Buddy says" why rebuild that tranny when you have a perfectly good LS and tranny here?" So another year goes by. My mechanic skills have gone from beginner to novice but engine internals are a mystery to me. I am a tech by trade so I figure " how hard can ecm programming be?" Stop laughing, Im telling a story here!.

So I get it running (not well) and then things get worse. I cant even get anyone to look at it because I dont even have a good baseline. Sure that I screwed up the tuning. So $1000 later I buy ANOTHER Silverado. This one was a farm truck but purrs. As I stand now, I have the engine and tranny in, pcm and harness from same donor vechicle. Engine starts, sounds great for about 2 seconds then stutters and dies. I am using TunerPro RT and all I wanted to do was remove VATS. But I cannot find an .xdf for my .bin. I have tried other .bins (where Im at now with my problem) but I dont have the knowledge to adjust things to make the found bin match my truck. What can I do? I don't expect someone to write an xdf for me but I dont know my options. I have my trucks original bin copied and all I want is vats removed. For instance, my bin with any xdf I can find has a value of 74 instead of 1 or 2. I cant just turn that 74 into a 0, can I. I can attach bin if that helps. Thank you in advance.

Bounce

[dave w]

What year is the Silverado computer?

[TilmanNA]

Hello! That guy Dave W knows stuff. Super helpful & knowledgeable he is.

[Bounce247]

I don't think it matters, but this is in a 94 fullsize Blazer. The engine, transmission, computer and harness are all from the same 2000 Silverado 1500 4wd, 5.3L. Ive attached the untouched .bin from the donor pcm. I believe I am using a 2088 OS with matching xdf at the moment but I have the above mentioned problems. I actually have two identical PCMs, so not only do I have a copy of the untouched .bin but it also lives on the untouched pcm (other than copying the .bin)

[Bounce247]

I just realized I never stated what my current problem is. With the 2088 OS, the engine will start, sound great although a bit high rpm, for about 1 to 2 seconds. Then it will sputter and die. I believe if I could just get vats of my donor pcm, all would be right with the world.

[ralmo94]

Your pristine bin does in fact show all stock checksums in Universal Patcher
OS is shown as 9379910
UniversalPatcher_5bWoeihAZ0.png
I applied the VATS DELETE PATCH in U/P,
also I attached a log file of the session

[Bounce247]

So just write the .bin to my pcm? You guys are amazing! Drinks on me!

[ralmo94]

So just write the .bin to my pcm? You guys are amazing! Drinks on me!

Let us know if that solves the problem or if it's something else

[Bounce247]

Well, didnt solve my problem but very helpful in the fact that 1. I needed it done. 2. Reputable help lets me know that its done right so its something mechanical. I havent even checked fuel pressure yet or i might have some stupid hose unplugged. Never been happier to have something not work though. Also acting exactly like the previous pcm write so it leads me to believe I was on the right track with the first write also. At least I know where to focus now. Thanks again and Ill take any advice on my current symptoms. I did realize I didnt have the MAF that came with the donor engine on, so Im gonna go throw that on next.

[Bounce247]

Well, this is where being smart in some areas but lacking in mechanical experience will bite ya. Im sure any mechanic worth his salt would say that the biggest vacuum leak ever is the brake booster, which is exactly what my mechanic buddy just did. I didnt even have it attached. Why would I, I wasnt using the brakes

[ralmo94]

Well, this is where being smart in some areas but lacking in mechanical experience will bite ya. Im sure any mechanic worth his salt would say that the biggest vacuum leak ever is the brake booster, which is exactly what my mechanic buddy just did. I didnt even have it attached. Why would I, I wasnt using the brakes

Thanks for following up here, is all well now?