getting started with tunercats - is this even possible?

[bobcratchet555]

hey all, i'm looking to purchase a commercial solution to tune both my 2018 silverado (5.3/6L80) and 2019 suburban (5.3/6L80) after the 6L80 in the suburban grenaded itself after only 92k miles and 4 years....

is it even possible to buy tunercats any more? it looks like they actively sell seed keys and definition files on their website, and a cable called the "dealer kit", but no actual tuning or logging solution?

it maybe seems like they sold out to a company called jet DST, but to be honest i cant even figure out how to buy that?

anyway maybe its not in the running anymore, i could just buy HP tuners but between the MPVI and the credits for those two vehicles, i'd be looking at close to 800 bucks....ypres!!

[2xls1]

Short answer is no you can't buy Tunercat OBD2. The TC OBD2 version they sold to Jet is the pre-CAN Bus tuner. Tunercat version for CAN Bus vehicles which your's are was only available to purchase if you were an original TC customer before they sold it to Jet. The definition files and seed keys can only be purchased by TC original customers AFAIK. Jet has their own way of licensing. There was a TC version you could buy from Moates if you purchased one of his Roadrunner PCMs but Moates has closed up shop. John at TC supported those units too and would probably sell def files for those customers. I'm not sure if you could even buy the CAN bus version from Moates. And even if you had a TC CAN bus version you couldn't use it on a 2019. TC support stops at MY 2018 on the trucks.The seed keys are for the 2017 and 2018 trucks. Even with HPT, that ECM (2019) would have to be sent to them for their unlocking service. Probably why TC doesn't support them or anything newer. 2019+ vehicles are very expensive to tune.

[steveo]

the way things typically work is a new ECM comes out, someone commercial spends a TON of time hacking it up, then tuning software costs a fortune. 10 years later someone else figures it out because the original hacker moved on to other things, then it's cheaper. then 20 years later someone else figures it out as a hobby and it's free. the stuff that's free to tune now is mostly like 15-20 years old

[bobcratchet555]

Short answer is no you can't buy Tunercat OBD2. The TC OBD2 version they sold to Jet is the pre-CAN Bus tuner. Tunercat version for CAN Bus vehicles which your's are was only available to purchase if you were an original TC customer before they sold it to Jet. The definition files and seed keys can only be purchased by TC original customers AFAIK. Jet has their own way of licensing. There was a TC version you could buy from Moates if you purchased one of his Roadrunner PCMs but Moates has closed up shop. John at TC supported those units too and would probably sell def files for those customers. I'm not sure if you could even buy the CAN bus version from Moates. And even if you had a TC CAN bus version you couldn't use it on a 2019. TC support stops at MY 2018 on the trucks.The seed keys are for the 2017 and 2018 trucks. Even with HPT, that ECM (2019) would have to be sent to them for their unlocking service. Probably why TC doesn't support them or anything newer. 2019+ vehicles are very expensive to tune.

wonderful. thanks for the explanation, i've been having trouble finding all of that succinctly in one place.

*minor correction - the 2019 suburban has the same ECM as the 2018 silverado. the suburban was wierd because they didnt update it at the same time as the silverado

I looked into EFI live as well but it seems as it the cost is close to ~1k just to get started!! $625 for flash scan, then $400 for the GM license? Wow!!!

honestly, i dont mind paying to an extent, guess i've just been spoiled rotten by the open source stuff that we use. You can buy the wester's garage tunercat package for ~8k, which basically allows you to tune however many vehicles you want. You can also bulk license HPT bulk license for a year or OS i think.

Problem is, a "little guy" like me who tunes ~50 vehicles a year rather than ~500, i cant compete with the big guys on cost, because i'd have to license each individual vehicle, and its not worth the investment for me to get the bulk licenses.

[2xls1]

HP Tuners eliminated model year licenses on the Gen 5 trucks. If you are really tuning 50 vehicles a year (really tuning) you should be using HP Tuners. If nothing else for the better scanning. Add the license cost to the cost of the tune. After you do a certain number if individual licenses for that vehicle type and model year it converts to a model year license on Gen 3 and Gen 4 trucks and cars. Even when I use Tunercat OBD2 I still use my HP Tuners for scanning.