Memcal eBay and Software Scams

[brianko]

All of this is one reason why I don't even bother hacking a V8 MEMCAL, because some are getting difficult to find. I almost wish that people would just stop doing this (I've seen some pretty bad hacks) and just spend some bucks for a proper adapter from Moates and preserve the vanishing number of MEMCALs that are out there.

As for the ebay seller: It's no different from a certain GM tuner some years back who was selling some rather shoddy tunes for dirt-cheap prices, well under what every other GM tuner was selling them for. And people on the forums have this weird habit of defending to the death anything they've paid good money for, even if their good money bought a pile of crap. So now I'm seeing these same people wondering why their transmissions have gone belly-up (zeroing out all TM tables and jacking up the line pressure tends to do this over time) and complaining that they can no longer get support for the service they were defending to the death a few years back.

There's really nothing to be done other than to continue on the straight and narrow path and continue to be honest with others.

[EagleMark]

Getting the correct Memcal is just good practice. Add a Moates adapter and a EEPROM and it's done right. It's the only way I do them...

Those flash tunes are still happening and smoking transmissions because TM was taken out of shift points.

What really get's me is old TBI chips being sold with fancy names and guys swear there butt dyno was major improvement, so they preach how wonderful the $200 spent was. When it is pointed out that there are not enough changes on the chip to amount to anything? And were decieved! They don't beleive and continue to promote sales of a worthless chip. This has been going on 15 years!

[Six_Shooter]

In many cases I will modify a MEMCAL by rep,acing the EPROM with an EEPROM, when I do tunes for other people. Less expense, and it looks factory, if we ever get to the point where they start inspecting the actual ECM for modifications. I can also guarantee the EEPROM will have great contact with the pins, negating any potential for the original MEMCAL working it's way off the adapter. I have in a couple cases, where a MEMCAL adapter was used, drilled a hole in the adapter to use a tie-wrap to hold it in place. I don't see a problem with this, or that it is sacrilegious, because I'm modifying a potentially "rare" MEMCAL.

I'm using a MEMCAL adapter in my car and a friend's right now, because it makes it easier to connect the Ostrich, when I need to tune his car, and my Ostrich just stays in place. If I ever get to a time when I call my tune "done" will modify my MEMCAL (His already is) and install an EEPROM, even though it is likely one of the rarest MEMCALs around being an $8F MEMCAL.

[RobertISaar]

i don't see any issue with the 27Cxxx PROMs being replaced.... from the datasheets i've read of them, most of the 80s units have to be nearing end-of-life.... replacing it with a PROM rated for a 100 year lifecycle is just good insurance.

8F MEMCALs... i'd have to look at w-body.com to be 100% certain, but there were 1000 TSTEs and i think around 5000 TGPs, so there is the entire production run minus some remanned units or surplus OEM. i think there were more ZR1 corvettes made than that. the odd Lotus application? IDK.

[1project2many]

What really get's me is old TBI chips being sold with fancy names and guys swear there butt dyno was major improvement, so they preach how wonderful the $200 spent was. When it is pointed out that there are not enough changes on the chip to amount to anything? And were decieved! They don't beleive and continue to promote sales of a worthless chip. This has been going on 15 years!

Sale by deception is wrong and it happens all the time. Hey, I'm a mechanic so I live with customer distrust and fear every day. There are people that think "Hey, for the cheap price of that chip it's worth trying." Others just don't believe the cost for a real tune is justified. Then there are people that just don't know enough to learn the difference. It's digital snake oil and it's going to continue as long as people want an easy way out. I spend much more time educating people than I ever did tuning. That's the only way to make a difference.

Story time.

Two summers ago a guy came down with a pretty rough 1/2 ton 350 Chevy vortec. Lotsa mods for more air in and out but nothing inside the engine. "Make it magic... I just don't feel the power." I said I couldn't do it and neither could anyone else since he hadn't done enough to make any real power. Round and round we went, back and forth, until I finally convinced him he needed real changes to make a real difference. But he wasn't going to go without a change. "I go to mud bogs with this and I need more power." Folks, it was nearly stock. He asked about pulling torque management out and I replied that it was possible but did he have his replacement transmission ready? "I'm gonna swap to manual anyway so it doesn't matter." Caution again... the trans will blow. The odometer is at 200k and this is a 4L60E. You will lose the trans. I can't say when but I promise it will be sooner rather than later. "I've got a meet this weekend and I've got the other trans so it's ok." I did the change along with a couple other things related to his modifications but I told him "No charge because I don't want you to be upset that you paid for a blown transmission. Come back when you make the engine changes and we'll make a real calibration." Next day he called me on his way to the meet. "This thing's awesome! It shifts so hard! It's great!!!" I asked if he really thought so and he did. I asked if he felt the trans would last and he told me it was probably stronger than I thought. I said "Ok, you seem to know your truck. But I'd make sure I brought a tow strap." I ran into him about a year later. He'd blown the trans on the way back. His buddies tried to tell him I did the tune wrong and the fact that I knew it was going to blow up and never charged him just proved it. I asked what he thought and he said he was pissed for a while but then he realized I was probably right and deep down he know the trans wasn't going to last on the stock tune. But he didn't trust the computer stuff anyway so he pulled the efi and installed a carb. He just needed someone to do the tune. "No problem. I do those too. Here's what ya need" and I laid out a list of changes he should make to his carb.

Now here's the thing. In the end, it was the owner that asked for torque management removal. He agreed trans would blow. He was disappointed when his unfounded faith in his miracle trans and engine mods proved baseless. And he decided not to trust EFI because it didn't do what he felt it should have. I presented all the facts and warnings I could but in the face of it all, he just felt the world was going to work in his favor. There's no amount of talking that will fix that. If I'd wanted to work with him hand in hand, call up often and be involved with his truck, I could have kept him on the right path and kept his faith in electronic modifications alive. But that's not my gig anymore so there's an unhappy customer. But you know, he wasn't screwed and he'll tell you that. He had fun for a little bit until his trans blew. And, he recommended me to a couple of guys who were interested in making serious changes so that tells me he decided it wasn't my fault. I think it beats the heck out of screwing a pile of people for a little bit of cash.

[Tunedperformance]

this must be one of his friends I need to learn this mask it self tunes and will give you maximum amount of horsepower when I start adding parts to my engine
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PERFORMANCE-...item19d87e4d63

[EagleMark]

Did you see the other auction? You can buy everyones software for $10?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vehicle-Engi...item19d896d2d8

ALDL
Carbytes
Cartest
DataMaster
DiaCom
ECM
Freescan
PCMcomm
WinALDL
OBD Scan
Easy OBD
OBD Gauge
PCMscan
Scan Master
Scantool
Real Scan
Tuner Pro
BMW Carsoft
Honda Logger
Chrome
VW VAG
Digimoto

[JeepsAndGuns]

Umm, wow. So hes taking everyones programs, putting them on a disc and selling them? Even free ones like tunerpro and winaldl? I bet the people who made those programs would not like that.

[EagleMark]

Umm, wow. So hes taking everyones programs, putting them on a disc and selling them? Even free ones like tunerpro and winaldl? I bet the people who made those programs would not like that.

They have been notified along with Moates being used as part of an illegal software scam.

[EagleMark]

For $11.50 everyone could buy TunerPro, DataMaster, Honda Logger, Chrome, etc... I just bought one. Better be legit or he will have more bad feedback. Looks like 2 this month already, soon he will be out of business as his PayPal will be locked with complaints.

[brianko]

I ordered one of those cheapo ELM-based OBD-2 cables off Amazon, and got a little CD that had a crapload of software on it, including a key generator for ScanMaster. Oh, and a directory of porn. Had to wash my hands after seeing that. Did get the cable to work on a demo copy of ScanMaster downloaded from their site, but the cable won't work with anything else. Oh well...might just send some cash to the ScanMaster guys, their software looks pretty sharp.

[1project2many]

I never said a mail order could be perfect, in fact I said the opposite, but what people can do, and have done for decades, is create safe tunes, that many customers are happy with, even though there is still improvement to be made.

That's called an OEM tune. ;)

[Six_Shooter]

:facepalm: You guys are missing what I'm saying.

[1project2many]

Actually, it seemed clear enough to me.

I'm not arguing against you. I'm pointing out to others here that what you're describing is done every day by the OEMs. They make a safe tune that trades maximum performance for consistency and reliability. Whether the calibration is provided by GM or by someone else, it can achieve the same effect. If the OEM cals can do it why assume no one else can? Although the wording in the linked auction didn't leave me with the impression the guy's a master tuner, he might be a genius with engines but a real flop writing Ebay auction text.