photo: Laina Casey
By Jacques Gordon
I
n early May, General Motors
recalled over 51,000 vehicles
because their fuel gauge indicates a quarter-tank remaining when the tank is actually
almost empty. The repair requires
nothing more than reprogramming the
Powertrain Control Module (PCM),
so while GM will pay dealership technicians four tenths to complete the
job, they won't have to put any parts
on all those cars. How nice.
Most cars still had carburetors
when we first began reprogramming
control units. We reprogramed them
by installing new computer chips,
and the chip assemblies were readily available through dealership parts
departments (remember MemCals?).
Much later, when the Body Control
Module (BCM) was endowed with anti-theft software, a manufacturer-specific scan tool was needed to interact
with the control unit just to get the car
started after normal repairs. Today it's
possible to interact with and/or reprogram almost every control unit on the
vehicle, if you have the right tools.
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Reader Reply
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June 2014 * ACtion
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - June 2014