anyway to unlock efi live tune

darkness

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2009
1,218
304
83
47
vegas
You can send it to SoCal Diesel and they can unlock it and put a stock tune in it.
 

Bdsankey

Vendor
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 1, 2018
3,895
1,067
113
Neenah, Wisconsin
maybe a dumb question, but if your tuner locked their tune, and now they have gone out of business, is there going to be anyway to unlock it?

No, that is not possible unless that tuner decides to give you the unlock code which I would bet they won't since they're out of business and as it is their IP (their tuning/their method etc). You will very likely have to buy new tuning.


You can send it to SoCal Diesel and they can unlock it and put a stock tune in it.

There is a difference between unlocking the ECM and unlocking the tune, they are not the same thing. Any diesel shop can unlock the ECM, not the tune. If you flash in a factory file it will remove the old file and now be ready for a new tune. The market for tuners has gotten very slim with today's EPA climate/stance.

If the ECM itself is locked SoCal or any diesel shop with a bench harness can attempt to recover it which may take some time.
 

darkness

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2009
1,218
304
83
47
vegas
There is a difference between unlocking the ECM and unlocking the tune, they are not the same thing. Any diesel shop can unlock the ECM, not the tune. If you flash in a factory file it will remove the old file and now be ready for a new tune. The market for tuners has gotten very slim with today's EPA climate/stance.

If the ECM itself is locked SoCal or any diesel shop with a bench harness can attempt to recover it which may take some time.
Correct. So without knowing if it’s the tune or the ECM, at least he knows he has options. My truck had moonshine tunes and the ECM was locked. I couldn’t flash over it.
Also SoCal doesn’t use a bench harness. He replaces something inside. For a $50 extra fee it can be expedited and done that day. I didn’t choose that option and was done the next day anyways.
 
Last edited:

Bdsankey

Vendor
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 1, 2018
3,895
1,067
113
Neenah, Wisconsin
Correct. So without knowing if it’s the tune or the ECM, at least he knows he has options. My truck had moonshine tunes and the ECM was locked. I couldn’t flash over it.
Also SoCal doesn’t use a bench harness. He replaces something inside. For a $50 extra fee it can be expedited and done that day. I didn’t choose that option and was done the next day anyways.


Hmmm, last I talked to Gabe they will try to repair ECMs but will also try to bench unlock, that is some good info to know! On your LBZ or LB7? The E35A controller is pretty robust and hard to actually brick/damage than the E54 controller. Usually a passthrough flash from a PC with "assume lock may be faulty" and try common aftermarket keys" checked works.
 

darkness

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2009
1,218
304
83
47
vegas
It was on the ‘02. I tried a few times with both check marks. Pass thru from the pc.
 

Bdsankey

Vendor
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 1, 2018
3,895
1,067
113
Neenah, Wisconsin
It was on the ‘02. I tried a few times with both check marks. Pass thru from the pc.

I've had that happen where only a bench harness will make it work. It has to do with how finicky the low speed coms is from the OBD2 port to the ECM since high speed CAN is not fed to the OBD2 port like it is on 06+.
 

Cougar281

Well-known member
Sep 11, 2006
1,748
209
63
St Louis, MO
No, that is not possible unless that tuner decides to give you the unlock code which I would bet they won't since they're out of business and as it is their IP (their tuning/their method etc). You will very likely have to buy new tuning.




There is a difference between unlocking the ECM and unlocking the tune, they are not the same thing. Any diesel shop can unlock the ECM, not the tune. If you flash in a factory file it will remove the old file and now be ready for a new tune. The market for tuners has gotten very slim with today's EPA climate/stance.

If the ECM itself is locked SoCal or any diesel shop with a bench harness can attempt to recover it which may take some time.
Unless something has changed, as far as I know, the only way to lock a tune on a LB7 is to lock the ECM with a custom key, bit if you can brute force the key, you can read the tune all day long. On the LBZ and newer, however, you can lock the tune such that it can't be read, but it can be overwritten using pretty much anything, including SPS.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: juddski88

NC-smokinlmm

<<<Future tuna killer
May 29, 2011
5,013
224
63
At Da Beach
Can you use another tuning tool? My rcsb was tuned with hp tuners and I got into the tune by reading it with EFI live, diffrent world I know but still a gm ecm.
 

Bdsankey

Vendor
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 1, 2018
3,895
1,067
113
Neenah, Wisconsin
Unless something has changed, as far as I know, the only way to lock a tune on a LB7 is to lock the ECM with a custom key, bit if you can brute force the key, you can read the tune all day long. On the LBZ and newer, however, you can lock the tune such that it can't be read, but it can be overwritten using pretty much anything, including SPS.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
You can lock the tune from viewing/edits and also allow it not to be read while not locking the ECM on an 01-10 meaning you can flash over it but can't read the tune out.


Can you use another tuning tool? My rcsb was tuned with hp tuners and I got into the tune by reading it with EFI live, diffrent world I know but still a gm ecm.


I think it would depend if the HPTuner's software locks the ECM from reading which is what EFILive does when the box is checked. It all, I believe, comes down to how the tuner/guy flashing it in sets it up.
 

1FastBrick

Well-known member
Dec 1, 2016
2,158
790
113
Junkyard
You can lock the tune from viewing/edits and also allow it not to be read while not locking the ECM on an 01-10 meaning you can flash over it but can't read the tune out.





I think it would depend if the HPTuner's software locks the ECM from reading which is what EFILive does when the box is checked. It all, I believe, comes down to how the tuner/guy flashing it in sets it up.
HP Tuners can Not tuner lock in the same Fashion. In fact I don't believe they ever got it to function properly. They did copy EFI Live's proprietary Custom Operating systems and can read those tunes out. I have never tried to hook up to a diesel with HP Tuners. My Experiences on the gas side only showed me there sketchy stability during the flash process and even Sketchier business practices along with poor customer service...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bdsankey

Porno Joe

Member
Oct 11, 2010
507
0
16
South of Pittsburgh
So yes my question was specific to the tune not the ECM.

not that I have an immediate need, but I was thinking along the lines of if I wanted to change tire sizes I can’t now without paying someone to completely redo my tuning. Which kinda sucks cuz I have no complaints about my tuning
 

Bdsankey

Vendor
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 1, 2018
3,895
1,067
113
Neenah, Wisconsin
So yes my question was specific to the tune not the ECM.

not that I have an immediate need, but I was thinking along the lines of if I wanted to change tire sizes I can’t now without paying someone to completely redo my tuning. Which kinda sucks cuz I have no complaints about my tuning

You're SOL on that one. You will need to buy new tuning to change the tire size/speedo correction.
 

PureHybrid

Isuzu Shakes IT
Feb 15, 2012
3,281
337
83
Central OH
Going to piggyback this thread, maybe someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong? Had a guy with an 04 / LB7 wanting tunes, short story is I tried to license the controller and it came back with the "locked with custom key". Read the link posted above and I thought we could still flash my tune into it, so I clicked on the lock/unlock tab under "Auto Detect" and it stated "unlocked". So I tried to read the file and it pulled a dsp5 file that was lightly modified. Why wouldn't it let me license / flash my file?
 
  • Like
Reactions: juddski88