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1Building PCM Hammer
Most of PCM Hammer is C#, and can be built with Visual Studio Community Edition. The library targets .Net Standard and the Windows apps target .Net Framework. With those installed, just open the Apps\PcmApps.sln file and you're ready to go.
A small but essential part of PCM Hammer is C code for the 68332 CPU that runs these powertrain control modules. This is in the Kernels directory, and you'll find links to the toolchain and build instructions in the ReadMe file in that directory.
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2Reading the firmware from your PCM
Reminder: this app currently only supports the "P01" and "P59" powertrain control modules. These were used in some (but not all) V8-powered cars and trucks from roughly 2000 to 2007.
- Press the Select Device button and choose your OBD2 interface type..
- Press the Read Properties button to confirm that the app can talk to your PCM. This will list a few properties of the your PCM. The "operating system ID" will be useful later, so copy it and save it somewhere.
- In the Tools menu, pick Read Entire PCM.
- Be patient. This may take a while, depending on your interface hardware and PCM type.
- Save the resulting to file. Consider naming it after your car, the year and month, and/or the operating system ID mentioned above.
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3Reflashing your PCM
Reminder: this app currently only supports the "P01" and "P59" powertrain control modules. These were used in some (but not all) V8-powered cars and trucks from roughly 2000 to 2007.
This gets a bit complicated, because there are three distinct regions of the flash chip that serve different purposes. Before flashing, consider what you're trying to accomplish...
We expect that most users will just want to update the calibration (aka the "tune"), which is why the Write Calibration button is prominently featured on the main window.
In some cases it might be useful to upgrade the operating system in your PCM. When you update the OS, you must also flash a calibration that works with that OS. Operating system updates probably won't be very common, so the "Write OS & Calibration" option is in the Tools menu.
In some cases you'll want to replace the entire contents of the flash chip, for example if you're replacing a defective PCM with a new (used) one from a scrap yard. In this case you'll want to do "Write OS & Calibration" followed by "Write parameters." The parameter section of the flash chip contains the VIN and other data that binds the PCM to other modules in the vehicle. Together, these two operations rewrite the entire contents of the flash chip. Your new PCM will be indistinguishable from the one that your .bin file was read from.
To write:
- Press the Select Device button and choose your OBD2 interface type..
- Press the Read Properties button to confirm that the app can talk to your PCM. This will list a few properties of the your PCM.
- Choose the write operation, as per the instructions above.
- Be patient. This may take a while, depending on your interface hardware, PCM type, and how much of the flash memory you're rewriting.
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4Modify your calibration
This actually doesn't involve PCM Hammer, but most people using PCM Hammer will be using it to adjust their calibration (their "tune") for one reason or another.
PCM Hammer transfers information from your PCM to files on your PC, but it doesn't edit those files. That job is best handled by a donationware app called TunerPro, which you can download from http://tunerpro.net.
TunerPro can edit the .bin files, but only if it knows where to find the bytes that make up the various tables and parameters that make up the calibration. For that, TunerPro needs an XDF file that corresponds to the operating system in the .bin file.
You will find a collection of .XDF files on GitHub, here:
https://github.com/BoredTruckOwner/LS_Based_Engine_Repository
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