Is it possible to cause any damage to sensors (maf) by burning custom proms? Also is it possible to damage an ECM? Is ESD the only real worry here? Thanks, Brett.

 

Yes, very possible to damage the MAF by with software changes. Play around with the MAF burnoff param and you can cause trouble.

I can't see how you could permanently damage the ECM with software changes using one of the tuning packages available.

You can ESD-zap components while swapping chips, you can wear out the IDC socket that connects the MEMCAL to the PCB, drop things into the ECM while it's open, leave a PROM loose on the MEMCAL and create a high-resistance circuit...and probably other failure modes you could create if stupid/clumsy enough.

You can also totally destroy your engine beyond rebuild with software changes. Go crazy with the spark advance, take out enough fuel, and you'll melt one or more pistons in short order.

 

Thanks for the reply. The reason i was wondering is because i'm pretty new to burning, probably 2 months or so. I burned a chip to boost my gas mileage(highway spark/fuel) and had been running that chip for 3 or 4 weeks. And last Saturday my computer and Maf crapped out on me. The computer had been acting kinda strange before i started burning chips and i'm guessing that this was not caused by me, since i ran the chip for quite a while with no harmful affect?