Question....now that I am learning more about chip/prom burning...I was in the local bone yard earleir this week and pulled a couple chips from TBI trucks. I tried them in my stock TBI 8746 ECM just for fun to see if they would work and they did not. The ses would just flash really weird at me. Anyone know why is this?

The Three chips I got my hands on are AKWA, AMCA, AXFF

Is it just because the data on these chips is not compatible with the 8746 ECM??? Thats fine if that is the case because down the road I can just erase them and program them with what I need I figure....I am just more curious at this stage than anything.

Ideas??

 

Truck PROMS are not compatable with our ECM's.

 

Fair enough...is it ONLY the data which is on them which is not compatable with our ECM's.

If this is the case then I am assuming that I could erase them...burn the appropriate informaiton onto them and use them in my 8746 ECM....am I correct with this??

Thanks,
Dave

 

I am almost 100% sure the answer is no. You can convert ECM's though to run other PROM's. I am sure Dewey or Dimented will school us on this once they reads this.

 

Sooo let me make sure I have this one correct because I think I am having a brain fart tonight.

1) I can not erase those proms and load them with some other data for use in my 8746?

2) But it sounds like I can do some sort of modifications to the 8746 which will enable it to use chips from other ecm types.

I am I interpreting this correctly?......as for the "schooling"....ha ha...let it begin....I am trying to learn about the world of burning/ecm's etc.

Thanks,
Dave

 

Your PROM eraser will erase any prom that is in it. I do not think the actualy chips in the trucks will work with f-body ECM's no matter what you do to them. I am not familair with truck ECM's but from what I understand you cannot mix the truck stuff with the f-cody stuff. You can use a truck prom only if you use the truck ECM.

 

The hardware on all the tbi C3 ecms is physically the same but the actual stuff on the chips is different. Since the program is part firmware stored on onboard rom only a small portion of the code is on the actual prom, so theyre not interchangeable. If youve eliminated the onboard rom then you can emulate the other C3 ecms jsut by loading on the code and itll work just like that ecm.

The actual eproms are the same so you could erase it and reprogram it, although it would be easier, and possibly cheaper, to convert over to eeprom or flash. Theyre much easier and faster to use.

heh... dont think ive reached expert status yet. I could still use some schooling myself.

 

There is an ID byte on the prom that will be cross-checked with what is supposed to be used. This is to ensure that the incorrect prom isnt used since the code is split into portions and loaded on the rom as well as the eprom and all of it must be present for it to work. The SES was teh ecm not seeing the correct mask ID or checksum for that matter and halting to restart.

 

So I have done a little more research on this...so it sounds like if I get my hands on a couple blank 2732a EPROMS from my local electronics supply place.......I could use those to burn to and I could then use them with my 8746 ECM......I dont think I am missing anything here....correct?

 

I bought 10 at a time from www.bgmicro.com for like $1.75 each.