PCM custone tune

**Jordan** · 05-21-2008, 09:40 PM

I have a 5.3 with a K&N cold air intake and was wondering if the custome tune was worth the money and if i did get it, could it mess up my truck in anyway? The cheapest place iv found is PCMforless and i was wondering if i sent my stock PCM in later would i get $125 back or how does that work? Also is it hard to install or how long would it take me and a buddy? If i sent back in because of different mods what would i use till i got it back? i havent heard anything bad bout them but iv only read reviews on there website.

**Steve** · 05-21-2008, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by Jordan

I have a 5.3 with a K&N cold air intake and was wondering if the custome tune was worth the money and if i did get it, could it mess up my truck in anyway? The cheapest place iv found is PCMforless and i was wondering if i sent my stock PCM in later would i get $125 back or how does that work? Also is it hard to install or how long would it take me and a buddy? If i sent back in because of different mods what would i use till i got it back? i havent heard anything bad bout them but iv only read reviews on there website.

I know the guys out there at PCMforless and they have helped sponsor this site, for what that's worth (disclosure). I've never heard anything bad about them either and have heard people who had tested before / after and the tune did work. These were testimonials that were on other auto forums, not the PCMforless.com website.

**TahoeFever** · 05-21-2008, 11:12 PM

Only one way to find out give'm a shot

**no0b123** · 05-22-2008, 08:01 PM

From what I have learned... a full custom exhaust, air intake, and a custom tune are the three top modifications to any vehicle because they are fairly inexpensive and provide great power. I would highly recommend you get a custom tune if you can afford it, it's what I'm saving up for!

FYI, if you ever need to take your truck into the dealership for a check-up ect. They may program your truck back to stock settings, and your truck will then have to be re-programmed by the custom programmer.

**GoFastPadre** · 05-22-2008, 08:25 PM

I am not very familliar wth pcmfoless, but a custom tune is the way to go. I have done some research on the custom tunes and I have found that there two companies most people use. www.nelsonperformance.com and www.gowheatley,com Nelson gets $375 for the initial tune with free retunes and Wheatley gets $275 for the first tune but you pay for retunes ( a huge drawback if you plan on more mods ). The way I understand it you order your tune and they send you a pcm and if you want to keep your pcm the cost is $90 from Nelson and $50 from Wheatley. When you are ready for a retune you call em up and they tune a pcm for the new mods and you return the one you have. It is a pretty painless process, just plug and play. I will be getting my tune from Nelson as soon as I get my LT's put on. Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope this helps.

**martincsm** · 05-23-2008, 10:17 AM

Just got a tune on my 5.3l 05 burb. Next come exhaust, then CAI. I went to www.blackbearperformance.com. How this worked is they send you the eflive cables and software http://www.efilive.com/. You then have two options. if you have a laptop you plug the cables into the pcm port and then into your laptop. you run the eflive software and then send the files to the blackbear folks. They look at your log files and then they custome tune a new PCM to your specifications. they then send you the new pcm and you send them your old one along with the cables.
The other option is if you don't have a laptop. This way is by using the cables only since the cables also have a data logger built into them.
The better option is the laptop options because one issue in getting a new tuned pcm is the crank relearn process that the PCM needs once installed. If you have the eflive software on your laptop you can do this with a touch of a button. Or you have to take it to a shop and have them do it.
I did the reserch on this and choose black bear because he is 200$ with lifetime re-tunes and he also gave a 15% military discount.
Had a friend get a wheatly tune and he got the same thing I did but paid more.
your call.
PM me and i will send you some of the stuff I had to do with the blackbear performance.