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2013 Diablo tune bricking cars?

24K views 151 replies 25 participants last post by  tacamo01 
#1 ·
I ordered my tuner and intake Friday morning. I spent some time reading the Diablo forums and the feed back isn’t good. I see some reports of cars that will not start. I see on or two reviews here where everything went smooth. So I guess the real question is it user error or is the software buggy? I’m really on the fence about loading my tune once the device arrives. I can't afford to have a down car.
 
#2 ·
I installed it about 10 mins after release.. I think the main problem is bc it takes a sec to write the pcm u always to to hook the battery up to jumper cable's or battery pack. I think that's how people have been bricking their pcm... if u write tunes multiple times without a power source to the battery u risk bricking the pcm. That's what I am thinking

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#3 ·
I would think it would take several hours to run a battery down with the car in accessory mode...? I don't have my unit yet, but its becoming clear that maybe the instructions to load our cars are vague. There should be one set procedure and honestly it shouldn't involve jumper packs or cables. I know my car in accessory mode kills power after about 20mins of no use of radio. I would think that would be very bad for power to be killed in middle of a read/write. I would assume that ignition has to be in the on position to read and write.

I do have a slightly off topic question about the tuner... Once I set my options can it be unplugged and put away or does it have to remain connected?
 
#4 ·
Just make sure to enjoy a good car ride with no accessories else turned on right before you decide to tune it.
Or as Alex said, hook up an alternative power source to make sure u have enough power.
 
#10 ·
There were similar issues with cars not starting when I had the ponies and new tunes came out. The best thing to do is to make sure you have a fully charged battery. For the 13's it should be fully charged. The most important thing is when you get the updates from the web site, make sure that all virus programs like norton are disabled for a few hours. Put the serial number into the block and hit enter, the new updates will be shown. Download the updates to the desktop and then run the DS Downloader and follow the Trinity Update instructions. Some have skipped step 11.

When you load the tune to the car the trinity walks you through the process, but have the ac off, radio off, roll the windows down and plan to be sitting there for a while. I do not even open the doors until the process is complete. When it tells you to turn the key off and then back on again, wait for all chimes to stop before continuing.

One of the tunes must be written to the car before the parameters can be adjusted. Not on the fly! Adjusting the different parameters only takes a few minutes.

If MDS does not update, you will have to provide Diablo with your last tune and they will fix it for you via the forum.

Very few people have had problems with this tune, IMO not following directions, virus programs running and not being patient have been the cause.
 
#12 ·
Just bricked mine...the tuner failed to back up my original tune twice then started writing a new tune...and failed at that. Now I have no tune saved and no tune on my car. It is just a heavy paper weight...FML
 
#13 ·
Sorry to hear that bud!
Seriously people, wait for the next update. Rgen i hope it gets solved for u. BOL
 
#16 ·
#18 ·
This is why I am going to fight the urge to buy this on the first release. I have read so many horror stories from all years of these. There are so many bugs in these things and a good percentage of people are bricking their cars.

I can't afford to brick mine since this is the only car I have. I will closely follow this though to see if they resolve it. Just amazing how a company can rush a product out with so many work arounds needed. Scary.
 
#19 ·
It's very important to have the car doors closed and all accessories off. It isn't that your battery will die, it's all about clean power. Having a door open/close or a radio, fan or some power drain buzz the bus is not a good thing while writing.
 
#20 ·
That is the point I was trying to make in my earlier post. With both my 11 and 12 Mustangs and the SCT tuner, guys were freezing pcms because of accessories being on, doors open with chimes going and ac on to keep them cool while loading the tune. The other thing that most do not realize is that it is important to diable all virus software when downloading the updates or custom tunes. The virus software will on occasion mess with the programs.

There are growing pains with any new software release and I just hope when I get a new update that it is not me, as it is no fun with a frozen pcu. IMO, you take a certain amount of risk anytime you modify a stock car that is under warranty for more performance.
 
#23 ·
And if you have Windows 8 and do not load the updates per the Windows 8 instructions on the site you will have problems. I have two computers that are running Windows 8. One has a bypass for windows 8 and runs like windows 7. The other is Full Windows 8. The program was difficult to load on Windows 8 but it installed without problems on the computer that has the Windows 7 like capabilities.

So many different variables that can cause problems when tuning cars.
 
#24 ·
Well after 45 minutes on hold with Diablo, he told me I have two options. 1, they will pay for me to ship them my car's computer and fix it or 2, take the car to the dealership and have it reflashed.

Dodge is sending a mobile tech to my house in a few hours to fix it. Diablo said they have a new file that fixes the glitch, but since I had already messed my car up it was too late to do anything.
 
#25 ·
Well I guess if there is any good news out of this your car will be running shortly. I did not know there was anything like a mobile tech. This is something that I need to remember. This forum is great for ideas and info:rocker:
 
#32 ·
I was one with a bricked pcm...I actually installed tune thursday mins after release.. all good and smooth then, the problem came when I start adjusting parameters. .it kept saying everything I did had failed so I decided to restore stock tune and try again..when restoring tune, trinity froze up and began saying "failed to restore stock tune". From there I was screwed because car had no tune on it and pcm was destroyed.
 
#36 ·
No.. insurance covered some of tow. Out of pocket with new pcm
 
#37 ·
Has anyone tried it since the new update from DS? Im a lil scared to.
 
#41 ·
Wow! Glad I didn't jump on here and read my thread before yesterday afternoon. I received mine via UPS yesterday and installed it and a K&N intake. First thing I did was remove tuner and hooked to the computer and completely updated.

I rolled all windows down on car, turned off radio and HVAC system. I plugged the unit into my car then shut doors and programmed from the outside so I could walk away if needed. I had no issues programming my 13 R/T. I’m not sure if these bricking issue are user error or not. You have to pay close attention to what it’s telling you to do. I always waited for all the chimes to stop before I pushed the continue button on tuner after a key power cylce.

Shifts are much firmer, throttle response is much nicer. Power wise after intake and tuner I’m not noticing much. I had 89 in tank when I started. I loaded the 91 tune and I was seeing about 3*-4* of constant knock in the high revs at full throttle. I loaded the stock modified tune and I would see 1-2*. Later that night temps dropped and added about 4 gals of 93 to a ¼ tank of 89. I reloaded the 91 tune. Still seeing about 1-4* degrees of knock, but I’m not on a pure tank of 93 yet.

I tried to rest TCM adaptive and it failed. Anyone else have this issue?
 
#44 ·
Shifts are much firmer, throttle response is much nicer. Power wise after intake and tuner I’m not noticing much. I had 89 in tank when I started. I loaded the 91 tune and I was seeing about 3*-4* of constant knock in the high revs at full throttle. I loaded the stock modified tune and I would see 1-2*. Later that night temps dropped and added about 4 gals of 93 to a ¼ tank of 89. I reloaded the 91 tune. Still seeing about 1-4* degrees of knock, but I’m not on a pure tank of 93 yet.

I tried to rest TCM adaptive and it failed. Anyone else have this issue?
Just installed mine today it failed to back up my stock tune twice, third time is a charm I guess. Completely updated before loading. Went with the 93 tune I always run 93 octane fuel. Didn't notice any knock one pull had .5* which isn't terrible since its hot where I live.

Do not disable traction control. I don't know if any one else has but my car started off in second gear and would not leave third!
And I can't get the adaptives to reset either...
 
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