Westers read with HPTuner

millerwd · July 12, 2004

Has any one used a the HPTuner to see exactly what is done by Westers?

BillM

The SPEEDY · July 13, 2004

I would think that being as popular as his tunes are he would block that from happening. If he didn't you would see his tune files all over the internet.

tmf6902 · July 13, 2004

I believe he does lock his tunes

vortec350 · July 13, 2004

He locks his tuning,that is his tuning from his knowledge and experience and he is not goin to just leave it unlocked so people can read it and try to copy his experties.The dealer can not even read his tuning.

snoman · July 13, 2004

He locks his tuning,that is his tuning from his knowledge and experience and he is not goin to just leave it unlocked so people can read it and try to copy his experties.The dealer can not even read his tuning.

Trust me, if it is "code", someone will figure out how to read it as hackers have cracked a lot tuffer nuts than that. A "dealer" is not much of a test as they are limited by equipment they use.

millerwd · July 13, 2004

Snoman, you got it!

There are varying degrees of security in all software.

I believe I have read on this site about dealers reprogramming a Westers tuned ECM. Therfore a Westers Tuned ECM is not "locked" . It may take a power distruption(such as removing the battery in a PC to reset the BIOS password ) to reprogram.

I do not intend to bootleg Westers product.

I'm just curious about the feasibilty of accessing a Westers tuned ECM for analysis.

I am humored by the responses from Westers customers that such an access is not possible. I understand. If I shelled out $500 plus I'd be a little defensive too.

I have a Ease OBD II Scan Tool I purchased for my '96 k1500.

Last weekend i connected the cable and routed it to the passengers side so I good analyze while in the passengers seat. My wife was going to drive for awhile on the way to Idaho and I was going to probe. Unfortunately i could not start the pickup with the cable connected. Once it was running i plugged it in and it kept running. Not willing to risk complications I disconnected the cable . Ether the OBD II interface

cable is damaged , the pin-out is different or whatever. I will be checking it out later.

Keep it between the ditches,

BillM

The SPEEDY · July 13, 2004

I don't have a Wester's tune.

snoman · July 14, 2004

Snoman, you got it!
There are varying degrees of security in all software.

I believe I have read on this site about dealers reprogramming a Westers tuned ECM. Therfore a Westers Tuned ECM is not "locked" . It may take a power distruption(such as removing the battery in a PC to reset the BIOS password ) to reprogram.

I do not intend to bootleg Westers product.

I'm just curious about the feasibilty of accessing a Westers tuned ECM for analysis.

I am humored by the responses from Westers customers that such an access is not possible. I understand. If I shelled out $500 plus I'd be a little defensive too.

I have a Ease OBD II Scan Tool I purchased for my '96 k1500.

Last weekend i connected the cable and routed it to the passengers side so I good analyze while in the passengers seat. My wife was going to drive for awhile on the way to Idaho and I was going to probe. Unfortunately i could not start the pickup with the cable connected. Once it was running i plugged it in and it kept running. Not willing to risk complications I disconnected the cable . Ether the OBD II interface

cable is damaged , the pin-out is different or whatever. I will be checking it out later.

Keep it between the ditches,

BillM

Yes, I think that $500 for a Westers tune is rediculous. Thye have got to be laughing all the way to the bank and making quick money while they can. $300 would be more reasonable as that seem to be about the norm otherwise. For 500 or a bit more you can get a program and adaptor to custom tune your car with a laptop!

fastdrvr23 · July 14, 2004

Yes, I think that $500 for a Westers tune is rediculous. Thye have got to be laughing all the way to the bank and making quick money while they can. $300 would be more reasonable as that seem to be about the norm otherwise. For 500 or a bit more you can get a program and adaptor to custom tune your car with a laptop!

I bought mine with the intention of buying another truck in a year or so, and being able to use the money spent on my current tune to get another one with full credit (from now on) is what influenced my decision to go with Wester's, well that and his rep.

I've got no complaints with service or the product, and knowing that I can swap it to a new truck for the price of shipping a PCM sounded good to me.

With the solid 2 MPG's I gained and the overall driveability and performance improvements, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

As to the original posters stuff, I can see the changed values in my data logs from monitoring the OBDII data, but since I didn't have a way to data log when my truck was stock, I wouldn't know what they changed from. lol.

tmf6902 · July 14, 2004

You question was can you read it. No you can't because he locks it. If you had asked can you hack it....I would have responded yes. You can hack everyhing. Just depends on how much time you have, and what kind of knowledge of the system you have.

The dealers overwrite the program. It would be the equivalent of having a password protected file in windows....you can't get into it in windows, or overwrite it, but if you used DOS that file has about as much protection as a screen door.

Chevyfreek · July 14, 2004

I do not intend to bootleg Westers product.

I'm just curious about the feasibilty of accessing a Westers tuned ECM for analysis.

I am humored by the responses from Westers customers that such an access is not possible. I understand. If I shelled out $500 plus I'd be a little defensive too.

Well it seems to meet that hacking into a locked westers tune to see how Lyndon does his tuning is just not a way to convince anyone that your innocent in your intentions. His tunes are locked for a reason plain and simple. A moral person would respect another persons work and not even try to hack anything. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do something yourself and learning in the process, but there is a proper way to learn and this is not one of them in my opinion.

Also, what "Humors" me is the fact that you think you are in the right by trying to hack/gain access to a tune for your own personal benefit, and that you feel there is nothing wrong with this approach. In addition, I think it shows a huge lack of respect to call satisfied Westers customers "defensive" because they were willing to pay for a product that works and you are willing to do what ever it takes not to. You have to realize this is not right. It is fine not to agree with someone, but show some respect for choices others have made.

Sincerely,

A Very Satisfied Wester's Customer....

snoman · July 15, 2004

I do not intend to bootleg Westers product.

I'm just curious about the feasibilty of accessing a Westers tuned ECM for analysis.

I am humored by the responses from Westers customers that such an access is not possible. I understand. If I shelled out $500 plus I'd be a little defensive too.

Well it seems to meet that hacking into a locked westers tune to see how Lyndon does his tuning is just not a way to convince anyone that your innocent in your intentions. His tunes are locked for a reason plain and simple. A moral person would respect another persons work and not even try to hack anything. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do something yourself and learning in the process, but there is a proper way to learn and this is not one of them in my opinion.

Also, what "Humors" me is the fact that you think you are in the right by trying to hack/gain access to a tune for your own personal benefit, and that you feel there is nothing wrong with this approach. In addition, I think it shows a huge lack of respect to call satisfied Westers customers "defensive" because they were willing to pay for a product that works and you are willing to do what ever it takes not to. You have to realize this is not right. It is fine not to agree with someone, but show some respect for choices others have made.

Sincerely,

A Very Satisfied Wester's Customer....

There is nothing wrong with hacking in and looking at how others do it as long as you do not copy code, line for line. Westers had to "hack" into GM's software to find out how tweak it too. (fixed typos)

tmf6902 · July 15, 2004

There is nothing wrong with hacking in and looking at how others do it as long as you no no copy code, line for line. Westers had to "hack" into GM's software to find out how tweak it too.

good point....I don't see anything wrong with looking at the program.....you start to run into ethical problems if you get the code and use it for your own benifit, like selling it to other people.

When I was in college, in all our programming classes, teachers never had a problem with using other peoples code....as long as you commented in the code that it wasn't your code and you had permission to use it. Unfortunatly in the real world people don't always do that. If I copied code that was from somewhere besides in house, and didn't have permission to use it, it would be a pretty good way to get fired.

fastdrvr23 · July 15, 2004

When I was in college, in all our programming classes, teachers never had a problem with using other peoples code....as long as you commented in the code that it wasn't your code and you had permission to use it. Unfortunatly in the real world people don't always do that. If I copied code that was from somewhere besides in house, and didn't have permission to use it, it would be a pretty good way to get fired.

Very true. When I was a TA in college for a C/C++ Lab, I ran into that all the time, and as long as they had their code noted it was fine.

Hell, here at work, I don't anyone has written an original program on the mainframe in like 15 years. They copy that stuff all day long.

Although, our newer stuff like the VB and Java apps we write, we keep seperated. I can't say how many times I've gone out to Google Groups to look for examples of what I work on though... or how many times I've put stuff out there to help others.

I can't see anything good coming about from pirating code, it's hard to be a programmer (My ass stays numb all the time from sitting so much, lol), I know I don't want my junk to be copied...

snoman · July 15, 2004

You know the biggest concern on the horizon is the fact that someday ECM's themselves may be hack proof to better control emissions. I think it is coming someday but maybe not for a while.