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Courtesy of: Dale Isley -
Tymar
Performance
| Remove the negative battery
terminals from both batteries. Whenever working on any
electrical system of your truck, take extreme precaution to
protect the electrical system of the truck. |
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Remove the front driver's side tire
for more room to make the install easier. Whenever you
work on your truck without the tires supporting the weight, you
need to put safety first and use a jack and a jack stand
capable of supporting the weight of the truck. |
| Take off your chrome trim piece around
the driver's side fender well by removing the five Phillips head
screws from the edge of the fender well. To allow access
to the firewall area where the PCM (Powertrain Control Module)
is placed, you must bend the inner fender well forward.
Remove the rear three of the six small 7/32" screws along the
edge of the fender well. Remove the single 5/16" bolt that
is located low, inside rear, of the back of the fender well.
Remove the last bolt located under the truck toward the rear of
the fender. (If you have factory running boards, they will
have to be removed to get to the last lower bolt under the
truck.) You should now be able to move the inner fender
well forward and see the PCM. |
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Now that you have prepared the lower
area, go back up through the hood and reach down behind the
fender well and loosen the 10mm bolt that is in the center of
the wiring harness plug attached to the PCM. The wiring
harness retaining bolt will not come completely out but will
allow you to remove the wiring harness from the PCM.
Remove the wiring harness plug from the PCM and place the wiring
harness plug up and out of the way. Then, remove the two
10mm nuts, one on top and one below the PCM, which holds the PCM
mounting plate to the firewall. You can reach the upper
nut through the hood and the lower nut through the fender well
access. After the PCM mounting plate is released, you pull
the PCM straight out of the firewall and lower it through the
fender well access. Once the PCM is out of the truck, it
is time to clean the contacts and install the chip. |
| Once out, you can remove the plug on
the back of the PCM that has your code sticker on it.
Inside, you will see the end of the circuit board that you will
be plugging the chip into. If this is the first time you
have had a chip in your PCM, the edge of the board where the
contacts are located will be covered in what looks like white
grease. The contacts also have a harder plastic-type film
protective coating on them besides this "white grease" coating.
Although you can clean both coatings off through the PCM data
port, it is much easier to split the PCM case, which allows for
better access to clean the contact area. |
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Remove the six 5/32" bolts holding the
cover plate on the PCM. Remove the lid to the board, which
will also allow you to split the PCM case. The bottom half
of the housing will separate from the top without removing an
additional screws. Wipe the white grease from the contact
board. To remove the plastic film coating, I used a small
knife (exact-o knife or razor blade) to carefully scrape the
coating off the board contacts. Be careful to only remove
the protective film. Use short strokes starting at the
base and scraping away from the board. You are able to see
the plastic coating scrape off the area. If you start to
see metal shavings, stop. As overkill, we cleaned the
contacts with fingernail polish remover and wiped thoroughly
clean. |
| Install the base and lid then tighten
the six 5/32" bolts. You may now install the chip into the
PCM, which will save you from having to take the parking brake
off later. Coat the chip and board contacts with
dielectric grease. Most chip install problems are due to a
poor cleaning procedure or a poor chip connection. |
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| Place the PCM back into the firewall.
Tighten the two 10mm mounting plate nuts that hold the PCM into
the firewall. Attach the wiring harness to the PCM and
tighten the single 10mm bolt in the center that holds it
securely to the PCM. Attach the inner fender well back to
the fender. Attach the fender trim piece to the edge of
inner fender well. Install driver side wheel (might be a
good time to rotate tires). Attach both negative battery
cables and enjoy your new power! |
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| Editor's Note |
| On some older chips, most notably some
"one-bank" chips, the chip housing is too large to fit through
the hole in the firewall once the chip is installed in the PCM.
If you have never had a chip installed in your PCM, it is a good
idea to follow the steps above for removing and cleaning the PCM.
If the chip housing is too large to fit through the hole in the
firewall, follow the steps below to install the chip. |
| Remove the parking brake assembly by
removing the three 13mm bolts and disconnect the brake light
electrical connection from the parking brake assembly. The
parking brake needs to be released in order to remove it so be
sure to chock the tires of your truck while working on the
assembly. |
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| Pull the parking brake assembly away.
The hardest bolt to clear is the lowest one. Once the
parking brake assembly has cleared the studs, you can lay it on
its side. |
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| Behind the parking brake is the access
to the PCM. Install the chip into the service port of the
PCM. |
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| Place a strip of duct tape over the
chip to hold it in the service port of the PCM. This will
prevent the chip from coming loose and losing contact. |
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| Replace the parking brake assembly
with the three 13mm bolts. Remember to re-attach the brake
light electrical connection on the top of the parking brake
assembly. |
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