vF Tuner for the 3.5L Tacoma

Yes they do, power draw. unstable power / voltage, even for a moment is all it takes. Blame toyota that it over writes the boot sector meaning the ECU must be put in reset mode to make flashing again doable. It's toyotas ancient method of thinking. OEMs haven't done this type of crap since....IDK 2003.

 

You should turn all that off when flashing - lights, radio, etc. anything that pulls power

 

.vft file provided and version 1.2.9.9.2 (latest) & drivers installed. I had flashed 5 previous .vft files with the vf tool with no problems.

@PapaRee is making the files in .vft format. Don't know if in .vfc or not.

It appears that the new flash tool lost contact with the ECU. @PapaRee talked me through getting it fixed and flashed with the old flash tool (1.3.2)

 

To be clear the new flash tool does not lose contact or disconnect from the ECU. Th ECU will send a message to the tool. Simply "good, bad" during a flash.
Our software will wait for that message.
It errors out if the ECU sends a message "bad"

Why that bad occurs
1. loose connection
2. unstable voltage
3. Trying to flash multiple times when you never started the truck
4. Trying to flash when you are clearing all sorts of things (clear DTC, clear AT, etc) without starting and running the engine, leaving the ECU in a reset state.

 

this is great to see in writing.

I always start the truck and let it run for at least 5 minutes after every step
TSB
Flash
Clear values
Pray the idle doesn’t sound like a sad truck
Test drive

 

Thanks for the assistance, Kreg. All good now. I've flashed maybe 20 times using the old flash tool with no problems. I've flashed 6 times with 1 brick-fail using the new flash tool. I'm going to be a little flash-shy going forward. I'm happy it's all working now and the latest tune is great.

 

It's not the first time I've said this. That's why we removed the buttons. People use them way more than necessary. They will return with *crystal* clear instructions on exactly when they should be used.

 

Well just in my own experience I've flashed @PapaRee tunes on my truck over a dozen times and half also flashed other people's trucks with his tune files using the flash and I can say that not once I've ever ran into a issue. If I did I'm pretty damn sure he'd be able to help me out if so. Keep up the good work papa!

 

Ok, I caan eliminate 2-4 so it probably got a "bad" because of a loose connection. The error message stated that the "openport was not connected or the truck is off" That's why I thought it might have lost connection. I've had good luck up till then with flashing but there's always a 'pucker' factor.

 

Can't turn the head unit off that i know of

 

Just to be clear I am not saying it is the files, his tunes, or even the software version. I simply am asking to try making them on the newest to eliminate it as a possibility.

If it was the files, everyone would be bricking. That's clearly not the case.
The most likely case is connection, drivers, or battery / electrical drain. That is almost surely going to kill a flash attempt.

regardless a recovery method will be included in our new flasher.

 

There *WAS* a way to turn it off completely in my 2017... I've done it before when flashing. But the most recent time I flashed (many months ago) I could no longer find where to turn off the HU completely.

 

Wow, I just read a bunch of new posts l and am a happy user of @PapaRee tunes. I'm glad to hear that the older software is not the fault and I can stay with it until new features makes sense to upgrade.

 

He is right I make sure everything is off everything

 

everything is off that can be, blower, lights, i even wait for the brake unit to do its buzz thing.

However, the only thing you can do with the head unit is turn audio off (which i do) but you can't turn it "off" that i know of.

Ive flashed so many times its not funny, i did 12 flashes just the last 4 days playing with some fine tunes. It was just that one time, the radio did some weird crap. It even reset my GPS settings when it did it.

I was just including the information to say that even that event messed up a flash, but it was easily recoverable by just flashing again.

 

Yep, and I've seen the headlights alone pull the battery down 0.2-0.5V.

 

You can turn the screen off at least. I believe you do so from the "apps" tab, then select "settings", then at the bottom of the screen a button pops up that says "turn screen off". If this isn't the exact step-by-step to follow, it's at least close and should get you there.

 

If someone knows how please let me know the power button just reboots it and the screen off is just ... screen off

 

yeah, ive done that some, but not always. Its technically still on (the backlight is still lit) its just dim.

also, the random reboot is something ive seen posted here before, and im at 29k miles, i may mention it to them so its on record

 

I turn off my screen on my way to work when it's night time helps me see a bit better