VF Tuner Help

Need some help with flashing. First, I have had VF tuner for for several years and am using the legacy dongle. I have 2017 Tacoma 04B04 ECU. I have not flashed in a while. I was attempting to flash a new tune with adjustments for an AGM battery. The flash failed. Now my truck will not start. When trying to prepare the ECU to attempt a flash I am now getting the error message below. Any advice?

 

Issue resolved thanks to help from Triple C Chop Shop. Still not sure what caused it though. Had to use Gen2 force flash with stock tune to get back up and running.

 

Glad it was a quick and simple resolution. It’s scary bricking an ECU.

 

This is a little unrelated, but has anyone tuned a 3.4 v6? I can't find info anywhere on anyone doing it, or tuners that will work with it. I just put a cold air intake on it, and I'm planning on an exhausts soon, and I want to squeeze some more ponies out of it because it's really sluggish. I know they can't be super-fast, but I just want a little improvement in acceleration.

 

I’ve done it, and I think OTT has done it as well. First off, try tightening your throttle and trans kick down cables. You’ll get some better response out of it. There’s plenty of other non tuning things you can do. If you’re near central Texas, I can take a look and help you with it. 02-04 is the only supported years for VF Tuner.

 

Shoot, I'm in Kansas. I have the 01 to. Well, if you have any other pointers on peaking the power, I'd appreciate them! I'm sure there is thread about that somewhere, I just haven't found it yet.

 

Keep up with your Maintenance and use the correct parts. AFR/o2 sensors(upstream sensors) have an effective lifespan of 60k miles. Replace them with OEM or Denso sensors. Your spark plugs effective life span is 30k, use the recommended plugs listed in your user manual. Same with spark plug wires. Check the resistance on your coil packs and make sure they’re up to snuff. Find one out of spec, replace it with oem or replace all 3. Clean your TB and MAF every 15k or sooner as well as replacing the PCV on that same interval. Use either paper engine air filter or oil free cotton. Paper is a better filter, but cotton will flow better at WOT. You may not think so, but coolant plays a big part in performance. Use the correct coolant and replace every 50k along with thermostat and radiator cap. Trans, if you have an auto, drain n fill every 15-30k, diffs and T-case every 30k. Power steering do a drain n fill/flush every 15-30k. Replace fuel filter every 15k. This will give you the optimum platform for performance, keep your drivetrain healthy, and reduce any power drag on your system.

 

thanks, that's really helpful. i'm well due for most of those things!

 

I also forgot about the injectors. They’re 23 year old. They probably still operate fine, but could most likely use a cleaning. You can DIY clean the injectors by pulling em, applying voltage, and blasting em with sea foam spray. Or, two options for cleaning service is to send em off to be cleaned, or there is another service that sends you an oem clean set and you send em yours as core. Atomized fuel creates much better power than fuel spit

 

I just finished the DIY flash on my 2023 with the current (as of this writing) VF Tune hardware, software and OTT tune files.

The VF Tune software is rough around the edges, put kindly.
I am told the author is constantly changing the software.
The downlevel documentation is proof of this.

I got an application crash, with Access Exception, which scared the crap out me, for fear of bricking my ECU.
I'm 50 years in the computer business, so no stranger to software.

Be sure to check the "log" box to enable session logs.
If something goes south, this is a huge help for support.
It should be enabled all the time, but it is not.

OTT advises to verify the ECU ID as "04C21"
What is not stated, is the ID is presented as part of a longer ID string, where the prefix means "Toyota"
It would be nice if this is documented.

I offered a suggestion to OTT to ship their tune files in a ZIP file, to ensure integrity when sent over the internet.
A ZIP file will complain if the contents are corrupted.
John at OTT liked this idea and has already adopted it.

The VF Tune software is entirely sequence-sensitive.
You can install the software away from the truck and get the registration process out of the way first.
I had to submit my VIN to VF Tune support, and was fortunate the lead developer got that email, and registered me right away.
OTT opens a ticket on your behalf when you buy the kit from them, but it still had to get registered.
It won't do squat until registered.

The USB driver files are not installed when VF Tune is installed.
You have to dig into the program directory, find the "cp210.exe" and run it.
All of this can be done when not connected to the truck, so it is no risk to bricking the ECU.

As part of the registration process, you have to spend 4 credits to license your VIN.
They give you 5 credits with the package, and do not explain why you have a credit left over.
This will make the observant folks scratch their heads, and wonder what they did wrong.

I was given a choice to select which ECU type, neither of which was explained as applicable to my Gen 3 truck.
The one to use is labeled as "Gen 2" and 2.0 mb, or some such.
No explanation given as to why Gen 2 is required, except for OTT screen shots.
My assumption is, Gen 2 is the current version of ECU used in late model trucks.

Follow the OTT provided streamlined instructions, TO THE LETTER.
John at OTT is very helpful and a great resource.

I am hopeful that VF Tune will build more safeguards into their code to avoid any ambiguous or illegal setting.
This includes tracking down and fixing his access violation as well as disabling the Flash button until everything is correct.
The hallmark of excellent software is not how it works without errors, but how gracefully it handles errors without doing damage.

I opted for the

$100 NoCo Genius10 , 10A Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V and 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV, Lithium and Deep Cycle Batteries

NoCo Genius10 charger (another $100) to ensure a constant "12v Supply" during the flash as a safety net.
My iPhone Bluetooth was disabled, which was opportune, as I had to get OTT on the phone to get through it.

I finally succeeded with the mid level "MM" tune which is Mild/Medium ECT
With my style of driving, normal mode shifts around 1,800 rpm
ECT shifts around 2500~2700 rpm.
Both of which suit me just fine.

I am very impressed with the far better driveability and responsiveness.
I can't feel the modest low end torque boost shown in the dyno charts, but I am confident it is there.

The pedal sensitivity is about the same as my wife's 2016 RAV4 in Sport mode.
Sensitive, but not overly so.

 

@bgavin Thank you for this nice write up. I haven't logged on in quite some time and this was very helpful. I went to start up my VFTuner yesterday and was getting some errors. Looks like V.3 of VFTuner is out and a required update to continue to use the program. I downloaded V3 just this morning and it at least opens up just fine.

 

VERY few developers truly understand the meaning of the word "uninstall".
They leave registry droppings, directory entries, orphaned DLL chains and other mess.

When installing a newer version of a software product, it is a safe bet to uninstall the original version.
Do not count on the developer to be smart enough to do a successful overwrite of the old version.

The JAVA runtime comes to mind.
It was never smart enough to remove the old version, but instead kept adding every new version to the installed base.
Dumb. Or perhaps, "lazy" is a better word.

Uninstall the old version.
REBOOT when done.
Use CCleaner (free) for a registry cleanup of droppings.
It won't find everything, but does find a lot of orphan DLLs.
REBOOT again.

Install the new version.
You can always reboot after the new install, just as a safety net.

There are a few developers who include a "scrubber" utility to remove all droppings.
This includes all the registry entries that only the developer knows about.
These are few and far between, but are much appreciated by IT support folks.

 

Ever since I updated vftuner to its latest update now it says my tune files are locked now. Also I cannot do a reset on learning values through Vf tuner. I was able to prepare ecm and it read my truck. Soon as I went to flash file no go.

 

Are you on windows 10 or higher?

 

Yeah I believe so

 

Never had issues before till this last big update

 

I updated from v2 to mandatory v3 on windows 8.1 and it failed.

It absolutely will fail unless win 10 or higher

 

If you are flashing an OTT file, you will need to send me your device serial number.