Xcal Issue

16 minutes on hold on long distance to florida.. and they offed me to "voice mail".........

They are NOT going to enjoy the call when and if they call me back.
I'll give em an hour.. if I dont hear from them I'm gonna call back and KEEP CALLING BACK

this is complete and utter Male Bovine Fecal Matter
 
nah, actually it wasn't that bad...James from SCT "talked me down"..(lol)
DONT JUMP TOM! (haha)

he said not to worry, they were trying to "take care of the dealers"..
and told me to hold of on updating until I actually "needed to"...
to give them some time to get the dealers issues resolved.

also said the "recent update issues" were due to the "vista roll out"...and they are having problems with vista compatibility.

Wasn't so bad, James W/SCT is good people and tries very hard to help everyone.

Hang in there Lonnie, they are working on getting ya'll resolved ASAP.
DONT JUMP!
(lol)
 
Just to update anyone following this thread. Shipped the first Xcal back to Lonnie. And today received my new one. Uploaded fine, and works great. Love how the car drives now. Lonnie kept me updated on the whole process while he was trying to solve the issue. Thanks Lonnie.
 
jbird97 said:
Just to update anyone following this thread. Shipped the first Xcal back to Lonnie. And today received my new one. Uploaded fine, and works great. Love how the car drives now. Lonnie kept me updated on the whole process while he was trying to solve the issue. Thanks Lonnie.
Click to expand...

That’s good, glad something is working out finally. I'm not out of the woods yet though and don't mind that people know. While some dealer/tuners would rather hide a tuning/product issue I'd rather people know. My honesty sometimes gets me into trouble though.

Your programming was built from my laptop that had a much older version of the Advantage software. I try to only use this for dyno and street tuning because I've never had any problems with the version/build software in it. Only problem is that SCT forces us to update the software with a counter. Each time you build a program it counts down and then you have to update. The updates are more than likely what is causing us problems. I limit the use of the laptop because of this because it works. But because of the problems lately with the updates I was forced to use it vice the other PCs. When this latest problem occurred I had only a few left before the counter zeroed out. Your program was one of the last ones I could build.

I also supplied you with a brand new device. I've found out that even when a device is programmed with the bad software and then those programs are overwritten with the good software the device still won't work. Something in the firmware of the device gets corrupted. Those devices will have to be shipped back to SCT.

Now that I'm out of uses with the software that is in the laptop I'm having to use the latest version/build from the latest update. Before shipping anything out I built new programs with it for one of my personal vehicles and then tested it with the new devices I received to eliminate the device also before building any programs for the customers and programming the device. I've got 2 shipped so far but haven't heard back if everything is good to go yet.
 
So Lonnie...how can you AFFORD to continue to do this? Does SCT (or any supplier) reimburse you for your work when it was the product at fault? I think I already know the answer to this, hence the question. You end up putting your other work/products profits into the chip business?
 
I hope you got the new update figured out. I guess no feedback from those two is better than negative feedback?
 
Better tech support for one. 2, you make your own tunes similar to SCT racer package but simplified for the more average user. 3, you get datalogging Recon software for free. 4, I haven't heard of anyone having overheating issues on the Sniper forums.5. You get to tune 2 cars with your software package instead of 1 and can tune extra vehicles for $150 each. Now i'm not saying you should get the Sniper since you already got the SCT but if you were to start all over...
 
46callaway said:
Better tech support for one. 2, you make your own tunes similar to SCT racer package but simplified for the more average user. 3, you get datalogging Recon software for free. 4, I haven't heard of anyone having overheating issues on the Sniper forums.5. You get to tune 2 cars with your software package instead of 1 and can tune extra vehicles for $150 each. Now i'm not saying you should get the Sniper since you already got the SCT but if you were to start all over...
Click to expand...

The only advantage I see from Sniper is the 2 vehicle programming vice the single from SCT. Additional data bases run $200. I've played around with the Sniper software, even though it is simular to the SCT software the SCT software is still light years ahead of it or anything else out there besides having the biggest data base of any other tuning company. With the swaps I've done and uncommon blown applications in the past I don't think I would have been able to do them with the Sniper stuff since a lot of the parameters I needed access to are not there. Simple or basic tuning, yes Sniper is cheaper and will work as long as the vehicle is in their data base. And the if you know how to tune your own vehicles EFI.

Sniper has just started out and so they are still a small company. They are more in touch with their customers because of this. SCT was at one time the same way. Like every company, they get so big they forget who helped them get to where they are and support is no longer like it was when they were small.
 
No it doesn't, they are still working on it though. I know because I was emailed a few months ago a trial software for dealers to try out. We chat on a tuners board once in awhile. They were trying to get some of us dealers to come over to them or at least offer their products. When we compared, and there were several of us dealers we found there was no comparison. They are using the SCT stuff as a model also and some conflicts have come up in the past. The reason for the different parameter names.
 
I'm sure the trial software is not the full blown delta forces package you can get now. There are a few tuners on the Sniper forums who have used both and they have said Sniper has even more control of the PCM than the SCT. I don't know personally because I am not a dealer/tuner but this is what i've read. Personally I don't think it matters for most Mark VIII owners out there with the basic setups that people have which tuning software to use and if you have an advanced fully built setup I would do nothing less than a dynotune with a good wideband.
 
Basicly, the software is merely the color of shirt the tuner is wearing...what really matters is what is "beneath the shirt"..the person doing the tuning.

both programs have access to enough stuff to completely screw up you combination.

The reason I went with SCT was more because of "the man" behind the whole project, who of course is no longer with SCT..but..a "picasso is a picasso". The program is still a work of art IMHO.

I will say that when I first opened up the SCT software I was frightened and dissapointed that there were NONE of those little pull down menu's where you select various modifications (gears, etc) and then the software would make specific changes based on your "Selected" options.

hindsight, I'm glady there were no little pull down menus for selections that made unknown changes in the background...because it made me learn what affects what, and
what was really being changed in the background.

for the beginner with little or no practical tuning knowledge, I might point then towards the entry level sniper program.. it's pretty easy to use and understand and the support seems to be fairly "open".

SCT/Advantage/ProRacer is not an entry level program.
Unless you have vast technical knowledge of powertrain calibrations and what some of the cryptic descriptions mean, then the SCT "SOFTWARE" is not for you.

A flash device such as Xcal programmed by a Good Established tuner is the way to go.
 
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