Ok.. Semi strange question. I purchased a smarty tuner from a gentleman that had his truck totaled. He said he had it unlocked prior to the truck being taken away by the insurance. When I plugged it in it says it's Vin locked. I contacted him and he apologized and said he must've done it wrong, but has the ECU and can send it to me along with the plug (I assume the harness) and I can just power it up and then put it back to "stock tune" which will unlock the smarty. Is this doable? Is the harness going to have the obd2 plug on it, and will powering it up even be a possibility? Thank you in advance for any help!!

You'll want to talk to @BrianAtSmarty and the Smarty Support gang. They handle all the Smarty tech stuff.

Not using an OBD2 adapter.

What year model is it? What truck is it?

If it's a 2007.5-2009 model, those used a TIPM istead of a body module to "hub" the communications on the can bus. But if you have a spare TIPM, or he has his, you could swap them out on your truck, unlock it from that VIN, then swap yours back in.

 

See, without accessing the ECU through the TIPM, the smarty will not be able to communicate with it, most likely.

I have an 04. He says the ECU he's sending has the wiring.. Including power and ground labeled... And the obd2 port at the end of one of them. Theoretically just power it up and return to stock?

Well, I'm not sure that will work, but it's worth a try. I'd sure be interested to know if it does.

I'll post my results. Thanks for the input