Smarty Problems

[98whitelightnin]

I got a smoking deal on a used smarty for my 98. The guy was selling it for his buddy and wasnt sure if it was vin locked or not but didnt think it was. Last time he tried to download it the truck wouldnt take it so he put it back in the case and left it alone. His buddy says he can try to get a few bucks for it and I bit. He sient me pics and from them it did not look vin locked. I got it today and it would not finish downloaded, it would start at 0% and then time out communication or something. After this it my truck would not start so I was worried I just fried my ecm. I ended up unhooking my battery cables and then running the download, it worked but then it was just updated by smarty and still in the stock setting. To get it to actually download a catcher file I had to undo my battery cables again and it finally took the tune. What I dont understand is, why am I haveing to unhook my batteries each time? I have downloaded a buddies smarty and there were no problems at all. If it was not such a hassle, I would put it on a buddies truck to see if its my truck or the smarty. The end.

[Mopar1973Man]

Get a hold of Bob Wagner.

http://www.smartypower.com/

Phone: 1-888-225-7637 (Toll Free)

Out of Area: (253) 735-6281

[diesel4life]

You can send your unit back to Smarty and they can reflash them. My friend had to do this when his ecm took a dump and could not return back to stock so it vin locked his smarty and couldnt use it with his new ecm. Or maybe shoot them an email and see what they have to say about it, maybe simple as downloading the updates from their website to clear it up.

[98whitelightnin]

My buddy downloaded the update and revo to it with no changes. I had suck a time getting it into the ecm that I hate to remove it to send it in.

[JOHNFAK]

Call bob and chat .... He might tell you to send in or he may have s better idea Did the catcher take on re- upload ?

[98whitelightnin]

Yea, it finally took. I just have to remove the battery cables before I start trying or it looses communication and then will only resset back to stock. One of these days I will pull it out and load it to another truck just to see if its my truck or the smarty.

[c farmer]

I would be afraid of locking the ecm, be careful. I am super afraid of trying a programmer.

[Mopar1973Man]

Smarty is one of the most safest programmers I know of. But still weird things can happen to disable ot hang the ECM from rebooting again. So Yeah I've tried a Smarty (Bob Wagner's) and was impressed with power gains but the clutch at the time didn't like it. So I return to stock and mailed it back. So not to discount the Smarty... But I tend to feel safer with wired in electronics than flashed in. But if the Smart UDC came out for the 24V's I would be interested then. Better way of tuning the timing tables that what I got now.

[JOHNFAK]

I would be afraid of locking the ecm, be careful. I am super afraid of trying a programmer.

I hear ya - that would suck - but the percentages for errors are so small comapred to number of users usign it that I guess the benefits outweigh the risks. A dealer reflash will cure most smarty/ECM issues also. The UDC does look good and apparently its still comming ........ I'm keeping my smarty till then - and guess I will decide after. I wasnt that into the QUAD adjustable tunes ...... so not sure how much I will like smartys UDC ...... its good for the 1st week and then its like ....... I firmly believe us AUTO guys are restricted to MPG around town due to the slipping TC. Probably in the tune to 2-3 MPG. The fact I can hit 21-22 on hwy but only 14 around town tells me that ...... and ryans manual swap netted him 2+mpg also. Guess what I mean is only so far you can play with the timing and injection on a vp44 and then you get very minimal returns. As for power - well injectors seem safest/cleanest way of doign that.

[Jesnic]

What smarty catcher did you load? I had a smarty for quite a few years. It was fun for a bit. It just wsn't what I was looking for for long term. When loaded with the catcher 8 and comp on 6x5, the truck was difficult to drive on wet roads and my wife hated it. It also bellowed black smoke on anyting over 4 catcher. Just wasn't for me. Great product if you are stock or barely over though. With a little amount of work to the tranny, it would work great. I have gone a different route and like the wired in electronics and big injectors and turbos. The smarty didn't really make a big gain in power. I ony saw about 15 hp increase with it. The big thing was the issue with very sudden torque, which it is designed to provide. Personally I like to control the tq with me foot.

[JOHNFAK]

When loaded with the catcher 8 and comp on 6x5, the truck was difficult to drive on wet roads and my wife hated it. .

yeah no kidding ...... I've been sideways a few times purely by accident ...... too much throttle when not paying attention to stop lights going green .... then in haste too much throttle ... and uh oh

[98whitelightnin]

I also loaded #8 and am running the comp on 2x3. The rpm's jump very fast from 1700-1800 or so with the comp on 3x5 and 5x5. This thing really woke the truck up. I have found a tst pm3 for a really good deal im trying to buy as we speak so I can compare the edge to tst. Either way, I will sell the one I dont use and not be out any money for the price of the tst.

[JOHNFAK]

I also loaded #8 and am running the comp on 2x3. The rpm's jump very fast from 1700-1800 or so with the comp on 3x5 and 5x5. This thing really woke the truck up. I have found a tst pm3 for a really good deal im trying to buy as we speak so I can compare the edge to tst. Either way, I will sell the one I dont use and not be out any money for the price of the tst.

Buy it and run the TST.smarty stack. Mines been sitting in the cupboard for 3 months waiting for me .... then we can be FL stack brothers !!! lmao

[98whitelightnin]

Went out to adjust the smarty a little yesterday and it worked like it should.

[diesel4life]

Did you ever pick up that tst?

[98whitelightnin]

No, the guy backed out on me.:banghead: