We have been receiving a lot of questions about bench flashing. What is it? Why should I do it? What are the positives and negatives of bench flashing?
Let us start with what is been flashing.
Bench flashing is when the ECU or TCM is taken out of the vehicle and connected to a "bench". The bench consists of a power supply, harness, and a power block.
The power supply maintains a constant 12 volts of power to the power block ensuring that the ECU or TCM will not lose power during a reflash and bricking the ECU or TCM making it unusable. The LB7 and LLY ECUs are notorious for having this issue while being reflashed inside the truck.
The harness is a clone of the ECU or TCM connector that is pinned out and able to plug into the power block.
The power block is the central hub for powering up an ECU on the bench. It acts as a programming interface to connect an ECU or TCM to an OBD-II diagnostic port as well as an ignition switch. Allowing you to connect your FlashScan or HP Tuners MVPI2 to the OBD-II port and switch on the ignition so the ECU or TCM can be read out or have the new tune flashed onto it.
Bottom line bench flashing allows you to power on an ECU or TCM outside the vehicle while a reliable stable power supply. So the unit can be diagnosed or so it can be read or written.
Now, why should you bench flash? We have a few reasons why we use the bench. We use it for troubleshooting and diagnostics. Some hardware we utilize allows us to recover ECUs and even write them out in the forum of a binary file so we can map tables and push forward with our research and development.
How does this benefit you? The simple answer is cost. When you mail your ECU or TCM in to be flashed you cut out the need for hardware, whether it be an Autocal or an MVPI2/3 you are taking the price of the hardware out of the equation. The negative effect being your truck will be down until you receive your ECU or TCM back. We prioritize bench flashing over everything knowing our customers need to have their trucks up and running, all bench flashed tunes are done the same day and shipped out no later than the next business day. However, if you ship in your ECU or TCM to be repaired or diagnosed it can take up to eight days.
I hoped this helps anyone who reads about how this process works and what happens during it. If you have any questions feel free to call, email, or message us.
