Mazda PCM As-Built Data Tip
I wanted to share a tip on programming a blank PCM on certain Mazda vehicles. I was asked to program a PCM on a Mazda 3. The original PCM was not available. In IDS, I went through the procedure which told me I needed to manually input the As Built data in order to complete the process. A great friend told me that Mazda now has As Built on their website. Sure enough, it was there with a link on the homepage. I was able to download the file no problem. The trouble started when entering the HEX data. The tool would not allow me to input the last digit. It just did not like it. I tried a few different ways of inputting the data. Finally, I found something that worked. I typed the digits from right to left instead of left to right. Wallah! it worked! I hope this helps others with this. It can be real frustrating when the OE software let's you down.
It's amazing the kind of goofy quirks we have to deal with when it comes to software. It seems like every manufacturer has some issue. Ford and GM used to be pretty bulletproof but not anymore. I don't think this will get better any time soon, if ever. Nice job on finding the solution. It's like we're all beta testers now, except it cost us money to troubleshoot the software.
I'm confused Mike. How to you type from right to left? Do you mean if it wanted ABC123 you typed in 321CBA?
There are usually text boxes for the hex data. I'm pretty sure he means that he filled the box furthest on the right first, then worked his way back to the left most box. Sort of like writing in Hebrew
oh, so there's a box for every digit, gotcha, thanks BP. Aloha, GW
It’s actually groups of data it looks like the picture I have here
Got it! Thanks JM. Aloha, GW
Geoff, The order still the same. You would type 3 then left arrow then 2 left arrow then 1 left arrrow and so forth.
got it, Justin posted an image of the input screen. Didn't realize it had all those separate boxes.
Thank You Mr. Michael. Please can you post link to the website and page for the As Built Data?
mazdaserviceinfo.com/pcm-reflashing Links for As built are on the left. Of course Mazda in order to make things complicated has two different links depending on what year and type of vehicle you need the data for.
I have had similar issues with FJDS software. If scaling is used in display settings it causes havoc with data entry in these softwares. Scaling settings other than 100% can cause issues with the data entry boxes in FJDS, IDS, MMP, MDFSA, and M-IDS. If you encounter this again, check the scaling settings, if not set to 100%, set it to 100% and reboot.
Chris, Thanks for the tip. I suppose there are multiple ways to eat an elephant. Having multiple tools in our belts really helps.
I took me a while to figure out the issue, might not be your particular issue on your tool, but any workaround is good to know!