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Kanuck
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My thought is I know the Mongoose works and will not brick my truck by making it a very large paperweight.
roadPilot
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I have not.
Other J2534 VICs can most certainly work, but I've got no reason to try it when I already own the Mongoose Plus.
Spiffy
Well-known member
I have the topdon phoenix smart that comes with the j2534 vci. I have successfully programed modules with it. Saved from getting a fdrs sub.
But the 2534 is a extremely high end device.
Even with my scanner I wouldn't trust it on really sensitive moduals. Ipma, bcm, ect.
i assume you are going to use Forscan and want to save a buck. I wouldn't your what you found on Amazon. To easy to brick your truck. Unless your going to spend upwards of 4k on a scanner that has vci 3 then stay with what works.
becides you will get better support here if your using the mongoose..
But the 2534 is a extremely high end device.
Even with my scanner I wouldn't trust it on really sensitive moduals. Ipma, bcm, ect.
i assume you are going to use Forscan and want to save a buck. I wouldn't your what you found on Amazon. To easy to brick your truck. Unless your going to spend upwards of 4k on a scanner that has vci 3 then stay with what works.
becides you will get better support here if your using the mongoose..
JEB
Well-known member
There are a lot of J2534 pass-thru programmers from China and they are all significantly cheaper than the Mongoose. We don’t recommend them, not because we are unaware of them, but because these programmers do not tend to work reliably and you will likely regret buying one. They frequently brick modules like the IPMA, and you’ll likely end up buying a Mongoose anyway to fix it.
I do not know the Topdon brand specifically, but it’s a Chinese manufacturer and I don’t expect it to perform any better than the junk previously tried (e.g. the VCX Nano) and rejected.
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tbinmd
Well-known member
It won't be cheaper if you brick a module. I would only go with what's supported. First time you do updates on your truck, the mongoose will pay for itself compared to having to pay the dealer to do the updates.
rugedraw
Well-known member
DO NOT USE! Just worked with someone who tried to update their truck with this recently. I don't remember which module got bricked, but he ended up having to order a Mongoose to get his truck back on the street.
Spiffy
Well-known member
I know some products from China have a bad reputation the TopDon line is exceptional. The build quality is outstanding and they do a excellent job at software. TopDon specializes in diagnostic equipment like thermal imaging cameras to smart battery / diagnistic chargers to a huge line up of automotive and diesel scanners. We have eight different manufacturers of scan tools like snapon and specialized scanners from Bosch, Mercedes. Topdons phenix line is high high end. I have the phoenix smart. It's the only scanner we use in the shop. It does almost every car we work on from adas to security to live streaming.
They also have a wide variety of consumer lines.
I'm just putting it out there that topdon is not one of the cheap Chinese products we think of.
I have a mongoose so that's what I used to pmi.
wayfarer556
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Bite the bullet with the Mongoose. There's a good reason it's so expensive. This isn't like a PC where throw in a hacked driver and if something breaks then you can roll it back. There was more than one member of these forums in the early days that bricked some very important modules using what was at the time a cheaper passthrough device that was listed as a viable alternative (I believe it was called the Nano). Not all of them were able to come back from it. What I'm saying is: if you brick a module it's very possible its unrecoverable.
We have some incredibly smart, hardworking, and generous members on that thread who will bend over backwards to help members with their bricked trucks...sometimes they manage to get them out of it, but sometimes not. It's not like we have access to the source code or the internal documentation, it's all trial and error.
You see the guides listed on the first post of page one of this nearly 1000 page long ECU programming thread? Read that page and the listed guides very carefully. The community has poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (a lot of angry tears) into writing these guides. There's a reason why the Mongoose is the only device that's recommended. It wasn't always so.
Think of it this way....if you ever sell your truck, you could also sell the Mongoose for pretty close what you paid for it. It's an investment.
We have some incredibly smart, hardworking, and generous members on that thread who will bend over backwards to help members with their bricked trucks...sometimes they manage to get them out of it, but sometimes not. It's not like we have access to the source code or the internal documentation, it's all trial and error.
You see the guides listed on the first post of page one of this nearly 1000 page long ECU programming thread? Read that page and the listed guides very carefully. The community has poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (a lot of angry tears) into writing these guides. There's a reason why the Mongoose is the only device that's recommended. It wasn't always so.
Think of it this way....if you ever sell your truck, you could also sell the Mongoose for pretty close what you paid for it. It's an investment.
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Spiffy
Well-known member
No!!! I was just saying that topdon is a premium product. I have used it to program modules before on other trucks but not on anything so critical as a ipna or cmr. Rugdraw said he had a guy the bricked his module by using topdon vci.
I dont know what level of scanner they used. Topdon has generic scanners too. I have their top level scanner. 3k + it does what other pro level scanners won't do.
Bottom line if rugdraw say to use the Mongoose then that's what you should use.
JEB
Well-known member
Ok. I was just making sure. Autel is a premium product and that VCI didn’t work on these trucks either. There have been a lot of modestly priced (sub $1000) programmers that people have tried with generally poor results. The Mongoose is pricey, but it has proven over time to be the cheapest option out there that is reliable on THIS truck. A discussion of the efficacy of other products on other vehicle lines can easily be taken the wrong way.
Spiffy
Well-known member
Yes. There is a ton of programmers on market .. almost all of tgem are just glorified readers with a very few tricks. I understand what yoyr saying.
thecurlyburl
New member
I literally registered to share my experience with the RLink on my '24 Raptor. I'm lucky that it just soft-bricked my PCM and I was able to use the Mongoose to rectify it.
Spend the extra $200 and get the Mongoose.
Also, the software, driver, and disgnostic experience for the Opus IVS and the resources included in their "toolbox" and the support options provided are just worlds above whatever else I've seen. You are paying for so so so much more than just a programmer dongle.
Spend the extra $200 and get the Mongoose.
Also, the software, driver, and disgnostic experience for the Opus IVS and the resources included in their "toolbox" and the support options provided are just worlds above whatever else I've seen. You are paying for so so so much more than just a programmer dongle.
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