I have a SCT Livewire that developed a problem today, a diffrent one that is... I've had it for 11 years. Got it from 5 Star Tuning. It gets quite Hot when it's on. I keep it mounted above the dash to moniter engine temp, air intake temp and for the tach. Since I've had it the screen would freeze from time to time. Usually unplugging it and then back in usually remedies that. Back in 2020 the screen stopped responding in some spots when I pressed it. After trying to get a hold of SCT Support forever, they finally contacted me by Email. I sent it in and they replaced the screen. Works but still freezes up at times, but not as often. When I stop some place, like a store, I usually shut it off, unplug it and put it under the seat while I'm out of the truck. Then when I get back in the truck I plug it back in and start it up. What it is suppose to do - When I press the On button, the three lights at the bottom left of the device will illuminate, 1 Red, 1 yellow, 1 Green. Then the SCT Logo comes up, beeps a few times and the device starts up. But today, it didn't do that.
Today - I went to Walgreens to get some prescriptions. When I got back in the truck, I hit the ON button, the three lights came on together as usuall, the SCT Logo came up for a moment, but then the screen went blank, and the green light on the bottom stayed on. So now it's just a black screen, the Green light on, No noises or beeps. Touching the screen does nothing. I unplugged it, plugged it back in and tried again. Same thing. I unplugged it and came home. Tried it and still does it.
Has anybody run into this? I'm running a MPT 93 perf. tune. Except for towing I pretty much run it all time. That doesn't concern me. But at the moment it's unusable. I haven't saved the Stock Tune to my Laptop simply because I'm not a computer guy and afraid I'll screw it up. So it's still on the device. Gonna attempt to contact SCT Support. But my last experiance with them was Way less than stellar. I'm hoping if I bring the Livewire in and hook it up to my Laptop I can access it. If it works on my Laptop, I may try to download my stock tune.

 

Sent a contact message to SCT describing the issue. Went out to the truck and tried to turn it on again. No luck. I'm gonna connect it to my Laptop and see what happens. Question, if it connects to my Laptop, can I save a copy of the Stock tune file to my Laptop? And would that still leave the Stock file on the Livewire? I've never done anything more than load tune files to the Livewire, then to the truck. Just don't want to lose the Stock tune if I need to send the Livewire in for a fix.

 

Plugged the Livewire into my Laptop. It seems to be able to read the device info OK. Tried an Update and it says it is up to date. I did an update back around Sept/Oct., so I guess it's still up to date. Didn't try to check on tunes, etc., just not sure if I should. Research on the internet indicated it should power up from my laptop's USB port. So I pressed the Livewires ON button to see. First couple of tries it just did the same thing it did in the truck. To shut the green light off, I either had to unplug the Livewire or hold down the ON button for about 5 seconds. After a few more tries it powered up like it should. After that I shut it down and I tried to start it up again and no go. After several more attempts it started up again. So it will come on after some attempts, just don't know how many attempts it will take at any given time...

 

For the stock file, plug it into device updater and use the get stock file from device button. This will back up the important files.

 

Ok thanks. That's what I thought. Question, will that be the actual files, or a back-up copy? The reason I ask, if I can get the Livewire to power up in the truck, will the stock tune file still be on the Livewire for me to load back into the truck? Thanks again...

 

This is a backup file of all tunes and stock file. It's encrypted so only SCT can open it but it is in there.

 

Coolness. Thanks...

 

Update: Got a hold of a person at SCT this morning via the Live Chat, Trent. I described the problem and what I've tried. I don't know how it works, but I think it was a link he sent me that I download on my Laptop that allowed him to access my Laptop. I plugged in the Livewire and he tried a fix from where he was at. But alas, it didn't work. So he opened a ticket for me to send it in for repair. I know a couple of people said I should Open a Ticket, but didn't know what that meant till now. As soon as I get an MRA I'll be mailing Livewire to SCT. Hopefully it can be repaired...

 

Tracking shows that SCT received my Livewire over the weekend, so I'll be hearing from them over the next few days. If they tell me it's "Unrepairable", or if they recommend a replacement unit, I won't be able to purchase one. At the moment the Livewire is listed at $599.00. No way I can afford that. The X4 is listed at $399.00, which is still more than I can handle. If it comes to that, I may be able to borrow some money from my sister, and I may have to try for the X4. I keep the Livewire mounted in the truck so I can monitor the gauges. As compared to the Livewire, does someone have an idea of how much smaller the screen size of the X4 is?

 

I thought I'd give an Update. First, SCT has been GREAT, and very helpfull. When the person at SCT tried to repair the Livewire for me over the internet, first he copied the files from it onto my Laptop. Then he tried a few things but nothing worked, so I sent it in. After SCT got the Livewire, a few days later I got a message from them telling me that it's unrepairable. That they didn't have the parts or an older Livewire on hand that they could use for a substitute. So I was left with having to buy a new Livewire at a discount, or maybe an X4 at a discount. I really didn't have the funds, plus the main issue was that there was still a custom tune in the truck while the stock tune was in the Livewire. So I had to finagle a couple of bills and borrow a little money. SCT gave me a nice discount on a new Livewire, which I appreciate. So now I have it. Prior to SCT mailing it to me, I assumed that my custom tune files as well as my stock tune would be transferred from the old to the new Livewire. The person I was working with told me that before he was able to get to it, that someone else processed the sale and mailed it. He said he had left it in his notes to do that, and assumed, hopefully it was done, and to contact him if it wasn't. After checking it, appears that they were not transferred. After contacting SCT, there are a few things that I need to do to get this fixed. And I hope I did this right. I was told that first I needed to get the Livewire out to the truck and go thru the process of Marrying it to the truck. So I loaded the SCT 93 canned tune and it loaded the custom tune that's in the truck, as the trucks Stock tune. So After that, I need to contact them so they can do a link over the computer with the Livewire plugged in it. Then they'll do a stock tune from it? Then I was told that I need to contact the Tuners that I used for my custom tunes. That I need to give them the new serial number from this Livewire, and explain to them that I need to have my custom tune files resent to me. SCT said they should do this at no charge? I hope so. PLUS, it's been 10 years since I got a tune from MPT, and all they do now is Ecoboosts. 5 Star is where I originally got the Livewire and my first tunes from. The last tune I got from them was a 93 Towing tune in 2018. Wish me luck!!!