seen people talking about it, what is it exactly,and if you have it ,what can youdo you do about it.

 

it's a dealer reflash of the pcm. pulls the timing back to stop pinging which is usually caused by a leaky plenum gasket

 

There will be a white bar code sticker on the front of your pcm that will say something like " dealer authorized reprogram" or something like that. You have to get a Hypertech orSuperchips programmer or get your pcm custom reflashed to get rid of it. The programmers will not totally eliminate it but they make a big difference (at least it did on mine)

 

You can also do the CPS mod to change the timing.

 

If you remove the "death flash" by reprogramming, what will you gain?

 

More power. Look at my pics it show what it might look like I have an 01.

 

You will have more power and possibly gain more MPGs as well, but you will ping (sometimes even with higher octane fuel) if you don't fix the plenum gasket first.

2001s don't necessarily have the "authorized software update" or "reflash" sticker, as they came from the factory with the death flash, IIRC.

 

sticker can also be on radiator support....

 

so, did they not figure out that it was the plenums fault and just factory program them anyway?

 

Was this plenum issue more common on the 318 or 360? My 98 has no sticker and runs as quiet as a new engine at 128k miles. I get 15-18 mpg, depending on how hard I drive it-16 mpg overall. I have the 318. Is this across the board or hit-and-miss?