Hey guys, i found a motor from a 2002 S-series with 65K miles on it, was wondering one thing.
I know they changed the computer system in 2000, will the 2002 electronics still work fin with my 99 computer?

 

I don't think so, but what the hell do I know? I'm not a mechanic. Seems there was a change between 99 and 2000 though.

 

00-02 S series used both a pcm and a bcm; these pcms do not swap with earlier years (where only a PCM was used).

So I'd guess "no".

Source: saturnwiki.net -- (the swap question sticky that no one ever bothers to notice)

 

I looked there and It didnt have specifics, so I wanted to double check if anyone knew.
I mean I would doubt they would change all of the sensor connections, its just if the computer would read it. I thought that was only meant for pcms.

 

I found what I posted above under the ECM/wiring harness section.

It says the newer PCMs don't swap with the earlier ones so I'm thinking they likely changed the what goes into the PCM and how it's connected. With a BCM to control things like the dash and communicate back and forth with the PCM I doubt some things would function as the PCM would likely be requesting info from the BCM which isn't there

Or I could be wrong

 

First of all I don’t know the answer. But as I made my living with electronics the best I can do is give an answer based on my experiences and knowledge.
Electronic systems are generally quite complex both in concept and execution.
Another thing I don’t know and something I do not guess at when dealing with electronic system is what is a PCM and BCM?
As Acronyms they really mean nothing to me. And as an Acronym, each manufacture seems to come up with there own.
Sorry about that but to me I have to understand what an acronym is supposed to mean.
If it is a body control computer and an engine management computer and they have to talk to each other in order to function as a system the odds are if the plugs to not directly interface, (plug and play) the odds are they don’t work with each other and they will either not communicate or damage one another.
Now past that I really don’t know which comes with managing an engine.
An engine has bits an pieces to make it work with a computer.
The problem becomes the electronic characteristics of the bit or piece. If you have two engines identical where they bolt into the same place and they are full of bits and pieces the question actually is what is the difference in the bits and pieces and will they interface with the Existing engine management computer..
To my way of thinking that is where the probability that something may and the operative word is may, work. It depends I think on two pieces of information.
Well the bit or piece from and existing engine of one year, bolt onto a different engine from another year?
And I don’t know. But as each piece separate as to itself and controls or monitors a function of how the engine works the question will become will that piece work with the existing computer or will a piece from the existing engine function or some how be functional when bolted on to the new engine.
In the I DON’T KNOW category to me that has the most probable location to figure it out.
But that is where I would go to try to figure it out.
Getting one part of a system to work independently with out it’s other systems are chancy if you have no information on things. The same with interfacing with another computers interface. The complexity is high.
The complexity is low on engine bits and pieces. It is just that there are a lot of them. The complexity is that there are a lot of them, the individual complexity is low.
The functionality though becomes an issue. For example a Mitsubishi I had used a sensor for the EGR functioning and it was problem prone. I found out my year was one of the only year that sensor was used so the hard part was actually finding an engine that had that sensor on it to obtain low dollar replacement parts.
The point is interchangeability depends something, an engine for example, being able to bolt into place and then plug and play with existing computer system that runs the car
or
knowing you can interchange parts of the system and something will function as a stand alone and every year the software tended to change how it ran things.
Maybe the problem is not as complex as I think it is. But my gut says it is bigger than I want to play with when there is no knowledge at all as to whether it works or not.