Most dealerships willing to program insists that you purchase a BCM through them or shall I say they purchase the BCM and sell it to you as part of the repair. This is so that they can warranty the work.

You bringing the part negates any warranty on the part even after they program it because nobody knows whether the part itself is good. They will need the mileage and I believe the VIN. If you go through with this bring your title to prove it is your vehicle.

Just realize that you are rolling the dice as to the outcome. Nobody knows if the BCM is good and nobody knows whether the BCM programming they do is correct and actually will work in the car.

They don't want to be part of uninstalling the old one or installing the newly flashed one. They want nothing to do with vehicle labor. Only the labor associated with flashing the BCM.

If it works, awesome. If it does not, you cannot hold them liable in any way based on your description of their involvement.

As for getting a BCM that has problems reflashed, I can't say I'm a fan of the procedure, since we don't know why the BCM lost its mind in the first place. The code may have gotten corrupted, it could be an electronics issue, we just don't know. If it does not take the program, they will likely still charge you labor.

Just trying to make you aware of the nature of the different possible outcomes and the fact that you essentially cannot hold them liable for anything even if the program doesn't take.

 

I would sooner go junkyard diving and find an automatic of your year and model and see if it works in your vehicle. You can do the junkyard diving online and then call and check on availability.

Costs less and your chances of finding a non-defective BCM or theoretically 50/50 as opposed to reprogramming a known failed BCM

 

Thanks! Very helpful. Yes, I wasn't clear before about already having eyes on a new BCM. I actually found one in an automatic 2003 Vue at my local junkyard (could be fine, could be a dud, dunno), but couldn't get it out. I need to go back & try a bit harder. Given that the car runs pretty well at the moment, I'm almost inclined to just let it be. I'm afraid of breaking the things that do work.

 

Hey, quick follow-up question on the BCM gremlins. I asked a friendly neighborhood mechanic to see if he could figure out why cruise control wasn't working. (We got the horn rewired, which has been great.) He checked everything. Switches, fuses, brake light switch, clutch switch. Everything checks out. He sent the attached images & said the Vue, for some reason, doesn't allow his GM code reader to go any deeper to see what's going on. Is it possible/probable that the physical connection to the BCM itself is bad or loose? I can unplug/replug & see if anything catches? I'm still unwilling to replace the BCM. Too many things that can go wrong, I think. Any theories about how to bring cruise back to life?

 

That's not a GM scanner.

Anyway, it seems to show that the cruise switch itself never closes. If that never closes, the cruise never engages. Looks like all the things that should interrupt the cruise control are functional. That sort of leaves us down to either the cruise switch itself, the wiring to what I assume would be the BCM but don't know because I haven't looked at a diagram, or the BCM itself not commanding one terminal of the switch wiring to ground to complete the circuit and close the switch.

Apologies if I'm wrong about where the cruise switch leads. I'm not a Vue expert.