07-18-2021, 08:15 PM
Before every system in a vehicle was computerized, they had other ways to screw do-it-yourselfers and small shops.
Some years ago, my kid sister drove a Honda (car) which popped the timing belt. They had a specific procedure for lining up the timing marks on all the pulleys on each belt driven device so the thing would run. The shop manual was only available to dealers and the procedure was copyrighted. We almost ended up having it towed to a dealer for a $$$ repair.
With a bit of research I discovered that one of the aftermarket manuals (Haynes, Chilton, etc., I forget which) had reverse engineered the procedure with the pulleys in different positions to get around the copyright. $24 manual, $40 belt and away she went. Today, we'd just go to YouTube but I didn't have that option in 1990-ish.
Yeah, everything in modern vehicles has a network address that has to match what's stored in the BCM. I added a fog/driving light kit to my current vehicle and had to pay the dealer $125 for programming to make the new lights turn on. It took all of 30 seconds.
