
Originally Posted by
GM Powertrain
The E38 is the mid-line controller in GM’s new family of three engine control modules (ECM), which will direct nearly all the engines in Powertrain’s line-up. It features 32-bit processing, compared to the conventional 16-bit processing in previous Vortec engines. The E38 operates at 59 MHz, with 32 megabytes of flash memory, 128 kilobytes of RAM and a high-speed CAN bus, and it synchronizes more than 100 functions, from spark timing to cruise control operation to traction control calculations. The E38 works roughly 50 times faster than the first computers used on internal combustion engines in the late 1970s, which managed five or six functions.