Over the holiday weekend I installed a 3660 2600kv brushless motor and hobbywing ezrun sc8, and new tires into my 2wd traxxas slash.
This morning I get up and start converting all my rc stuff over to xt60 connectors, then install new 32p gears, then go to give it a test run since all the stock programmed settings look like a decent starting point except I notice I have full throttle in reverse and barely any going forward. And they are reversed.

So I need to program the motor to run the opposite way.

Get out the program card....following instructions to a T and the program card will not display numbers.
When I do as instructions say- the card lights up for 1 sec then nothing. If I connect battery- then plug in card I can get it to display a few dashes but no digits show up and cant program.
Its plugged into the correct port- the fan port at top, ive triple checked they were plugged in the right way, iys plugged into the right port on the programmer, and ive tried every combination of transmitter on/off. esc on/ff, battery connect/disconnect, card plugged/unplugged....standing on one leg patting head- It will not work.

So no biggie.... Ill manually program it. Nope - that wont work either.
Read over instructions 10x. I hold set/ turn on esc holding set untill green light....let go of set.
The first option is running mode, I can press set to make it toggle between 1, 2 , and 3 but when I hold set to select it - nothing happens.
Ive long held it 20+ seconds it will not select anything, reset, disconnect / reconnect /transmitter off/ trans on, Ive tried everything!
Another thing is the instructions mention a beep. Mine does not beep at all but notice the spur gear turning a tiny amount everytime the light flashes, so that makes a tiny bit of a noise but no beep.

I have ch 1 steering, the slot below (also ch1) empty, then ch2 with esc plugged in correctly.

What am I doing wrong?
I can rebuild a motor, build 3d printers, flash and compile firmware for 3d printer,computers,phones but cant program an esc?!?! Ive never had issues like this before with an rc.... am I overlooking something or does this need to go back to amazon?

Sorry guys for the rant but im frustrated and spent hours messing with this.

Did you calibrate the ESC to the radio first of all? That has not been mentioned anywhere here and seeings how you installed a new SC8.

If you mean calibrating neutral and maxes on transmitter I did.

I reset esc several times and recalibrated throttle and tried to use program card.....nope.

After spending several frustrated hours I stumbled upon the solution.
The instructions say to hold set 3 seconds to confirm each selection but it was wrong and that didnt work. I had to turn off esc/ turn on into programming, hold set button till it flashed twice to get in second selection, choose value, turn off esc, turn on into programming, holding set button to get into third category....etc etc etc

so....the programmer would of been nice but its up and running now.
Threw in a 32p 15/56 gear set and its pretty crazy on 3s. This is my first time going beyond 2s and also running 4.7" duratrax tires so confused where I should go with gearing. I have set of 13-22 pinions and all inbetween.
Any suggestions there?

I've had problems with their instructions myself. Not very clear in some areas. Glad you figured it out. First program box I got needed updating right off the bat, only way I could get it to work right. Who knows how long some of these things sit on the shelf before being purchased. In the meantime, updates are already out there before some of these are purchased.