ECU module programming guide using FDRS

[PFXLT]

No offense taken! We're all here to provide assistant and input. I'm going to send the 10amp back and grab the 20amp mentioned at the beginning of the thread. After yesterdays near heart attack, I'm just wanting to make sure bases are covered and that I get everyone's thoughts. I do appreciate everyone's input!

noco is a good brand. I don’t know anything about the one linked in the 1st page. Guys have said that 20a one failed on them. The one I got (from the front page) worked fine through two vehicle updates. Not sure if people are trying to make themselves feel better for sending back that charger when they didn’t need it. I do wanna say make sure not to start the vehicle with that charger on and in ps mode. We did that after the last update on my buddies explorer and it cooked the charger, luckily.

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[Snakebitten]

Not trying to be a Dick but I just don't understand why people always want to take the short cut when doing something to there 60K+ vehicle.
I do understand time is valuable but in the long run when things go wrong, what was saved or in most cases F'd up?

READ PAGE 1
Also, I would strongly suggest to follow @Bob_Mac document, outlining the latest updates and shared knowledge related to this process. You can access his guide here.

This thread is approaching 600 pages because of "I saw a video on YouTube where the guy used (Insert whatever you want here) and had no issues"

Thankfully there are MANY helpful members on here to provide support but when it's the same thing over and over again.

OK, time to take my meds, sorry for the rant. Love you guys!

And a fine rant it was indeed!

I've said it before, but I remember the day Iceman created this with that innocent post#1.

I could have never predicted.

Man did it CHANGE my Gen14 Powerboost ownership experience!
In so many ways.

I have friends because of it. Lol

600 pages just happens to be the burden we must carry for the gift it's turned out to be.

 

[JEB]

I don't know if I have seen a post stating whether any FDRS update has drawn more than 10 amps. 10 amps sounds like a lot of current for a module to pull, but, honestly, I don't know if 10 amps is enough or if the battery will gradually be depleted below a safe SOC/voltage...

When I started doing this stuff last year, I was using the Noco Genius 10 amp in power supply mode and regularly saw voltages drop too low for my comfort level. I shelved it and bought the 20 amp Clore. I still see voltages occasionally dip into the vicinity of 12.5V during programming but I am much happier overall.

As a point of reference, the Clore is programmed to maintain 14.1V in power supply mode. I almost never see that target maintained, which tells me that even the 20 amp Clore is frequently maxed. I wouldn’t go smaller.

 

[dolsen]

Not trying to be a Dick but I just don't understand why people always want to take the short cut when doing something to there 60K+ vehicle.
I do understand time is valuable but in the long run when things go wrong, what was saved or in most cases F'd up?

READ PAGE 1
Also, I would strongly suggest to follow @Bob_Mac document, outlining the latest updates and shared knowledge related to this process. You can access his guide here.

This thread is approaching 600 pages because of "I saw a video on YouTube where the guy used (Insert whatever you want here) and had no issues"

Thankfully there are MANY helpful members on here to provide support but when it's the same thing over and over again.

OK, time to take my meds, sorry for the rant. Love you guys!

Honestly I’ve been on both sides of this mentality. When I was younger and didn’t have the money to do things the more conservative way, I would wing it to an extent. I could afford the modifications. But not all of the supporting equipment, so I would try to be careful and methodical. Most times it would pay off but sometimes I really got myself in a bind. It’s not a great mentality to have some times, but it can make you more resourceful.

However, now that I’m much better off, financially, I’ll buy and do more than I need to to play it safe. I think I’m also a let less risk averse in my mid 30’s than I was in my early 20’s

With all of that said I would never recommend anyone be as reckless as I was l

 

[Spiffy]

Woho!!Who!!! I'm the club. I just finished reading these 583 pages of instructions. Started a 4:12 am. So many great questions. I was hoping that there were a bunch of the same questions over and over but there weren't many. Thinking of a sticky to cover the most requested answers. The first page writeup is brilliant. I'm impressed with the capabilities of almost everyone here to work through some problems.
Jessie explanation of module lockout/blacklisting from ford was great. I understand now about swapping out modules. I have a apim coming that is not supposed to be on the truck.
What I need to know is if I have a module that is blacklisted does that stop fdrs from updating everything else? Jessie reassured me that updates to blacklisted modules can be side loaded. We need to keep jessi alive and happy.
My mongoose is being dropped off today. No sleep tonight.

 

[UNCGrad]

OK. I am going to take the plunge and try this as nothing the dealership or the regional Ford engineer has tried has done the trick and I am sick of it. I am thinking about the buyback at this point if this does not work. I am just a bit freaked out at trying it because I have zero technical skills. I have read about the first 10 pages of the thread (and will continue to plow through all 582 pages) and printed out the 19-page instruction document. I will need to order the battery tender. I know there is someone on the forum lending out the mongoose for shipping costs. I need to see if I can get my hands on a laptop with the requirements. I can't install anything on my work laptop.

I am one of those owners whose truck has had zero updates. I have lost lane centering during their attempts to get the truck to accept updates. I was told the Gateway module was replaced. This saga has been dragging on since August.

 

[PadU235]

Last Sunday I asked for my OTA status and FordPhanatic kindly told me I had 5 modules to update including an APIM. I had received a sync message stating that I had 3.5.3 but it vanished before I could even read it. Fordphanatic said that the problem was one file failed to download and I would have to wait until it was resent so I decided to give it a week and buy a FDRS license this Sunday. Today (Saturday) decided to backup all my modules with forscan and download my asbuilt data from the ford site so the gurus here could maybe bail me out if it went south. Within an hour of finishing my backups, I received the 3.5.3 message in the fordpass app. I checked the sync version I had been upgraded to 22293/610 and would get Alexa in a few days. Drove about 3 miles to a fast food place, returned home and rebooted the Apim. Alex showed up. My garage door opener is Alex enabled to my first test was “Alexa Open garage door”. Worked…very cool. I use Spotify thru Android Auto and Alex will play any song you request using spotify. Saved 50 bucks and realized how great these OTA’s are when they work. Ford decided to cut me some slack today but you guys are the absolute best. The group on this forum make Ford Sync possible for non-techs like me.

 

[Spiffy]

I was thinking.. if I understand correctly that if we do changes using forscan and a couple days later we update using fdrs at the end of update the orignal (as built) is reloaded resulting in any forscan changes to be reset.
I think I remember reading something from Jessie. He said after a while the as built data on our trucks are eventually merged with ford's data?
My thoughts are if we do any changes we made using forscan we need to first backup module b4 we mess with it then make second back up with the changes.
When the updates come or we FDRS update the module might be reset to factory. We simply restore the module using the changed forscan backup?
I have a second question but I need to know if I'm understanding correctly. Do updates or the use of fdrs reload the as built Data at the end?

 

[dolsen]

I was thinking.. if I understand correctly that if we do changes using forscan and a couple days later we update using fdrs at the end of update the orignal (as built) is reloaded resulting in any forscan changes to be reset.
I think I remember reading something from Jessie. He said after a while the as built data on our trucks are eventually merged with ford's data?
My thoughts are if we do any changes we made using forscan we need to first backup module b4 we mess with it then make second back up with the changes.
When the updates come or we FDRS update the module might be reset to factory. We simply restore the module using the changed forscan backup?
I have a second question but I need to know if I'm understanding correctly. Do updates or the use of fdrs reload the as built Data at the end?

I believe the as-built are only rewritten when updating the module, the act of connecting the vehicle to FDRS doesn’t necessarily cause changes to as-builts.

One thing you may have missed is that sometimes when updating modules, new lines of as-builts are also written into the modules, which could possible displace the line to which changes are made. It is not a good practice to simply reload backed-up as-builts. You’re better off manually typing them all back in

 

[jflottawa]

I believe the as-built are only rewritten when updating the module, the act of connecting the vehicle to FDRS doesn’t necessarily cause changes to as-builts.

One thing you may have missed is that sometimes when updating modules, new lines of as-builts are also written into the modules, which could possible displace the line to which changes are made. It is not a good practice to simply reload backed-up as-builts. You’re better off manually typing them all back in

Wholeheartedly agree and not only new lines but perhaps even other hex values on the same lines could have been updated during an FDRS module update. You could/would inadvertently be overwriting other values on the same module lines by blindly reloading your modded lines.

 

[Spiffy]

I was thinking that exactly but didn't know how to discribe.
Taking that into consideration using fdrs. What happens when a Ota comes in? Our mods get overwritten?
Again quoting something jessi may have said about our changes using forscan. I believe he mentioned that the manual changes we make within time make it to the overall asbuilt factory base file. So the only thing we can do when there is a factory update is go back and review.
There is alot I'm planing to do.
Remove fake sound
Active park assist
Anti glare
Hill decent
Bluecruze 1.2
Digital Temps and stuff
Plus a few more.
My idea is to force as many fdrs updates I can THEN start my mods. If in fact the forscan mods make there way to the motherships base I will be ok. I just don't know how long it takes to merge.
Is there a way to postpone future updates?

 

[Tank]

Good morning Gentlemen,
I'm new, and need some help.
A friend is letting me borrow his Mongoose cable/wire etc..first time to use it.
I have 2021 F150 XLT Powerboost(Hybrid)and I'm still on the 2.7.4 update.
1. Can someone run my VIN and tell me when the last update for my truck was?
1FTFW1CD5MFA89158
2. Do I need to run multi module repair or just go straight to single updates.

I'm not even sure Im asking you guys the right questions...Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

 

[Jesse-Infotainment]

I was thinking that exactly but didn't know how to discribe.
Taking that into consideration using fdrs. What happens when a Ota comes in? Our mods get overwritten?
Again quoting something jessi may have said about our changes using forscan. I believe he mentioned that the manual changes we make within time make it to the overall asbuilt factory base file. So the only thing we can do when there is a factory update is go back and review.
There is alot I'm planing to do.
Remove fake sound
Active park assist
Anti glare
Hill decent
Bluecruze 1.2
Digital Temps and stuff
Plus a few more.
My idea is to force as many fdrs updates I can THEN start my mods. If in fact the forscan mods make there way to the motherships base I will be ok. I just don't know how long it takes to merge.
Is there a way to postpone future updates?

I swear we had a 30 min conversation on the phone about this.

 

[JScaro]

Good morning Gentlemen,
I'm new, and need some help.
A friend is letting me borrow his Mongoose cable/wire etc..first time to use it.
I have 2021 F150 XLT Powerboost(Hybrid)and I'm still on the 2.7.4 update.
1. Can someone run my VIN and tell me when the last update for my truck was?
1FTFW1CD5MFA89158
2. Do I need to run multi module repair or just go straight to single updates.

I'm not even sure Im asking you guys the right questions...Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

@Tank
I would start on PAGE 1 - lots of good info here.
Also, I would strongly suggest to follow @Bob_Mac document, outlining the latest updates and shared knowledge related to this process. You can access his guide here.

 

[JScaro]

I was thinking that exactly but didn't know how to discribe.
Taking that into consideration using fdrs. What happens when a Ota comes in? Our mods get overwritten?
Again quoting something jessi may have said about our changes using forscan. I believe he mentioned that the manual changes we make within time make it to the overall asbuilt factory base file. So the only thing we can do when there is a factory update is go back and review.
There is alot I'm planing to do.
Remove fake sound
Active park assist
Anti glare
Hill decent
Bluecruze 1.2
Digital Temps and stuff
Plus a few more.
My idea is to force as many fdrs updates I can THEN start my mods. If in fact the forscan mods make there way to the motherships base I will be ok. I just don't know how long it takes to merge.
Is there a way to postpone future updates?

@Spiffy
From my experience and I'm OCD and used to worry about this stuff to but learning to just roll with the punches.

Do your FDRS updates - I think it does screw with OTA's but I personal know I'm updated to my liking and don't lose sleep over the OTA's.
Do your ForScan changes - yes they may get changed by Ford with an OTA but the likelihood of that happing will be small. I made a ForScan sheet of my current changes, notes, and any others I might think of doing. I also put the As-Built on some of them.
I'll attach it to give you an idea.

When do thing get uploaded to the Mothership - good question. I've seen as little as a week and the last changes I made are going on 2 months - do I care, not really as long as the truck is still working like it should.

Postponing future updates - good luck with that. If Ford wants to send it your getting it unless you unplug you TCU (think that's the right one)

Have fun and if you screw something up - great people on here to help out.

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