Onboard Scales Wrong - Affects Headlights

[Thetoad30]

I have an issue with my 2022 F150 Job 1 Platinum. I have the fancy headlights that are supposed to auto-level and bend around curves.

I also have CCD/Onboard Scales. What I have noticed is after an update the onboard scales seem to be reading way wrong. It tells me I have 1000 lbs in my vehicle. This leaves me with just over 300 lbs of payload.

Suffice to say I do NOT have 1000 lbs in my vehicle. This causes the onboard scales to say that the payload is exceeded whenever I hook up my 7000 lbs GVWR trailer. I have about 700-750 lbs as hitch weight when I have the trailer "full" and ready to camp (water, propane, battery, additional items in the trailer for storage). I did take it to a scale, and I was under on both axles and GCWR. 3480 steer, 3860 drive, and 3880 trailer. This puts me right at the truck's GVWR at 7340. The truck is level or even slightly raked nose down, and the trailer is level as well.

What I have noticed is at night, my headlights are doing what they're supposed to do. But, as soon as I attach the trailer, the headlights shoot as far up as they can. It blinds me whenever I come up on signs, and it is also blinding other drivers. I was following my parents in their RV, and I was a good 1000 yards behind them, and they were saying that they could pick my car out in their side mirror from all the other traffic the lights were that bright. In fact, I even see my beams hit overpasses in front of me by a few hundred yards or so.

When I disconnect the trailer, however, I watch the headlights come down as the weight is unloading, and then, once the entire load is off of the truck, I watch the headlights move down and auto level. This is how I know they're shooting straight up. I do see they have a lot of room to go down on startup with a load, but they continue to just point up instead of autoleveling.

Has anyone else had this issue? I'm trying to figure out if the truck is misprogrammed and should be trying to shoot the headlights down, but someone inverted their codes (motor pushes up and lens goes down, but programmer was thinking they wanted the lens to go up and instead programmed the motor to go up or something).

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[antho]

Did you do the onboard scales calibration in forscan?

 

[Thetoad30]

Did you do the onboard scales calibration in forscan?

No - there’s a way to do this? I had no idea.

Do you have a link or instructions I can follow?

 

[antho]

Load forscan, Click the wrench on the left, Should be a VDM onboard scales calibration option

 

[Aron]

Are you using a weight-distribution hitch? If not, that may be your issue. If I recall correctly, Ford recommends using a WDH if the tongue load is more than 500 lbs, so they may have built in an assumption to redirect the headlights under those conditions. (If they're assuming that the WDH will force your nose a bit lower, they might have programmed the headlights to compensate for that, which would aim them higher than normal.)

 

[Thetoad30]

Are you using a weight-distribution hitch? If not, that may be your issue. If I recall correctly, Ford recommends using a WDH if the tongue load is more than 500 lbs, so they may have built in an assumption to redirect the headlights under those conditions. (If they're assuming that the WDH will force your nose a bit lower, they might have programmed the headlights to compensate for that, which would aim them higher than normal.)

I am.

Yes, I had thought about that, but the lights are super high. Like, 100 yards away from an overhead bridge and I can see the cutoff on the side of it. They are high - higher than normal high beams.

I haven’t tried the weight calibration yet. I wanted to look up the procedure to see if I have to empty the truck, have a full tank, etc. it hit the end of the weekend and I ran out of time.

 

[Aron]

I haven’t tried the weight calibration yet. I wanted to look up the procedure to see if I have to empty the truck, have a full tank, etc. it hit the end of the weekend and I ran out of time.

I would do that, yes. Get it as close as you can back to when they calculated that payload number before you try to reset the scales so that when you put it all back in it adjusts appropriately.

 

[skiteton]

Does anyone know if you can check the onboard scales calibration via an OBD MX+ and only and iPhone? I don't have a Windows or Mac laptop to allow for changes depending on what I find. But I would like to see their current setting(s).

Mine haven't worked since day one and my dealer can't get it scheduled until January. On top of that, this will be the first Onboard Scales issue they have dealt with. They admittedly said they would need the truck for a while to diagnose. I'm hoping that any info I can see via the MX+ may help expedite things at the dealership.

 

[vidwiz]

I have very similar situation. 22 Plat. Scales/ccd. Auto leveling is not functioning, I put weight on the bumper and see the headlights rise, getting flashed towing too. My scales also read too high, but by about 300lbs. I don't believe Forscan has scales calibration but does have configuration. There's another way to do calibration, see this screenshot, could be FDRS.





You can compensate using the config as I did in this thread:





https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thr...-no-additional-weight.9117/page-5#post-282523





but its just a bandaid changing the weight display bar making it a little more usable.

 

[BLoflin]

So I had this problem from day 1 (mine is 22 KR PB) with payload on scales showing about 350lbs high. Tried to get service to look at in at first time in, but they were totally confused and I didn't have time to mess with it, when picking up.

For my second visit for oil change, rotate, and Recalls, printed out the FDRS screen showing VDM Scales Calibration proceedure, and wrote up the problem.

Of course when I pick it up, they tell me it's functioning correctly, and was a User error. Kept telling me I had to reset to Zero to use. I explained that is NOT the function I was talking about. So I had time this time, had them bring the Service Manager out, and I sat in the truck and showed him the problem on the Sync screens, as we got in and out. He finally understood. Took it back, hooked to FDRS did the calibration (took less than 10 minutes, including moving the truck back to the bays).

He also told me, while tech was doing it, he looked into their database and here is the reason he told me he read that the setting is off:

"The programming has an initialization routine to set payload to zero after the truck is built (to ensure all after manufacturing line options (like tonneau cover or sprayin liner, etc) are finished. They way it determines the time to zero, is when it is moving for a while (based on GPS), not started. This is when it is in transit (usually train car). Problem is they have the truck "clamped" down secured to rail car, which is compressing the springs/leafs. So the initialization height is wrong."

I could poke some holes in that theory, and sounds more like a speculation from us on a forum!... ha

But, perhaps... Anyway he fixed it with FDRS and the VDM Scales Calibration.

I even asked him to set it to 150lbs (instead of 0) as I had after market tonneau cover and sprayin liner (my guestimate was 150lbs). He was able to do that.

 

[vidwiz]

Blof, do your leveling headlamps work? Any change before and after?

 

[BLoflin]

Blof, do your leveling headlamps work? Any change before and after?

As far as I can tell headlamps leveling works, and is the same before and after.

 

[Thetoad30]

So I finally was able to take a look at my vehicle with Forscan today - I did the calibrations, but the scales still seem to read high. If I get in and out of the truck, both vehicle and scales functions are reading me somewhere between 350 and 400 lbs. I do not weigh 400 lbs. I weigh 225 or 250 at the most... so I'm still unsure what is going on.

My biggest issue is the leveling function of the headlights pointing the beams sky-high. Literally. I'm hoping that this calibration will fix the issue, but I won't know until I take a trip with my trailer at night.

 

[vidwiz]

My latest development. Found the springs calibration in Forscan and it seems to have fixed the scales issue. Did not help the headlights tho.

And I drove a headlights on required section of hwy yesterday during the day towing travel trailer. STILL! had one person flash me, thats how bad it is.

 

[Snakebitten]

Some posts use FDRS to recalibrate, others use Forscan.
Do we know if the approach and results are comparable?

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