The miracle of the flash...

[Jim Warman]

... the inductive heating flash, that is...

 

The truck.... an 05ish 6.0.... The customer concern... transmission shifts really hard when cold.

 

Kept the truck overnight and took it for a drive then next AM. This thing ran like a bag of crap... missing, farting, burping, dead pedal, you name it....

 

Once it had enough pedal response to back out of the line-up, I went for my drive.... picked up speed 10 km/h.... then up to 20.... finally up to 30..... I stifled a yawn as we finally passed through 40.... then 50.... 55....57....58... and then BANG - a long overdue 1-2 shift.

 

The inductive heating flash cured this transmission concern... though I'm not sure why the customer didn't complain about the way the engine ran cold... This customer sent 10 other trucks our way for reflashing....

 

I'm sure that everyone is having great success with this new strategy, but are there any "miracle cure" stories to be shared?

 

On a side note.... can anyone tell me why, when I flash a stick shift truck, why does the IDS reflash the TCM?

[Brad Clayton]

I'll be the first to tell you that flashing 6.0 liters over the years has been a chore and with mixed feelings as to what was happening to the truck afterwards, but.....

 

This latest is amazing in my eyes and I think they don't need to change the formula. I actually call customers back that have had the post buzz flash to get this new flash, this goes against what Ford wants. That post buzz would drive me nuts if it was mine.

 

I would have to say that half the trucks we update would qualify for miracle cure status. We have saved quite a few from the knife and having to open them up.

 

I would consult with Bruce on the tcm deal.

[GregH]

I've had great success with this strategy as well. In my stall right now is a 450, showing 3 faulty injectors. Did the reflash, and all three injectors came back to life.

 

Still gotta open it up, though. #2 still drops out under spirited driving when fully warmed up...

 

As for the TCM being flashed as well... maybe the original program said "hey, don't do nuthin'" and the updated program corrected the spelling....

[Keith Browning]

I have seen several marginal injectors escape replacement with the new calibrations too.

 

I have also noticed that for the most part, in the last six months or so, trucks leave my bay running really well. Solid smooth idle, decent throttle response and good power. I might attribute this to the current calibrations. I also feel that despite repairing any failed parts or *fixing* the truck many still seem to be missing something. Poor low end response and then that slight holding back feeling on hard acceleration. Some time ago I noted that lengthy or aggressive post repair road tests seemed to wake these trucks up. I also noticed a lot of soot, large black clouds coming from the tailpipe on acceleration.

 

I now, when appropriate, follow repairs on trucks I consider to be loaded up with a good cleaning out. Balk if you wish, this is perfectly safe though I admit it sounds abusive. I am not suggesting you power brake these things and lay 50 foot strips in the parking lot. I warm the truck up to full operating temp, go to the end of the street and hold it just about at WOT for about 10 minutes or more. You need to back off from Full throttle to smooth out the RPM's as the PCM will be limiting RPM. I usually see a lot of white smoke develop and when it looks like its clearing I move on. I'll perform several full throttle accelerations and WOW! You would think its got a Banks set on "fuck the EPA!" Then I either hit the highway in 3rd gear or aggressively drive on the secondary roads to put a load on it and really clear it out. The difference is amazing. I liken this to regeneration of the Catalyst by cooking it up and forcing the carbon out of the exhaust that is plugging it up. In the last couple of weeks I have noticed some of these just slightly breaking the wheels loose in first and second. Thats a good running 6.0l! If it's been running poorly for any length of time, it's probably loaded up.

[mchan68]

On a side note.... can anyone tell me why, when I flash a stick shift truck, why does the IDS reflash the TCM?

 

I think it's almost the same reason why the IDS prompts you to remove the FICM relay when reflashing gasoline powered cars, or why the pop-up window appears on '06 and up vehicles, asking if it is equipped with IVD even if no such option exists on the vehicle you're attempting to boot it up to.

[Jim Warman]

This is part of the deal, Kieth... spool stiction isn't going to happen in one direction only, it can happen in both directions...

 

Something I'm considering... many owners are beginning to accept poor cold starts as "normal".... others just don't want a reflash (GAD, I went from 15.78945684 miles per gallon to 15.78945683 miles per gallon) for some oddball reason.... This poor running is adding to exhaust related problems (EGR, VGT).

 

I had a customer yesterday... kept his truck overnight and found that the one thing he didn't complain about on the RO was the way this thing barely ran cold.... He was accepting this crap as "normal"....

[Keith Browning]

Jim if the performance degrades over time they might not know just how bad it is. Like the trucks I "clear out the exhaust" on I could replace that injector, cracked y-pipe or clean that EGR valve and eliminate the obvious driveability concern. If I ignore that clogged up feeling and rolled the truck, most of them would probably never know the difference.

[Alex Bruene]

I am an advocate of keeping flashes up to date. It's too bad that the majority of folks that visit "other" forums think that a reflash is the route of all that is evil.

[Bruce Amacker]

I have seen several marginal injectors escape replacement with the new calibrations too.

Ditto.

 

Originally Posted By: Keith Browning

I have also noticed that for the most part, in the last six months or so, trucks leave my bay running really well. Solid smooth idle, decent throttle response and good power. I might attribute this to the current calibrations.

DITTO!

 

Originally Posted By: Grandpa

On a side note.... can anyone tell me why, when I flash a stick shift truck, why does the IDS reflash the TCM?

I wish I had an answer for this, but I don't. I'd call it "electronic trash", I guess.

 

Originally Posted By: AlexBruene

I am an advocate of keeping flashes up to date. It's too bad that the majority of folks that visit "other" forums think that a reflash is the route of all that is evil.

For the first couple of years, I would also caution people about flashing. Some trucks would run better after a flash, some would run worse. It seems FMC has (finally!) dialed in the software to where I can feel confident doing a flash. I was on the west coast this week and did a whole bunch of flashes without a complaint.

 

In particular, it seems the trannies like the current flash level much better than the older ones. Much of the current "praise" after a reflash is in reference to how the tranny shifts. Getting rid of the cold misfire is a great help, too.

 

Have a great weekend!

[Joey Kaylor]

i have turned several drivers into lovers of the 6.0 now, after the inductive heating flash.

 

there was this one truck, had been in several times for a low power when cold complaint to one of the local dealers a few months back. with it being a fleet truck, they told the guy to let it warm up and quit abusing it! this was about three months ago, and the flash had been out for a while then if i recall. i checked the calibrations, and it was one before the run-on injector one!

 

popped it with a flash, and he came back loving the truck! i drove it, and for a crew cab with about 8klbs of tools in the bed, it squalled the 1-2 shift rather loudly. he was nice and happy, and that crane company is coming to me for a decent amount of service work, even if its still in warranty.

 

this was the same dealer that told him that there was nothing wrong with the front end, when i replaced these wheel bearings:

 

 

 

i really think that there is a serious problem with most SM's that if someone comes in with a diagnosis from another shop, they immediately decide that is an incorrect one, and dont even bother to fucking check things.

[Jim Warman]

Joey, I'm positive that there are a lot of techs out there that do hook up the IDS... but they receive the "no later flash...." message and leave it at that... They have no idea that they can reprogram just the FICM and that some PCM calibrations remained unchanged when the new FICM strategy was released...

 

Not to hijack my own thread... but I have two apprentices that are on "autopilot"..... they have that "I don't need to know how it works, I only need to fix it..." mentality - not realizing the latter rarely comes without the former. And there are, I think, a lot of licenced (or otherwise "accreditted) techs that are in the same league...

 

As for the diagnosis from another shop.... depending on the unit, the concern, the "other" shop and what they felt is the cause, I might discredit it or take it under advisement. But, when faced with one of those stinkers my flat rate techs might suffer from or my apprentices just can't pin down, I have learned to start back from the very beginning of the whole process.... even to the point of re-verifying the concern.

 

I'm sure many of us here feel like I do.... we study the PPT step and decide exactly what it is they want us to check.... and we check <THAT> properly (with none of the hokey voltmeter on an open circuit crap - what engineer/technical writer came up with some of these test steps?)... be it a load test or a proper voltage drop test.

 

Nice wheel bearing, by the way.... one has to wonder how something like that could escape another techs notice.. yet be so obvious...

 

The devil is in the details.....

[Keith Browning]

As for the diagnosis from another shop.... depending on the unit, the concern, the "other" shop and what they felt is the cause, I might discredit it or take it under advisement.

Not me. No Sir! I have been screwed by "my mechanic said" or "I was at another dealer and they..." and don't forget the diagnostic service writing. Other than what number fuse you have been replacing all I want to know is the concern and supporting details. Come to me with a customer supplied TSB and watch what happens. It's not that I don't want or need help but most often that kind of help usually isn't helpful at all. If I sound like a snob or I am full of myself, so be it. I have a job to do and my survival depends on it.

 

Back to the topic, I also advocate having the most current calibration installed. Usually there is a good reason for it being updated. Unfortunately there have been negative side effects that come with it in the past. If we seem to have a good one now, the hard part is going to be convincing the long time hard nosed nay-sayers that this is the one.

[Jim Warman]

Kieth... "take it under advisement"... might be a bad choice of words... When I take something "under advisement", it usually means that I have told the customer "Yes, that is ONE possibility...." and it only means I haven't discreditted the notion....

 

What you need is a nice fishing trip to a lake that features slough shark (oops, I meant Northern Pike), Perch, Pickerel and Whitefish (not far north is another lake with a lot of Ling in it).... In one town near there is a tall, good looking redhead. Follow him around for a day and see how many times he says "show me" to a tech....

 

One of the things management both hates and loves about me is that I wont start in the middle of a diagnosis... and it matters not how many hours we have in to the project already.... My momma didn't raise no fools (though I'm a little concerned about my sister)....

 

At the same time I like to have a copy of the work the other shop performed in hand.. the more detailed the better.... I have found pierced wires, conncetors not seated, terminals pushed out, spread terminals... you name it.... all left behind by the other shop... all waiting to come back and bite me....

 

Something to consider.... if this customer has been a big fan of the "other" shop, bad mouthing them or discreditting them could have a negative impact on your relationship with the customer - even to the point that he wont deliver some pertinent information....

 

Most of my customers forgive my errors because of the relationship we build.... Other customers may forgive the "other" shop their mistakes.... and we can make ourselves look like asses in their eyes....

[Joey Kaylor]

As for the diagnosis from another shop.... depending on the unit, the concern, the "other" shop and what they felt is the cause, I might discredit it or take it under advisement.

 

yeah, i get that shit often. usually from some backyard bob, whom has no frikkin clue as to what is going on. but, if i have a customer come in that has had work done by another place, i always want to know what they did, in detail. that way i know what has been done, and it plays a part in my diagnostic strategy. starting blind on a problem, from scratch, sometimes works great, but most of the time it bites me in the ass.

 

the SM for the ford service dept. was wondering why i said that CAC could be changed in about an hour though. he kept on telling me that i was full of it, it takes 5 hours. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/flamethrower.gif

[Alex Bruene]

 

What you need is a nice fishing trip to a lake that features slough shark (oops, I meant Northern Pike), Perch, Pickerel and Whitefish (not far north is another lake with a lot of Ling in it).... In one town near there is a tall, good looking redhead.

I was always wondering when the first annual Forddoctorsdts fishing trip would be... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/drinkingdude.gif

[Tony302600]

The inductive heat reflash is amazing. I think it's most noticable on the 04's that havent been flashed for a while. We occasinally get customers coming back saying "what did u guys do to my truck, its never ran this great" which puts a smile on my face.

 

The only thing that rattles my can was a customer came in complaining of the older reflash that buzzed the injectors, saying hes getting sick of and its getting annoying. I told him we have a new reflash, it was an 05 with 25K on it still in base warranty. I reflashed it, stated what i did to fix his concern. A week later I got called into the office because Ford bounced the claim, saying "There was no need for a reflash because a TSB didnt state to reflash it" those were the exact words from FORD warranty.

 

I vaguely recall, when the new reflash came out, the tsb and the engineers on the broadcast telling us "if the customer complains about the buzzing then go ahead and reflash it" They updated the tsb and now its not on there anymore.

[Jim Warman]

But the diesel time broadcast still is...."curiouser and curiouser".... We can always fall back on rough run/white smoke/missing when cold....

[Keith Browning]

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

[DwayneGorniak]

How about a Thanksgiving Turkey Fry? I've got me 28 foot beer fridge (Holliday Trailer) and the necessities all ready to go.

[Jim Warman]

That sounds good... 'cept them Yankees don't know when Thanksgiving really is.... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

I was thinking about early July... between Canada Day and Independance Day... Seeing as my birthday is right in between there, we could celebrate it at the same time (notice I said "celebrate" and NOT "count").