fleet access to inford.com/buying an IDS

Aaron_Johnson · September 28, 2007

I was wondering if there is a way fleets can access inford or PTS for service info? Also we want to buy an IDS but were told that it wasn't possible. My old dealer refuses to look into it for me....Is this true?

Keith Browning · September 28, 2007

You can buy an IDS but don't expect to get access to the Ford corporate sites. You can have access to publications, training and support and all of this is available on the Motorcraft web site motorcraft.com Follow the link to Technical Resources where you will find all of these goodies. A subscription is required and you will still have to pay for various things. These are the same materials you had available to you as a dealer tech.

There is also a link Tools and Equipment page that gives you the ordering information for IDS.

I know Bruce probably has some advice on this. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Bruce Amacker · September 28, 2007

I was wondering if there is a way fleets can access inford or PTS for service info? Also we want to buy an IDS but were told that it wasn't possible. My old dealer refuses to look into it for me....Is this true?

According to EPA federal law, all OE's must make available all scan tools, service manuals, online manuals, and training to all aftermarket people at the same cost as they charge dealers. If this is ever denied to you, I suggest filing a NASTF complaint. NASTF.ORG is the main website, and all factory service websites are lined together at http://nastf.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3292. The maximum allowed charge by law is $20 for 24 hours access. Ford charges $10 for 1 vehicle for 24 hours and $20 for all Fords for 24 hours. There are monthly and yearly subscriptions available, also. Toyota is $10, Kia and Hyundai are free to access after you sign up (free also).

I have not been successful in trying to get a PTS password, so I access PTS through a different source. IDS's are readily available from Motorcraft at the site Keith listed, they were on backorder for a year but I bought one about 6 weeks ago and they were in stock at $2415 plus shipping. I think the total was $2433 or something with a 2 year subscription for cals. Renewing your cals is $500 (supposedly for one year, but they gave me two years?) Ford recommends 2 particular laptops, but I've loaded IDS on many different brands without a hardware glitch. I suggest you remove (not disable) your anti-virus, firewall, etc software so you don't go through the living hell I did trying to get the VCM to communicate. If you do have problems, be aware that non-Ford employees do not get telephone tech support for the IDS like Ford employees get. Outsiders get internet/e-mail support only. They really have the bugs worked out of the software and I wouldn't be afraid to load it on any PC (it must have XP Pro). If you don't have the red DVD manuals, get some from a buddy, or buy them on Ebay cheap.

Good Luck!

Jim Warman · September 28, 2007

Aaron is in Canada and there are many US rules that don't apply up here... I used to be able to "back door" into a lot of the US content but, other than powerstroke central, that is gone.

Bulletin Q118 on the truckBBAS website pretty much sums it up, though.

Jeff Clyde · September 29, 2007

i bought my own ids on ebay, sevice manager wouldn't let me order one throuhg our dealer. there is a company called AE Tools that also sells them, and all other diagnostic tools and they are reasonably priced.

Bruce Amacker · October 2, 2007

Aaron is in Canada and there are many US rules that don't apply up here.

Oops, I forgot to look......

FordTechCA · October 3, 2007

I was wondering if there is a way fleets can access inford or PTS for service info? Also we want to buy an IDS but were told that it wasn't possible. My old dealer refuses to look into it for me....Is this true?

According to EPA federal law, all OE's must make available all scan tools, service manuals, online manuals, and training to all aftermarket people at the same cost as they charge dealers. If this is ever denied to you, I suggest filing a NASTF complaint. NASTF.ORG is the main website, and all factory service websites are lined together at http://nastf.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3292. The maximum allowed charge by law is $20 for 24 hours access. Ford charges $10 for 1 vehicle for 24 hours and $20 for all Fords for 24 hours. There are monthly and yearly subscriptions available, also. Toyota is $10, Kia and Hyundai are free to access after you sign up (free also).

I have not been successful in trying to get a PTS password, so I access PTS through a different source. IDS's are readily available from Motorcraft at the site Keith listed, they were on backorder for a year but I bought one about 6 weeks ago and they were in stock at $2415 plus shipping. I think the total was $2433 or something with a 2 year subscription for cals. Renewing your cals is $500 (supposedly for one year, but they gave me two years?) Ford recommends 2 particular laptops, but I've loaded IDS on many different brands without a hardware glitch. I suggest you remove (not disable) your anti-virus, firewall, etc software so you don't go through the living hell I did trying to get the VCM to communicate. If you do have problems, be aware that non-Ford employees do not get telephone tech support for the IDS like Ford employees get. Outsiders get internet/e-mail support only. They really have the bugs worked out of the software and I wouldn't be afraid to load it on any PC (it must have XP Pro). If you don't have the red DVD manuals, get some from a buddy, or buy them on Ebay cheap.

Good Luck!

i wouldnt be too worried about ford tech support. there was only one person i trust there for help(had to deal with him during the beta stages of IDS) and if your not using one of the recommended laptops then well you can guess the response. we all know it will load and work on many non approved systems but the recommended stuff is the only stuff they have access to or have used.

yes anti virus stuff was a pain. we found that out in the beta stages. if you missed one pop up and denied access because you didnt know what it was for you were screwed. we tested nortons and macafee along with running the windows firewall, had everything worked out for what pop ups to watch for so they can get that info in the release notes then when IDS went live the tune changed to disable or uninstall because i think they didnt want to deal with support calls related to non Ford crap

Jim Warman · October 3, 2007

In retrospect... and here is could get gnarly....

Ford reserves the corporate website for dealership use since they have this fear of someone misusing proprietary info or exposing trade secrets....

Now, I don't think that Ford is offering too much exposure on any of this stuff.... Shit... we see recalls on the evening news long before they ever get to us in an "official" form on either PTS or inFord.

At the same time, what I see as a common expectation from many is that this access to information should be "free"..... Ford does offer "free access" to information.... however, they don't offer "access for free" to it...

Still, as far as the message boards on the corporate websites are concerned, there are times where some "dirty laundry" makes it past the censorbot and Ford would rather keep that stuff "in house".

If you have a subscription to motorcraft.com stuff, you aren't missing anything of importance that is presented on inFord and probably PTS. Broadcast messages aren't archived and SSMs aren't searchable.... so there is no benefit there....

Just some late night ramblings from a guy that had another "interesting" day....

Aaron_Johnson · October 3, 2007

Thanks for the info guys....I haven't been on in awhile, I don't have internet up in Ft Mac yet. We are going to order an IDS, but are there any differences between the "fleet" version and dealer versions of the IDS software? Are there any features or tests missing? Can you reflash and do programmable module instalations with the "fleet" version? Thanks again

Keith Browning · October 3, 2007

If you purchase an IDS and a software license that comes with two years (?) of updates it will be identical and full functional. That is, as long as you have an internet connection and a valid license.