I have my XCal 2 on order from Troyer, along with AF1 intake. I have noticed alot of discussion on the board about reflashing the PCM to update for various problems, such as Fuel Economy, Performance, etc. Whenever I ordered my XCal from Troyer that asked to see if my computer had been reflashed. Not to my knowledge, no sticker, etc. Anywaz, my question is this. I feel I am getting sub par performance, fuel economy on my Scab FX4. Should I get the PCM reflashed prior to Troyer building my XCal 2, or will the XCal take care of everything, not mattering if it's been reflashed or not. Or does reflashing matter after Troyer builds my XCal2.

 

Sorry...what does "IIRC" stand for?

 

If I Remember Correctly

 

Thanks! I'm learning....
Has anyone else had their trucks reflashed after a XCal 2 and has that affected it at all?

 

I have the Xcal 2 and Airforce as well...VERY good combination byt he way, you will be blown away!! You are essentially "flashing" your PCM with you load up one of your programs from the Xcal 2...It doesnt matter what type of "flash" or program that is on your PCM when you load your Xcal2 program, will make no difference because you are loading a comletely new program....Why would have the truck reflasked after loading a xcal 2 program?? That is like trading your mustang in for a focus

Plus, if you have the truck reflashed bythe dealer AFTER loading a xcal 2 program, before returning the truck to stock, your Xcal 2 will be VIN locked and you wont be able to load any more programs...

Trust me when i say, your Xcal 2 and AIrforce will fix any sub-par performance issues youa re having!!

 

I'm am so ready to get the AF1 and install it. It will arrive tommorrow, and then the XCal 2..well you know that will be a while, just ordered last week. Thanks for answering. I know I don't want a Focus. My question was what you answered regarding 'reflashing' by dealer, even if I didn't want them to. Like I know many times they reflash without even asking or telling you, so I'm just trying to get it clear that I will always want to return it to stock before taking it to dealer for service, etc. If I return it to stock, then they reflash without asking me, can I then reinstall my tunes from Troyer and get my REAL performance back?

 

[QUOTE=COFX4]I have the Xcal 2 and Airforce as well...VERY good combination byt he way, you will be blown away!!

COFX4..by the way...did you have any trouble installing your AF1. I also have an 04 Scab FX4 and was wondering if you had any trouble with CEL's as I probally won't be able to wait to install the AF1 until the XCal2 comes in.

 

that is a good question. you should ask mike troyer. there is alot of things the dealer could reflash your pcm for other than the engine performance program. I had mine reflashed to fix the problem with my outside temp gauge from reading wrong back when I first got my truck. I have not got the xcal2 yet I will probably be getting it next summer some time. I now have one more question. let us know what you find out. I believe your answer lies with troyer.

 

Does Troyer come down to this forum? I see he was up in the Chip forum today. I don't want to post the same info in the chip forum as that would be like forum spamming and we don't want that!!!!

 

Cycleman, as long as you are returned to your stock program before going to the dealer, they can flash it as many times as they want, it will have no effect on your ability to bring it home and load one of your Xcal 2 programs back into the PCM.....Just be sure you return it to stock before going!!

I did the same thing...My airforce one and xcal 2 did not arrive at the same time...I called Mike and he told me I oculd go ahead and load up my Xcal 2 without my airforce one, and then as soon as it arrives just throw it on and the PCM will compensate for all that extra air....so that is what I did...

I have never had a CEL, and I am sure that is because of the Xcal 2...Mike adjusts the PCM parameters that cause the CEL, so you will never see a light...Only problem I had with the Airforce install was the little slot for the Mass air-flow sensor needed to be filed a little bit...not a big deal, a lot of people have had that problem so be ready for that...they may have fixed i dont knw...

Enjoy!

 

I believe that this info is incorect. Your XCAL 2 tunes are based on your current version loaded into your stock PCM and if this gets reflashed after your tunes are done it can have an affect on your XCAL 2 tune when you go to reload them. Mine had to be completely re-done because I was not aware of a reflash that the dealer had done and it greatly affected my tunes from Troyer. So even if you return to stock before going to the dealer you shoulkd let Mike know if they reflash your PCM before reloading your XCAL 2 tune.

 

I wouldn't have the dealer reflash it if you are going to get a tuner as the tuner will do way more than the dealer reflash will.

I copied this from something Mike said in another thread in the "chips and programmers" section.


"In our docs that come with every custom tune we do, it tells you to return to stock - we specifically point out that in the 2004 & newer F-150's the common practice of dealers reflashing the PCM with an update without your prior knowledge or consent. This can happen even if it's there for something else altogether, sometimes technician s will automatically look to see if there are any updates and take it upon themselves to reflash you if there is one, whether you need it or not - it's additional revenue for them. And if that happens and you have NOT returned back to stock first, you will LOSE the use of your tuner, requiring you to send in your tuner to us so we can unlock it - AND we will have to do a whole new set of tunes for you from scratch to match the new computer code it's been updated to. So you will incur a fee for us to do that work, and you will have to know the info from the new reflash so we will know what strategy to build the new tunes on. We go over all of this in our docs.

The best thing you can do is to make sure that you return back to the stock tuning before taking it in - and hope that they don't reflash the PCM while it's there, as if they do, chances are your present tuning isn't going to work any more and we'll need to do a new set of tunes - in that case, if you have returned to stock first, though there is still a fee for us to make all new tunes if we need to, we can at least email them to you, so you don't have to physically send the unit in to us.

To be clear - for ANYONE WITH A 2004 F-150 using any kind of performance tuning - return the tuning back to stock before going into a dealership for *anything*, as they do tend to get reflashed far more often than any other model year. This is because it was the first year of these all-new systems & redesigned F-150, and thus tends to get reflashed far more often than any other."

 

well that is bad news. I am now haveing second thoughts about getting the xcal2. who wants to pay for all new tunes if the dealer has to reflash for one reason or another. if my truck has a problem that needs to have a reflash to fix. all of a sudden my tuner dosn't work any more. and I have to pay to get it fixed. that dose not sound like a good design to me. I have been waiting to get this tuner to see what all bugs are out there. I now know one it is specific to your stock tune. well I have had a few reflashes and I don't think the dealer has put the sticker of the reflash code on my truck so I am not sure this tuner would even work if I was to order this tuner. I won't order it unless troyer garantees it will work and fix it for free if it dose not. well I won't be buying a tuner till next summer but I am more relunctant now to buy this tuner.

 

Thanks for the information guys. Well, now I will just make sure I turn back to stock. I will also inform the dealer 'not' to reflash my computer. I hope that they wouldn't reflash the PCM if they were instructed not to, but I guess you never know. It's hard for me to believe that no one has had this problem before and I haven't heard anything about it. Anyone had their PCM reflashed after loading a Troyer tune and have to send it back to Troyer to rebuild new tunes?

 

In a way I did, I got my tunes from Troyer based on what the dealer had told me. When I loaded my tunes things were not quite right. I sent my tuner back to Troyer and it turned out that my PCM had been reflashed by the dealer to latest calibration and my Tunes had to be re-done.