Mike:

Took the chip out for the third time for stalling/total loss of power.
This time, I inspected the PCM myself instead of leaving it to the Army Helicoptor Avionics Tech that was doing the installs on my Wood.
In spite of my telling him every time to remove every little bit of coating on the PCM contacts, I found that 1/4 to 1/3 of the coating was on 1/2 of the contacts. It ran perfectly well last night on the way home, not one stall so hopefully we got it right this time. I am driving it to Lincoln NE starting Monday for the HobbyTown USA convention so it will be a good first real test of the chip/filter/exhaust combo. Will let you know via the board.
Bill

 

Hi Bill,

Thanks for letting me know.

The lesson here is of course to NEVER, EVER depend on someone else and not look at it and then complain it's not working. Look it over & check it yourself, otherwise you have absolutely no idea whatsoever if the installation was done right or not.

Unless it's someone who has significant experience installing Superchips on Ford PCM's (and I don't mean a friend who has done it once years ago, etc.), it doesn't matter if it's an EE or EEE, they don't know any more about it and can't do it any better than any other first-timer.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell an electrical engineer that they need to forget what they think they know about this, and just do what our documentation tells them (and I wouldn't make a pimple on a good engineer's rump). I can't tell you how many "computer technicians" think they know something about this, when in reality they know absolutely *nothing* about removing conformal coating from an automotive PCB, screw up the installation and then have to send their friend back to us, telling them their chip is bad, etc. Far too many times..............

The tough thing about this is that it's perfectly natural for someone to think their friend, someone who may be a great engineer, or who is a fine computer technician, etc., just somehow automatically "knows" about this and thus can do it, just because the word "computer" or "electronics" is involved, and that is DEAD WRONG in reality.

OK, I'm off my soapbox...............

You also need to remove that Superchip once more and clean out the slot correctly, as I can guarantee you that some informal coating has transferred over into the slot on that Superchip (because it was installed before 100% of the conformal coating was removed), and thus you *will* have a problem sooner or later, no matter how good it seems to be running right now. Sooner or later it will stall, or give you a no-start, so pull that Superchip off, and clean it's slot out. Use a **clean dry** toothbrush (not your old toothbrush, use one that has never had toothpaste on it!) , and while holding the module so the slot points towards the ground, lightly brush inside the slot with the toothbrush a few times. Then blow out the slot (with your mouth, from one end to the other, don't use compressed air, and don't blow straight into the slot!), and make *sure* that connector has 100% of all conformal coating removed from every bit of surface area on that connector that is covered by the slot on the Superchip when it's pushed onto that connector. Then tape the Superchip to the PCM, hook everything back up & enjoy!

Do that and you should not *ever* have any problem related to that Superchip. A proper installation will result in 10+ years of running without ever having to touch that Superchip again.

Thanks again for your post Bill, good luck & enjoy your Superchip!

 

Thanks as always, Mike:

Question though, I have house guests today and overnight and cannot remove the chip before leaving at 0-dark thirty tomorrow.
I assume from your remarks that I won't "hurt" anything running the chip uncleaned but merely run the risk of the same problem I had before which was mainly just annoying. If you read this before we leave, please let me know.
Bill

 

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your response.............

I don't know if this will reach you in time, but I feel this is important enough that I would take care of that (since it will only take about 10-15 minutes) before I left town. I'd just hate to see you have a no-start or a stall somewhere inconvenient, you know.

It's very easy to just pull the Superchip & clean out it's slot, then reattach it to the PCM, so ideally yes, I'd like to see that done before you leave, but it's not the end of the world if you don't get to it until later.

It's entirely possible to not have any problems at all like it is now, heck, we've seen Superchips sent back in to us for a new custom program or update with conformal coating all inside the slot, to the point that I couldn't believe the vehicle ever ran even once, yet the owner said he never had a hiccup, go figure! And then we've also seen just 1 small (tiny) bit of conformal coating stop the whole shooting match, and just about everything in between, so I really can't give you a hard & fast answer as to whether you will have any problems or not. Just on GP's, I'd say to pull the chip & clean it's slot, then re-install it, as it won't even take you 30 minutes to do that and do it well. Then you'll be worry-free, and should remain so as far as the Superchip is concerned for the life of that vehicle.

Best of luck whatever you decide, thanks for letting me know your status & I hope you enjoy your trip!