Any evidence of prior chip/tuning/etc on used trucks?
#1
06-10-2005, 10:31 AM
Any evidence of prior chip/tuning/etc on used trucks?
I'm pretty close to buying a truck - this sunday seems like a good time 
The truck we're looking at has aftermarket wheels/tires, and a couple other accessories which make me think the guy who owned it before was 'into' trucks.
Is there a way one can tell if the ECU has been messed with (in a good way)? I"m thinking my answer will be 'uh..no.'.
I'd just hate to buy some sort of tuning device to find out the truck's already been hooked up.
Thoughts?
The truck we're looking at has aftermarket wheels/tires, and a couple other accessories which make me think the guy who owned it before was 'into' trucks.
Is there a way one can tell if the ECU has been messed with (in a good way)? I"m thinking my answer will be 'uh..no.'.
I'd just hate to buy some sort of tuning device to find out the truck's already been hooked up.
Thoughts?
#2
06-10-2005, 03:12 PM
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#3
06-10-2005, 03:17 PM
Sometimes, chips or tuners will mis-identify the vehicle if it's hooked to the factory scan tool. This happens a lot on diesel trucks with chips, one of the Ford scan tools that can auto-identify vehicles by the PCM, either WDS or PDS, will say it's like a 2002 Ford Fairmont or something weird like that when it's really, say, an '01 Superduty with a Powerstroke. Dunno if this would apply to a gas engine truck though.
#5
06-10-2005, 09:38 PM
#6
06-11-2005, 06:21 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi dmp,
It depends on the model year of F-150, and exactly what tuning product may have been used on it before.
If it was previously flashed and then returned to stock with a *quality* flash tool, then no, you can't tell it was there, no can you tell if it's still there - now some Hypertech & Diablo flash tuners do leave behind a telltale after returning back to stock, where sometimes a different manufacturer's flash tuner can't upload a tune because what got left behind by the previous flash tuner makes the PCM think it's not actually been returned back to stock.
Now when using traditional performance *chips*, which can only be used on 2003 & earlier EEC-V & EEC-IV F-150's (including 2004 Heritage) with an active J3 connector, then you can check the J3 connector to see if it has been scraped to remove the clear conformal coating. But once the chip is removed, the PCM instantly reverts back to it's factory program, of course.
By and large, in the OBD-II (1996 & up) vehicles, just hook up the WDS system and see if anything is visible - with a quality flasher you won't see anything.
When buying a used vehicles, very rarely will you find one where the previous owner left their performance tuning product installed - they virtually always remove that to re-use it on the next vehicle, or sell it to get a product that will work on their next vehicle.
OASIS won't tell you anything in that regard - it MIGHT have a record of a FACTORY PCM update (reflash), but even then it will not have a record of the exact revision (hex or catch code) that was uploaded into the PCM - for that you have to hook up the WDS back up to the PCM again and see what the hex version listed as being present in the PCM is. But again, that only applies to FORD factory updates, not aftermarket performance tuning.
Yes, as the other posted mentioned, with ANY performance chip attached to the J3 port of an EEC-V PCM, the WDS will chug and then tell you it's a 3.0 V6 Ford Ranger in most cases - WDS will NOT communicate properly with the PCM with ANY performance chip installed - though the older SBDS system will, as will an NGS Star tester - and almost all Ford service departments still have those tools, too.
Just FYI - hope that info helps a bit,
It depends on the model year of F-150, and exactly what tuning product may have been used on it before.
If it was previously flashed and then returned to stock with a *quality* flash tool, then no, you can't tell it was there, no can you tell if it's still there - now some Hypertech & Diablo flash tuners do leave behind a telltale after returning back to stock, where sometimes a different manufacturer's flash tuner can't upload a tune because what got left behind by the previous flash tuner makes the PCM think it's not actually been returned back to stock.
Now when using traditional performance *chips*, which can only be used on 2003 & earlier EEC-V & EEC-IV F-150's (including 2004 Heritage) with an active J3 connector, then you can check the J3 connector to see if it has been scraped to remove the clear conformal coating. But once the chip is removed, the PCM instantly reverts back to it's factory program, of course.
By and large, in the OBD-II (1996 & up) vehicles, just hook up the WDS system and see if anything is visible - with a quality flasher you won't see anything.
When buying a used vehicles, very rarely will you find one where the previous owner left their performance tuning product installed - they virtually always remove that to re-use it on the next vehicle, or sell it to get a product that will work on their next vehicle.
OASIS won't tell you anything in that regard - it MIGHT have a record of a FACTORY PCM update (reflash), but even then it will not have a record of the exact revision (hex or catch code) that was uploaded into the PCM - for that you have to hook up the WDS back up to the PCM again and see what the hex version listed as being present in the PCM is. But again, that only applies to FORD factory updates, not aftermarket performance tuning.
Yes, as the other posted mentioned, with ANY performance chip attached to the J3 port of an EEC-V PCM, the WDS will chug and then tell you it's a 3.0 V6 Ford Ranger in most cases - WDS will NOT communicate properly with the PCM with ANY performance chip installed - though the older SBDS system will, as will an NGS Star tester - and almost all Ford service departments still have those tools, too.
Just FYI - hope that info helps a bit,