All right, here goes.

Dealer recalls an item that requires your pcm needing to be updated. You return your xcal 2 or edge tuned truck back to stock before you send it to be fixed. The dealer flashes the pcm to fix the problem. You get your truck back and reinstall the tune. In doing so, do you lose the updated pcm fix that the dealer did?

Thanks

 

not a stupid question at all. Hopefully the xcal2 would not reload the custom tune so you would not loose the updated setting. ( you would need to get it retuned though ... I think ) Hopefully Mike will be along to clear this up.

 

Yeah, thanks for your input. I plan on purchasing either the edge or the xcal 2 in the next few days. Heck, who am I kidding...I be purchasing the xcal 2. Anyway just had a few questions to ask first. I didn't have time to talk to Mike or his staff today. Got off work to late. Anybody else....please give me $00.02

 

bump.

 

Since I am here I will try to answer this for you.
As far as the XCal2 goes:
Your custom program is based on your current PCM code. If the dealer re-flashes your truck the tuner will not work. I think some guys always tell the dealer when they take their truck in, not to flash it. If the truck does get flashed, you will have to send your unit back to mike and have it re-tuned. I think depending on your situation he may or may not charge for this. That would be a question for Mike only. Your new programming from Mike would be based on the new PCM flash that the dealer did.

As far as the edge goes: As long as the edge unit will support the new PCM code, you can reprogram it when you get home. I believe edge tries to stay on top of any new PCM codes and you can download updates via the Internet for free. Your new programming would be based on the new PCM flash that the dealer did.

Anybody who knows different from this, please chime in. I have an Edge and have never had an XCal2, I am just remembering things posted in other threads.

 

HI Cottonhead,

First - there are darned few reasons why a dealership actually *needs* to reflash your PCM - most "updates" don't fix much of anything, and sometimes even cause additional problems. Ford puts out tons of "updates" during the course of each model year, and many more for that same model year even after the model year has ended - sometimes this goes on for years!

But there are very few cases in which you actually *need* to have your PCM updated - so as a general rule, we strongly discourage this, and only approve of it when there is something that will absolutely be *cured* by the reflash, that is a real problem that needs to be addressed - and that is extremely rare. If you have to do it, then you have to - but overall, that is rare.

Now whether you need to have new custom tunes done after your PCM gets reflashed is really a matter of what the new code is that the dealer flashed into the PCM - if the new code belongs to the same basic strategy family, then in many cases it's not a problem - you just do an "unlock" of your tuner, so that it will download the new updated "stock" factory tune and overwrite your original stock tune that the XCal 2 saved when you first installed it, and then it download a copy of your *new* updated stock factory tune - and then it will do it's upload of the custom tuning. If the vehicle starts & runs OK, then chances are you are OK.

If the vehicle does not start, or it has obvious problems, then you need new tunes, as what they updated to is just too far off from your original tunes.

Most of the time, we prefer to see the customer simply NOT allow the PCM to be reflashed, as that means that they don't have to pay us to make a completely new set of custom tunes from scratch - we don't do that free of course, as it's far too much work to do for nothing - and we'd be swamped with nothing but free reflash work, which we simply cannot do. The only time we do that free of charge is in the case where we have a PREVIOUS undocumented reflash, and the tuner gives a no-start upon *initial* installation. But once the customer gets their tuner, the vehicle starts up & runs, and then LATER ON they get the PCM reflashed to a code that is not compatible with their original custom tunes, *then* they do have to pay us to make all new tunes, and it's a small fee, not enough to be worth it for us, but we have to charge something. That's only fair, of course.

Now one thing we are just starting to do as of today is, if we have an order for a vehicle where we feel there may be a good chance that it's been reflashed and the customer does not know about it, we'll send their tuner out to them so they can use it do a "Read Strategy," and then we can email them the new Live Load tunes - this is something that was not possible until just very recently, but now we can do that without the tuner having to come back to us **in most cases** thanks to Live load now being fully functional.

So the bottom line is, do NOT have that PCM reflashed if you can at all avoid it.

Please feel free to give us a call to go over this, as depending on what it is they want to "fix" with a reflash, we may be able to do that for you in your existing tunes, and avoid going thru most of that - it's at least worth calling us to see if that is possible in your case.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the input guys. I think you answered my question. Mike, I can't wait for my tuner to get here, I faxed the worksheets about an hour ago. You guys are great!!

 

Hi Cottonhead,

You're more than welcome, of course!

One other thing I wanted to add to this, as I think it's only fair to point out, and perhaps I should have done so in my original post....

Though rare, there *are* some times when you just do need to have a PCM reflashed to fix something - and if you need to do that, then go ahead and do it, I don't mean to discourage a situation that would actually be fixed by a reflash.

Now, in your case, what's really nice is that it appears that you do not yet have your tuner, but instead, just recently sent in your CPW's - if so, that puts you in a *very* good position in this regard - what I mean is, if you need to have your PCM reflashed, right NOW is an excellent time to do it, as we can simply send our your new XCalibrator 2, and have you plug it in and use it's "Read Strategy" function to see what code the dealership installed in it - and then we can make your tunes based on that new code, which we can email to you.

See, your situation is actually the best case scenario, where you would be getting reflashed BEFORE you ever got your tuner for the first time, *AND* you know that it's being reflashed - that is an easy situation to deal with.

So I just wanted to let you know this before you make any final decision as to whether or not to get your PCM reflashed, as you CAN do that since you do not have your tunes yet - so you might want to give us a quick call to go over this and have us work with you on this, OK?

 

Hi Mike, my original question was based as a hypothetical one. And its good to know what to do if that situation was to occur. However, recently I actually did think that I would need to have my pcm reflashed be the dealer because of a recall on the ABS system. This morning at the dealership, I was told by the lead mechanic that it was not a pcm problem. He assured me that the pcm would not need to be reflashed. Plus, I watched him do the work. By the way, I went ahead and trusted my instincts and told the mechanic that I ordered a tuner. He said go for it. He also suggested the xcal2. Boy, I felt good when he said that. He said just make sure that I put the truck back to stock for a couple of days before I need to bring it in for future repairs. It's good to know that there are mechanics at the dealerships that realize the need for tuning.

 

Hi Cottonhead,

Sounds like you've found an enlightened mechanic. I also felt that the ABS issue should have nothing to do with the PCM, so I'm glad to hear that con firmed as well.

Overall, so far it sounds like you've got a good dealership to work with there, I'm glad to hear it!