From what I understand a record is made in the L's firmware when the last time the firmware was altered in any fashion. "time since last reflash" This I have been told by two SVT tech friends. Another words if they/Ford don't have record of an authorized Ford representative fooling with the computer then they look at you and lets say your Predator or a valid reason for firmware access/reflash.. My guess it will be short order when Ford addresses the Predator issues! Anyone using the Predator must take into consideration they may very well and probably will have Ford warranty problems related to firmware/computer tampering.

Also, for those that think they can use the Predator on more then one vehicle at a time well, think again!!
In essence it is in a way married to your one truck. While it does not go by your trucks vin#, you can only use it on one truck at a time..... You would have to return one programmed truck back to its original firmware programming from the Predator, BEFORE you could then use that Predator on another vehicle and vice versa!

I'm not saying the Predator isn't the best thing since sliced bread BUT you need to know that there are lets say issues! Caution about all the sales hype and misleading bull**** floating around!

 

Interesting. So it's not recording a date, just some difference in time from flash to flash. My guess is that it's not recording in hours/mins/secs because it probably has no internal time clock to go by. I suppose it's recording in 'ticks'--some time interval of its own.

Billarf, can you get more info on how this works. Anything can be circumvented once you know exactly how the system works.

--Rip

 

If you remove power from the PCM, time stops. The 'time since last reflash' would have to be a counter of some time, such as 'clock cycles of operation', or 'units of operation', measured in active clock cycles when it's actually on. You would have to reflash the PCM to stock, then turn it on and let it sit for a week just to get some clock cycles built up if you were worried about this.

Anyway, if this firmware bit is reset, it would have to be done with input from the equipment doing the reflash. It could be in the protocol, or handshake between the equipment and the PCM before the reflash, or in the closing process after the reflash and the checksum verification process. Either way, it seems that unless Ford had assisted the equipment developers, and insisted they put this procedure in, that it could be an optional step. Maybe it's not done by the Predator, but it is by the Ford equipment. The only way to prove it would be to reflash one, and have it checked.

 

I just wanted to make sure that you as a site owner, who gets support from your SV's in keeping the site going for everyone, to make sure that you always include them when you're specifically talking about supporting, financial or not, F150Online.com.

In case you are hypothesizing that I am possibly insinuating you are being unfair to your vendors, might I make a friendly suggestion, if you would not mind. A very large Corvette site has an online store like your site, but the store is stocked by vendors, and the site owner takes a % of those sales. IMHO, this ultimately would prove to be fairer for everyone. As I said, just a friendly suggestion, and I hope you are not insulted.