I just reprogrammed my truck with the Hypertech Power Programmer III and now it's seriously screwed up!

I followed the directions in the Hypertech manual carefully, and the programming was successful. With that done, I tried starting my truck. As it tried to start, it backfired and refused to start.

Fearing something was wrong, I reflashed the truck with the stock programming. It starts now, but it has a seriously bad knock. Like something is bent.

My F-150 is a completely stock 4.2 V6, with no aftermarket equipment. It has 111,000 miles, but has always ran perfectly. It doesn't burn a drop of oil, or show any other signs of it's age.

The programming, both times, worked perfectly. The feedback from the programmer was consistent with the owners manual during the programming.

What did the Hypertech do to my truck?

 

I just called the customer support line at Hypertech. They were no help at all.

Does anyone care to speculate what happened? Could an extremely bad timing problem cause a backfire or similar situation which could actually damage the engine?

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/fo...ne=&forumid=34

Try posting this question in that forum, Im sure Mike can put some advice in.

 

IMO, 'flashing' any ROM type of chip is a risky thing to do. It's not 100% guranteed that you will get the results you are looking for.

I'd also say that you have gotten 110,000 good miles out of it, so why mess with it?

I do computer consulting and I've flashed hundreds of mother board chips, but have been 'burned' on a couple of them. My heart races each and every time I do one.

(I basically just ended up giving the board a "lobotomy" and it was useless after that.)

I know this does not help your situation at all, but talking with Mike T. might be able to shed some light on your specific situation.

Good Luck!

 

... I should know. I reflash a variety of boards and devices all the time at work. However, the one bit of information I did get from Hypertech was that since I got the 'successful' status at the end of programming each time, it seems to have reflashed fine. Any problems during flashing should have been apparent and have caused the programmer to display something other than 'successful'.

The whole reason I waited this long to try out an aftermarket chip or program was because I recognized the risk. But based on what I've read in these forums and others, it seemed that the risk of reflashing with the Hypertech unit was pretty minimal, provided the directions were followed.

What I can't figure out though is how such a severe problem could have been caused by the Hypertech firmware upgrade. It's only supposed to make a difference at > 81% of throttle, and I certainly wasn't giving it that much gas as I tried to start it with the upgraded firmware image.

 

Here's a possibility:

When you reflashed it hung an injector open and filled the cyl with gas causing it to hydralock which ultimatly bent a rod when you started it.

 

mxracer514, thanks for the input. I think an open injector would explain the problems I've had, I've got another theory though.

I think that the problem might be a bent or broken rod, and it has nothing to do with reflashing the truck's firmware. I think the root cause might be a leaky head gasket, which could have led to one or more cylinders filling with coolent. I thought that I had started the truck just the day before, but I think it had been four days since I started it last. Additionally, recently I had to top off the antifreeze since it was quite a bit low. It's not leaking coolent anywhere; this should have been a clue that something was wrong. So the truck sat there, quietly leaking coolent into one or more cylinders for four days. Then I came along last night and reflashed the firmware. Afterwards I tried to start it, and it responded with something kind of like a backfire, without the loud snap. I didn't previously know what an engine sounded like with cylinders filled with fluid, but I'm guessing I do now.


Now I'm preparing myself for an expensive engine rebuild :-{

Thanks for your input.

Greg

 

When I read that you had a 1997 4.2L with more than 100,000 miles, I was going to ask about the coolant level.... Bent and broken rods are pretty common on this era engine. Bummer

I'll bet the lower intake was leaking. If you let the truck sit for a few days, the cylinder can completely fill up with coolant.

www.leakingfords.com