Rough running with updated FICM

[classic trucks]

I may have other issues that are not related to the ficm. My truck has started skipping at all speeds. It has a buck and jerk when climbing hills. I have very poor acceleration. If this is ficm related let me know if its something else let me know what your thoughts are on this.

[eabrust]

Hey classic_trucks, besides a FICM issue, the constant hesitation and bucking all the time could be a bad injector or two. My truck had similar issues a few months back (prior to trying the upgraded FICM at all), and it turned out to be a single bad injector. It happened very suddenly, as the truck ran great and then suddenly on one startup, it was running bad, bucking, and getting poor mileage. I was still under warranty and had it replaced, fixing all hesitation issues. At the same time, Ford dealer also reflashed the PCM and FICM to what ever is current. I don't notice any change due to the new flashes, to me the truck runs the same and gets the same mileage.

Bill,
As far as the injector stiction and need for extreme inductive heat strategy, I can't say I know what my truck had in it for programming prior to my last shop visit, as I'm a recent second owner, and I saw no difference in before and after repprogramming to the latest ford strategies.

When I've started the truck on 80+ degF days and had issues with the tuned FICM, would the heating strategy (aggressive or not) matter that much? I have issues with startup with the PHP tuned FICM on fairly hot ambient temp days (starting in the afternoon), but I can startup in the morning on a 40 degF day with the stock programming and it runs fine from the second it fires. Can the heat strategy make that much difference that fast? I would think on cool mornings, if the injector stiction was an issue due to oil viscosity, even the fairly agressive inductive heat strategy would take some amount of time to heatup the oil in the injectors and the thermal-mass of the injectors themselves?

[Power Hungry]

On some of the documentation I've read from Ford, the previous I/H strategy was so aggressive that it would superheat the injectors in about 10-15 seconds and temperature at the spool valve would be at operating temperatures almost instantly. This explains why FICMs started burning up shortly after the I/H was released and continued for almost two years until the latest strategy came out. The failures seemed to have dropped of a bit since the new reflash, but since it came out in late spring we're not sure how effective the I/H strategy is going to be until we start seeing some really cold ambients.

I'm in the process of redoing the latest strategies since there seems to be a timer issue with some of the code we modified causing the I/H portion of the strategy to either not engage long enough or possibly not at all. I am expecting to get in touch with 2 of our testers this week with new strategies and hope to have this issue resolved for good.

Take care.

[NHRA6002]

Originally Posted by Power Hungry

On some of the documentation I've read from I'm in the process of redoing the latest strategies since there seems to be a timer issue with some of the code we modified causing the I/H portion of the strategy to either not engage long enough or possibly not at all. I am expecting to get in touch with 2 of our testers this week with new strategies and hope to have this issue resolved for good.[/B]
Take care.

Thanks Bill, keep me posted.

[eabrust]

Thanks Bill! If you make a code tweak and you need someone who is having the issue to be a test case, I'd be more than happy to send my FICM back in to you. Let me know as mine is currently on the shelf, and temps here in Illinois are getting cooler every day.

Eric

[Power Hungry]

Eric,

Will certainly keep you on the list for testing. As soon as it's ready, I'll give you a shout.

[HeavyAssault]

I had mine done quite awhile ago and haven't had the issues described with the newer PHP FICM tuning. Would this third PHP version be something I should get done?

[k2davis1]

Got my FICM from bill on Thursday and so far I got nothin but good to say. Started it this morning at 20 deg and there was one initial plume of smoke and the exhaust was totally cleared up be the time it went to high idle. Havent driven on the e-way too much yet but on the short trip I did take I was gettin 2 mpg better. Feels alittle stronger down low but kinda hard to tell, my arse dyno might not be calibrated. Quicker therottle response for sure.

[eabrust]

Originally Posted by Power Hungry

I'm in the process of redoing the latest strategies since there seems to be a timer issue with some of the code we modified causing the I/H portion of the strategy to either not engage long enough or possibly not at all. I am expecting to get in touch with 2 of our testers this week with new strategies and hope to have this issue resolved for good.

Take care.

Just wanted to give a bump and pick Bill's brain on if there was ever a bug confirmed in the FICM software that would cause the I/H (inductive heat) strategy to not work right? Sorry Bill, I know you're trying to get un-burried, just curious as it's been a while since you said you'd possibly be testing updated FICM programs.

Since weather has been getting nice here, and my truck is currently boring (set to complete stock since the EVO is at PHP to get Gryphon-ized), I put my PHP tuned FICM back in.

After playing with it the last few days over the weekend, and call me crazy, but I'd almost swear that the truck fires up OK and idles for maybe a whole second before it starts loping and smoking (yeah, I know a second is almost to short to actually tell, but....). Almost seems as if I/H works for a second then it quits? Like I said, call me crazy. All I know is this afternoon after leaving from work, I pulled the tuned FICM back out because I can't sit and idle/warm up for 5 minutes on a nice sunny 60degF day, blowing blue smoke and watching the fuel gauge drop.

There's no doubt once the truck is up to temp, it runs super great and I definitely feel a difference over stock FICM, but my truck is one of those that 'needs' the I/H to work

I'm hoping that if a new rev of FICM software is ready, when my Gryphon comes back I can try out the remote FICM programming

regards,
Eric