I still have low FICM V at cold start after the resolder...slowly climbs from 35ish to 47-48 as the motor gets warm. A bit of bluish smoke for the first 3-5 minutes while it idles. I bought an unmolested FICM for my Swamps core since they won't take a FICM that has been resoldered. I was hoping for the best, but just didn't pan out for me. Oh well....yet another reason to upgrade to the 58V and PHP tune.

 

Thanks for the $1100 Mr. Quad! Last wednesday the tuner in the F350 started going crazy on rapid acceleration. The Edge Tuner showed six code error messages yet no service engine light. Truck runs OK so I ignored it and cleared the codes. Friday comes, same thing happens (codes PO273, PO267, PO611...). Phoned the local diesel shop, they suspected a bad FICM. $1200 ought to fix it... a little reaserch led me here. Did the simple fix. did not notice any bad solder connections under a magnifying glass but did not take any chances. I suspect that it was corrosion at the four terminals. A little dielectric grease during assembly and VIOLA!... No more error codes on acceleration, slow starts, smoke, truck runs smoother and the milage is back up to where it was before.

This is like getting $1100 (Minus a new soldering iron & FTE membership) from FTE & the DR. so, thanks very much!

 

Took apart the FICM and a lot of the orange goop has purple spots/blotches in them..

Is this normal? Or are these burn marks?

Please reply. Thank you

 

I helped a friend resolder his FICM......We took it off and resoldered 6 TIMES before we got it right!!!!!!

Now it's rock solid and runs RIGHT!!!!!! If at first you don't succeed...do it till u get it right.

 

I still have the first one...it was resoldered by a professional shop, but it's worth a shop to reflow it, I guess. I remember him saying he was skeptical with the fix as he didn't see anything wrong with the connections that I asked him to fix. He only did the 4 capacitors and the 4 bolt holes. I'm going to have to go back and see where the resistors are that some people are talking about.

 

When I pulled the FICM apart I looked at the solder joints with a strong magnifying glass. It looked perfect to me. But the voltage was so far off (22 running, barely) I knew it was bad somewhere.

The first time, all I re-flowed were the 16 spots shown in the FICM repair guide. I put it back on the truck and it was much better (40-46 volts) but still not right.

The next time I re-flowed the 4 resistors and put it back on. This time 0 volts and I thought I had fried it. I pulled it back off and went over all the joints and put it back on. Still 0 volts!

While I was trouble shooting I left the key on to wiggle the harness to see if one of the pins was not making good contact. I accidently touched the FICM case to the rear mount for the degas bottle and the injectors started ticking!

All this time I thought I had fried the FICM and it was only a grounding problem. It was then that I checked the voltage KOEO and all volts were good (12,12,48). The truck is back to normal running now, but my experience was a pain.

 

great post

 

great post thanks saved me aboout $1000.00 what the stealership wanted for a new one. I would like to mention to others dont forget the four little surface mount resistors on the front that are buried under all that glue substance. I pulled mine apart and checked the 16 joints on the back all appeared in great shape nice shiny no cracks or cold joints but when I removed the glue from the front. 3 of the 4 surface mount resistors had come loose re-soldered them put together reinstalled runs perfect getting a continues 48.9 volts the pics and instructions made it so easy to do.


Huntr0302
2006 f250 Amarillo

 

If you need a factory rebuilt unit, tousley has them for under $500.00, if you mention this awesome web sight!

 

um.... check out ed at ficmrepair.com for his solution.

as far as soldering pcb boards, rosin core 60/40 solder is what i'd
be using. get a paper towel, fold it in quarters, and wet it for a wiping
pad. as the tip warms up, as soon as the solder on the tip starts to
melt, wipe it clean on the pad, and add more solder to the tip, and wipe,
so that you have a nice tinned tip that isn't overheated.

don't overheat the tip. i'll wipe, tin, wipe again, and hit two or three solder
spots, then repeat. you want to solder with as little heat as will make a
clean bright joint. i use the wet pad both to clean, and to get the temperature
where i want it at. for soldering, i use a master propane soldering iron. they rock.
and the older ones make a sound like a jet turbine when you first light them
off, a rising whistle, for added entertainment value. ;-p

i used to swage high power capacitors for nuclear submarines, a long time
ago... you had to get the foil of the capacitor hot enough to apply a layer
of solder to the edge winding on the cap, without breaking down the
dielectric mylar in between the foils.

soldering surface mounted stuff without destroying everything is a learned
skill. as ficm's aren't cheap, this might be a good place for calling in a
hired gun... (soldering gun)

cold soldered joints act like insulators or semiconductors, and will make you
nuts... the newer solders aren't as vibration tolerant IMHO as 60/40 rosin core.

 

I'm sure this has been posted before... but if your not into soldering and the FICM problem is only low 48V then one can buy the half clam shell with the power converter on it for around $150. This alternative you would not have to worry about re-progamming either since it is the micro side clam shell which has the programming in it (note there is a service bulletin on just replacing the converter side of the FICM clam shell).

 

were can you get 1/2 shells for $150. man I would like to know.

 

I would also add from a known industry...the manufacturer claim is "offer as new"

http://dormanproducts.com/digitalass...Module_Dor.PDF

 

I know dorman and there products very well and i would rather give my moeny to Ed. been doing the wrnch thing for years and never cared for there stuff.

 

Lets start a group buy so all of us can have a spare on hand, how low can the price go if we buy as a group? NO soldering and NO programming needed!!