I'm thinking about getting a Swamps Diesel rebuilt FICM. On their website, they have an option to pay another $150 for what they call a "mild performance flash." I called one of their techs this morning to find out what this flash does. He told me it lengthens the pulse width of the fuel injector pulse, thus giving more power.

Has anyone purchased a Swamps FICM with their "mild performance flash"? What kind of results are you seeing? How about EGT and MPG differences? I want to do a little research on this to make sure I wouldn't be causing problems with engine longevity and reliability a few years from now.

 

I havent heard of anyone else doing it yet but if you do keep us updated. I was thinkin of it too but Im gonna do the repair this morning myself and see how it goes. Good luck!

 

ive also though about this for when i get bigger injectors. im watching this thread

 

I think the flash is actually a PHP flash. I've been running one for about a month to test the inductive heat and throttle response compared to my ID moderate non-inductive heat flash. The highway mileage was about 1.5-2 mpg better on my truck. Throttle response is different, but DEFINITELY better than stock. My truck is not typical but it's not something that will hurt a stock truck.

 

Thanks for the info npccpartsman. If you're getting 1.5-2 MPG better with the Swamps "mild performance flash," then I'm definitely getting it. That's worth another $150 to me. It'll be a few days before I can get to this, but will report back my results after I swap out the old FICM.

By the way, when I called Swamps, their tech told me that the inductive heating is still in the new Ford flash (which comes with the Swamps rebuilt FICM--no need to take to Ford for a flash...) He said that Swamps rebuilds the FICM with new beefed up parts on the circuit board that can actually handle the extra current from the inductive heating, so there won't be wear problems like the stock FICMs have.

 

The new inductive heating is supposed to be less aggressive than earlier flashes as is the PHP flash. I guess we'll see in another 3 or 4 years.

 

I have the 58v Swamps FICM with the mild tune and had them remove the inductive heating program regardless. It made my truck which had no tune feel like it had a tune...not too aggressive though. It increased gas mileage though I did not measure it.

Not having the inductive heating program does make it so the truck requires warming up even on warm days even if for just 30 seconds. Then again my glow plugs probably need to be replaced as well!

 

Okay, that's two guys reporting increased MPG with the Swamps "mild performance flash" tune on their FICM. Now I don't feel bad about dropping an extra 150 bones on this project. Standing by to report my results in a few days...

 

I dont mean to hijack this thread, but i saw that Fordnatic68 was going to do the repair himself. Is there a way to fix the FICM without having to spend $1200 at the dealership for a new one, or $500 on Ebay and another $100 for it to be programmed at the dealership.

I need to replace or fix my FICM, i have volts between 35 and 50, on cold mornings (45 to 65 degrees) I have a very rough idol and the truck is very very very sluggish until EOT warms up to about 100 degrees.

If there is a repair procedure please direct me in the right direction

 

jross239:
You can find a detailed FICM repair procedure, and lots of other good FICM info in the tech folder. You can go to the repair thread by clicking here.

At first I was just going to do the soldering job myself, but then I called over to Swamps to find out what's so special about their rebuild that many here have commented on. Their tech told me that they replace over 20 components, making it much more heavy duty for long term use. After talking to the Swamps guy, I figured I would just bite the bullet and get my FICM done professionally, rather than do my own questionable hack job.

Good luck with your repair!

 

Thank you. I'll try the repair this weekend. If I can save some money on this truck, I'm going that route first. If I can't do it, then I'll buy a replacement

 

Thats what I also thought. There is more to it than just the few solder points.