So what is the difference between the VCM2 and the OBDLink MX?

If you were to only buy one, which would it be?

 

For general stuff, ODBLink MX is a great all-round tool which supports all OBD2 compliant vehicles. VCM2 is a Ford dealer level scantool which only works with Ford, and perhaps Mazda. It's the same tool the Ford dealer uses, so it gives you full access to do everything and anything the Ford dealer is capable of doing, but you won't be able to connect to any other vehicle. I have both.. OBDLink is great for live view and if a buddy gets a CEL or something. The VCM2 is great to have if ever I get a problem on my truck, or a friend with a Ford. I've had good use of it twice, which basically means it paid for itself in money saved from not having to go to the dealer.

 

So since I already have an ELM327 BT adapter which can do the general ODB2 for all vehicles and live stuff, maybe I should go for the VCM2 since we are a Ford family.

And if I get more time, I can add the switch to my ELM327 adapter so it can essentially do everything the ODBLink MX will do. Or should I even bother doing this since the VCM2 will read MS_CAN? I guess the question is, does anyone need the ability to live view MS_CAN data? If not, then the VCM2 should serve my FORD specific needs and the ELM327 will suffice for everything else.

Thanks!

 

The OBDLink is still a recommended adapter to use, it will have better read performance (faster updating of live views, faster scanning of DTCs and so on), and it's a handy tool to just whip out when you just want to check something or even keep in the truck in order to find out if that CEL is something serious or if you can drive home with no worries. The ELM does that as well, but stuff on MS-CAN can include TPMS and door latches and such, which the ELM won't be able to read. I love being able to check the actual tire pressures quickly from the FORScan app when I've just tanked a tank of gas, to be able to tell if I should top off the tires or if they're good.

The VCM2 is is a great tool to have if you're into Fords and your friends/family drive Fords. It pretty much eliminates the need to go to the dealer for those "dealer only" jobs that requires a dealer level scantool, such as reflashing a module or similar. And it has great features like power balance test and relative compression test which is very useful during troubleshooting, as well as the ability to set and force inputs and outputs. That came as a great help when I was replacing the IRMC actuator behind the intake, as it gave me the ability to verify that the actuator was working and was moving the intake runners correctly by forcing it to open and close, before bolting everything back together. When using the Ford VCM2, you'll be using Ford IDS on a laptop. It's a bit of a pain to install, as you need to freeze the date on it so I'm using a dedicated cheap laptop for it. It doesn't have big hardware requirements so any old laptop <5-7 years old would suffice, and you get those for next to nothing used.

 

Well I ended up with a different Expy from the Auction. The 2005 that I had planned on buying had some major problems. I had never heard it actually run before last Thursday, my buddy just sent me a video of it starting. Once I started it, and scanned the codes with FORScan, I saw a bunch more codes stored in it other than the 3 that my buddy got with his standard ODBII reader.

The U2023 was actually coming from ABS.

The code I was most worried about was P0012 as it is related to VCT problems. Not to mention, the truck was running like Spit, really rough, loud and smoking out of the exhaust.

I ended up with a really nice '07 EB, it has a couple problems too, but I bought it right so as long as I don't keep finding problems, I think I will come out OK on the deal.

Skauber, are you located in the US? The reason I ask is because the link for the scanner is for a UK company, do they ship to the US?

Also, what do you mean by freezing the date on the laptop?

 

I'm in the Philippines. The site with scantools and the VCM2 I believe is a chinese seller situated in china, not sure where the site is hosted but he ships from China. And yes, they ship internationally.

Freezing the date on the laptop is done by installing a program called "deep freeze", which basically means you "freeze" the current state on the laptop, so every time you reboot it, everything reverts back to the state where you "froze" it, all settings, the time, anything you might've installed after you "froze" the state and so on. It's a way of circumventing the 3 day timeout on Ford IDS unless you register it, which is why I wouldn't recommend it for commercial use. It's in a very grey area for private use as well, but the Ford IDS license cost for purchasing and the yearly sub fee is way too much for private use anyway so it is what it is. I highly doubt anyone would get in trouble for using it with their own vehicle, but might be a different case if you used it in a professional car shop.

 

Please, send pics and details.

 

Hey Skauber, couple questions about your Joying ready (getting ready to pull the trigger and buy).

What is the difference between the one you linked and this one?
https://www.carjoying.com/new-androi...tainment-.html

Second, did you purchase the backup cam through them, or did you buy your own. Let me know if you like the backup cam you ended up with.

Also, does everything factory work with the joying radio - steering controls, subwoofer, dual zone radio control?

Finally, did you buy the dash cam?

 

That one looks like it's the same with a different faceplate. Since you ended up with an '07, you have to get a different one than the one I have. All the units from Joying with Android 5.1.1, Intel Sofia 4-core CPU and 2 GB RAM/32GB flash has the same "guts", just different faceplates.

In my '05 I lost functionality of the rear seat audio controls, since they communicate with the OEM head unit on a proprietary network protocol. Not a big loss for me, I always found that rear seat controls to be more annoying than anything with my kids in the back..

All other functions were retained, the subwoofer works but I had to purchase a generic 3-way active crossover to get a low pass frequency filter, the Joying just sends out the full spectrum on the sub output with no crossover at all. No biggy, but something to be aware of.

Steering wheel controls worked out of the box, but on the '07 I think the steering controls are on CAN-bus, you'll have to contact Joying and ask if they have a CAN-bus adapter for the '07 Expedition. If not, there are generic adapters on the market for this purpose. I believe this could work, but you'll have to research it a bit closer https://www.crutchfield.com/p_541SWI...r.html?tp=3405

For rear view cam, I bought a chromed nice cam on ebay which I'm happy with. Looks OEM when installed, I'll snap a picture of it next time I go out. (probably tomorrow). It works with standard rear cameras, one tip is to look for 700 tv line cameras, they have better resolution and are clearer. Search ebay for "rear camera 700 tvl" or something like that. Here's mine: Colorful Car Rear view reverse backup Camera with night vision Wide Angle Luxury | eBay

As for dashcam, I honestly wouldn't recommend using the head unit for that. I went with the Viofo A119 which is the best camera under 100 usd available on the market today, which will outperform anything that connects to the head unit. It's generally much better to use a dedicated and standalone camera for this purpose.

 

I ordered the radio from carjoying. I did not get the dashcam. Carjoying support says that the radio I linked comes with the adapter to enable steering wheel controls. Can you send me a link to the crossover that you bought? I know nothing about car audio other than what I have read, would a passive or inline crossover work for the sub?

I will probably order the rear camera today, but I am still on the fence. I noticed the camera you linked does not have any IR lights, how does it perform at night? Also, I was thinking that the style that goes on the license plate would be an easy install. Is there a reason you did not go that route? How did you mount yours?

Thanks for all the info Skauber.

 

The crossover I used was a standard active 3-way crossover. You can find them anywhere, something like this:



You could even probably just use one of these: Sub Woofer Crossover Network adapter conversion box module hi level low level | eBay

The reason I went with a 3 way crossover is that it was the only thing I could find locally in my town, and I didn't want to wait 3+ weeks for an international order to arrive.

For the camera:

I wanted an OEM-like clean install, and I think cameras which mount on license plates kind of looks a bit tacked on, i.e. the "duct tape" solution.. But either install will work, just depends on your preferences. What I found is that cameras with IR lights tend to blind themselves, and it doesn't add anything to the low light performance. I'd even say it might hurt it. This may be different if you buy a name brand more expensive one, but the chinese ones doesn't really benefit from the IR lights. I installed high powered LED bulbs in my reverse lights, which gives me excellent reverse lights, this gives the camera more than enough light to give me a good picture of what's behind me. I snapped a few pictures here:









Also included a couple of pictures of the head unit with reverse camera on, and one of the home screen so you get an idea on my install. Yours will obviously be different.

 

Cool! Nice job. Is that the stock launcher? Also, is that just an NFC sticker or is it an NFC tag to turn on the Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone so that the radio can reach the internet?

How did you route your camera wire? I was thinking about routing under the thresholds of the doors since I have the ceiling mounted curtain airbags. Also, where did you mount your microphone?

 

The NFC tag came included with the head unit. If you touch to phone to it, it will automatically connect to the head unit via bluetooth. There's actually no need for it once it's done and saved in the phone, but I just stuck it there if ever I update the firmware on my phone or anything which makes it forget bluetooth, then I'll just touch it to that tag.

As for hotspot, I used Tasker to set up a rule for whenever it connects to the head unit via bluetooth, it will automatically turn on hotspot. When it looses bluetooth connection with the head unit, either walking away or turning off the car, it will turn off hotspot and turn on standard wifi. Kinda neat, works really well.

And yeah, that's one of the stock launchers, it comes with three launchers but I like this one best. Wallpaper is one I added, so that one is not stock.

As for wiring to the rear view camera, I routed it in the roof to the C pillar, then down the C pillar between the rear wheel and the rear door on passenger side, then under the thresholds to the front, then up behind the fusebox and then together with the wiring harness behind the glove box going over to the head unit. I tapped the reverse signal from the output to trailer reverse lamps found in the main fuse box, and I have ACC power supplied to the camera as I have connected it both to reverse input and aux input, which enables me to turn it on even while driving, in case I'm towing or something like that. The only caveat is that whenever the aux input is selected, the head unit will switch audio to the aux in as well, so currently no music there unless I connect some sort of player to that input.

As for mic placement, I routed the wire up the A pillar on drivers side and clipped it on top of the A pillar cover. Works very well, those I speak with say I'm clear and easy to hear.

 

Skauber, what color was the reverse wire?

Also, did you have to rewire the power in the harness provided by Joying? I just hooked it up and noticed that the radio turns on when I unlock the doors, and does not turn off when I turn the key off and open a door. I think it is wired to the factory radio clock circuit instead of the key switch.

 

I'm pretty sure the reverse wire in yours would be a different color, being a 3rd gen truck. I don't have the schematics available right now for the '07, but I could check perhaps tomorrow when I can get my "car laptop" with all the Ford stuff on it..

I'm not sure how this works with Canbus integration and all that, I made my own harness from the aftermarket install kit, and the pigtail supplied by joying. Perhaps in the 3rd gen truck, it can wake up from the canbus when you unlock the doors and such, I haven't tested anything like that myself. The best thing you could do is to get the pinout on the factory harness connector and make sure it's correctly wired, but I'd guess that if Joying supplied the wiring then they have wired it the way it should be wired.