Forscan Question
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 155
Likes: 4
From: Tennessee USA
Forscan Question
I'd never heard of Forscan till I started reading Ford forums. My question is that when you sell/trade your vehicle do you go back and negate all the Forscan changes that you made on the vehicle? After reading all the forums on the subject it would almost make me afraid to buy a used vehicle. Also, I would have to think that there could be some liability issues with selling a vehicle that had the factory setting changed. Just another of my random thoughts.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 5,873
Likes: 357
From: Mts. S. of San Francisco
Good question, but I'm sure there is a way to set it back to factory default. OTOH, if you go in with Forscan and find things different, you could probably assume that it's already been diddled with.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,364
Likes: 410
I'm under the understanding that the guys that make changes, first of all, make a back-up of the 'today' settings. They can easily throw the original file back in. I will dig in deeper to this, after my warranty runs out 
Tuned
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 472
Likes: 153
From: Southeast Wisconsin
Yes you can return it to factory settings manually, but there is no "reset to original settings" button or code that will automatically return the changes back to factory settings. Forscan does highly recommend backing up your factory configuration before making any changes just for reasons such as this.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 26,007
Likes: 575
From: Brentwood,CA
I'd never heard of Forscan till I started reading Ford forums. My question is that when you sell/trade your vehicle do you go back and negate all the Forscan changes that you made on the vehicle? After reading all the forums on the subject it would almost make me afraid to buy a used vehicle. Also, I would have to think that there could be some liability issues with selling a vehicle that had the factory setting changed. Just another of my random thoughts.
Hotshot
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 17,483
Likes: 2,772
From: Northern Ontario
I'd never heard of Forscan till I started reading Ford forums. My question is that when you sell/trade your vehicle do you go back and negate all the Forscan changes that you made on the vehicle? After reading all the forums on the subject it would almost make me afraid to buy a used vehicle. Also, I would have to think that there could be some liability issues with selling a vehicle that had the factory setting changed. Just another of my random thoughts.
Hi, I’ve never used it, and like you only know about it through the forums, and now my reading up on it. I always thought it was another monitor/tuner such as edge, SCT, etc etc, or any other code reader. Its much more than that. I started reading up on it the last few days and asking around.
My understanding is you back up all the factory settings, and can change back at any time.
This link was best for myself to get started with.
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0...xY/mobilebasic
Cheers 🍻
New User
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Biloxi, MS
Most changes you can make aren’t really a safety issue that you could be held liable for. I guess a lawyer could claim you turned off the seat belt reminder and that caused the injuries. But yes, you should copy the “as built” files before making changes in case you mess up or just want to go back to original.
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Tennessee USA
The point that I'm trying to make is that I doubt if 1% of the people that buy a used vehicle have ever heard of Forscan or other modification means and would assume that they're buying a used vehicle as built from the factory. I know that if I bought a used truck I wouldn't want it to have been tinkered with by somebody to suit their notions.
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Fleet Owner
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 26,007
Likes: 575
From: Brentwood,CA
The point that I'm trying to make is that I doubt if 1% of the people that buy a used vehicle have ever heard of Forscan or other modification means and would assume that they're buying a used vehicle as built from the factory. I know that if I bought a used truck I wouldn't want it to have been tinkered with by somebody to suit their notions.
Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 5,650
Likes: 243
From: GA
I'd never heard of Forscan till I started reading Ford forums. My question is that when you sell/trade your vehicle do you go back and negate all the Forscan changes that you made on the vehicle? After reading all the forums on the subject it would almost make me afraid to buy a used vehicle. Also, I would have to think that there could be some liability issues with selling a vehicle that had the factory setting changed. Just another of my random thoughts.
It’s up to the potential owner to do his or her own homework before making the purchase regardless of what the previous owner might have done to it. It doesn’t matter if the vehicle is put back to stock with FORScan because dealer level diagnostic equipment will still know.
Your question about FORScan is no different than some owners cutting the crash bars to fit a larger wheel and tire package during suspension mods.
The odds of the seller mentioning this is practically 0%.
New User
Joined: Nov 2020
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Chester VA
To me, this is a bit different than most of the changes an owner may have made when they owned it -- the difference is in that the vast majority of mods I can see them! Any changes made via FORScan may or may not easy to identify based on how knowledgeable the buyer is of what is standard.
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 155
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From: Tennessee USA
To me, this is a bit different than most of the changes an owner may have made when they owned it -- the difference is in that the vast majority of mods I can see them! Any changes made via FORScan may or may not easy to identify based on how knowledgeable the buyer is of what is standard.
5th Wheeling
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 26
Likes: 4
I think the issue here is what's an obvious or easy-to-see change versus doing something "under the hood".
A lot of responses here have been "buyer beware", but I think if you spend the time and money to do a FORScan, you should probably have the forethought to back up the factory settings and be willing to reset them before selling the vehicle...or at least telling the buyer about the tweaks you made.
I have never done a FORScan, but on my last truck, I made a few changes and when I sold it, I told the buyer everything: the obvious stuff (head unit, LEDs, new headlamps, tonneau cover) and what maintenance I did/had done and how recent. In fact, I handed the buyer a file folder with receipts/work orders every repair, maintenance update and modification I made.
I'm pretty certain had I done FORScan changes, they would have been for my benefit and would have offered to go back to default, or tell the buyer what I modded in advance.
A lot of responses here have been "buyer beware", but I think if you spend the time and money to do a FORScan, you should probably have the forethought to back up the factory settings and be willing to reset them before selling the vehicle...or at least telling the buyer about the tweaks you made.
I have never done a FORScan, but on my last truck, I made a few changes and when I sold it, I told the buyer everything: the obvious stuff (head unit, LEDs, new headlamps, tonneau cover) and what maintenance I did/had done and how recent. In fact, I handed the buyer a file folder with receipts/work orders every repair, maintenance update and modification I made.
I'm pretty certain had I done FORScan changes, they would have been for my benefit and would have offered to go back to default, or tell the buyer what I modded in advance.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 1,597
Likes: 83
From: N. Texas
Funny. I've never used Forscan on anything and my truck has never had the double honk, luckily. It honks once when locked and not at all when unlocking. Just flashes the lights.
Tuned
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 344
Likes: 5
From: North Shore MA
The double honk refers to when you get out of the truck with the keyfob and it's still running, the horn will honk twice as soon as you close the driver door. It's intended to be a safety system so people with push-button start don't accidentally leave their trucks running in their garage, but it is quite annoying when you're just hopping out for a second!