Our 21 RV on a E-450 cutaway chassis has the wiring for brake control behind a small plastic cubby at the top of the dash. That little cubby will pop out leaving a hole in the dash. The 3rd party brake controllers have a harness that "plug and play" into the factory wiring and the brakes work right out of the gate once you snake the factory wiring down to the bottom of the dash where the aftermarket controller mounts. I am under the impression that the pickups need some software adjustment if they want to add a factory controller to a truck that did not originally come with that option. Do/did E-series trucks have a factory option brake controller that pops into that opening? If so, if I found one, would it need any tinkering with the software to "turn it on"? So far I have found our E-series seem to have a much less advanced PCM system than the pickups. Not even a way to calibrate the speedo when changing tire sizes. Searching the forums I found one post where the OP mentioned the problems he had even trying to find out about a factory E-truck brake controller. The Ford parts guy was not able to look anything up without a VIN from an E-series that already had a factory controller, That is a problem I had already experienced trying to order something else my truck did not originally come with. Back in the day of paper part books a sharp parts guy could find anything, with today's computers, not so much. I have never seen an E-series with a factory brake controller yet, are there any out there?

 

I helped someone with a E series van configure Forscan so the brake controller showed a message on the instrument cluster. I don't remember the model year but is was probably 2012-ish. I don't know if Forscan will show the brake controller as menu option and the only way to find out is to connect your van to Forscan.

The F150 Forscan spreadsheets will probably not be useful (generally they don't apply but some common modules like ACM (radio) may apply).

So to answer your question.....yes there is a configuration that needs to be made to activate the factory brake controller. You model year probably has the brake controller on the network as a separate module..
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So...IF I find a module that fits in the hole in the dash and plugs into that harness jammed back in there, I would likely still need to turn something on in the software? Or, being an independent module, would it just start working once plugged in? My biggest issue is actually finding the module (if they even exist). I have so far never seen an E-series with a factory brake controller in the dash and the local part guys seem unable to find anything about them unless I can provide them with the VIN of a vehicle that already has one. Google comes up dry, too.

 

All I know is there was a factory TBC module for an E-series van. It did fit into a cutout in the dash. The module had to be configured into the system. This was done by changing one but in the IPC as built data if I remember correctly. Your newer van may be similar since very little was added to product line. Give me some time to find my post. It may have been on another forum.

My guess is the module has not changed. But programming for your van may be different.

 

From the e-series brochure a brake controller and aux switch panel is visible in the cubby location, so it would seem this should be possible. I have Forscan with an extended licence but it's been a while since it's been used on my van. I searched for a factory brake controller but didn't find one quick enough so I installed the aftermarket controller I already had... needed it functional asap. I suspect if one had a factory module and plugged it in Forscan would see it and that may make an option to activate it visible. I could be wrong on that of course.

 

Here is my post on configuring a TBC on 2010 Econoline
https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic....r+brake#p87966