A little background;

Vehicle - '00 Excursion,PSD, 52k, Hyper-Tech Power Programmer III

Last March I had the dealership looking into the, apparently common, exhaust back pressure problem. After messing around with several sensors and whatever else, they finally replaced the PCM. This partly solved the EBP problem.

Memorial Day Weekend:

The truck makes it to the downhill side of Rabbit Ears Pass; upon deceleration the motor/trans start this horrendus bucking and jumping act. I thought it was in the cruise control at first. With acceleration everything smoothes out but the engine is sluggish. I nurse the truck to a local mechanic who's Snap-On computer won't talk to the Ford and neither will the Hyper-Tech. He tells me I need a new PCM.

Knowing I wasn't gonna get the truck worked on at a dealership before Tuesday, we end up renting the last car in town, a Taraus station wagon and tour Rocky Mountain National Park in a roller skate.

The truck gets towed to the dealership ($250) on Tuesday morning. By late in the afternoon the mechanic decided I needed a new PCM. He also quietly suggested that because this was the second PCM in 3 months the problem might just be in the programmer and that might just void the warrantee. He finds no other problems.

Truck gets fixed the next day( Ford pays ). Makes an 80 mph run for 5 hours to the house, without so much as a sniffle. The 3 day weekend turned into a 5 day vacation????? With the accompanying motel, food, rental car, and Momma / Daughter killing the day at the "new" mall costs.

I talked with a Hyper-Tech hand that told me "there was NO WAY the flash program was gonna fry a PCM." I've used the programmer since 2001 without any problems. ( sure makes the truck a bit more snappie )

Has anyone else had PCM problems like this?
Or programmer fries the PCM problems?
Should I be looking for some other problem that fries PCM's?
Should I be looking for a new power "chip"?
Questions?
Answers?
Suggestions?
Ideas?

I haven't re-programmed the motor.... yet.....

footnote - Because the problem was under warrantee, Ford pays for the tow (eventually) and will pay for the rental car.... sorta...... the dealership told me that Ford will pick up the cost of renting a Ford Focus. Anything above that size I have to pay for..... I'm driving a $50k Excursion and that's the best Ford is gonna do....?? Had to rent a Yukon just to get Momma's "stuff" back to the "X".