Thats' the term we use in computers world. When
something goes wrong during programming. And the
chip becomes brain dead.

Yes my Diablo has been working just fine.
I've had it for maybe a year. Have switched
back and forth between the performenace tune and back to the
economy tune many of time.
But this time something went wrong. Now the trcuk won't
start. So now I'm going to have to get the truck towed back to the
dealer and proably have the chip replaced.

It's still under factory warranty.
The diablo "can't communicate with the vehicle".
So is the dealer going to be able to tell whether I have retuned it or
not. If diablo can't communicate with it will their diagnostics
equipment be able to???
Or should I just play dumb and say I don't know whats
the matter with it, it just won't start??? .

 

diablo might replace the computer in your truck for you. i would say get intouch with ken here on the site and tell him what your problem is and he might be able to help you out on teh situation.

 

If you call Diablo ASAP they will give you an override code that will force a load of the backup tune into the computer (or performance tune). This will get you back to square one and working again. Make sure you update your Predator to the latest code after this. Only Diablo can give you a reset code so if you call MotorHaven whoever answers will refer you to Diablo. Best to call them directly, 800-531-5484.

 

Would it be a good idea to have this override code and procedure printed and stashed away in the vehicle? What if I'm miles from home on a weekend and something like this happens?

 

Update the Predator to the latest code, the problem should not happen. The code is a one time use, time sensitive code that will work only on a specific programmer.

 

Ken Payne
Well I tried calling Diablo. their hours are 9-5 eastern time. No one answered the
tech support line. It's apparently not manned 24 hours.
Don't know if this override code will do me any good. The Predator reports " it
can't communicated with my vehicle"
Are you saying this will force Predator to ignore this and go ahead and load program
into the PCM anyhow???

 

Ken Payne
This brings up another problem I had last month when I tried to change tune in my
truck. The Predator said it had to save the stock tune from the truck before it
would download and new one. Well it did this the first time I used it. And I know
I wasn't running a stock tune. The last tune I put in was the performance tune. So I didn't want to save this as a stock tune.
But everything I tried would not Change it's Mind. I escaped back to main menu
and unplugged it. Tried it again several times. Finally gave up and like a dummy
I went ahead and said OK SAVE IT.
Well I realize now the way Predator must work [correct me if I'm wrong].
It takes this stock tune it saved from your truck. Changes what ever it has to
by what you select: tow tune, economy tune, performance tune.
Creates a temp file and then writes this to the truck.
I could tell something was wrong. When it got done with changing back to
what it thought was the economy tune. The truck acted like, sounded like and performed like it still had the performance tune in it.
When I got back home from our trip I tried putting in the performance tune again.
The truck acted really strange. It was really blowing out a lot of black smoke.
You couldn't ease the accelerator, get to a certain point and the RPM's would
jump up and truck would take off. I had to go back to the economy tune.

When you use the re-install stock tune feature. It's under Options, Troubleshooting.
Does it create a Ford stock tune. Or does it use what was saved when you
first connected to your vehicle???
So at this point in time I don't know whats in my Predator and don't trust it
anymore.
I will tow the truck back to the dealer and let them reflash the PCM. If it's still OK
hasn't been zapped.

 

I also have one of these tuners. How do I update it? Also do I need to update it every so often?

 

buy the serial cable and power supply for the predator, the radio shack part numbers are listed on diablo's web site. you will also have to download soem sofware from them that is free to you and there is instructions on how to do everything on their site. as far as how often they put out updates every so often so just keep checking the website and update when there is one. so just go to www.diablosport.com and cloick on downloads and then choose if you got one for F series or whatever. so just check it out all the info is there for you to read. pluse with every update you might notice more power and better shifting.

 

well I am happy to report my truck is back to working. I got to hand it to Diablo.
they came through for me. I called them when the dealer didn't have a clue as what
to do. I'm confused?? do all dealer have a way to re-flash the PCM back to stock tune or not?? It seems they don't have direct ability or access. They have to call Detroit and get some password. According to the tech working on my truck.

I found out from Diablo my Predator firmware was way outdated. It was so old
it didn't even diaplay a version when it was done booting up.
This must have been my problem using an old version. It finally caught up with me.
Once I flash updated my Predator. There's an option in the new firmware called:
Failsafe, under Troubleshooting. This allowed me to re-flash the PCM back to
a stock tune. What was in my PCM got corrupted. Therefore my old Predator firmware and the dealers' tool couldn't talk to it.
Diablo saved me from having to buy a new chip from the dealer. It was coming down
to this. But the tech support guy convinced me it's worth a try.

Boy I sure was relieved to hear it fire up.
But not too thrilled about the stock tune. It don't have the giddyap and go the
performance tune did. Haven't driven it this way for a long time.

 

Jim,

I have had the same intermittent problem. The Predator will start downloading the Diablo Tune and fail before getting it completely written. It then tries to re-install the stock original tune and sometimes fails during this. After about 3 attempts it tells me to unplug the Diablo and try again. At this point no tune is installed and obviously the truck will not start.

Usually after plugging back in and re-booting the Diablo it will successfully re-install the original stock tune and I am back to square one. Any parameters I have modified in my Diablo Tune are lost and everything is reset. I have had this happen several times and it is very annoying. I emailed DiabloSport about an hour ago.

I will post this info on a new thread to see if anyone else is having this problem.

Hope you get it going.

 

Duksrule,
Diablo has different firmware for the Predator depending on type of vehicle you have.
Then they have different versions of this firmware. Maybe bug fixes or added new
options or tunes or whatever.
You need to know what firmware and version level you have in your Predator.
Then go to Diablo's web site www.diablosport.com and go to download section.
Look up your type vehicle and see what Diablo's lastest version is.
If they have a newer version than what you have. You need to download it and
their download interface. There's also a well written instruction you can print out.