ive been seeing people talk about heat flash in posts. and getting it reprogramed or updated. not sure if my truck had that done before i bought it. or is it covered under warranty if i i dont have it done.i have an 05 f350 kr cc drw psd. thanks for any input.

 

My 05 excursion did not have it. when the FICM went out last week, they put a new one in and the inductive heat flash was programmed in. the FICM was covered under warranty. What adifference it made!

 

The program update is not covered under warranty unless you are experiencing problems that can be corrected with the update. Even then it looks like you may be outside the 3/36 warranty - if so, it is not covered.

 

How is this "inductive heat flash" indentified? I've been reading about it on several posts yet when I went to my local Ford dealer today they claimed they have NO information on this flash, in fact they claim there has been no new flashes for my vehicle ('05 F350 6.0L PS).

Also I understand there is a flash out for two years that cycles the vanes on the turbo to prevent sticking, is this also part of the inductive heat flash? If there has been new flashes for my vehicle, how do I get my dealer to get their head out of the sand and get the information from Ford? But then again maybe I should just go to an informed dealer!

 

TSB-07-05-4 (I can get you a copy if you want).


Here is the summary of what it does:

SERVICE PROCEDURE


This procedure includes a FICM calibration that adds inductive heating of the injector coils to locally heat the oil in the injector to normal operating temperatures very rapidly and keep it hot until normal overall engine oil temperature is achieved. This will prevent cold spool valve sticking on all injectors. Therefore, it will not be necessary to replace fuel injectors for the cold driveability symptoms listed in this TSB


Also:
Presentation video on Stiction:
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 584pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=779 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 584pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 28489" width=779><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 25.5pt" height=34><TD class=xl24 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 584pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 25.5pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=779 height=34>mms://multimedia.ford.com/seopts/Tech25_250k.wmv</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

FYI - STICTION
Stiction is caused by excess oil in the closed side end cap/spool interface area increasing the hydraulic latching of the spool valve
Stiction increases as oil viscosity increases
Temperature decreases
Oil viscosity changes
Oil ages
Oil additives
Oil type, weight
The colder and thicker the oil, the more delay:
- Rough idle
- Lacks power/no pedal response (extreme cases)
- White smoke

 

I also have a couple of presentation files discussing the Inductive heat flash (it came out October 2006). I can mail them to any one who is interested>

Summary:

A NEW Inductive Heat software solution has been developed and
extensively tested in the lab and field over the past year. This is
different from the post-cycle calibration released October, 2006.

 

Bismic, I would really like a copy of both if you can send them to me. I'll send you a PM with my email address. I just scheduled my truck to get this done on Friday. I figure I've had enough trouble with my fuel gelling, taking out 2 injectors, dead battery etc. it's time to get this done.

 

FYI - STICTIONStiction is caused by excess oil in the closed side end cap/spool interface area increasing the hydraulic latching of the spool valve
Stiction increases as oil viscosity increases
Temperature decreases
Oil viscosity changes
Oil ages
Oil additives
Oil type, weight
The colder and thicker the oil, the more delay:
- Rough idle
- Lacks power/no pedal response (extreme cases)
- White smoke

sometimes wheni start my truck and dont wait long to let it warm up and just drive off. ill puff a good amount of white smoke and my pedal lacks some power. is that from stated above or is that just from being cold. im leaving for daytona in a couple weeks and i dont want problems on the road if this will affect anything. thanks for any input.

also bismic i would like that stuff e-mailed but i cant pm u my e-mail.

 

Thanks bismic for the info, this seems to be right on target with one of the problems my truck has exhibited when its cold (below -5 F). Based on this boards members posting, this specific Flash update has addressed an elemental problem with the older FICM Flash programming (calibrations).

brooklyn born - would you mind stating who your dealer is that Flashed your FICM with the inductive heat stratagy under Warrenty? I get out that way once and awhile, maybe I could ask them whether they will also Flash mine under Warrenty. Thanks.

Has there been any reported compromises in operation with the updated calibrations described in TSB 07-5-4?

Up to this point I had just attributed the poor cold engine operation to Fords reputation:

F ix
O r
R epair
D aily

Todate I've had several interesting phone conversations with Ford customer service (800 number) and my local Ford dealer on the very problem described in the TSB. Initially my local dealer told me there were NO new Flashes since the truck was sold to me new in June 2005 (lie #1, according to the OASIS report the truck was flashed for problems twice since I purchased the vehicle in 6/05). Once I had the TSB number they denied that it related to my vehicle (Lie #2). Then when I brought my truck and the full print out of the TSB from ALLData, they denied that I could get it covered under the Warrenty and wanted to charge me $100 to update to the current FICM Flash.

RE Warrenty coverage, the bottom of the TSB states "WARRENTY STATUS: Eligible Under Provisions of New Vehicle Limited Warrenty Coverage And Emissions Warrenty Coverage". When I spoke to Fords customer service 800 number on the Warrenty, I was told it was "up to the local dealer as to whether it would or would not be covered." Then when I spoke to the local dealer, I was told that "dealers are all privately owned, its not up to us for Warrenty repairs or whether Ford honors their Warrenty. If Ford would pay us we would do the work under the Warrenty, but Ford will not pay us for the work, so we have to charge you the customer".

According to this TSB the purpose is to correct conditions (and goes into describing problematic design based issues) which the TSB described as "...concerns..." over "white smoke", "...lack of power", "..surges", "...exhaust odor", "...running rough", "...no start" all under cold conditions. All these "concerns.." would appear to related to drivability issues (safety) and also the vehicle very compliance with Federal emission requirement standards. The TSB goes on to state "these conditions are caused by the injector spool valve STICKING internally during COLD engine operation" It would seem that cold engine operation would normally be expected during winter months in North America and part of any design specification for NORMAL operating conditions. The TSB further specifies that "...this concern typically occurs on vehicles with greater then 15,000 miles. I think most of us expect our SUPER DUTY trucks to go far beyond 15,000 miles before they're ready for the JUNK yard.

Well .....its really nice that Ford feels these conditions are only a "concern", that their trucks do not start when cold and that its only a "concern", that its only trucks with greater then 15,000 miles that may not start. So in very simple words, don't expect your truck to run if its cold outside and/or if it has greater then 15,000 miles? This is a truck we have paid $43,000+ but dont expect it to run or even meet Federal EPA requirements if it has greater then 15,000 miles. Keep in mind this is only an expressed "concern" of Fords.

The auto industry appears to be the only industry that wants to shrug their responsibity for "software bugs" and/or poor design follow up. Today they brassly express that we should not expect our vehicles to run PROPERLY beyond 15,000 miles and/or when its cold outside. How rediculous to have such high expectations for $43,000 vehicle! How rediculous that we should consider a "bail out" for an auto industry with such low expectations of their products. I thought it was only the model T's that would not run when it was cold out side.

20 years I worked as an engineer for a fortune 50 corporation which design electronic engine controls for Ford, back then the corporate mission was openly stated as "Quality is JOB ONE" not so any more.

So much for my ranting.

 

bismic, please send docs on FICM. My 2005 6.0 seems to have all the cold start rough run for 5 minutes symptoms. I guess you can get my email from my user info.

 

Wouldn't the flash or other engine related items be covered under the 5 year, 100,000 mile warranty?

 

one might think that, but my local dealer and Ford customer service would want one to believe it is not covered by the Warrenty. Why ? Because they claim it (the Flash/calibrations/software) is not an integral part of the engine or the fuel injection system and nothing is really broke. And they claim we do not have to keep up with the problems related to what amonts to software bugs even though they know it grossly affects engine operation under cold operating condition (like you could have a software bug on your PC). My opinion is Flash/calibration/software is very much an integral part of the engine as the FICM is NOT useable without it, it would be like saying lets leave a couple of pistons out of the engine,, you really don't need all 8 pistons.

 

ok.... this was an interesting development, I contacted another Ford dealer as to getting warrenty coverage on TSB 07-5-4 (FICM Flash for inductive heat) and was told that TSB 07-5-4 was obsolete and has been superseded by TSB 08-26-3 released December 12,2008.

Does anyone know what this new TBS ia about?? AllData does not have any info on it yet and does know when they're going to get it

 

If they don't want to give warranty for their software bugs then they should not void warranty for our programers. Right???

 

I had the heat flash done on my 06.I think it makes the truck start/run
much better in the cold.The turbo was a little slow getting up to speed
not anymore..