I wasn't even at a point yet where I wanted to talk to the tech, just dropping the truck off, when they pissed me off, lol. Their attitudes just suck.

They called back today, it did indeed turn out to be the FICM, despite getting good voltage readings from the screws and no signs of trouble on the inside. $1085. I'm working on getting a used one to replace myself. If I do this, would it be necessary, or even advantageous, to have the dealer flash the truck with the lastest file? If so what do they normally charge for this? I just like to know what to expect in advance, it reduces the chance I'll get blind sided and end up breaking into a sprint and throwing windmill punches at everyone and everything in my path...

 

Normal is one hour labor. so about a $100.

 

That makes sense. Is there a compelling reason to do so? I think yes, but I'm still a noob with these trucks.

 

You can get a flashed FICM from Swamp's diesel for about half that. I don't think the 03/04 trucks are really getting any PCM updates that mean anything, so unless it's been a LONG time since your truck was flashed there's no good reason to have it done IMHO. Everything has been FICM related for the older trucks as far as the information I can gather, PLUS you'll have to get your tunes redone for your SCT AND loose a life off your tuner. Looks like it's running pretty dang good by your times--LOL.

 

All interesting info, thank you. Specifically the quote above, does a reflash mean the tuned files are no good or that when loading them they will revert back to the flash level they were originally based on? I always wondered about this. I need to learn more about how the SCT stuff works. I'm more familiar with the full standalone ECUs, like what I run in the race car, or being able to flash the stock ECU myself, as I did with the EVO, or stock ECUs converted to EPROMs that can be retuned live (while it's running) like I do with the DSMs (Talon/Eclipse/Laser) with stock ECUs. This reflash business, and having to pay someone else to tune for me, is all foreign to me.

It definitely does run pretty good. Having to wear a helmet in my tow vehicle at the track cracked me up a little. And I get great gas mileage. It's basically a perfect setup for me, but I have now been motivated to do a lot more to the truck as far as reliability mods/upgrades go.

 

LOL-I'm not sure I can answer all your questions Kevin. You obviously know a lot more PCM speak than I do. My advice to you would be to call SCT tech support and bend those guys ears as they can go a LOT deeper into technical questions about the different year model flashes and PCM's and how they are affected by Ford updates. You may even want to get the SCT software that allows you to write your own tunes.

 

Now this is relevant to my interests! I'll give them a call, thank you. I know a bit about ECU tuning on the turbo gas motors, but I'll be the first to admit I don't know **** about the diesels. I'm excited to learn more about it though, that's for sure. After the race car runs 8.50s. And the GF's race car is done. And my street truck is done.

 

This is why I suggested "borrowing" a known properly functioning FICM from a buddy's truck to install temporarily. And yes, it's always a good practice to have your modules up to the latest, most current calibration levels.

 

Just remember to return your truck to stock before having the flash updates.

 

I have no friends with one of these trucks. Well, I did, but I bought it from him.

 

Welp, the new to me FICM did the trick. Big thanks to Matt for setting me up with a good one. I swapped it out in the dealer's lot and drove it home. I'll drive it for a couple days to get it all charged up and back to normal and get the batteries checked. They're about 2 years old, how often are you guys changing these things?

It's good to be back in the truck again. The riced out celica with the park bench on the trunk that I borrowed was starting to get old. Thanks guys for all of the help!