Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - Learning FORscan Pitfalls.

Hello Good SuperDuty people!

After being tired of jumping/giving excuses/looking dumbfounded every time my truck honked it's horn, not once, but twice (!) at me, every time I exited the vehicle with the engine on and then NOT being able to find someone in Silicon valley (aka we pretty much invented computer software) to turn off this damn double honk, I tackled it my self. :-X18

Epiccowlick's thread was absolutely EPIC, indispensable and worth twice it's computer's coded weight in bit-coin. If you want to do FORscan on your SuperDuty, it is THE bible.

Lightinitup is equally a FORscan demigod, who probably is THE pinnacle in FORscan bad a$$ery.

Don't even THINK about trying FORscan without taking these guy's advice.

Step 1: Look at Epic's thread about FORscan. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...readsheet.html

Last Step: See step 1.

I am not that dumb and I swear that I have a few professors that might even agree, maybe. Ok, if you give them enough beer, they might agree with that.

That said, turning off that dumb double honk with FORscan was a full 1/2 day of swear words, crying and gnashing of teeth and pretty much thinking that I was going to turn my $90k truck into nothing more useful than future can fodder for the pabst blue ribbon brewery.

Ok, onward.

The first thing you need to do is register for the FORscan forums, because you pretty much need permission from them to use the FORscan software to actually do something and you have to wait for someone to give that permission.

On Epic's thread, he links all FORscan codes and ON THE BOTTOM of that google/pdf online form (I don't know what to call it) there is a tab to click on and it sends you to livinitup's site, I'm pointing at the tab with my pen, here:

https://s26.postimg.org/70qjpvpnt/IMG_5460.jpg

On livinitup's link, it has a very good description (and even better video) of how you get "permission" to start using FORscan software, but once you get approved on the FORscan forums, this is where you start:

https://s26.postimg.org/5loz16bq1/IMG_5685.jpg

These are the two links with TONS of info you need to have. Yes, need.

If you have a MAC, you need to run bootcamp (or whatever will let you run windows on your MAC). Getting bootcamp is it's own "pitfall" thread, so its left to the reader to google that.

I only have MAC's so bootcamp it was for me. I am running windows 7 on bootcamp.

Epic tells you that a reliable connector (more on that in a second) is this blue tooth OBD2 thing:

https://s26.postimg.org/egptbnxxl/IMG_4979.jpg

This little bugger gives you a URL for how to start using it. Don't even think about using your iPhone or your Mac. This WHOLE thing is all about windows.

And unlike your iPhone or your Mac, which tells you when something is connected via Bluetooth, windows doesn't. Windows only tells you that the bluetooth device is "working properly".

And my device never had a piece of paper included in the box that gave me its activation code, so I was going crazy trying to find it. Little did I know, I just have to press "ok" and the website where you set it up, just gives it to you, like this:

https://s26.postimg.org/wjiw2xjih/IMG_7933.jpg

The first time you press the connect button (pointed here by my pen on the lower left), I got this message. I have no idea what that second criteria was, so, like a crazy person, I just pressed ok.

Oh, and neither Epic or Livin, tell you, you need to press that connect button before anything happens, but, yeah, you need to press that thing.

https://s26.postimg.org/j2lxk0r6h/IMG_0291.jpg

Lightininup's site, gives you a "simple" way to program in FORscan as an example. He tells you it's not worth it and to learn to do it the complete way. He even uses THE example you want!! I.e., turning off the double honk!!!

Well, in my F450, that example, didn't work. This BdyCM module did not have "double honk".

Sigh....

https://s26.postimg.org/wjiw2x42x/IMG_0578.jpg

So, I turned off my truck and started to read on how to do it the "complete" way. And, granted, it's not too tough.

When I went to try to load FORscan on my truck again......

The darn OBD2 thing was not working and I could not get FORscan to work again. FORscan would just not work.

Windows couldn't tell me if the OBD2 thingy was connected via bluetooth, only that it was working properly.

There is some software that you get from the OBD2 website that I thought I'd try to use to see if IT would tell me about the OBD2 thingy. This is what IT told me:

https://s26.postimg.org/p3jmh40y1/IMG_8555.jpg

Ugh.....

Back to google. About an hour later, some dude (one guy!!) says he unpaired and then repaired the OBD2 thingy and it started working again.

And then....

https://s26.postimg.org/d1o8myjzt/IMG_2593.jpg

Sweet success!!! :-jammin

Getting rid of that darn double honk was the silence of nirvana.

I would've GLADLY paid for someone to do this for me, so if someone can do this for someone else, ITS WORTH IT.

Mind you, I felt that I had to be sharp, so I was limited to a single bottle quantum of an anxiety relieving libation. This was probably a very significant confounding variable in my troubles.

Sorry for the long post, I had to vent.