[rescuetech]

Hello folks,

I Was poking around the engine bay today and found a sticker that was applied to the truck in front of the radiator. It has some hand writing on it. I can barely read it and was wondering if it has anything to do with the computer flashes or something else.

It reads as follows( I think) date of 10-17-03. 3U7A-FT4.

I think this is what it says not sure about the A though.

Do you guys have any idea as to what this is and what it might mean.

Thank you

Clint

 

[Btravelen]

I think you're right. Flash history, date and P/N.

Take Care

 

[GrampyJim]

On October 17th, 2003 the PCM was reflashed to calibration 3U7A-12A650-FTA. IIRC, this was one of many stinkers as far as calibrations are concerned....

Early in the 6.0, the programming team that Ford had suffered shell-shock and were churning out change after change without considering what side-effects might arise... One change for the good could generate several changes for the bad....

This soured a lot of owners on the idea of recalibrations.... Later calibrations were better thought out and tested.

 

[rescuetech]

thanks grampy.

I was wondering if this is a good flash or a bad one. this is my first 6.0l so I dont really know the difference. I do know that I need the Inductive heating flash, because when it is started cold it starts fine but no power in fact it wont move unless it is pointed down hill.

I am thinking of going and have the flash done today or the next. Does this flash, flash the whole pcm or just a part and if just part should I have the whole thing flashed up to date.

thanks again


Clint

 

[GrampyJim]

This flash was "written" right around the time that the programmers were having troubles.... they would write a change into the programming without any testing or taking in to account what else might be affected by the changes.... Some of these truck were being reflashed more often than they were having their oil changed.

Many owners decided that the last flash they got was about as bad as things could be and decided to keeop their trucks "there". The "battle cry" appears to include the feeling that no flash will ever have any benefit.

Current flashes appear to be better thought out and have helped with many driveability issues....

 

[ABrown134]

As far as all the flashes went, that one was one of the early ones that had it's issues. I had that one done to my '03 and it killed the mileage. It also made the turbo vibrate the whole truck under certain rpm's. The October '03 flash was the first one that eliminated the pilot injection.

The one that followed that December didn't do me any better and it wasn't long after the truck was bought back. With the '04, I swore off all flashes as I didn't want to go down that slippery slope again.

Fast forward to today. The '04 has run strong now for 33k miles, but last winter the cold starts got really bad. This eventually led me to taking it in for the heat induction flash, which so far hasn't been a disapointment.

The noticable changes you should see on your truck should you have it done are,

1. Better cold starts and power when cold.
2. Less aggressive tow/haul mode. The one you have should do downshifts at 55, 35, and 25, with the torque converter locked up. After the flash, you would only have them at 55 and 35, with a lot less lockup noticed.

Mileage does not appear to be affected on my truck. There are some days I miss the old tow/haul mode, and there are days I don't. I certainly don't miss the rough running when cold. So far, at least on this site, the heat induction flash has gotten pretty good reviews. Maybe they have finally got it right...

Aaron

 

[rescuetech]

All right

I did get the induction flash done and it worked. Today I started the truck and put in drive and it drove off like it should. I also noticed that at 70 mph my rpms are down by a couple hundred and so that I hope that my mialage will go. The milage wasnt bad before, around 16.5 or so. I was worried that I might loss a bunch of mileage, but I dont think I will.

Also Today I went to the muffler shop and had the muffler delete done for my (off road work) and man does that sounds cool or what. should have done this sooner.

Thanks guys for all the help.

Clint