ECU module programming guide using FDRS

[Cheez_Greater]

There are some that are multi linked. i cant recall which ines, but it does warn you. It says that the update affects multiple modules or something like that. The APIMs are the longest. I probably spent like 10+ hours updating from 1.7.1 to 3.5.3. The TCU update will bring me to 3.5.4 but alas I ran out of time.

10+ hours. Yikes. With the APIM updates, did you have to periodically perform some action to continue the update or was it just running for the straight amount of time?

I'm glad I went this path. I would never see the truck again if I had the dealer do it. It somehow (I know how, they didn't work on it until late in the first day and they waited until mid afternoon the second day) took them 2 days to do the 1.7.1 unstick.

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[Bdubbs1198]

10+ hours. Yikes. With the APIM updates, did you have to periodically perform some action to continue the update or was it just running for the straight amount of time?

I'm glad I went this path. I would never see the truck again if I had the dealer do it. It somehow (I know how, they didn't work on it until late in the first day and they waited until mid afternoon the second day) took them 2 days to do the 1.7.1 unstick.

Yes, you can walk away during the download but make sure you have a charger hooked up with 10amps and the laptop is charged. I would check in every 15 minutes or so for the APIM downloads. Some were faster than others.

 

[superfordman]

10+ hours. Yikes. With the APIM updates, did you have to periodically perform some action to continue the update or was it just running for the straight amount of time?

I'm glad I went this path. I would never see the truck again if I had the dealer do it. It somehow (I know how, they didn't work on it until late in the first day and they waited until mid afternoon the second day) took them 2 days to do the 1.7.1 unstick.

I was able to get a little crafty with mine since the APIM is such a large download. I got the programming started and once it got to the part in FDRS where it was happy and saw everything on the truck side, then once it started downloading the gigantic file, I just disconnected my mongoose USB, turned my truck off, then took my laptop back inside with it still doing its download thing happy as can be. Then once it go to the USB sync part, it did that just fine, then once it told me to stick the USB in the truck I just canceled out of the procedure and did that part the next day. Keep in mind this only works on updates that go through and utilize a USB mainly.

Not sure if this will work for everyone, it did for me first try, and I think the trick might have been I stayed connected to wifi the whole time. As I tried it when updating another truck and it didn't like that as much and errored out, but that time I was hotspotting off my phone in a parking lot and trying to run around doing other things at the same time, so wasn't surprised.

 

[Cheez_Greater]

I was able to get a little crafty with mine since the APIM is such a large download. I got the programming started and once it got to the part in FDRS where it was happy and saw everything on the truck side, then once it started downloading the gigantic file, I just disconnected my mongoose USB, turned my truck off, then took my laptop back inside with it still doing its download thing happy as can be. Then once it go to the USB sync part, it did that just fine, then once it told me to stick the USB in the truck I just canceled out of the procedure and did that part the next day.

Not sure if this will work for everyone, it did for me first try, and I think the trick might have been I stayed connected to wifi the whole time. As I tried it when updating another truck and it didn't like that as much and errored out, but that time I was hotspotting off my phone in a parking lot and trying to run around doing other things at the same time, so wasn't surprised.

I might give that a shot. I'm updating the IPMA now and got tired of going back and forth to the garage. I got the idea of taking another laptop and using remote desktop to remote into the computer connected to the truck. That way I can keep tabs on progress in the house.

 

[superfordman]

I might give that a shot. I'm updating the IPMA now and got tired of going back and forth to the garage. I got the idea of taking another laptop and using remote desktop to remote into the computer connected to the truck. That way I can keep tabs on progress in the house.

Haha good call, that was almost my same idea when I did mine, just use teamviewer and stay inside, but I was more anxious/excited to see it through so just waited out the whole hour 45 update time with a beverage or two and watched it creep along slowly.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

I was able to get a little crafty with mine since the APIM is such a large download. I got the programming started and once it got to the part in FDRS where it was happy and saw everything on the truck side, then once it started downloading the gigantic file, I just disconnected my mongoose USB, turned my truck off, then took my laptop back inside with it still doing its download thing happy as can be. Then once it go to the USB sync part, it did that just fine, then once it told me to stick the USB in the truck I just canceled out of the procedure and did that part the next day. Keep in mind this only works on updates that go through and utilize a USB mainly.

Not sure if this will work for everyone, it did for me first try, and I think the trick might have been I stayed connected to wifi the whole time. As I tried it when updating another truck and it didn't like that as much and errored out, but that time I was hotspotting off my phone in a parking lot and trying to run around doing other things at the same time, so wasn't surprised.

I've also disconnected the laptop from my truck and brought it in the house during larger down loads and that works great.
But after completion of the USB install, powering down the truck waiting a 1/2 hour and restarting the truck. I've always reconnected the current FDRS session first. At this point FDRS is waiting for a "yes" to installation complete. Then FDRS goes back through the odb connection and says "programming " which i assume means its making as built changes that may be nessacery to support the new softwares feature from the update i.e. "cams in motion" or similar, following that it runs a file validation routine and reports a successful install to the Ford cloud.
Are you actually saying to skip the FDRS reconnection post completion of the USB install?

 

[superfordman]

I've also disconnected the laptop from my truck and brought it in the house during larger down loads and that works great.
But after completion of the USB install, powering down the truck waiting a 1/2 hour and restarting the truck. I've always reconnected the current FDRS session first. At this point FDRS is waiting for a "yes" to installation complete. Then FDRS goes back through the odb connection and says "programming " which i assume means its making as built changes that may be nessacery to support the new softwares feature from the update i.e. "cams in motion" or similar, following that it runs a file validation routine and reports a successful install to the Ford cloud.
Are you actually saying to skip the FDRS reconnection post completion of the USB install?

Glad to hear you found the same trick as well. No, I always reconnect FDRS after the USB update is all done then restart the APIM programming so it can actually "finish" the update on that side of it. I don't think it does much like you said, other that tidies up a few thing and actually makes sure the update is complete so it can mark it as such in FDRS and report that back. I actually completely closed out of FDRS then fired it all back up once the USB update was done and no issue there, update finished right up after it saw the USB portion was done.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

Glad to hear you found the same trick as well. No, I always reconnect FDRS after the USB update is all done then restart the APIM programming so it can actually "finish" the update on that side of it. I don't think it does much like you said, other that tidies up a few thing and actually makes sure the update is complete so it can mark it as such in FDRS and report that back. I actually completely closed out of FDRS then fired it all back up once the USB update was done and no issue there, update finished right up after it saw the USB portion was done.

Ok, but how are you able to close out your current FDRS session and then be able to go back and pick up where you left off with out running the entire routine again? If you start a new session FDRS will see that the current software has been installed and not offer continuation. At this point it would be a mess, because FDRS sees current software but yet the vehicle specific as built settings were never made from the first attempt! So essentially all that happened was that new software was installed, yet all vehicle settings were skip. Correct me if I'm wrong here, I really understand how you're doing this.

 

[superfordman]

Ok, but how are you able to close out your current FDRS session and then be able to go back and pick up where you left off with out running the entire routine again? If you start a new session FDRS will see that the current software has been installed and not offer continuation. At this point it would be a mess, because FDRS sees current software but yet the vehicle specific as built settings were never made from the first attempt! So essentially all that happened was that new software was installed, yet all vehicle settings were skip. Correct me if I'm wrong here, I really understand how you're doing this.

I'm trying to remember how I did this a month ago so bear with me. Once I got to the step in FDRS where it say to remove the USB from the computer and put it in the pickup to continue the update, I think I just tried to continue it until it errored out and disconnected, or I just hit cancel, and this was all with my laptop inside and not connect to the truck. Anyways, then let the USB update do its thing and APIM is all updated. Hooked up and fired up FDRS again, started the APIM update again from anew, it must check the current version of the APIM which is the updated once so it doesn't need to go through the whole USB process again, finishes up it programming and then was all done. It sees that the new APIM software is there, but the update hasn't finished yet on the FDRS side of things so it just picks back up and keep on chugging where it would have left of anyways. If there was any asbuilt changes it would do them in the last and final step. So it did them once I hooked back up to finish the update.

 

[Mike G]

Have never gotten a message about updating FDRS until I got this this morning:

Ummm so it appears there's a new version!

 

[Cheez_Greater]

Just a random FDRS tip that I learned. Sometimes after an update when the module is going through it's configuration step, the process will fail and FDRS will ask if you want to try again. At that point check your internet connection. Interrupted internet caused that failure for me.

I also learned not to panic. The ABS module update failed and the truck went dark (I panicked). Just be patient and everything will likely come back. It did for me. Also, follow the steps in Bob_Mac's document. The VIN didn't populate during the Vehicle Check test but everything looked okay in FDRS so I continued. After the failure I went back to the Vehicle Test and disconnected and reconnected until I got the VIN. I don't know if that was the cause of the issue but I wanted to be sure.

 

[superfordman]

Just a random FDRS tip that I learned. Sometimes after an update when the module is going through it's configuration step, the process will fail and FDRS will ask if you want to try again. At that point check your internet connection. Interrupted internet caused that failure for me.

I also learned not to panic. The ABS module update failed and the truck went dark (I panicked). Just be patient and everything will likely come back. It did for me. Also, follow the steps in Bob_Mac's document. The VIN didn't populate during the Vehicle Check test but everything looked okay in FDRS so I continued. After the failure I went back to the Vehicle Test and disconnected and reconnected until I got the VIN. I don't know if that was the cause of the issue but I wanted to be sure.

Yes, the whole process is pretty bullet proof for the most part, has to be if you think about how many people use this software to update however many different vehicles across the globe.

I had a similar pucker up experience when I was going mine. Did the GWM USB update and must have not it quite let it do everything, as it kept failing the last check on FDRS. Decided to move onto the BCM in the meantime, and about half way through everything went dark and FDRS was not happy either. Just let it sit for 5-10 minutes and she came back around and lit back up, so might have been finishing up GWM at the same time. Ran the BCM update again when everything came back and all was good again. So just take your time and let it do its thing and everything should work out just fine.

 

[JasonATL]

Looks like they updated the stuck APIM TSB to include so changes to the required hardware and/or procedure
Microsoft Word - TSB 22-2404.docx (macheforum.com)

Has anyone gone through this TSB process? My APIM is getting the USB Code 0 error on the latest update. Last tried in mid October thinking it would maybe come via OTA. Doing the CMR now and wondering if I should obtain the items I need to do the TSB. Very nervous about removing panels in the truck though. Technology I’m comfortable with but don’t want to mess something up with the panels in the truck.

 

[m_bt54]

does anyone know how I can verify if 3.5.4 was successfully installed? I installed the TCU update yesterday with FDRS but never got the successful update notification on my screen. After about a half hour I completed the FDRS process as instructed on the screen without receiving the update installed notification and it all seemed to finish up fine. My 2 day license ran out so I can’t connect back up and see if it is still available to install.

IF it is not installed, would I be able to try again using the USB without FDRS?

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

does anyone know how I can verify if 3.5.4 was successfully installed? I installed the TCU update yesterday with FDRS but never got the successful update notification on my screen. After about a half hour I completed the FDRS process as instructed on the screen without receiving the update installed notification and it all seemed to finish up fine. My 2 day license ran out so I can’t connect back up and see if it is still available to install.

IF it is not installed, would I be able to try again using the USB without FDRS?

Check your syns version number it should be 22228

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