ECU module programming guide using FDRS

[iceman77]

This guide outlines steps to set up your computer and how to update software in your ECU modules using Ford OEM FDRS software

DISCLAIMER: I have updated many modules using the procedure below without any major issues and literally zero failures. That does not mean failure cannot happen. Flashing ECU modules is a dangerous operation. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! I will take no responsibility for any damage to your vehicle caused by the below described procedure

Tools you will need:

- Windows PC with 4GB RAM or greater, running Windows 10 or Windows 11
- VCI Interface preferably Mongoose-Plus J2534 (can be purchased from Amazon here)
or as an alternate (budget) solution VXDIAG VCX Nano (can be purchased from Amazon here)
- USB Flash drive 32GB or larger (must be formatted to exFAT)
- 12V Automotive Battery Charger/Maintainer (I used this one from Amazon)

Software you will need:

- Driver software for your VCI interface (steps outlined for each device below)
- Ford Diagnostic & Repair Software (commonly known as FDRS)

Installation and Setting up Mongoose-Plus J2534 interface:

NOTE: Follow the steps below ONLY if you own the Mongoose-Plus J2534 interface

1) Download the OPUS IVS driver for your Mongoose-Plus device from here.
2) Connect your Mongoose-Plus device to your PC and launch the installer. You should be presented by the following screen:

3) Hit Install to start the installation process, when prompted, activate the device!

Installation and Setting up VXDIAG VCX Nano interface:

NOTE: Follow the steps below ONLY if you own the VXDIAG VCX Nano interface

1) Download the latest VX Manager installer from here.
2) Start VX Manager installation, when prompted select PASSTHROUGH - J2534

NOTE: Your AV might flag certain driver files as malware, this is however a false alarm. You may need to add these files to your AV exclusion list in order to complete the installation

NOTE: Do not select FORD/MAZDA - IDS. Using this IDS emulation can brick your ECU module during the update process (learned the hard way)

3) Connect VCX Nano device to your PC using the supplied USB cable and launch VX Manager. The tool should recognize the device. If there is a device firmware available, update the device firmware

FDRS Software Installation

1) Download and install FDRS software from here. You will need a license to run this software and can be purchased here (2-day FDRS license cost $50)
2) Launch FDRS, you will be prompted to enter the license that you have just purchased.
3) Register an account (if you don't have one) on Motorcraft website here.
4) Log into FDRS using your Motorcraft credentials. Make sure you select Non-Dealer Motorcraft as User Type

5) Connect your VCI device to your truck's ODBII port and connect the USB cable to the PC running FDRS. Once FDRS Device Manager pops up, make sure you select Other Device, in the drop-down dialog:

Select Drew Technologies Inc. - Mongoose-Plus Ford2 if you own the Mongoose-Plus VCI device

Select VXDIAG - J2534 if you own the VCX Nano device

After this you should be greeted with this screen, meaning you are ready to go!

The icons at the bottom should be all green with battery voltage shown

Running Network Test (Initial Scan)

WARNING: DO NOT RUN NETWORK SCAN IF YOU OWN VCX NANO DEVICE AS IT WILL CAUSE AS-BUILT DATA CORRUPTION. GO -> HERE <- FOR MORE INFORMATION AND HOW TO PROCEED WITH MODULE SW UPDATE IF YOU OWN THIS DEVICE

NOTE: if you own the Mongoose-Plus device, it is safe to proceed

1) Turn Ignition On, Engine Off
2) Click Read VIN from vehicle
3) Click Go to initiate Network Scan

Once completed a new tab called Toolbox will appear at the top of your FDRS screen:

On the left hand side you will see all modules detected on your truck. The ones that responded positively will be marked green. On the right hand side notice the SW Updates tab. Head over here to see all available SW updates for your modules.

Module SW Update Procedure

WARNING: DO NOT UPDATE THE CCM MODULE USING THE VCX NANO DEVICE. READ APPENDIX V FOR DETAILS

1) Head over to SW Updates tab in the FDRS Toolbox window.
2) If there are updates available, hit the Download button. The tool will download the necessary tools needed for the module update.
3) Once download completes the button turns green with a text "Run".

IMPORTANT: Before you proceed to the next step, connect your truck to external power supply (a good battery charger/maintainer as one listed above will do the job). DO NOT connect the negative (black) charger clamp directly to the battery monitoring sensor, it must be connected to an engine or chassis ground in order to bypass the BMS circuitry (see example here). Do not proceed unless you have solid 12.5V or more showing on your ODBII port.

4) Run the SW Update procedure and follow the on-screen prompts very carefully

Be patient, some modules take long time to update. This is especially true for IPMA module which takes almost 3 hours to complete. Therefore, it is very important to have your truck connected to external power supply (battery charger/maintainer)

NOTICE FOR FORSCAN USERS: FDRS will knock out your recent FORScan changes from your modules you are updating. It reloads your As-Built (AB) data at the end of the SW update procedure. Make sure you back-up your FORScan changes and load them back after you are done with SW updates. By time your FORScan changes get propagated to your AB data set on FORD servers, so this would not be an issue. This would only affect users performing FORScan changes and running module SW udate within short period of time. I am suspecting, that receiving OTA shortly after FORScan changes would have same effect.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out to me over DM. If I don't reply in time, reach out to other experts including, but not limited to @Jesse-Infotainment , @Bob_Mac, @JEB or @Snakebitten.

Also, I would strongly suggest to follow @Bob_Mac document, outlining the latest updates and shared knowledge related to this process. You can access his guide here.

 

[iceman77]

USB Update Procedure:

Certain modules need to be updated via USB flash drive. This is especially true for GWM, APIM and TCU update. FDRS tool will prompt you to insert a blank USB flash drive into your PC. Make sure the drive is formatted to exFAT. The tool will copy all necessary files onto the flash drive, once done, you will be prompted to insert it into your truck's USB hub under the HVAC controls. Follow the on-screen instructions carefully. It may take a while for the update process to show up on your SYNC screen, so be patient. FDRS will instruct you to have your engine on, while the your truck copies the update files from flash drive. I found this not necessary if your truck is connected to an external power source (battery charger/maintainer). Once done, you will see a Restart Required prompt on your SYNC screen. At this point turn ignition OFF and open the driver door. DO NOT REMOVE THE FLASH DRIVE. Wait at least 10 minutes, close the driver door and turn ignition ON. You should shortly get a message Update Successful and you can remove the USB flash drive at this point. Follow the instructions in FDRS to finish the update process. Make sure you battery is in good shape and is able to provide a consistent charge, otherwise you might get stuck in a "restart required" loop.


APPENDIX I:

Certain updates (such as PowerUp 2.3.0 OTA equivalent) would require to wait up to 30 minutes before powering the truck back on after Restart Required message is shown on SYNC screen

APPENDIX II:

If you updated the DDM/PDM modules, you need to run the 'Power Door Window Initialization' for both modules. This can be found in each of the module task window (on the right hand side) in FDRS. This is needed for your windows auto open/close to work

APPENDIX III:

Your truck may exhibit a Reverse Brake Assist Unavailable message after module programming
has been completed. This may be due to a network interruption from programming or configuring modules, which can cause steering center find to be reset. When the steering center find is reset, this causes various features to become disabled. The steering center find can be relearned by driving the vehicle approximately 5 minutes above 18 mph (30 km/h) straight ahead on a flat surface with no steering inputs for a few seconds. When Steering center is found the Reverse Brake Assist Unavailable message will go away.

APPENDING IV:

There seems to be a bug in the VCX Nano interface, where module status report gets corrupted and erroneously reported to Ford cloud during the "Network Scan" initiated from the FDRS tool. "Network Scan" functionality in the FDRS tool should be completely avoided when VCX Nano device is used. Read for more details here and here. More technical info regarding the As-Built data set corruption can be found here.

If your truck is already affected by this bug (you will notice loss of Horn & Lights, SecuriAlert and OTA in your FordPass), here are the instructions how to fix it.

APPENDING V:

There seems to be an issue with the VCX Nano interface when updating certain modules over CAN FD bus that can result in bricked module. This is especially true for the CCM module. To recover a bricked module, re-attempt the module SW update procedure using the preferred Mongoose-Plus (or official Ford VCMII or VCM3) interface

 

[Jesse-Infotainment]

Very nice! I am sure this will help several people

 

[TJSparky]

Awesome! Thank you so much Iceman!

 

[Fordphanatic]

Thanks you are the man!!

 

[heffer86]

Great write up. I updated my APIM with this exact setup. @iceman77 I would recommend adding a good quality power supply to the requirements. I found my voltage was dropping to low and the update wouldn't finish.

 

[MikeYQM]

Has anyone tried to have APIM updated at the dealer, which failed, then successfully updated themselves?

 

[heffer86]

Has anyone tried to have APIM updated at the dealer, which failed, then successfully updated themselves?

That is the exact scenario. Dealer tried twice. I got it once I figured out my voltage was to low to complete the update.

 

[iceman77]

Great write up. I updated my APIM with this exact setup. @iceman77 I would recommend adding a good quality power supply to the requirements. I found my voltage was dropping to low and the update wouldn't finish.

Guide updated!

 

[iceman77]

Couple of important notes for APIM and GWM updates (running from the USB flash drive created by FDRS):

When it prompts for "system restart required", you need to turn off ignition and open the driver door (very important). Then you need to wait at least 10 minutes until all components in the truck shut down (also very important). DO NOT REMOVE THE FLASH DRIVE until you are instructed to do so

Hope this helps

 

[JEB]

Couple of important notes for APIM and GWM updates (running from the USB flash drive created by FDRS):

When it prompts for "system restart required", you need to turn off ignition and open the driver door (very important). Then you need to wait at least 10 minutes until all components in the truck shut down (also very important). DO NOT REMOVE THE FLASH DRIVE until you are instructed to do so

Hope this helps

Excellent write-up. How large a flash drive did you use? You might want to add flash drive to your list of equipment.

Did you have any issues installing VX Manager? My installation was less than smooth. When I downloaded the latest Christmas Eve version, I couldn’t get it to install cleanly. My OS kept reporting missing installation modules. I could only install the earlier March version completely. Once I got that up and running, I was able to use the update button within the app to update to the latest version. I got to the same place, but it was clunky.

I haven’t had an opportunity to actually dig into FDRS yet. But did you have any installation failures using USB which you were able to get around by using the CAN bus pathway? Was it a lot slower?

Thanks for all the work you put into this write up.

 

[TJSparky]

Iceman… What’s the proper flash drive that is needed 32GB, 64GB?

Ooopps Jeb posted the same thing at the same time! LOL

 

[Caneman88]

stupid question what were you able to update with this?
I use Forscan a lot I'm guessing this is FORScan on steroids

 

[iceman77]

I used a 64GB SanDisk USB3.0 flash drive. It needs to be formatted to exFAT

 

[iceman77]

stupid question what were you able to update with this?
I use Forscan a lot I'm guessing this is FORScan on steroids

ForScan is mostly used for module configuration, it cannot do module SW update (yet).

FDRS is the official dealer diagnostic and repair software used by technicians at your dealership. It can test (run diagnostics) on various modules, update module SW, load/reload as-built configurations etc

Btw, the VCX Nano works perfect with ForScan as a J2534 pass-through device. In fact, its much faster than their official ELM327 interface. I have used it to make quite a few changes on my truck (including the Glarefree lightning which involved updating multiple modules on the truck)

So, 2 birds with one stone!

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