DIY: Installing Passive Entry To A 2022 F-150 Lightning XLT

[spdski]

Thanks. With summer in full effect it will likely be a couple months before it's comfortable enough outside to do this so I have plenty of time on my hands to research and plan. If there's anybody out there with an original harness that they're willing to part with I'd sincerely appreciate it. I'd pay for shipping at the very least.

I just ordered the parts for this. Once they come, and I have a chance to install, I will have a harness available for you. If you’re not in a hurry, hit me up in a bit.

Also, I’m super thankful I insulated my garage and put a mini-split in it. When it comes to project days, I’m no longer weather dependent.

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[spdski]

Door handle and harness installed. Took me somewhat longer than I anticipated.

Replacing the paintable door handle with the ABS textured one from a Bronco handle was about the easiest part for me. I didn't bother watching the videos, so I apparently did it differently than they showed... I used my thumbs to spread the part with the big tabs apart to pop them out one side at a time. Worked much better than starting at the front, at least for me.

My door handle came out easily, but did not want to go back in. Took some frustration, and a series of youtube videos to find a solution. This one finally saved my bacon.



Then I struggled some with the harness. This is not an ideal job for a dude with big forearms and hands! Everyone's tips for the door connectors were very helpful. Hardest part for me was routing the wires back inside the door, especially the lower one and getting it in the right place in relation to the window hardware or whatever that is. The connector right by the door latch inside the door was also quite tough. In the end, I got everything back in its perfect spot, with the clips holding the harness like from the factory.

Next, I need to figure out the computer side of things. Got a windows computer and extended version of forscan on it. I have yet to get the courage to connect it. I think some videos and pre-studying will be necessary for me on that.

 

[watts/up]

Door handle and harness installed. Took me somewhat longer than I anticipated.

Replacing the paintable door handle with the ABS textured one from a Bronco handle was about the easiest part for me. I didn't bother watching the videos, so I apparently did it differently than they showed... I used my thumbs to spread the part with the big tabs apart to pop them out one side at a time. Worked much better than starting at the front, at least for me.

My door handle came out easily, but did not want to go back in. Took some frustration, and a series of youtube videos to find a solution. This one finally saved my bacon.



Then I struggled some with the harness. This is not an ideal job for a dude with big forearms and hands! Everyone's tips for the door connectors were very helpful. Hardest part for me was routing the wires back inside the door, especially the lower one and getting it in the right place in relation to the window hardware or whatever that is. The connector right by the door latch inside the door was also quite tough. In the end, I got everything back in its perfect spot, with the clips holding the harness like from the factory.

Next, I need to figure out the computer side of things. Got a windows computer and extended version of forscan on it. I have yet to get the courage to connect it. I think some videos and pre-studying will be necessary for me on that.

Thanks for the tip on swapping the door handle covers and for posting the video on reinstalling the handle. Getting it back in the door is one of the parts of this install that I understand is tricky. Looking forward to hearing how things go with FORScan. I'm personally fine with the setting changes but the whole flashing the firmware part makes me slightly nervous. I loved this part of the original post:

I'm not going to lie, the first time you flash firmware to a module it's scary AF, you'll want to hold your tongue at a 45deg angle and keep your left eye shut

I'm sure it'll be fine though.

 

[ZSC100]

Thanks for the tip on swapping the door handle covers and for posting the video on reinstalling the handle. Getting it back in the door is one of the parts of this install that I understand is tricky. Looking forward to hearing how things go with FORScan. I'm personally fine with the setting changes but the whole flashing the firmware part makes me slightly nervous. I loved this part of the original post:



I'm sure it'll be fine though.

You guys will be fine, be sure and use FORScan first to test the buttons functioning on the handle and make sure they are working. That will give you confidence that all you have left is flashing the firmware.

 

[spdski]

You guys will be fine, be sure and use FORScan first to test the buttons functioning on the handle and make sure they are working. That will give you confidence that all you have left is flashing the firmware.

I woke up early this morning, couldn't quite get myself back to sleep, so I decided to make a run at this.

Thanks for the tips on testing the signal function from the buttons. It was a confidence boost. When I got to running the firmware flash, everything worked fine. I probably died a little bit when it seemed to stall for a while at 93%. Seemed like a minute or two at 93% but was probably 15-20 seconds. Oy! It works!

That said, this morning I was re-reading the thread and noticed that I skipped the step for dremeling inside the door. Since I used a Bronco handle, I thought I wouldn't need the dremel instructions, and had just skimmed them. So, it's all together and appears to be fine without dremel work. Maybe that tab wasn't on my 23 XLT? Not sure I want to open the door again without more of a reason. Last night my forearms looked like I fought a cat after the install.

Thanks to Zach and others for sharing your wisdom and experiences.

 

[ZSC100]

I woke up early this morning, couldn't quite get myself back to sleep, so I decided to make a run at this.

Thanks for the tips on testing the signal function from the buttons. It was a confidence boost. When I got to running the firmware flash, everything worked fine. I probably died a little bit when it seemed to stall for a while at 93%. Seemed like a minute or two at 93% but was probably 15-20 seconds. Oy! It works!

That said, this morning I was re-reading the thread and noticed that I skipped the step for dremeling inside the door. Since I used a Bronco handle, I thought I wouldn't need the dremel instructions, and had just skimmed them. So, it's all together and appears to be fine without dremel work. Maybe that tab wasn't on my 23 XLT? Not sure I want to open the door again without more of a reason. Last night my forearms looked like I fought a cat after the install.

Thanks to Zach and others for sharing your wisdom and experiences.

Awesome

I imagine the plastic tail and plug just bent out of the way (complied) to not having that little plastic gusset not being removed. If your door handle is returning/seating back to the sprung IN position then I wouldn't worry about it. It will probably make a tighter feeling/operating handle.

For the next person who does this mod, maybe they should try leaving it in and observing if any undue stress is happing.

 

[Ksahora]

Anyone in the Vancouver BC, or Seattle area that can help me with forscan?

I am going to attempt this mod but don’t have forscan or the confidence to try that part on my own.

I have a 2024 xlt with keypad

 

[iiimcm]

I ended up doing this on my 2023 XLT with keypad. Flashed firmware as found here and made appropriate forscan changes but got no response from the door handle. No welcome lights, nothing. Any thoughts on why this would be happening?

 

[ZSC100]

I ended up doing this on my 2023 XLT with keypad. Flashed firmware as found here and made appropriate forscan changes but got no response from the door handle. No welcome lights, nothing. Any thoughts on why this would be happening?

As shown, you should be able to see buttons on the door handle activating when you press them In FORScan under the scan section without/before the firmware update. Start here, If you have already switched out the door harness and didn't check for the wires present at the door jamb go to the BCM and make sure the wires are there.

 

[iiimcm]

As shown, you should be able to see buttons on the door handle activating when you press them In FORScan under the scan section without/before the firmware update. Start here, If you have already switched out the door harness and didn't check for the wires present at the door jamb go to the BCM and make sure the wires are there.

Thank you OP! Unfortunately it got really cold here really fast so this may be delayed until spring or until it can get in to a heated shop. Thank you for such a quick response!

 

[Ben21]

Trying this myself. I sent a message with a question updating the firmware. As others said, it's very tricky getting the harness connectors disconnected. Doing it on a Pro without 360 cameras. I will let you know how it goes.

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