Roland@pcmtec

We won't be doing any further discounts for the full workshop product. We would like to release a single use workshop edition next year (time pending) where you get workshop access to a single vehicle for a discounted price, however we have several other projects on which are consuming all of our time at the moment so we don't have a timeline for this.

This is from a recent support ticket and we thought it might be interesting information for some people. In the Mk2 and later models of Falcon Ford have changed the smart alternator settings to improve fuel economy. Here is a screenshot showing some of the changes they make. As you can see its a fairly drastic drop in commanded voltage and what is considered low voltage. If your injector deadtimes are not correct at these lower voltage this can cause issues with cranking. Also if you have large fans that kick in before the alternator has kicked in you may have stalling issues. These problems can come about if you are changing to a newer strategy or operating system.

Enables wastegate control, enables the boost input sensor, closed loop boost control and turns all the associated over/under boost logic and fault codes on. If you have a boost sensor and boost controller it's a must for it to operate properly. If your pcm is not a turbo pcm and lacks the boost output it's cheaper to replace the pcm than to buy an eboost and tach adapter.

Have a look at the release notes. There have been some big updates to the datalogger performance. Check your version against the release notes listed.

Are you using the latest version here? Use help about and check your version. www.pcmtec.com/alpha-release Also if you can list your system specifications.

The poor man pays twice! Good luck with the project.

We are aiming for public access to the beta when our next sprint finishes (we are doing fortnightly alpha releases). I would like to say the end of October pending any unknown major issues that we don't yet know about. This will only be for the workshop edition initially until we port all our new naming and parameters over to professional/enthusiast levels which should come soon after. If you have the workshop edition and would like to trial the alpha please get in contact with us. The requirement is that you actively participate in the beta program by sending in high quality bug reports with regular use of the software (at least once a week).

It would be possible, but unless you have a lot of time I wouldn't personally do it. Unless you have a very competent tuner who understands the barra pcm well however I imagine their time is not cheap. You would need the Workshop edition to adjust the crank pulses and global timing offsets etc. Are you looking to save money or for a cool project?

By default they won't add timing but you can enable octane advance. Have a read of this as well

The knock sensors pick up false knock and also miss real knock. Use it for safety only, do not attempt to tune MBT with them. You need a professional knock setup to do that. Things like broken engine mounts, lose intercooler pipes banging on the motor etc can all cause false knock. Log the sensors against each cyl individually to see if it's just one sensor!/cyl, if it is you could have a faulty injector etc.

Direct injection means you can spray at tdc as well which is great for avoiding detonation.

A bit off topic but some interesting info. The new euro standards (In china they are already doing this) will require lambda 1.0 at ALL times. This includes extended WOT power runs, you cannot rely on enrichment for power anymore in china, same will happen in the US and Europe soon. One benefit of this is it will mean easy power gains for the aftermarket but it does also prove it can be done. From the calibrator I was speaking to they said the engine generates about 10% more heat at lambda than your typical WOT enriched cooling lambda, coupled with a particulate filter (like the diesel ones) that they are now running in china they had to do a few things for reliability. Bigger radiator, more cooling passages around the cylinder walls, higher temp valves and a different catalytic converter design. They also have a lot of cooling failsafes to pull the throttle back etc to stop things melting.

Yes it's highly recommended to make the car go open loop and rich much sooner with more boost. Otherwise you can get even 10psi at part throttle if you are towing and be running 1.0 lambda.

Yes it does as its currently listed under development. It will get categorised in 2.x hopefully!

You can rescale the spark table to have any load you want. Have a read of this thread about getting the decel pop n crackle happening

This is a really simple method. Set the 5th gear min/max wider and datalog gear mtx to make sure the ratio is within the 5th range.

If you get the switch the wrong way around it just reverse the oil lamp function, eg you'll get a red light when oil pressure is healthy, and when you have low oil pressure it'll turn off. Other than the indication it should not actually do anything else, its also very easy to test.

Also for customers who need support ASAP the fastest way to get in contact with us is via our support portal. We have 5+ people who get notified when a ticket comes in so we can action it as soon as possible. https://www.pcmtec.com/contactus

If the car has E85/98 multiple fuel tunes that are switched via the cruise control, he simply need to change the selected fuel back before starting the car, this is remembered unless the battery is disconnected for a period of time which I imagine they would have disconnected when doing the welding. There is a video showing the process here Steps are, ignition on engine not running, turn on cruise control. Press resume, press + and speedo will flick to 85kph (e85), press - and it will flick back to 0 (e0/98) to select the correct fuel. Press resume again then press +/- to select the tune, this depends on what the tuner has set up, usually its low boost, boost by gear, high boost, ghost cam etc.

This is correct, assuming injectors are stock and the car has no modifications that would affect VE (eg standard turbo, standard camshafts) then you should be able to simply change the commanded lambda to affect the fueling. If you have started modifying things and you find the commanded lambda does not match the measured lambda via your wideband. Then you need to start modifying the fueling (injector slopes) and airflow (speed density) models. If you have modified the vehicle then read the following forum threads. Injector slope scaling: Speed Density Open Loop / Closed Loop Fueling You need to be aware that these engines only have closed loop fueling at stoichmetric 1.0 lambda. Eg at idle/cruise. Outside of these conditions the engine runs open loop. That means if anything changes (eg fuel pump runs out of flow, you change the VE of the engine eg camshafts ) the car will no longer run the commanded AFR and you will need to correct the mechanical issue or modify the appropriate model in the software (eg injector fueling model or airflow speed density model). If you are a workshop then we can point you in the direction of someone who can provide paid training. Otherwise the best way is to post on the forums and read all the HOWTO Guides. I also recommend purchasing a wideband and an analog input cable so you can datalog your actual AFR vs your commanded AFR. Once you have tested this on the street you need a dyno to test it safely at wide open throttle. There are many dyno operators who will hire out there dyno at a per hour rate, there are even some mobile dyno operators who will come to you.

Why do you want to remove the pcm?

It is similar in that it is a key challenge exchange, but that is about it. What is your goal? Depending on what it is I might be able to point you in the right direction time permitting. There is a lot of extra stuff to stop replay attacks, it also performs some kind of checksum on the responses. The actual alg looks similar in that it is some kind of XOR type of encryption. It looks like a multi part exchange that has a few more steps than the security unlock. We have disassembled the PCM to a high level, but none of the other modules. So to fully emulate it you'd need to do the BCM as well. But I can get some ideas about what the PCM side is doing from the work we have done to date.

We do know how it calculated, it is fairly complicated but it could be emulated if someone had enough time up their sleeve.

Yes but never trust anything you read. Always test to confirm. Try it, datalog and make sure it does what you expect. If it's wrong report back.

Most tuners disable overboost as a hangover from the old CAPA tuning days. Some even turn off the torque module switch. There was good reasons why this was done 10+ years ago, mostly due to lack of access to parameters. The only real reason to do it today -(disabling boost over protection) is lack of time to test the vehicle in cold conditions, lack of time to tune the closed loop PID control or simply due to mechanical reasons (poor wastegate control, eg a BF with a stock flapper and the customer wants 18psi in the mid). The risk of toasting an engine might be outweighed by random over boost cut outs that occur due to lack of budget for the tune or parts. It definitely takes longer to set this up without causing nuisance cut outs, something that more customers are willing to risk than you might think. This said, any tuner should be able to set up the above if time permits and you specifically ask for it. We can walk any tuner through this is they have not previously done it and a customer requests it.