The Complete DIY Guide to Updating Your Mach-E with FDRS

[Neil4Real]

I use a USB 2.0 extender too and it has worked well - the only annoying thing is running in and out of the house to turn the ignition on and off again... Make sure the extender is connected directly to a powered hub or to a powered USB port on your desktop. A passive hub probably won't supply enough power to the booster.

Get splashtop or chrome remote desktop, then use a tablet or your phone to remotely control your computer. Super easy to setup, even someone with no tech experience can follow the directions. Then you just sit in your car, or by it, and use your phone or tablet to control your desktop and keep the updates moving along!

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[machefan]

Just read all 29 pages...

Only 2 weeks into the wait for my order, so I'm hoping and praying that by the time I get an actual car all of this, will be solved and OTA will seamlessly bring me updates.

I'm not a techie, but am an early adopter and have been playing with cars all my life. This thread reminds me of the early days of cooking ROMs for my smart phones. Here I was freaking out about bricking a $300 phone, and you guys are aying with $60k cars.

I'll be following from a distance, but one question immediately comes to mind: where is the backup before you start this process, so you can restore if you brick the car? Is that what Forscan is for?

All of the warnings are in the first post. This is not for the masses this is for a select number of folks who have patience, funds and generally a decent technical background. I have been flashing various devices most of my entire life since late teens. Ford has done a good job of protecting the car from technician user error. Ford built the MME to deal with failures as they know the dealer techs who generally are the jack of all trades are not software experts. We all started somewhere, you can choose to start with your MME or have the dealer upgrade during service visits. I am doing this to learn another trade, I have full confidence that I can handle the task at hand. With that said I take full responsibility for my actions. If it gets bricked I will have to get it towed to the dealer. So my 60K car will be fine after the dealer works with Ford engineering to fix it. If they charge me, they charge me but I somehow doubt that will happen.

Follow the steps carefully and all will be well.

PS - It's not a cheap setup plus you also have to pay for software access .

Forscan is more to view and make changes, FDRS is the software portal.

 

[machefan]

I use a USB 2.0 extender too and it has worked well - the only annoying thing is running in and out of the house to turn the ignition on and off again... Make sure the extender is connected directly to a powered hub or to a powered USB port on your desktop. A passive hub probably won't supply enough power to the booster.

I have a bench in my garage and purchased a powered extender.

Thanks!

 

[Husky44]

All of the warnings are in the first post. This is not for the masses this is for a select number of folks who have patience, funds and generally a decent technical background. I have been flashing various devices most of my entire life since late teens. Ford has done a good job of protecting the car from technician user error. Ford built the MME to deal with failures as they know the dealer techs who generally are the jack of all trades are not software experts. We all started somewhere, you can choose to start with your MME or have the dealer upgrade during service visits. I am doing this to learn another trade, I have full confidence that I can handle the task at hand. With that said I take full responsibility for my actions. If it gets bricked I will have to get it towed to the dealer. So my 60K car will be fine after the dealer works with Ford engineering to fix it. If they charge me, they charge me but I somehow doubt that will happen.

Follow the steps carefully and all will be well.

PS - It's not cheap a setup plus you also have to pay for software access .

Forscan is more to view and make changes, FDRS is the software portal.

All the warnings, caveats, and provisos understood and accepted.

When I do digital tunes on my car, I can save the current tune, so if everything goes bad, I have a reset point. Is this part of the process?

 

[bshaw]

All the warnings, caveats, and provisos understood and accepted.

When I do digital tunes on my car, I can save the current tune, so if everything goes bad, I have a reset point. Is this part of the process?

The modules are each updated individually, and FDRS manages the dependencies between them. Even if you could snapshot a restore point for a particular module, there is no guarantee it would be compatible with other upgrades that were successful.

If you have experience doing similar things and willing to invest the money and time (some updates take hours), then there is a good chance you'll be successful with FDRS.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

@mpshizzle - didn't you do the 21G01 updates yourself? what step(s) ended up being the longest? I just got my Mongoose, and am trying to plan how I can squeeze updates in around some busy upcoming work days.

Also, there are some TSBs I've seen that talk about recalibrating the IPMA...does this come up at all when DIYing updates? I think I saw some post saying the process is pretty automatic, but I can't remember where I saw it.

 

[generaltso]

@mpshizzle - didn't you do the 21G01 updates yourself? what step(s) ended up being the longest? I just got my Mongoose, and am trying to plan how I can squeeze updates in around some busy upcoming work days.

Also, there are some TSBs I've seen that talk about recalibrating the IPMA...does this come up at all when DIYing updates? I think I saw some post saying the process is pretty automatic, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Updating the IPMA is the longest part. All the updates in 21G01 took me over 4 hours. You don’t really have to calibrate the IPMA after. It will calibrate itself on your first drive.

 

[mpshizzle]

@mpshizzle - didn't you do the 21G01 updates yourself? what step(s) ended up being the longest? I just got my Mongoose, and am trying to plan how I can squeeze updates in around some busy upcoming work days.

Also, there are some TSBs I've seen that talk about recalibrating the IPMA...does this come up at all when DIYing updates? I think I saw some post saying the process is pretty automatic, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Updating the IPMA is the longest part. All the updates in 21G01 took me over 4 hours. You don’t really have to calibrate the IPMA after. It will calibrate itself on your first drive.

This!
Same experience as @generaltso but I'm STILL waiting for server side activation ?. Somehow fell through the cracks

 

[KevinS]

This!
Same experience as @generaltso but I'm STILL waiting for server side activation ?. Somehow fell through the cracks

Same here. And interestingly, my Sync update date is noted as 'null' in the Scriptable iOS app. I did the updates last weekend when the FDRS servers were acting strangely in regards to Vehicle History. No idea if the two are related in any way.

 

[mpshizzle]

Same here. And interestingly, my Sync update date is noted as 'null' in the Scriptable iOS app. I did the updates last weekend when the FDRS servers were acting strangely in regards to Vehicle History. No idea if the two are related in any way.

Do you see "hands free lane centering" as an option in your sync screen?

 

[KevinS]

Do you see "hands free lane centering" as an option in your sync screen?

Yes, it's all there, seems to be installed correctly... just no install date in the app. Says 'null.' I may try again this weekend to see if it updates the install date correctly.

 

[mpshizzle]

Yes, it's all there, seems to be installed correctly... just no install date in the app. Says 'null.' I may try again this weekend to see if it updates the install date correctly.

I'm not sure there's a way to install it once it disappears from the FORscan list

 

[KevinS]

I'm not sure there's a way to install it once it disappears from the FORscan list

I have FDRS, and I can reinstall the module that way.

 

[nmundo]

Maybe someone who's a bit more experienced with FDRS can help me out here. On 3/25 I attempted to do TSB 22-2117 myself, realized the laptop I was using for it does not have an ethernet port so used an USB-Ethernet adapter. It failed, I have 3 different adapters and tried any combination of adapters at either end of the cable but it always failed at 'establishing ethernet connection'. I decided I would hold off on that and did the rest of the module updates that were available since there were a lot. PCM, CCM, CMR, IPMA, PSCM, SOBDMC, OBCC, IPC, HVAC, RFA. I was able to complete all of them except for IPC, after doing some of the others an APIM update showed up which also wasn't able to complete.

The next day I borrowed a laptop with an ethernet port, attempted to do the TSB 22-2117 fix and it just fails before even asking me to connect any of the cables. I get 'Procedure Unsuccessful - FlashDiagFileOverCAN Failed to flash MU5T-14H116-CA'.
- Tried restarting car/laptop and nothing.
- Then I cleared DTCs also didn't help.
- Looked at DTCs and found these relevant ones:

- Tried to reset APIM and GWM configuration and they both fail.

It seems like updating those other modules before doing the TSB messed something up and now the versions are not what FDRS expects them to be. I also no longer have lane centering. Lane assist still works but I can't turn on lane centering through the settings, clicking on the option does nothing.

I do not know enough about FDRS or module flashing to know what else to attempt so welcome any input from anyone with more experience. I work in tech so not afraid to get my hands dirty but at this point I think I've reached as far as I can go troubleshooting things myself. Only had a 2 day FDRS license, want to avoid dropping another $50+ and start the 2 day clock if I don't have anything else to try.

 

[noway]

What versions do you currently have on APIM, GWM, ABS and IPC?

The GWM, APIM, IPMA and IPC modules are different from the other ones since they have multiple images that has to be written, not just one single image, so it is very possible to get those in a non-working state if just some of them are uploaded but not all. I would think the problem is entirely in the APIM (frontend) module since alle the other modules are clearly running and working.

You shuould focus on trying to get that recovery program for the stuck APIM update to work, since it probably all is caused by that. Possibly test the ethernet connection. It is all kind of unstandard plugs and adapters for that so it is very possible that it just is not connected properly. Also the network cable used to run between those two network interfaces MAY have to be a crossover cable (adapters that does not do crossover automatically do exist). See if it actually makes a link and if there are any traffic moving over before trying again. If there is no link or there is no traffic at alle there is probably something wrong with the cables.

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