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

[Texas-E]

I totally agree. Daisy chaining vehicles is a very bad idea. As a point of clarification, it was an RV battery that I was using. Not an actual RV. Just a giant battery I happen to have sitting in my garage.

Still not a great idea. Don't recommend but it did the job

I didn't mean for it to sound like I was calling you out. I was just trying to clarify that with the right tools, it isn't all that complex. I went back and forth on my power supply dilemma and decided to order a good unit and pay once/cry once.

For me, it was simply how much was it worth for me to avoid the dealer! I live in a big city with a number of dealers and the lack of understanding of the Mach-E blows my mind. I figure when this gets to be a smooth process, I can sell my mastertech II and get back part of my money.

Great write-up on the process!!!

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[i8iridium]

I totally agree. Daisy chaining vehicles is a very bad idea. As a point of clarification, it was an RV battery that I was using. Not an actual RV. Just a giant battery I happen to have sitting in my garage.

Still not a great idea. Don't recommend but it did the job

I feel attacked here. ?

 

[mpshizzle]

For me, it was simply how much was it worth for me to avoid the dealer! I live in a big city with a number of dealers and the lack of understanding of the Mach-E blows my mind.

Oh my gosh! Honestly! The lack of training is astounding and rather disheartening

I feel attacked here. ?

I applaud your ingenuity though. Mustang to mustang. Love it ?

 

[Mach-Lee]

I'll mention another possible scan tool that might work that only costs $109. It's got some drawbacks though being a cheap Chinese clone. It's called the VXDIAG VCX Nano.

https://www.amazon.com/VXDIAG-Nano-Ford-Mazda-V100/dp/B01EFWPAN0

Warning: The software sets off a bunch of trojan warnings with your antivirus software. These could be real or false alarms (I'm not sure), but I would recommend you use it on a laptop you don't really care about that doesn't have any sensitive files.

When you get it, do not install any software from the CD, download the install files directly from the manufacturer here: VX Manager

Install the software, update the device firmware to latest, and install the J2534 driver. If you have install issues, disable your antivirus and restart. After things are installed the VXDIAG will show up as a device in FDRS (install per directions in OP). After you're done updating your vehicle, I recommend uninstalling the software and doing a full antivirus scan to remove the leftovers.

I've used this successfully to update my other Ford vehicles via FJDS, which is an older version of this software, nothing bad happened. FDRS also appeared to work, it connected to my vehicle and read modules, etc., but my vehicles aren't supported by FDRS so there was nothing I could "do" with the software. Since both programs use J2534 interfaces, I'm fairly confident VXDIAG will work for Mach-E updates in FDRS but I don't have my Mach-E yet to check 100%. If somebody wants to try, this would be cheaper than the Mongoose interface. Normally I wouldn't recommend it because of the very shady software but I know some of you are desperate for updates.

I'll also emphasize the importance of having a good battery power supply connected properly during the update process (connect to the negative body, not the battery). The Mach-E will draw 25-30 amps during the updates and you must maintain the voltage or the updates will fail and possibly brick your modules. Especially important for the longer IPMA and RFA updates. If you don't have a charger or supply that is quite big enough, use jumper cables to connect a fully-charged large battery that has a reserve capacity (RC) of at least 180 minutes. Make sure everything is fully recharged before doing the IPMA update (the laptop should be connected to power too for the 1.5 hour update).

 

[mpshizzle]

Warning: The software sets off a bunch of trojan warnings with your antivirus software. These could be real or false alarms (I'm not sure), but I would recommend you use it on a laptop you don't really care about that doesn't have any sensitive files.

What a glowing review ??

In all seriousness, thanks for the input on this one! Options are always good.

 

[Eric_C_Boston]

Thanks for the thread. I am interested in doing this.

There are two types of VCM 2 clones. The cheaper ones are similar to VXdiag devices and do not work as the drivers are different. The more expensive ones are "Full Chip" clones of the VCM 2.

This guy compares the two types.


Here is his earlier experience with the VXdiag clone.

 

[Chainspell]

Does the software provide patch notes for each module’s available update?

 

[mpshizzle]

Does the software provide patch notes for each module’s available update?

It does not. I think it's assumed that there are TSBs that provide that, and you've looked at them. Did I try to find the TSBs? No. No I did not

 

[Eric_C_Boston]

I decided to spend the extra money and go with the Mongoose Plus Ford. The company, OPUS, seems to cater to independent repair shops and has some interesting projects on their website.

One possible reason some J2534 Pass-thru devices do not work with Ford is they need to support J2534-2 optional features. Recent Ford vehicles bring out another CAN bus on another pin on the OBD2 connector. One optional feature is a pin selection mechanism.

At first I though J2534 was only used for module programing. I found out that it can replace my OBDLink-EX when I use Forscan.

 

[mpshizzle]

I decided to spend the extra money and go with the Mongoose Plus Ford. The company, OPUS, seems to cater to independent repair shops and has some interesting projects on their website.

One possible reason some J2534 Pass-thru devices do not work with Ford is they need to support J2534-2 optional features. Recent Ford vehicles bring out another CAN bus on another pin on the OBD2 connector. One optional feature is a pin selection mechanism.

At first I though J2534 was only used for module programing. I found out that it can replace my OBDLink-EX when I use Forscan.

Yes this was another selling point for me as well. I will not always have FDRS but I will have Forscan

 

[tonesto7]

If you have an official UCDS adapter it’s works really well with FRDS as well

 

[gafear]

If there is anyone in Chicago area that knows how to do this, I'm happy to contribute to your license and costs and share a few beers while we update the car

 

[Neil4Real]

Can you go into more detail regarding the 12v power supply? What's a good legit thing to use for it? How do we do it? Thanks!

 

[mpshizzle]

Can you go into more detail regarding the 12v power supply? What's a good legit thing to use for it? How do we do it? Thanks!

I actually don't have one, so I did the giant battery method. It appears others have had success with that as well. Obviously not the best.. but if it's fully charged it seems to be ok ?‍

If you want to go with the more legit route, perhaps @breeves002 can chime in here? It sounds like he's got a pretty good setup and might be able to make a power supply recommendation.

 

[tonesto7]

I actually don't have one, so I did the giant battery method. It appears others have had success with that as well. Obviously not the best.. but if it's fully charged it seems to be ok ?‍

If you want to go with the more legit route, perhaps @breeves002 can chime in here? It sounds like he's got a pretty good setup and might be able to make a power supply recommendation.

LOL... Just do like I did and run jumper cables from my wife's car to my 12V battery.
I'm pretty sure the longest module upgrade is the IPMA which takes about 2.5hrs.
Since the upgrade shuts down all modules during the update the power draw from the battery is very low.

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