F-xxx Ford Diesel trucks
(Regarding UltraGauge Blue, see below)
Early on in the life of UltraGauge several Ford Diesel Truck owners reported issues. The Same Gas powered vehicles have no issues. These issues were specific to the mileage gauges. For example, after some period of time, the MPG gauges would show "ERR". No other gauges such as RPM, coolant temperature, Fuel Trim, etc. are affected. Unfortunately those owners experiencing issues were never able to provide enough information so that we could determine the issue. As a result we simply placed the Ford E/F-xxx series Diesel vehicles on our compatibility exceptions list.
Since this time, we have acquired several donor Ford Diesel ECMs to perform our own testing. The ECMs span the years from 98 to 2008. They are from 6.0L, 6.4L & 7.3L Diesels. All testing to date has found that while the ECMs are not fully OBDII compatible, they have no issue with UltraGauge, except for Trouble code issues.: See below. We have also tested in a 2003 7.3L truck in the field. Again, no trouble was found.
However, we believe this issue is real and it may be one of the following:
1. Limited to select vehicles, and more specifically select ECM firmware. There may be a firmware update from Ford that resolves the issue. This sort of OBDII issue would not be something Ford would admit. So look for any Firmware update. There is a series of numbers on your ECM and using these you can determine if there is an updated version available. The numbers format resembles "1C2F-12A650-AFE", and are printed on a white bar code label placed on the ECM.
Please use this database to check your ECM:
This 3rd-party database may not be comprehensive. You can also plug your series number into Google.
You can also try plugging your VIN into the ford recall database: Ford Recalls. However, this database is typically for serious recalls. Call your local Ford Service center and ask if there is a Firmware update based on your VIN. They may ask why. Say "I just want to be sure I have the latest and safest Firmware".
2. Some overall system related bug. While UltraGauge directly connects to the vehicle's ECM, the ECM communicates with other systems in the vehicle. For example, the ECM communicates with the transmission, body, ABS, and other modules. The issue may be related to some interaction between the ECM and these other systems. Such an issue would not be found in our bench level ECM testing.
3. Ford Diesels support very few gauges officially. Using standardized communication, a very limited set of parameters are available through the OBDII. UltraGauge uses an advanced scanning method to find parameters that the manufacturer has hidden. When UltraGauge is placed in Safe Mode, only the official standard parameters Ford wishes to make available are present. When in Enhanced mode, UltraGauge will find the hidden parameters as well. The Ford Diesels have a good many hidden parameters. It is possible that one or more of the discovered hidden parameters are phantoms; not real parameters. If this is the case, the values displayed by UltraGauge for these parameters will be non-sensical. For example, Absolute Manifold Pressure (MAP) might show a value of zero, or may initially show a value and then become zero. UltraGauge includes a function to force the correct parameter used.
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If you are still interested in giving UltraGauge a try in your Ford Diesel vehicle, please do so only if you are willing to retask UltraGauge to another vehicle, or you are willing to work with Support to find a solution. If ultimately the issue is Ford's ECM, and there is no update from Ford, no solution may be possible.
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UltraGauge Blue
Some early Ford Diesel ECUs do not support reading the VIN or trouble codes. The MX does not read the VIN, however, UltraGauge Blue does. The ECM will stop functioning when a request is made to read the VIN. It is necessary to cycle the ignition switch to recover. This is a clear violation of the OBDII standard and as such these ECUs are not OBDII compatible. We have specifically seen this issue on 7.3L ECUs. It is recommended that the ECU be updated to the latest firmware version. However, it is unknown if Ford has actually corrected this issue.
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Trouble Codes:
Some customers have reported that when when trouble codes are accesses either manually or automatically, the ECUs stop functioning. Others with the same general vehicles have no problems. Regardless, Automatic Trouble codes reads can be disabled in all UltraGauge.