VAPS Actuator Assembly Replacement

[theophile]

Well my car is fixed!

Got a used FEM off EBay and took it to Ford to reprogram. My steering is back like it should be now.

I was wrong about the BRN/GRN wire being shorted to ground. It goes to pin 2 in the FEM which is a ground so it should be shorted. This is an error in the Ford shop manual trouble shooting the VAPS.

What all did the dealer need in order to be able to flash the new module? More specifically, did they need the car? I was hoping I'd be able to just bring the two modules into the service department with one labeled old and the other labeled new. But when I finally got a human being at the Ford dealership to answer the telephone, the service manager told me that I would have to bring in the car and the new module would already have to be installed in it. I said that there is a risk that the car might not be driveable with the new module if it came off a car with a significantly different configuration, and she suggested I have it towed there.

That sounds completely absurd to me. On the other hand, I know that the body control modules function as a network so I suppose it's possible that somewhere in the flashing process it might be necessary for the tool to be able to see the rest of the module network. But I had been assuming that the FEM just has a flash RAM chip and that you can hook up the module on a bench and read/write to the flash RAM using some proprietary tool or scanner. In fact, I was hoping that the dealer might not even need the old module, but could determine what configuration to flash to the new module using the barcode or serial numbers on the label on the front of the old module.

Speaking of which, does anyone know whether there is a way I could use the information on the label of the new module I bought to determine the VIN or configuration of the car it came from? If it was configured the same as my car, I might just try swapping the modules and seeing if I can get lucky.

 

[Telco]

What all did the dealer need in order to be able to flash the new module? More specifically, did they need the car? I was hoping I'd be able to just bring the two modules into the service department with one labeled old and the other labeled new. But when I finally got a human being at the Ford dealership to answer the telephone, the service manager told me that I would have to bring in the car and the new module would already have to be installed in it. I said that there is a risk that the car might not be driveable with the new module if it came off a car with a significantly different configuration, and she suggested I have it towed there.

That sounds completely absurd to me. On the other hand, I know that the body control modules function as a network so I suppose it's possible that somewhere in the flashing process it might be necessary for the tool to be able to see the rest of the module network. But I had been assuming that the FEM just has a flash RAM chip and that you can hook up the module on a bench and read/write to the flash RAM using some proprietary tool or scanner. In fact, I was hoping that the dealer might not even need the old module, but could determine what configuration to flash to the new module using the barcode or serial numbers on the label on the front of the old module.

Speaking of which, does anyone know whether there is a way I could use the information on the label of the new module I bought to determine the VIN or configuration of the car it came from? If it was configured the same as my car, I might just try swapping the modules and seeing if I can get lucky.

No, tow it in. It's not absurd and is becoming more and the more the norm. The OEMs are working to making the cars where only the dealers can work on them and at some point in the future you can expect the OEMs to try and put digital rights management on their cars so they can make it illegal for you to work on your own car. John Deere is trying this in the tractor world. What needs to happen at that point is a test case where someone sues the OEM to make them pay for any repairs to "their" part of the car if it makes the rest of the car unusable.

 

[joegr]

The dealer wouldn't have any way to power the FEM up without it being in an LS. They probably don't have a spare LS laying around to use for this. They shouldn't need to old one at all. You won't have to tow it. The car will drive just fine with the used FEM. In fact, try it a little while first. It may not need any reprogramming.

 

[theophile]

The dealer wouldn't have any way to power the FEM up without it being in an LS. They probably don't have a spare LS laying around to use for this. They shouldn't need to old one at all. You won't have to tow it. The car will drive just fine with the used FEM. In fact, try it a little while first. It may not need any reprogramming.

That's what I'm going to do.

I guess I'm just not understanding what "programming" this module actually means. I was envisioning simply plugging the box into a proprietary scanner tool that would both power it and be able to read/write to the flash RAM, and I figured they'd need the old one so they could "copy" the contents of its flash RAM in order to "paste" it into the flash RAM of the new one.

The service manual says:

Prior to removal of the module, it is necessary to upload module configuration information to the appropriate diagnostic equipment. This information needs to be downloaded into the new module once installed.

I suppose that may not be necessary if the "diagnostic equipment" they use now has a stored library of configurations.

Anyway, I'm just going to go for it, swap it out and see what happens. I can pull codes from this module so if something is screwy and throws codes, I should be able to see it. If it doesn't throw codes, I suppose I'll just have to keep an eye out for things. Anyone know if there is a master list somewhere of all the systems and components that are controlled by the FEM?

 

[theophile]

I swapped out the FEM this afternoon. The most deceptively difficult step in the repair manual was "position carpet aside."

Anyway, fingers crossed but everything seems to be working properly so far. No more codes and man is the steering ever smooth! I had forgotten how easy it is supposed to be!