5 hours ago, Zeeb said:

Are you saying that torque from the battery generator/alternator puts strong vibrations through the car? That shouldn't have anything to do with cylinder deactivation?

Yes, after four winters, three autumns and four springs I'm sure! If think deeply, it makes sense. It does not have to be big torque, just enough to put the engine out of balance.  The rpm range around 2.5rpm is also a resonance frequency of the engine mass and the engine suspension. The resonance makes this to be so strong. 

 

1 hour ago, piotrmod said:

It does not have to be big torque, just enough to put the engine out of balance. The rpm range around 2.5rpm is also a resonance frequency of the engine mass and the engine suspension. The resonance makes this to be so strong.

Hmm, interesting theory - so what differences has the ACT/cylinder deactivation delete made? ie What problems were you having in summer that are now fixed?

 

1 hour ago, piotrmod said:

When stopped and engine is on, no single shake to be feel.

Are you saying there was a bad vibration when stopped with engine on that you think was caused by cylinder deactivation? I didn't think there was cylinder deactivation at idle.

 

[You have a manual transmission so this might be a different problem from the cylinder deactivation-related shudder that some people have with the automatic 1.5L (or 1.0L).

With the 1.5L automatic people seem to have the shudder around 1600rpm at 80km/h (50mph) and 50 km/h.]

8 hours ago, Zeeb said:

Are you saying that torque from the battery generator/alternator puts strong vibrations through the car? That shouldn't have anything to do with cylinder deactivation?

Any additional load on the engine will increase the likely hood of the vibrations becoming noticeable especially when at lower RPM. The alternator posses quite a load when trying to charge a battery at higher levels. 

@Zeeb

The unpleasant vibrations are felt in winter, when charging is "aggressive". As hotter as better. This year, my car moved from "aggressive" mode to "summer" mode in one day (silly weather) and all vibrations had gone.

Every engine/transmission configuration will have different own resonance,  since they have a different mass and suspension. EB 1.0 is the less heavy, therefore due to lows of physics, its resonance will be higher and less in amplitude.  

Look:

This is a suspension pillow from Focus MK4 but not mine! It has the attenuator - so they know they have a problem!

 

 

2 hours ago, unofix said:

... The alternator posses quite a load when trying to charge a battery at higher levels.

I see, I didn't know that. Sounds similar to the air conditioner, which could also make things worse or better depending on the resonances.

If disabling cylinder deactivation solves the problem for piotrmod and others, there's still a mystery about why some people don't have this bad vibration at all. Is there another factor as well?

[I only have mild rumbling (maybe slight labouring/lugging) at about 1500 rpm at the bottom of 5th, 6th and 7th gear (automatic)... nothing alarming.]

 

49 minutes ago, piotrmod said:

Every engine/transmission configuration will have different own resonance,  since they have a different mass and suspension. EB 1.0 is the less heavy, therefore due to lows of physics, its resonance will be higher and less in amplitude.

Right this makes sense. I hope you find, come cold weather, that your problem has been fully solved. I might delete cylinder deactivation myself one day - I wonder if it would have any effect on the mild rumbling I have. Maybe it could also increase the lifespan of the engine.

I posted the info about the rica.nl options in an Australian forum and I'm sure some people will be interested to hear about it.

1 hour ago, Zeeb said:

I see, I didn't know that. Sounds similar to the air conditioner, which could also make things worse or better depending on the resonances.

If disabling cylinder deactivation solves the problem for piotrmod and others, there's still a mystery about why some people don't have this bad vibration at all. Is there another factor as well?

[I only have mild rumbling (maybe slight labouring/lugging) at about 1500 rpm at the bottom of 5th, 6th and 7th gear (automatic)... nothing alarming.]

 

Right this makes sense. I hope you find, come cold weather, that your problem has been fully solved. I might delete cylinder deactivation myself one day - I wonder if it would have any effect on the mild rumbling I have. Maybe it could also increase the lifespan of the engine.

I posted the info about the rica.nl options in an Australian forum and I'm sure some people will be interested to hear about it.

The MAP may or may not have disabled Cylinder Deactivation, I doubt it myself. Cylinder Deactivation only occurs at small and rock steady Throttle openings not at Idle or during acceleration, which is what was the reported problem.

Aggressive charging will put more load on an engine but trying to measure that with a Voltmeter is a waste of time, you need an Ammeter as well.

For anyone who does not believe this then see the Screenshots below, both from the same journey, one showing 14.8 Volts and 21 Amps at the start of the journey and the other also showing 14.8 Volts but 1 Amp. The Voltage reading stayed the same throughout that journey but the Alternator was working very hard when pushing out 21 Amps. 

The other thing I would say is that I can switch high load accessories on and off at will while running and my car does not either start to vibrate  or vibrate less when doing so.

13 hours ago, Tizer said:

The MAP may or may not have disabled Cylinder Deactivation, I doubt it myself. Cylinder Deactivation only occurs at small and rock steady Throttle openings not at Idle or during acceleration, which is what was the reported problem.

They certainly claim it does and it looks like they sell it individually without the Stage 1 tune:

Quote

Cylinder Deactivation

50% OFF FOR ORDERS IN COMBINATION WITH A TUNING STAGE.

• Deactivating a cylinder on the EcoBoost engines is a great concept to reduce fuel consumption.
• The EcoBoost engine is equipped with a special 2 mass flywheel and damping clutch to neutralize engine vibrations when using 2 cylinders
• But many owners still have the inconvenience of a vibrating engine and the very noticeable shutdown of the cylinder.
• We were asked if we could disable the deactivation, and we wouldn't be RICA Engineering to pass up this opportunity.
• The result: no annoying vibrations and more power at partial load.

They also offer a transmission only tune and stop/start delete:
https://rica.nl/en/products/chiptuning/?make=11&model=727&variant=4910

---

The mild 'labouring' I get at around 1500rpm in 5th, 6th and 7th gear (auto 1.5L Ecoboost) happens on gentle throttle on a fairly flat road - so I guess it could be related to cylinder deactivation. This is not really at 'rock steady' throttle though so I'm not sure.

But cylinder deactivation is meant to be able to operate at up to 4500rpm which seems very high (maybe very high speed cruising?).

For the people who get the bad shuddering on the 1.5L auto, I think it might happen in 7th gear at around 80km/h, and 5th gear at around 50km/h. (Also possibly 6th gear.)

My guess is that the bad shudder some ppl get on the auto 1.5L Ecoboost needs all of the following:

Normal mode + around 1500rpm (maybe with some turbo boost) + gear 5 or 7 + cylinder deactivation + an unknown factor X.

My car doesn't seem to have the factor X so I only get the mild labouring/lugging.

Hopefully Ford is not hiding a known issue on some cars that is easily cured by disabling cylinder deactivation. The RICA tuning company is the only place I've heard of that claims to be able to disable CD. I hope one day I can DIY it:

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13454

Quote

Can only done via changes in the PCM calibration which Forscan can't do yet. You need to get someone who can take a read of the ecu and can make the changes needed in winols.

5 hours ago, Zeeb said:

They certainly claim it does and it looks like they sell it individually without the Stage 1 tune:

They also offer a transmission only tune and stop/start delete:
https://rica.nl/en/products/chiptuning/?make=11&model=727&variant=4910

---

The mild 'labouring' I get at around 1500rpm in 5th, 6th and 7th gear (auto 1.5L Ecoboost) happens on gentle throttle on a fairly flat road - so I guess it could be related to cylinder deactivation. This is not really at 'rock steady' throttle though so I'm not sure.

But cylinder deactivation is meant to be able to operate at up to 4500rpm which seems very high (maybe very high speed cruising?).

For the people who get the bad shuddering on the 1.5L auto, I think it might happen in 7th gear at around 80km/h, and 5th gear at around 50km/h. (Also possibly 6th gear.)

My guess is that the bad shudder some ppl get on the auto 1.5L Ecoboost needs all of the following:

Normal mode + around 1500rpm (maybe with some turbo boost) + gear 5 or 7 + cylinder deactivation + an unknown factor X.

My car doesn't seem to have the factor X so I only get the mild labouring/lugging.

Hopefully Ford is not hiding a known issue on some cars that is easily cured by disabling cylinder deactivation. The RICA tuning company is the only place I've heard of that claims to be able to disable CD. I hope one day I can DIY it:

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13454

Thanks for the link. I would love to know if they have managed to disable the command or just the Solenoid and whether for those affected if the disable would work for them without the MAP and vice versa.

I don't have any shuddering problems with my manual car but I have done some Live Monitoring and have seen Deactivation at 70 mph (112 km/h) in top gear on the Motorway, even going up a long gently levelling road. An example of that is joining a fast road from a standing start, you would normally get up to cruising speed quickly then back off the Throttle when you reached the desired speed, that is when Deactivation would occur until you moved your foot again.

The key to it being on is small Throttle openings where the are high Pumping Losses. If you even twitch your right foot it will disengage but come back on again when your foot is steady again and on a small opening so it may only be off for a few seconds. If you ever get set up with FORScan, preferably the phone version you can monitor it yourself.

As a lifelong lover of Manual Transmission I can't help thinking it is the gear ratios that Auto cars are put in that cause some peoples hesitation. If I cruised at those engine speeds in any medium sized petrol car with a small engine  I would expect that the engine would labour, with or without Cylinder Deactivation.   

15 hours ago, Tizer said:

Thanks for the link. I would love to know if they have managed to disable the command or just the Solenoid and whether for those affected if the disable would work for them without the MAP and vice versa.

Me too. It would clear up a lot of speculation. They seem to offer CD delete for all Ecoboost 1.5L and 1.0L including hybrid (and I guess both manual and auto).

(I understand the newest hybrids don't have CD, but I wonder about the newest 1.5L Fiesta ST.)

15 hours ago, Tizer said:

If you ever get set up with FORScan, preferably the phone version you can monitor it yourself.

As a lifelong lover of Manual Transmission I can't help thinking it is the gear ratios that Auto cars are put in that cause some peoples hesitation. If I cruised at those engine speeds in any medium sized petrol car with a small engine  I would expect that the engine would labour, with or without Cylinder Deactivation.   

I def will get a FORScan box for this some time. I'm also curious if you can use it to see part and software numbers to see if powertrain hardware or software is relevant to the shudder some people have.

Yes I assumed my labouring in Normal mode was just the gear ratios, especially since there is no issue in Sport mode. But now I want to find out for sure that it's not CD. I would use Sport all the time except it takes the revs up to at least 3000rpm while warming up and cooling down which makes me uncomfortable.

This borderline-labouring in Normal mode is the only real complaint I have; otherwise I love this car.

[But one other thing I don't like is that there is no clear, consistent jolt/nudge feeling when D or R engage (like on a classic auto transmission) - so it's hard to do a fast 3-point turn etc. I have got used to this but it took a long time. There are 2 subtle nudges I can feel most of the time when D engages, if I remember...

I thought it would be useful to have a subtle 'bip' sound when D or R fully engage to help with this. Note: I don't have the long D-to-R shift-delay problem that some people have had. This seems to have been fixed with a PCM update that my 2021 model already had when new.]

8 hours ago, Zeeb said:

They seem to offer CD delete for all Ecoboost 1.5L and 1.0L including hybrid (and I guess both manual and auto).

(I understand the newest hybrids don't have CD, but I wonder about the newest 1.5L Fiesta ST.)

They only offer it to the 1.0 125 MHEV version, not the 155 one. As far as I know the 155 version has the revised engine with a Timing Chain and no Deactivation but I think the 125 engine is the old one with a Wet Belt and may still have Deactivation.

All the Focus 1.5 versions had Deactivation but I don't know about the Fiesta. It may not be needed for emissions because it is a smaller car.

8 hours ago, Zeeb said:

I def will get a FORScan box for this some time. I'm also curious if you can use it to see part and software numbers to see if powertrain hardware or software is relevant to the shudder some people have.

Here is an old screenshot from my car of part of the start up screen. The Laptop version shows exactly the same thing but you don't need to scroll to se everything at once

 

 

8 hours ago, Zeeb said:

[But one other thing I don't like is that there is no clear, consistent jolt/nudge feeling when D or R engage (like on a classic auto transmission) - so it's hard to do a fast 3-point turn etc. I have got used to this but it took a long time. There are 2 subtle nudges I can feel most of the time when D engages, if I remember..

I don't know much about Automatic Transmission but some of the regulars on here do so it might be worth starting a separate post about that.

18 hours ago, Tizer said:

They only offer it to the 1.0 125 MHEV version, not the 155 one. As far as I know the 155 version has the revised engine with a Timing Chain and no Deactivation but I think the 125 engine is the old one with a Wet Belt and may still have Deactivation.

No there is a page for the 155 version offering cylinder deactivation delete as well. I suppose they took out CD from the 1.0Ls in late 2021/2022 (and they stopped making Focuses with the 1.5L maybe at the same time).

18 hours ago, Tizer said:

Here is an old screenshot from my car of part of the start up screen.

Thanks, that's good to see that FORScan shows the part and software info. I assume 'Strategy' is the software version.

My numbers that I got from ETIS (when the public could access it free) are:
[ST-Line 1.5L Ecoboost 182hp automatic, Jan 2021 build]
PCM
Assembly Part No: JX6A-12A650-BKB
Derived Assembly Part No: KX7A-12A650-AVH
Hardware Part No: JX6B-8476-AA
Software Part No: KX7A-14C204-AVH

They are a bit different from yours which is not surprising with manual vs auto. So prob can't determine updates or anything from comparing them, but comparing mine to another auto transmission car might show something.

2 hours ago, Zeeb said:

Thanks, that's good to see that FORScan shows the part and software info. I assume 'Strategy' is the software version.

Strategy is the the version after updating. When my car has been to the Dealers for warranty work I always do a Cache clear (phone version) or new Profile (Laptop version) to check what Modules have been updated. FORScan also shows if there is a newer Hardware version for each Module but not if there are Software updates.

I checked again on the Rica site and I was wrong and even more confused now. All versions of the engine show a price for Deactivation Delete but if you click on Deactivation only it says N/A for all versions so it seems that you may need a Remap and pay extra for the Deactivation, who knows. 

16 hours ago, Tizer said:

Strategy is the the version after updating. ...

Interesting, I ordered a Vgate vLinker FS and skimmed the FORScan forums a bit.

I think I found the cylinder deactivation solenoid but I don't feel confident to unplug it, especially with my 1-year service coming up in a few weeks (in case it logs a check engine error or something). After that I might try unplugging the solenoid and press start button but not engine on, to see if I get a dashboard error light. But I'm a bit afraid to start engine in case it only turns off part of the CD process and floods the engine or who knows what.

I think the 'N/A' on the RICA site just means no stage 1 tune data in that field of the page, so it looks like you can do it without the tune. I don't know if piotrmod got CD delete without the engine or transmission tune.

 

On 6/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, piotrmod said:

Finally, I changed the map, no more ACT for good!

Any update on how this is going piotrmod? Are you sure the improvement wasn't just due to the PCM/transmission calibration being reset?

6 hours ago, Zeeb said:

Any update on how this is going piotrmod? Are you sure the improvement wasn't just due to the PCM/transmission calibration being re

Yes, it was map change. I'm not fluent in this tuning details, what is what, what you mean by "stage 1 tune". I was told that this is map change and it's permanent. If I want to comeback, I need to program my factory map back again. They offer a device to let me do it myself.

15 hours ago, Zeeb said:

I think I found the cylinder deactivation solenoid

The connector for it is the middle one of the 3 on the top right hand side of the engine. The Solenoid is in the centre but the connector is offset, right next to the rearmost Camshaft one. The front one that sits at 45 Degrees is the other Camshaft one.

15 hours ago, Zeeb said:

After that I might try unplugging the solenoid and press start button but not engine on, to see if I get a dashboard error light. But I'm a bit afraid to start engine in case it only turns off part of the CD process and floods the engine or who knows what.

The Solenoid works on a Pulse Width signal from the PCM. I'm sure it will be monitored for an open circuit but I don't know if that is done at Ignition on, Engine running or only when commanded. I suspect the latter but that is only a guess. 

I don't blame you for being reluctant to try disconnecting it. I would only try this if I was having problems and I would monitor whatever I could whilst running with FORScan afterwards.

I don't know if Ford have manufacturers specific error codes for a non working Deactivation Solenoid or if there are OBD ones or if they will generate a check engine light or reduced power mode. What I do know is that the PCM can sense if Deactivation is occurring or not  including even if the Valves are stuck open or closed.

When you get FORScan you will see there are a lot of monitored reasons regarding the actual verses desired status and there is a short transitioning phase too.

I would have thought if the Solenoid was not closing the Valves, which is all it does, that everything else would be aborted. That is only another guess.

 

18 hours ago, piotrmod said:

Yes, it was map change. I'm not fluent in this tuning details, what is what, what you mean by "stage 1 tune". I was told that this is map change and it's permanent.

Oh, I see "RICA ECU Upgrade" is the same thing as "RICA Stage 1" (on the English page).

So there is

1) "RICA ECU Upgrade" = "RICA Stage 1". The engine power and torque boost.       

2) "RICA Cylinder Deactivation" (I think you called this ACT)

Did you just get 2) or also 1)?

[I guess they could call 2) a "map change", but usually I think of a map change as 1) ]

10 hours ago, Tizer said:

The connector for it is the middle one of the 3 on the top right hand side of the engine. The Solenoid is in the centre but the connector is offset, right next to the rearmost Camshaft one. The front one that sits at 45 Degrees is the other Camshaft one.

This is it, right? The 2 orange arrows point to the plug and the round silver-coloured top of the solenoid. I guess the solenoid position on the 1.0L could be a bit different.

(By 'right hand side' of the engine I assume you mean the left side when you open the bonnet? Anyway there is the coolant bottle for reference.)

 

10 hours ago, Tizer said:

... When you get FORScan you will see there are a lot of monitored reasons regarding the actual verses desired status and there is a short transitioning phase too.

I would have thought if the Solenoid was not closing the Valves, which is all it does, that everything else would be aborted. That is only another guess.

Yes I'm 99% sure it wouldn't damage anything to unplug it before starting the engine. I guess it would throw a check engine light or dashboard message that you can't easily turn off. Or maybe it just wouldn't let you start the engine. And perhaps it would take a flash photo of you unplugging it (joking).

I will look in FORScan for these logs, thanks.

3 hours ago, Zeeb said:

Oh, I see "RICA ECU Upgrade" is the same thing as "RICA Stage 1" (on the English page).

So there is

1) "RICA ECU Upgrade" = "RICA Stage 1". The engine power and torque boost.       

2) "RICA Cylinder Deactivation" (I think you called this ACT)

Did you just get 2) or also 1)?

[I guess they could call 2) a "map change", but usually I think of a map change as 1) ]

Ok, I thought you refer to some generic terms.

They offered me both options as a bundle - option 2) 100% option 1) 50% discount. I did only 2). I think they call it "map change" since it is in fact a modification of the map.

ACT stands for something like Active Cylinder Technology.

I'm wonder, if now I read my map, would it be possible to compare it against the factory map and find what they have modified?

 

 

6 minutes ago, piotrmod said:

Ok, I thought you refer to some generic terms.

I think 'Stage 1' tune *is* a generic term for the smallest boost ECU tune. Sometimes a Stage 2 is offered - even more power and torque.

 

12 minutes ago, piotrmod said:

They offered me both options as a bundle - option 2) 100% option 1) 50% discount. I did only 2). I think they call it "map change" since it is in fact a modification of the map.

I see, that's what I thought. What has changed that you can notice? Are you still happy with it?

(I don't know if you can read and compare maps with FORScan. I read someone talking about another program called winOLS.)

9 hours ago, Zeeb said:

This is it, right? The 2 orange arrows point to the plug and the round silver-coloured top of the solenoid. I guess the solenoid position on the 1.0L could be a bit different.

(By 'right hand side' of the engine I assume you mean the left side when you open the bonnet? Anyway there is the coolant bottle for reference.)

That is the correct one. I always side things looking forwards from the drivers seat, which is what manufacturers do to avoid confusion, sometimes components are even marked with a L or R.

Have a read at the FORScan web site before you get started, there is also a How To section for more advanced stuff.  https://forscan.org/documentation.html

6 hours ago, Zeeb said:

(I don't know if you can read and compare maps with FORScan.

You can't do that with FORScan and I'm not sure if FORScan can connect properly to a car with what they call a Custom Tune. Someone who has had this done may know.

[copied from my post on an Australian forum. note I have a 2021 Australian 1.5L automatic.]

Well some news here – after my 1-year service yesterday, curiosity got the better of me and I unplugged the cylinder deactivation solenoid!

- No obvious difference in the mild rumbling/'labouring' at low revs in 5th, 6th and 7th gear. Possibly a subtle difference but nothing big on my car (but my car has no serious shuddering issues).

- For the first 3 or 4 drives yesterday there was no Check Engine/Malfunction Indicator Light on the dashboard, no limp mode. Everything completely normal.

- This morning the Check Engine light came on so I plugged the solenoid back in. I expect the light will turn off after a few cycles. If not, I'll clear the light when I get the Forscan gadget. No other issues. If I left it unplugged for longer I don't know if there would be more consequences – probably not, but maybe a written error message might come up (?)

To unplug this type of plug, slide up the white clip part of the plug first. See the photo in a previous post.

If I had a bad shudder or any powertrain issue I would try disconnecting this (or suggest a dealer try it). I am slightly concerned this could turn up on a computer log during a future service. When I get the Forscan device I will see if it was recorded or if it can be reset/cleared.

I am not concerned that it might have damaged something. As long as you disconnect it with car off, I can't see the harm (not mechanical or financial advice :)). Leaving it off for a long time might not be good for the CD mechanism. Also prob a good idea to waterproof the socket somehow if left unplugged.

[Could this break emissions laws in some countries?]

So for me that's good news I guess. It shows that CD doesn't put any obvious strain on the engine – at least not with my build and PCM software version. The dealer tested the transmission and said I am on the latest version of the software. (I think I can confirm this when I get Forscan.)

(Note I'm pretty sure cylinder deactivation has caused shuddering problems on some of the 1.0L European versions at least.)

Anyway I'm glad I tried this for my own info and hope it might help someone else diagnose powertrain issues.

The Check Engine light turned back off. I read it usually takes 2 times of an error being registered for it to light up, and 3 times once the error is gone for the light to turn off.

I will experiment a bit more once I get the Forscan device. I'd prefer to have cylinder deactivation off for optimum reliability but might leave it until warranty over.

11 hours ago, Zeeb said:

[copied from my post on an Australian forum. note I have a 2021 Australian 1.5L automatic.]

Well some news here – after my 1-year service yesterday, curiosity got the better of me and I unplugged the cylinder deactivation solenoid!

Thanks for the update, I never thought that you ever had the Cylinder Deactivation vibration problem that the some of the 1.0 engined cars have and the results are much as I expected as per my earlier post although I thought that if the light was going to come on it would have done so earlier.

I suspect the fault code triggered was either one for an open circuit on the Solenoid or a specific one for the Valves not closing and it is interesting that it took several CD Commands and driving cycles to trigger the light.

If you do the same experiment again after you have FORScan, and I'm not encouraging you to do so, then you can bring up all the PID's for CD and see exactly what the car is seeing when it tries to activate CD.

11 hours ago, Zeeb said:

When I get the Forscan device I will see if it was recorded or if it can be reset/cleared.

It will probably still be there but you can clear it with FORScan.

With todays connected cars I'm sure that Ford can access a list of all historic DTC's, even cleared ones, although they will probably .deny it if you are having problems that are not currently triggering a fault code. That is nothing to worry about, lots of DTC's, both ones that light up a fault code and ones that don't are thrown up throughout a cars life for a lot of reasons and none of them will say customer disconnected something, say tut tut and give them a slap on the wrist😀.

15 hours ago, Tizer said:

the results are much as I expected as per my earlier post although I thought that if the light was going to come on it would have done so earlier.

I suspect the fault code triggered was either one for an open circuit on the Solenoid or a specific one for the Valves not closing and it is interesting that it took several CD Commands and driving cycles to trigger the light.

If you do the same experiment again after you have FORScan, and I'm not encouraging you to do so, then you can bring up all the PID's for CD and see exactly what the car is seeing when it tries to activate CD.

It's possible I just didn't notice the light come on for a while, and I did re-plug it a couple of times to compare the low-rev behaviour, so maybe that reset the counter for the light.

Yeah, maybe the PIDs will show a number of related errors or maybe just the one.
 

15 hours ago, Tizer said:

It will probably still be there but you can clear it with FORScan.

With todays connected cars I'm sure that Ford can access a list of all historic DTC's, even cleared ones, although they will probably .deny it if you are having problems that are not currently triggering a fault code. That is nothing to worry about, lots of DTC's, both ones that light up a fault code and ones that don't are thrown up throughout a cars life for a lot of reasons and none of them will say customer disconnected something, say tut tut and give them a slap on the wrist😀.

In FordPass I have both switches for connectivity off, but I imagine a master log of diagnostic codes and warning lights is easily accessible during a service through the OBD port. I guess this is something that can't be cleared with Forscan (?) and shouldn't be anyway.

Right yes I guess there's huge amounts of stuff logged, but if I decided to leave the solenoid unplugged most of the time the dealer might ask me if I had any warning lights or even if I modified anything... especially if there was (unrelated) engine or transmission repairs needed.

In that case I would probably tell the truth because I wouldn't want them wasting time chasing down a solenoid, wiring or CD fault that didn't exist...

I guess if I did that and needed an engine or transmission repair not related to cylinder deactivation - I could be unlucky and they could deny a warranty repair. They shouldn't if it's not related to cylinder deactivation but maybe they would (?) Supposedly, even some custom tunes don't void your warranty.

2 hours ago, Zeeb said:

In FordPass I have both switches for connectivity off, but I imagine a master log of diagnostic codes and warning lights is easily accessible during a service through the OBD port. I guess this is something that can't be cleared with Forscan (?) and shouldn't be anyway.

I'm not sure how it works when all Connectivity settings are off and I don't think FORScan can clear old codes that are no longer showing.

If all Connectivity settings are off then I'm not sure if your car can get the over the air updates to the TCU. These are different to the Sync updates that can be done via Wi-Fi. You don't need Ford Pass to be activated but I'm not sure if they will work with no Connectivity or not.

I create a new profile every time my FORScan phone App is updated and I have had a few TCU updates in the background in the last three years. Mine has moved from JZ7T-14G139-CN  to -CT.

The last update from CS to CT was only noticed after my car had been in for some warranty work to fix a Navigation voice problem which involved doing a lot with the Software and I was checking what Modules they had updated, so it may have been there, over the air, before.