Hi all.

 

May be a very silly question but is there a way to upgrade the software of my car?

 

I have a mk3 2012 titanium-x

 

Thanks in advance.

only if you have a problem with the software, and only ford can do that for you, and it don`t normally come cheap 

Updating the software is not part of normal scheduled services. Most Ford dealers have the policy to only update the software if there is a substantial reason for it. Being not part of normal scheduled services updating the software must be paid for seperately.

Because of this most Ford cars do still have the factory installed software. 

 

If you are prepared to pay for updating the software any Ford dealer should be glad to do it for you. My experience is that updating the software of all modules can take up to 2 Hours on a Focus MK3. 

 

I do all maintenance and services myself on my own Focus MK3 and also on some other Focus MK3 cars from relatives. I do not want to depend on a Ford dealer so I invested in a Ford VCM 2 diagnostic interface that can be used with both the Ford IDS and Ford FRDS diagnostic systems. With these systems I am able to update and reprogram every single module of basically every Ford model. I am a big fan of updating the software. Software updates are there for a reason. They usually solve (known) issues or improve the functionality or characteristics of a particular module. In my opinion you should at least update the PCM, IPC and BCM. 

Evans Halshaw Ford updated my Focus software when it went in for an O2 Sensor replacement.

 

You could always chat up the Ford grease monkey's! 

oy!! less of the grease monkey! lol

24 minutes ago, iantt said:

oy!! less of the grease monkey! lol

How yo doin'?

 

12 hours ago, JamesMalin said:

How yo doin'?

lol

17 hours ago, JW1982 said:

Updating the software is not part of normal scheduled services. Most Ford dealers have the policy to only update the software if there is a substantial reason for it. Being not part of normal scheduled services updating the software must be paid for seperately.

Because of this most Ford cars do still have the factory installed software. 

 

If you are prepared to pay for updating the software any Ford dealer should be glad to do it for you. My experience is that updating the software of all modules can take up to 2 Hours on a Focus MK3. 

 

I do all maintenance and services myself on my own Focus MK3 and also on some other Focus MK3 cars from relatives. I do not want to depend on a Ford dealer so I invested in a Ford VCM 2 diagnostic interface that can be used with both the Ford IDS and Ford FRDS diagnostic systems. With these systems I am able to update and reprogram every single module of basically every Ford model. I am a big fan of updating the software. Software updates are there for a reason. They usually solve (known) issues or improve the functionality or characteristics of a particular module. In my opinion you should at least update the PCM, IPC and BCM. 

Same :)

The IPC Upgrade to the 4 way screen is worth the VCM cost alone! ;)

Thanks guys. Don't think I will do it then lol

 

What do I need to enable auto locking?

1. A decent quality ELM327 interface (preferably a modified version to switch between the HS-CAN en MS-CANbus network).

2. The free FoCCCus or Forscan software.

On 07/07/2017 at 3:47 PM, JW1982 said:

1. A decent quality ELM327 interface (preferably a modified version to switch between the HS-CAN en MS-CANbus network).

2. The free FoCCCus or Forscan software.

What else can I do with the software?

It''s more what you SHOULDN'T do with it that's important! I have a thread about nearly (but not really) bricking my car.

I don't mean to put you off though cos I was a bit stupid with it. It's well worth getting the elm just for fault code reading.

FoCCCus can read and write all the information and settings for each module of the car, though it's kinda homebrew and the devs haven't figured out what a lot of the hexbytes do.

Forscan can also clear dtcs but can give live telemetry, readings from the cars sensors and stuff I'm not cool enough to understand. 

Just be sure to take a backup of your settings before you tweak, and don't read or write with FoCCCus with the engine running!

On 06/07/2017 at 7:56 PM, JW1982 said:

Updating the software is not part of normal scheduled services. Most Ford dealers have the policy to only update the software if there is a substantial reason for it. Being not part of normal scheduled services updating the software must be paid for seperately.

Because of this most Ford cars do still have the factory installed software. 

 

If you are prepared to pay for updating the software any Ford dealer should be glad to do it for you. My experience is that updating the software of all modules can take up to 2 Hours on a Focus MK3. 

 

I do all maintenance and services myself on my own Focus MK3 and also on some other Focus MK3 cars from relatives. I do not want to depend on a Ford dealer so I invested in a Ford VCM 2 diagnostic interface that can be used with both the Ford IDS and Ford FRDS diagnostic systems. With these systems I am able to update and reprogram every single module of basically every Ford model. I am a big fan of updating the software. Software updates are there for a reason. They usually solve (known) issues or improve the functionality or characteristics of a particular module. In my opinion you should at least update the PCM, IPC and BCM. 

I don't recommend updates especially if you have a remap. I had mine updated last week and it messed the remap up so much so i have taken the map off the car.  I now have a £400 remap I can't use. The ford dealer won't go back.

 

That happened to my son luckily Peron are really good and put the map back on for him at no cost. He now tells ford not to do any updates every time he's in there


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ive updated the pcm 4 times and each time reloaded the bluefin map with no issues with bluefin modifying the map for free each time.( basically i think they just change the pcm file id)

18 hours ago, iantt said:

ive updated the pcm 4 times and each time reloaded the bluefin map with no issues with bluefin modifying the map for free each time.( basically i think they just change the pcm file id)

No they told me that ford changed some of the maximum torque figures which the map doesn't agree with. They sent an updated map but didn't fix any issues.

 

In fact iantt or anyone you may be able to help. I had the car go I to limp mode because of this and it was at quite a high speed, it felt like the engine locked up and it made quite a big bang. I got the smell of burnt clurch even though my foot wasn't on the pedal. Is it possible the engine locked up and that's why the clutch smelt? It was a bit worrying...

I'll just stick to the auto locking then lol

2 hours ago, bananacat said:

I'll just stick to the auto locking then lol

If it isnt remapped and you dont want to remap then update the software, there was nothing wrong with that part of it on mine, it was just when the remap was added.