Swapping BCM with PCM

[3Katz]

You are an effing legend. There was one plug under the column which looked plugged in but has a lever/cam you're supposed to pull over and I hadn't done it. Lights on now thanks mate, might lube the turbo up and see if she starts... Thanks for your help!

[3Katz]

I have got the car all up and running however it went straight into limp mode. It drives ok but only in 3rd? gear with the D flashing, I believe it's because it's not picking up a speed sensor as the speedo does not work. The (!) light is on, the ABS light is on and the Traction Control light is on, I think the airbag light is on as well. The 4 speed auto is exactly the same as far as I know in both my RTV ute and the sedan I used as a donor. I've swapped nearly everything from the donor into my ute, should I swap over the ABS unit as well? This seems to be the one thing in common with the errors displayed however I don't understand how the car could know the difference in ABS units from one car to the other?

Thanks guys - nearly there!

[Puffwagon]

The only time my car was stuck in 3rd was when I was messing around with the vss source, in the earlier hp tuner versions, when I was changing the speed limiter.

 

Iirc I changed it to abs for the speed signal to get it to work but I may be mistaken as it was a couple of years ago when I did it. 

 

Mine has a zf though. 

 

I don't know if that's going to be any help but it's something. 

[3Katz]

Thanks, any ideas are helpful at this stage. I've checked the brake distribution blocks and the ute has 5 brake lines coming out of it and the donor car has 6. So ute is non ABS and donor is ABS. There are electrical plugs attached so I imagine the PCM is expecting to see an ABS type unit. I can't swap it over as the brake lines are different due to IRS on sedan and live axle in the ute. There must be a way to tell the PCM it's not supposed to see a ABS type unit, what do you think?

[Puffwagon]

13 minutes ago, 3Katz said:

There must be a way to tell the PCM it's not supposed to see a ABS type unit, what do you think?

 

There will be but I'm not sure what, as I don't do this stuff every day and haven't needed to deal with this specific issue.

 

Apart from someone else commenting here (guys you know who you are!), I'd recommend hitting up the search bar or checking out various other forums that might have this info. Head over to the hp tuners forum if you haven't already. Between this forum and that one, I've found the answer to pretty much everything I've ever needed.

 

I know ya's are busy fellas but lemme just tag @Ralph Wiggum, @JETURBO, @rollex, @DarrylC.

[3Katz]

Thanks Puffwagon I appreciate your help, I've played with cars a fair bit but always oldies. These electronic issues are challenging - I'm on a steep learning curve but I believe I'm getting a fairly good grasp of it as I go. I think I have just about worn out the search bar...

Ralph Wiggum has helped me out in another thread so if he or any of the other guys have ideas I'd love to hear their thoughts as well. 

I will head over to hp tuners and do some searching there as well.

[Kumanyoko]

How did you go with this problem 3Katz? My ute is showing the exact same symptoms in limp mode. I bought it cheap as is and worked out the motor had been swapped but don't know if the PCM and matching BCM were swapped too.

[3Katz]

Hi, I did get this problem sorted but needed the help of a tuner with his software. The biggest issue we had was the ute ABS module was faulty and not permitting communication of the various components through the CANBUS system. It worked ok before I did the transplant but it didn't like the foreign components and wouldn't let the tuner talk to the system. It took ages to figure because although we suspected the ABS module, when we replaced it, it was with another faulty module... Once we put a good one in he could talk to everything it was fine and he could sync everything up. If it wasn't for the faulty ABS module I believe everything would've worked fine having swapped ICC, BCM, ign barrel and PCM from donor car, just bad luck. 

Is your ute a turbo conversion someone has started? 

Edited 30/01/19 01:47 PM by 3Katz

[Kumanyoko]

Mine is a V8. Guy wrote off his RTV so took the suspension parts and put it into a V8 ute. I saw your post on setting up the locking diff which is a big help thank you. Did some investigations with engine numbers and found the engine wasn't original plus the wrecker's writing on the air box.

I spoke to a Ford guy and he said if the PCM and BCM aren't a match there will be problems so I'm thinking my next attempt would be to get a matched pair out of a wreck along with ICC and key barrel. I do have ABS modules because I want to put a passenger airbag into my LPG ute and the wrecker didn't know which module I need to go from single to dual airbag so he sent me 3, the types are A, B and C I think without digging them out of the box.

 

There is a company in Melbourne I can send my current PCM & BCM to but the Ford guy reckoned getting parts out of a wreck would be cheaper.

 

The dash needs to come out anyway to fix the heater door rod so I can do the ABS module at the same time.

 

A turbo 6 setup would be very nice but this ute was only $1500 so thought I'd give it a go. I've had my LPG ute for years but they've stopped selling LPG locally so I'm going back to petrol. Plus much more power will be nice.

[3Katz]

Sounds like a great project!

Yes if you get alll of those items out of a wreck it "should" work. In saying that I didn't go to Ford or send it away to get it synched I went to a local tuner and it was pretty cheap to do. 

Yes the heater rod saga... mine was broken as well so I swapped the turbo dash in at the same time. Being the V8 ute as the base yours will look great - no poxy grey interior. 

I may have mislead you with the ABS module replacement, I didn't have to change the little box on the floor under the dash, I had to change the ABS unit itself - the one with the brake lines on it. This was only because of a communication problem though, there was a break in the circuit board or something. 

I'm guessing you're regional if there is no LPG near you so if you didn't want the hassle of towing to a tuner or Ford getting everything out of a wreck might be the way to go. If you can find someone who has just started wrecking a running car that would be the go as you know everything works. Just remember to get the key (and spare) and the door lock as well.