I'd happily wave goodbye to my warranty for access to the ECU.

I don't think voiding the warranty is the issue here...If the Damn Black Oak is so clever, then it'll know its been "Bent" also so even if you remove all traces before taking it to the dealer you could still find your warranty voided.

Besides, not only is it illegal, but it is imoral to mod the car, change the mods back then make a warranty claim. It's just part and parcel with vehicle mods, a trade off, what do you value more, warranty or more power?

As for signal bending and such, they're good and I may even go that path but I belive it's a much more elegant method to use the factory code and modify the bits you want to, preserving the original features, It's just...I dunno, neater.

Cheers for everyones contribution, the knowledge base found on this webpage is truly astonishing!

Just a couple of interesting points regarding how serious Ford are in relation to security and technical advancement.

The WDS test equipment(Or a derivative of) will soon be capable of what is known as "Bluetooth" capabilities.This means when you go to your dealer with a concern,all they have to do,rather than drive your car into the workshop, is plug a transmitter into the diagnostic connector of the vehicle and they can read the vehicles "brain" from their test bay or office or wherever the diagnostic machine is kept.

As far as security goes,already on the European manufactured Fords,to do any kind of function that relates to either security settings(Anti theft systems)or PCM reflashing, the dignostic equipment must be docked in it's "Base station" before or during these procedures.This function is soon to be introduced on OZ built vehicles.

Technology that Ford is also toying with is known as "Telematics".This technology would enable the manufacturer to have 2 way comunication with any vehicle via sattelite's.Not only could they trouble shoot your vehicle from afar(read PCM information),but they could also reprogram or update the PCM remotely.Still a bit too costly,but maybe in the not too distant future.

Regarding your quest to crack the PCM coding,if you have access to a WDS and the software it shouldnt be to hard for someone that knows what they're doing.When you plug WDS into a vehicle and identify it, it carries out what is called an electronic handshake. This is where it compares the data stored in the PCM with the data stored in the WDS(Which is updated every month).During this handshake,all the data you need to read flows freely between the vehicle and the WDS. So all you need is the equipment and someone with the knowhow.

Are the WDS units owned by dealerships or by Ford and 'leased' to dealerships?

On the Chryslers the wayt eh ECU got cracked for the model I had was essentially an enterprising aftermarket workshop bought up all the tools and diagnostic gear of a dealership that went bust. They then let their factor trained mechanic and a local hacker loose on the system.. They sniffed the link between the handset and the car and well the rest is history.

Chrysler changed their handinld of those types of tools not long after that to prevent the same occuring.

Aaron

They cost around $19k to buy.I dont think you can lease them.Not 100%sure though

Ford in the last 4 years have made it a mission to make it hard to crack their "ecu's" ....

In the US they simple wack another burnt chip in ... a crack of sorts but still static tuning at best ... some ppl have a series of chips (one for everyday of the week :lol:) ... more money than sense .. a chip to advance the timing and lower a/f and bingo ...

Interceptor chips or signal benders just don't seem to be popular by the world's Ford users .... I suppose Ford has it's heartland in the States and in Australia we can wait forever for the yanks to help crack the "ecu's" ... but IMHO for Ford supporters it will not be worth the wait :(

All of my drival above is in stark contrast to the world of GM which has it's heartland shared between the States and Europe ...

and for whatever reason, GM is happy to let the genie out of the bottle in the "ecu" stakes

and for a few grand allow chip editors free in the public domain

Unichip + decent tuner + dyno is the go for me

Interceptor chips or signal benders just don't seem to be popular by the world's Ford users .... I suppose Ford has it's heartland in the States and in Australia we can wait forever for the yanks to help crack the "ecu's" ... but IMHO for Ford supporters it will not be worth the wait :(

and for whatever reason, GM is happy to let the genie out of the bottle in the "ecu" stakes

and for a few grand allow chip editors free in the public domain

Unichip + decent tuner + dyno is the go for me

Interesting comments mate. I was reading a thread over at the darkside (ls1 forums) yesterday where a guy was asking the merits of LS1 Edit vs Unichip and the comments came back overwhelmingly in favour of LS1 Edit.

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php...&threadid=17276