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More Electronic Frustration from Ford


Dusty Devil Dale

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Everyone must be worn out  hearing this continuing Ford F250 saga, by now.   But in case someone is still interested, here is the latest.  It's pure unadulterated nonsense.

 

When I unplugged a utility trailer recently, one prong pulled out of the socket on the pickup, due to failure of the socket's cheap extruded plastic body.  I bought a new and ridiculously expensive after- market socket and proceeded to install it.  Installation was easy - less than 5 minutes -- UNTIL I TESTED IT. 

 

I've never owned a vehicle on which you could not use a test light or volt meter to confirm voltage at the seven tabs in the trailer plug socket. 

 

But "Ford had a better idea."

 

I connected my test light to the ground tab and began testing the light functions at the pin, as most of us learned to do.   None of the tabs of the new socket had voltage when I tested the respective circuits-- turn signals, brakes, running lamps, reverse light, etc.   I spent a couple hours trying to understand the cause of the circuit discontinuity.  Nothing I tried made sense. 

 

I removed the new socket and confirmed continuity through the socket.  But when I tested the harness that plugs into the back of the socket, no voltage was present.   

 

But the prior trailer socket had worked fine, running off of that harness,  until the harness  broke.  So I reconnected the original socket and proceeded to test it with the volt meter.  Nothing had voltage.  

 

Out of frustration, I tried connecting the truck and new socket to a trailer, not expecting it to work.  (I was thinking "blown fuse" at that point.) But everything on the trailer worked just fine. 

 

I called a distant relative who recently separated himself from a local Ford dealership service dep't, and asked him to explain. 

 

He said,

"Do you know how when you hook up to a trailer, and start the truck, you hear that single chime, and see the "Trailer Connected" notice on the computer screen?  Well that signals that the truck is seeing the trailer, and the computer then opens the circuits for all of the functions running through the trailer plug.  So if no trailer is actually detected, nothing running through the plug can operate.  The shops have a computer harness  that plugs into the trailer OBD socket that detects improper plug socket wiring."  I asked why they decided to make it so much harder to diagnose and repair on the road.  He said they don't care about customer inconvenience or DIY  repairability, which he said irritates everybody, and is why he no longer works for the Ford Dealership.  

 

What can I say?  No more Ford products.  

 

 

 

 

 

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The trailer brake circuit does the same on my old Ford 2002, shows only a couple volts until the trailer is hooked up. Replaced socket and harness on mine in frustration! You can test the lights though. Haven't tried my new GMC.

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I'm going to try jumping the ground tab to the truck frame to see if that fools it.  Not today though.  

If it's looking for an Ampacity drop due to longer wiring or added mass, it should be possible to fool it.  If it works, I'll have a sore elbow from patting myself on the back.  

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1 hour ago, Texas Joker said:

Your trailer lights present enough resistance to the ciruit to tell your truck there's a trailer on. 

 

 

Chicken v. Egg problem?!

 

How can it sense lamp resistance before the lights go on, in order to deliver voltage  in order to power the lights?   There is no advance power to the plug to do that.  

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4 minutes ago, Dusty Devil Dale said:

Chicken v. Egg problem?!

 

How can it sense lamp resistance before the lights go on, in order to deliver voltage  in order to power the lights?   There is no advance power to the plug to do that.  

 

It could perhaps send a pulse to detect resistance or circuit completion when the car is turned on.  I'm not an EE, so it's total speculation.

 

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Pretty soon sales will drop because anyone who can afford a Ford Truck doesn't need it to work, and they all will buy a Bugatti instead. 

 

But, seriously,  the nation's small businesses will hurt as their older affordable trucks age out.  

 

It seems that Americans have been duped by bank lenders into believing that they are much wealthier than they really are; thence the number of people still financing these expensive trucks and creating the false market that keeps prices spiraling upward.   It sends the message to manufacturers that the market ceiling is not yet reached, and it tells government that they have not yet succeeded in regulating fossil fuel vehicles out of existence.  Neither message benefits consumers or businesses other than banks.

 

Too many people (particularly younger ones)  have forgotten how many of their material possessions actually belong partially or wholly to a bank.    They think they "own" their home or their vehicles, boats, etc, but they really have little equity in them.  They appear outwardly affluent, but reality is that  they're renting and just don't think of it that way.  But the real cost of their truck is much more than 100K when you throw in the financing cost.

 

  Absent such abundance of bank partnering,  expensive trucks would be built to market at $20K, if Ford or others expected to sell any.  

 

 

 

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It may be possible to fool the truck into thinking there is a trailer by putting a resistor between the ground and one of the power points something in the range of 1 megohm would possibly work, my bet is there is someone on line who has had the exact problem and found a solution, try looking at one of the ford forums 

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OMG !  I looked at the App.  How can a person make something as simple as checking a circuit so involved and interconnected to everything else.  There's no hope for Ford. 

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On 10/2/2022 at 12:24 PM, Dusty Devil Dale said:

They think they "own" their home or their vehicles, boats, etc, but they really have little equity in them. 

I own the title to our house, outright.
However, I just received the annual $2400 property rental bill from Sacramento County.

Just reading this thread convinces me that I do NOT want a new truck, of any make or model.
I always thought (after owning Chevy and Dodge) that any new truck would be a Ford.
Nope to all of 'em.

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Years ago, a buddy of mine took a look at the air pollution complexity on new vehicles and said, "No."
He went to the junkyard.

It took him a while, but he built one up from parts.

Had to have it inspected, of course, but it was most road worthy; it was also dead nuts simple -- he detested such things as power steering, insisting that "if you keep 'em greased up you don't need it" -- his only concession to anything fancy was an AM radio.
As I recall, the truck outlived him.

I'm not a great fan of building my own when it comes to vehicles ... but with current corporate stupidity, I could be persuaded!

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On 10/1/2022 at 4:07 PM, Rip Snorter said:

I've got a bad feeling that there will be no escape from "Improved technology" smart vehicles regardless of brand unless you go with a "bone" fleet model.

Just wait til they add features like colorectal screening and prostate exams that conveniently send findings direct to your doctor via OnStar

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50 minutes ago, bgavin said:

I own the title to our house, outright.
However, I just received the annual $2400 property rental bill from Sacramento County.

Just reading this thread convinces me that I do NOT want a new truck, of any make or model.
I always thought (after owning Chevy and Dodge) that any new truck would be a Ford.
Nope to all of 'em.

I’d probably get a Tundra in a half ton but not new. They replaced the bulletproof 5.7 with some v6 twin turbo crap
 

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26 minutes ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:

Just wait til they add features like colorectal screening and prostate exams that conveniently send findings direct to your doctor via OnStar

Reminds me of this one:

- Hello! Gordon's pizza?
- No sir it's Google's pizza.

- So it's a wrong number? Sorry
- No sir, Google bought it.

- OK. Take my order please
- Well sir, you want the usual?

- The usual? You know me?
- According to our caller ID data sheet, in the last 12 times, you ordered pizza with cheeses, sausage, thick crust.

- OK! This is it ...
- May I suggest to you this time ricotta, arugula with dry tomato.?

- What? I hate vegetables.
- Your cholesterol is not good, sir.

- How do you know?
- We crossed the number of your fixed line with your name, through the subscribers guide.
We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.

- Okay, but I do not want this pizza!,I already take medicine ...
-Excuse me, but you have not taken the medicine regularly, from our commercial database, 4 months ago, you only purchased a box with 30 cholesterol tablets at Drugsale Network.

- I bought more from another drugstore.
- It's not showing on your credit card statement

- I paid in cash
- But you did not withdraw that much cash according to your bank statement

- I have have other source of cash
- This is not showing as per you last Tax form unless you bought them from undeclared income source.

-WHAT THE HELL?
- I'm sorry, sir, we use such information only with the intention of helping you.

- Enough! I'm sick of google, facebook, twitter, WhatsApp. I'm going to an Island without internet, cable TV, where there is no cell phone line and no one to watch me or spy on me

- I understand sir but you need to renew your passport first as it has expired 5 weeks ago
 

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I was a Toyota tech last century, which is why all we drive today is Toyota.
With that in mind, I would pass on any Tundra, due to the design screwups.
Insufficiently sized brakes, starter motors that require removing the entire right exhaust to change, etc etc.
Engines that shut off at every stoplight only to grind the starter motor when the light turns green.
I understand now that some engines are seeing camshaft failures because the snot-nosed kiddie engineer located it too far from the oil splash.

The reasons abound, but I simply don't want any new vehicle with all these built-in design failures and reliability problems.

As to Google, I hate to say it, but over the last 50 years in the computer business, I have contributed to the amount and depth of scrutiny that Big Brother can apply to your personal life.

I have to chuckle over the "your cholesterol is not good, sir"
It sounds like my last Indian cardiologist that I fired because he literally did nothing during my impending heart attack, subsequent stents, and finally a 4-way bypass after the stents failed, except tell me "you should eat a meatless vegan diet.".


As a labile diabetic, I can't eat high carb crap, and he should shove his B.S. where the sun doesn't shine.
As of this writing, no carbs = 27 lbs of weight loss, and continuing to go down.
 

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5 hours ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:

Just wait til they add features like colorectal screening and prostate exams that conveniently send findings direct to your doctor via OnStar

Unfortunately, OnStar is gone, it was one of the few great features in recent memory!  As to the rest, just find a good Doc and say NO once in a while!

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9 hours ago, bgavin said:

I own the title to our house, outright.
However, I just received the annual $2400 property rental bill from Sacramento County.

Just reading this thread convinces me that I do NOT want a new truck, of any make or model.
I always thought (after owning Chevy and Dodge) that any new truck would be a Ford.
Nope to all of 'em.

Same here on all points.   

My wife and I have never believed in borrowing or mortgaging to buy things and paying interest.  One look at an amortization table shows why.  

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