Remote Programming?

[RONR11]

Anyone out there doing teamviewer etc to program to off site? Yes I know it’s taking a chance. But there are some straight up members on here

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[fauxhican]

The concept is intriguing, you have me wondering how that would work. You'd still need the cable on your end. What's the advantage? Discomfort with the app? Saving the license fee?

 

[RONR11]

The concept is intriguing, you have me wondering how that would work. You'd still need the cable on your end. What's the advantage? Discomfort with the app? Saving the license fee?

I’ve never done forscan. If I knew I could I would be happy to pay fee and cable
I’m in SC and posted for son close but. All are about 200 miles away
I had a guy program my virtual pinball and added games etc. I just thought same could be done

 

[Jeff D.]

The concept is intriguing, you have me wondering how that would work. You'd still need the cable on your end. What's the advantage? Discomfort with the app? Saving the license fee?

I like the idea. I had the remote start on my Ram 2500 programmed remotely by a company called 12 Volt Solutions. It saved me having to send them a part from my truck to program at their location. I did have to purchase a special cable, and grant them access to my computer, but it worked perfectly.

I'm intimidated by Forscan and what I could mess up, but do like the idea of having my truck customized to my desires by someone who know what options are available and are competent making the changes. Disabling auto shut off, etc.

If someone does end up figuring this out, I may be interested too.

 

[fauxhican]

For what it's worth, if you already own a laptop capable of running forscan, the cable expense is the biggest hurdle. Depending on what you want to accomplish in forscan, there's lots of guides here, on reddit, and great youtube videos that will walk you right through the process. The biggest tip I can share is to check the pinned posts in this section of the forum and download the "as-built" data using your VIN, then backup the data from the truck to forscan before you make changes. Between those 2 processes, you'll have 2 methods for getting things back to default. When I downloaded the "as-built" data, I printed a hard copy and keep that my firesafe for redundancies.

I'd speculate that the biggest intimidating factors have to do with what seems like a lot of communal uncertainty about how to accomplish certain changes that get debated and discussed on here ad nauseam. Each model year/trim package changes just a little, each update for forscan changes just a little. A lot of posters on here are hesitant to go too far, but those who have accomplised their goals are less motiviated to continue posting.... bit of a participation bias situation. It just takes a little time for all of us to catch up with the latest methods but the information is out there for the most common goals.

I can't say I'd be able to do either of these remotely for certain, but if either of you feel inclined to equip yourselves with the cables and/or software, I'd be willing to answer some questions or share helpful resources that I've collected so far. My experience on this forum is that most others would too.

Oddly, when I ordered my cable, I was sent 2, so.... maybe there's a loaner situation available with paid postage, but, I'd suggest being equipped to get back into it at all times, if you're going to make changes like this. For example, the turn signal recall fix has been wiping things back to stock settings again, so you never know when you might need to repeat your efforts.

 

[mikeakasully]

I work in IT and have used Forscan a bit. This should be doable. Thinking about maybe offering my services in doing this if I can make a test case work.

 

[Jeff D.]

I work in IT and have used Forscan a bit. This should be doable. Thinking about maybe offering my services in doing this if I can make a test case work.

Another member and I are going to give it a try in a week or so once my cable arrives and we both are available.

I think there is a market, even if small, for this type service. Folks like myself who are intimidated with diving into this world with so little understanding.

 

[BradMav]

Too risky in my opinion to provide this service without being a business owner with necessary insurance/etc in the litigious US… Small chance that such programming down the road is to blame for voiding a warranty/causing financial damages/etc.

ForScan makes it pretty easy, with a small amount of guidance, which many here are happy to give, I’m sure you can pull off the changes.

I wish Forscan would simplify/automate backups… I think that’s one of the riskiest parts where I see many go wrong… and you cannot count on your original config from Ford because changes you make can sync up to ford and the motocraft service site can get updated with your modified config. It’d be great if they made a running log of all changes, including before and after values, allowing changes to be rollled back, etc.

 

[fauxhican]

Too risky in my opinion to provide this service without being a business owner with necessary insurance/etc in the litigious US… Small chance that such programming down the road is to blame for voiding a warranty/causing financial damages/etc.

I have the same feelings about it, in general, just from a personal responsibility angle. Since the cable is needed anyway, I figure a screen sharing style coaching session is best, rather than making the actual changes remotely. Pointing out what sections to open, where to click to write the desired changes, etc.

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