Specifics concerning flashing of various modules on NA C-Max?

[cr08]

Having a hard time finding the reference, but it has been noted somewhere that there are issues concerning the flashing of some modules on the NA C-Max Hybrid/Energi models using Forscan and is not recommended. My vague recollection is modules like the IPC and potentially BECM and TCM to name a few are involved.

I'm curious if anyone has any more details on this? What the specific issue is in detail? Are there more references/documentation somewhere covering this? The more information the better IMHO.

[Don Ridley]

This does not answer your question specifically, but it explains everything about flashing firmware with Forscan including warnings about the software.

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18751

Why do you want to update firmware? Only flash firmware if it fixes a problem or adds features you want.

[cr08]

This does not answer your question specifically, but it explains everything about flashing firmware with Forscan including warnings about the software.

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18751

Why do you want to update firmware? Only flash firmware if it fixes a problem or adds features you want.

Yes, I'm very aware of this document, the flashing process, and the 'general' concerns around it. There's a reason why I asked about the C-Max specific issues that have been documented -somewhere- that I can no longer find. Sorry if I come off as snippy. Been having a heck of a time finding this information with the poor search engine here and the fact Google doesn't seem to have any of the forum indexed.

The reason why I'm looking into it is long winded but here it goes:

DIY'd the notorious 4G TCU upgrade on a 2013 C-Max. For the most part a lot of the functionality works but there are some key missing items in FordPass that others have such as EV specific trip data (called 'My EV Driving' in FordPass). It is uncertain exactly what modules in the vehicle this data pulls from, but educated guesses say this is likely to come from something like the BECM, TCM, or IPC (at minimum the IPC is acting as a gateway here). The IPC is already documented as needing to be updated in 2017 MY C-Max's for these upgrades officially through Ford for some undisclosed 'software issues' so there's a potential lead. But beyond that it is a big guessing game with no published TSBs or documentations so far from Ford. This 4G TCU upgrade is still very much a moving target that even Ford is constantly revising.

As it is now I've done enough flashing through Forscan for the TCU (about 3 or 4 updates so far that Ford has pushed out in the past 6-7 months for these at ~2 hours a piece using a trusted OBDLink EX) as well as my ACM and APIM for unrelated concerns. I'm relatively comfortable with the process at least for non-mission critical modules especially if they can be recovered easily (such as some of my attempts on the H series Sync 3 APIM to get it to MY18+ firmware, getting black screened, and simply rolling back to old firmware).

I'm definitely wary of doing so on more critical modules like the BECM or IPC, but I would seriously like to get details on the documented issues doing so specifically on the C-Max and what that entails so I can at least educate myself.