PCM Failure caused by Edge Evolution Programmer
 

HELP!! I installed an evolution last week, used it in the tow mode and later in the week went back to stock. Tried to program to performance and it hung up at 94% on stage 2 and wouldn't go any further. After an hour, i unplugged it and tried again. This time it says the previous load was unsuccessful and to turn the key to on when it flashes unlocking PCM and immediately says to shut key off. It cannot come out of this loop. I spoke with Edge Tech support initially getting the B team but much better when I called back. They sent me a flash programmer that has the same result: the turn key on/off loop. It also says accessing PCM which tells me there is no data being transferred between the two.
I am open for suggestions. I live on a farm and use this truck to haul water which I have about a 2 days supply before really being in trouble...

Side bar: Tech at Edge said this issue happens quite frequently. Probably would have been a good thing to mention before I bought it. "Sir, this is a great programmer that can increase your horsepower if it doesn't fry your PCM like it has so many times in the past..."

Never heard of this being an issue. Happens from time to time, but its not a rash of them

I do however far prefer a TS based chip option.

I cant help you with this much. About your only option is to continue to work with EDGE or throw a new PCM in the truck.

Thanks for the response. There is no question the PCM will have to be flashed. I hope I can get the dealer to do it tomorrow.
Chips are new to me, what is a "TS-based" option?
Thanks!

TS is the most popular chip on the market, 95% of the tuners available use a TS blank.

Power Hungry Performance is one of our sponsors and they use TS chips.

Lots of tuners out there, Beans, Swamps, Gearhead, Diesel Innovations, TS, Total Diesel Performance...

Might send Power Hungry Performance a PM, they could flash your PCM and burn you a chip at the same time.

A couple guys on another forum had something like this happen... Not surprised to hear...

i had a edge evo on my old 96. i had smoke rollin out of my pcm. same with my buddies 95. not impressed with their products.

another reason i decided to stay away from Edge and got a Tony Wildman tuned TS Chip

Thanks, I did see. Too damn much info out here on the web good and bad..............

It's not Edge's fault.

Over time the PCM high speed communications bus (which is used to reflash the internal EEPROM) clock speed begins to drift. This is a problem with the PCM hardware itself and has nothing to do with any of Edge's products. When the drift becomes severe enough, communication ceases and you get what we have here....incomplete file transfer and communication problems because the programmer doesn't know what the PCM has received already.

Stuff gets old. The more of these trucks that continue to be used (and reflashed), the more this is going to occur. It is also likely that if your PCM is "bad" enough, then even the Ford reflash device will have communication issues as well.

Banks Ottomind
 

Thanks for all the input. We seem to have isolated the problem. When I purchased the truck about 10 years ago, the previous owner had a Banks Stinger Plus and Gear Vendors Under/over drive installed. There was a chip added to the PCM which is incompatible with any programmer or other tuner. I sent the PCM to Edge and they reflashed it (free of charge). Although I was very frustrated the service department did everything the could to make it right. I was working with Nate who was the consummate professional. I hope they add: "remove the pcm from the case" in their troubleshooting procedures because we could have fixed this early on. Again, thanks for all the input. Next time I will be a little more cautious...

The good news: I saved about $150 in fuel. Dead diesels don't burn...