2006 Explorer 4.0. PCM/instrument cluster replaced/programmed but the dreaded wrench icon is lit | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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2006 Explorer 4.0. PCM/instrument cluster replaced/programmed but the dreaded wrench icon is lit

se9303

Member
Joined
August 20, 2017
Messages
30
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1
City, State
Arlington, Texas
Year, Model & Trim Level
2006 Ford Explorer
Hello to all,

My wife's 2006 Ford Explorer 4.0 ran into a no start/no crank situation 2 weeks ago and we had it taken to a mechanic shop for diagnosis/repair. They determined the instrument cluster had gone bad (CAN communication was cut off and thus no crank/start) but then when they replaced the cluster and programmed it, the truck would not start. They verified the PCM and noticed there was water residue (I had washed the engine back in November 2017 and recall spraying water all over the area where the PCM is, so this probably gradually killed it) on the PCM. They replaced the PCM and the truck started up fine as they indicated. Well, I went to pick it up today, and surely it starts properly, but the powertrain malfunction indicator was on. We told the tech that this light was not present before this and all they could say was, "oh, you need to change the oil and/or some maintenance was needed. I explained to him that an oil change has nothing to do with that and as happens with lots of these places, they do not take corrective action. We called the owner and all he said was, "Well your truck did not start and now its working. If you want leave it here and we will tell you how much it will cost to fix this issue". OMG I was so angry, but decided to stay calm and just paid them and left with the truck. Very unprofessional individual. Since living in Texas, I have always been able to take care of any of the issues that the truck has encountered but this one gave me no other alternative than to sadly have to take it to a repair shop.

First off, I scanned the vehicle with OBD Fusion to check for any codes, but says its all clean. Wish I had a Ford IDS system to work with this vehicle . Then I removed the negative cable for a few minutes to see if a reset was the issue, but I just comes back on. When you start the truck, the icon is off but about 2 seconds later it comes back on.

What can be going on here? Can anyone shed some light into this? Any good DIY Ford members in the Arlington, Texas area?

Both keys start the vehicle and the remote control works fine.

Regards,
Mark
 



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Get a elm327 and use forscan to find out what code it is throwing.

Hi

Thanks for your reply. The Forscan software looks really interesting and very user friendly. I just registered and downloaded the software. I am going to pickup the Elm 327 and get everything configured to see what is going on with this vehicle.

Thank you

Regards,
Mark
 












Make sure you get one that is forscan compatible. Some ebay specials run too slow and aren't compatible with forscan.

There is one on Amazon which indicates its made to work with Forscan

Do you think this issue might have anything to do with any possible old stored codes on the used PCM that was installed? Or possibly a step the programmer missed when programming the PCM to my truck? The wrench icon was not lit before this problem occured. Truck serms to run without any issues but i want to ensure there isn’t anything else that might cause another breakdown. Right now, i am hesitant to use the truck as that wrench icon does not inspire any confidence on my part.
 






There is one on Amazon which indicates its made to work with Forscan

Do you think this issue might have anything to do with any possible old stored codes on the used PCM that was installed? Or possibly a step the programmer missed when programming the PCM to my truck? The wrench icon was not lit before this problem occured. Truck serms to run without any issues but i want to ensure there isn’t anything else that might cause another breakdown. Right now, i am hesitant to use the truck as that wrench icon does not inspire any confidence on my part.
When you disconnected the battery did you tie the posi and negi together for about 10 minutes? If not you should. It causes a lot of things to reprogram
 






When you disconnected the battery did you tie the posi and negi together for about 10 minutes? If not you should. It causes a lot of things to reprogram

No i did not but is that safe to do?

I saw a video of someone removing the negative post and connecting a clip on wire to the positive terminal for about 10 minutes

Sorry for sounding frantic, but are any of these 2 procedures safe to do? So you say to takeboth posts off and tie them together?
 






No i did not but is that safe to do?

I saw a video of someone removing the negative post and connecting a clip on wire to the positive terminal for about 10 minutes

Sorry for sounding frantic, but are any of these 2 procedures safe to do? So you say to takeboth posts off and tie them together?
I can’t promise anything but I did it on my 2010 a couple weeks ago just go get the trans and fuel mixture system reprogrammed due to my vehicle spending it’s whole life till now at wet sea level and now dry high desert. Make sure you disconnect the positive first. I would just use the negative terminal because it competes the circuits in a more natural way. Obviously do at your risk but a lot of issues on the gen 4 have been fixed this way. Even my 1997 needed this for the control trac system.
 






I can’t promise anything but I did it on my 2010 a couple weeks ago just go get the trans and fuel mixture system reprogrammed due to my vehicle spending it’s whole life till now at wet sea level and now dry high desert. Make sure you disconnect the positive first. I would just use the negative terminal because it competes the circuits in a more natural way. Obviously do at your risk but a lot of issues on the gen 4 have been fixed this way. Even my 1997 needed this for the control trac system.

So remove positve terminal first, then the negative and tie them together with a wire?

Sorry for asking but need to be sure how this is done
 






So remove positve terminal first, then the negative and tie them together with a wire?

Sorry for asking but need to be sure how this is done
Don’t be sorry! I was wary too. Yea! Or if you have a bolt that’ll work you can use that too. Truth be told I just stood there a held it. Be sure to make sure they don’t touch anything else other than that other terminal wire.
 






Don’t be sorry! I was wary too. Yea! Or if you have a bolt that’ll work you can use that too. Truth be told I just stood there a held it. Be sure to make sure they don’t touch anything else other than that other terminal wire.


Thanks for understanding. I have done coding/programming on my BMW and to tell you the truth i would prefer coding my BMW. But its a matter of learning how the Ford cars electronics work

So i will remove both terminals from the battery and use a bolt to tie them together for about 10 minutes
 






Thanks for understanding. I have done coding/programming on my BMW and to tell you the truth i would prefer coding my BMW. But its a matter of learning how the Ford cars electronics work

So i will remove both terminals from the battery and use a bolt to tie them together for about 10 minutes
Let me know how it goes! It should do everything on its own.
 


















There is one on Amazon which indicates its made to work with Forscan

Do you think this issue might have anything to do with any possible old stored codes on the used PCM that was installed? Or possibly a step the programmer missed when programming the PCM to my truck? The wrench icon was not lit before this problem occured. Truck serms to run without any issues but i want to ensure there isn’t anything else that might cause another breakdown. Right now, i am hesitant to use the truck as that wrench icon does not inspire any confidence on my part.
Its impossible to know unless you know what the code is that its throwing. Cant do that until you are able to pull it.
As for pulling the battery cables and shorting them out. You are creating a path of less resistance for the current to discharge from all the components. It discharges any backup caps that are there to store memory for a short time if voltage is lost. Once you pull the hot side of the battery, the circuit is broken. you could pull either and touch it to the other, as there is no potential. infinite resistance with the battery out, terminals together is 0 ohms.
 






Its impossible to know unless you know what the code is that its throwing. Cant do that until you are able to pull it.
As for pulling the battery cables and shorting them out. You are creating a path of less resistance for the current to discharge from all the components. It discharges any backup caps that are there to store memory for a short time if voltage is lost. Once you pull the hot side of the battery, the circuit is broken. you could pull either and touch it to the other, as there is no potential. infinite resistance with the battery out, terminals together is 0 ohms.

Thanks for your reply. So you advise that i hold off resetting the PCM until i scan and get the code or codes registered on the PCM?

I should have the interface today to scan and find out whats going on
 






If a reset clears it and it doesn't come back its worth it. Myself, I'm a little inquisitive, I would probably pull the code, just to see what it was. That's just me.
 






Thanks for your reply. So you advise that i hold off resetting the PCM until i scan and get the code or codes registered on the PCM?

I should have the interface today to scan and find out whats going on
If it runs and drives fine right now I’d just wait for the interface!
 






If it runs and drives fine right now I’d just wait for the interface!


Ok. Just did a scan and get the following:
PCM P1000-FF. Says among other things “ The vehicle is new from the factory and has not yet been through a complete OBD drive cycle

Says this will clear when all OBD monitors are ready

IC U0159 -60 lost communication with parking assist control module A. Module: instrument cluster

IC U1900-60 CAN communication bus fault
Malfunction indicator light is off for this dtc

GEM B2276-60 less than 2 transmitters programmed

So what do you guys think?


Needs readiness monitors to set themselves to “ready status” to get rid of the “wrench” icon on the instrument cluster?
 



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