FICM soldering is harder than it looks

[californiadreamin]

Just an FYI to all of you who read this site like I do and get great instructions on mods and fixes: people do such a good job explaining things on this site that it makes you feel like you can do pretty much anything - you cant.

Take it from me, who just destroyed his FICM trying to resolder after a low voltage reading.

Getting the FICM out is easy. OPening it up is easy. I failed because the yellow goo that I heated up and tried to take off ended up taking off the little "dale" things on the circuit board. Then my awesome (sarcasm) soldering skills failed me at putting them back on without burning ****.


Oh - and if you mess up like me and are stuck with no FICM and have to buy a new one from ford: dont forget you have to take your WHOLE truck to them because the one they sell you will not work until they flash the whole truck with it installed.


Just trying to save someone from making the same costly mistake as me....

[REDPOWERSMOKER]

Get one from performance machine. I believe they come flashed already.

[awesomewrangler]

Don't feel bad, I'm sure several of us (myself included) have attempted the soldering thing and failed. On mine it was low on voltage, then after the soldering would barely run, belching black smoke, no power, etc. I went to Ford and bought the half-ficm to replace the bad power side. No programming required and was only $350-400 bucks and I was back on the road. Just don't let it go too long, unless you feel like replacing injectors too!

[californiadreamin]

didnt know you could buy just half.......i got the whole thing and paid 700.

then i had to tow my damn truck to them to get it flashed.........$90

but all it well now, and i feel better about the truck overall. 48 volts constant on my scangauge, and it started WAY better this morning (~50 degrees)