F-250 Shows up as Tarus

[Keith T.]

I have a 2003 F-250 with 7.3L that I purchased used in 2011 with 97,000 miles - one owner. It is mainly stock except for an AFE filiter system, a less restrictive muffler and an oversize Ford transmission cooler all of which I installed. I recently felt that I had transmissions problems due to slipping - RPM's increased much greater than speed. The overdrive light also flashed a couple of times. I took the truck to my local Ford dealer to check it out. He came back and told me that the truck had a "custom chip" and that it showes up as a Ford Tarus. He said that they could not diagnose the codes. I asked him if they could set it back to factory and he said yes but it could possible disable the PCM. He also stated that I would lose the preformance. The dealer did some test driving and said everything seemed to be preforming as it should. I did disconnect the batteries for about 30 minutes this past weekend and the truck did seem to perform as it did prior to a couple of weeks ago. So today, I took the PCM out to look for the chip. There is no chip attached. So, has the PCM been flashed? Could there be a module somewhere? I plan to purchase a travel trailer later this year and would like to have a custom chip with a heavy tow. What should I do with the PCM in order to use a custom chip? Or, should I consider other options. Thanks for any help or advise.

[Schnot]

Most "chips" are programmers that connect to the diagnostic port and reprogram your PCM so you prob won't find a chip anywhere. It's very odd that it shows up as a Taurus.

As for getting custom tunes, you should talk to the place you're planning on getting it and see what they say but I think it needs to be out back to stock before they can tune it.


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

[Keith T.]

Thanks! I have not been able to locate the previous owner. Can the PCM be returned back to factory without knowing what/how it was programmed?

[dentexpowerstroke]

you can get the pcm reflashed which will set it back to stock. If you put a 6 pos chip in it, it will override any programmers that have been installed.

[Keith T.]

Ok, so if I understand correctly, it is not necessary to have the PCM at factory settings to use a 6 position chip. The chip will overide the program in the PCM? So at this point, the only drawback with not having the PCM set to factory settings is that error codes cannot be read correctly. It that correct?

Thanks for helping me better understand!

[dentexpowerstroke]

I don't know about the whole code thing. I just know the chip will over ride pcm programming. some tuners may want you to have it set to stock before you install their chip so ask the tuner about it first. It may have been the scanner used on it. At my old shop ours got messed up and wouldn't read vehicles right it would make up the vehicle. I'd try a different scanner and see if that reads it right.

[Keith T.]

Thanks again for the information! I am reaching out to PHP for their advice in regards to using their Phoenix 6 position chip.

[dentexpowerstroke]

I had php tunes they are pretty good. Stepped up to gearhead because Matt is alot closer to me for when I get live tunes.

[Keith T.]

I understand close. PHP is about 15 miles from where I live so that along with reputation for providing a good product is the reason I am going with them.

[Schnot]

Id start with another code reader. Autozone and even walmart have the ability to read codes.