22 Timberline - Cascading Errors/Inoperable

kjtully · Jul 7, 2022

Okay @Omodan I have to ask the stupid question. Did you check all the fuses? With everything in today's vehicles being interconnected a failure of one system can cause a cascade effect - part A fails and throws a code, part B that relies on part A detects that part A failed and reports it's own failure and code, etc. My son recently had the fuse to the tranny controller blow and his car threw 5 or 6 codes. After a couple of hours of researching the codes, one solution was to check the fuses. He found and replaced the bad fuse and everything has been good since. Many of the other solutions to the codes required diagnosing and expensive fixes by a dealer.

Since you made new connections and removed them to the CAN BUS for the auto running boards and @Rob6805 said the 'U' codes are CAN BUS related, might be that one or more fuses have blown and the quick simple fix could be to replace them.

LazSlate · Jul 7, 2022

Anytime you tap into a OBD2 port it can be hit or miss. OBD2 is a pulse width modulation signal and Ford uses the J1850 PWM protcol.
When there is a tap into the port it can bleed and effect the bus. There are lots of threads on people using the AMP ODB2 tap with strange issues. They then opted for the direct wire harness from AMP which was a lot more.

Not saying this is the cause but maybe the still connected wiring harness is causing issues (moisture, etc).
I guess until all the parts of the running board installation is 100% removed they cannot rule out that causing the issues.

buffy · Jul 7, 2022

I have no clue, but it screams bad ground to me. Did you perhaps tie a ground wire into a positive wire causing crazy shorts. I've been guilty of that.

Rob6805 · Jul 7, 2022

LazSlate said:
Anytime you tap into a OBD2 port it can be hit or miss. OBD2 is a pulse width modulation signal and Ford uses the J1850 PWM protcol.
When there is a tap into the port it can bleed and effect the bus. There are lots of threads on people using the AMP ODB2 tap with strange issues. They then opted for the direct wire harness from AMP which was a lot more.

Not saying this is the cause but maybe the still connected wiring harness is causing issues (moisture, etc).
I guess until all the parts of the running board installation is 100% removed they cannot rule out that causing the issues.

Ford hasn't used SCP (J1850 PWM) in 10+ years. It's all a variation of CAN (ISO 15765) nowadays. The rest of what you wrote is mostly true. Tapping into the CAN bus wires for some aftermarket running boards very possibly could have caused this cascade of failures.

airbrush · Jul 8, 2022

My F150 did a similar thing and it came down to the tech loosening and re-tightening (per Fords instructions) all grounds to the chassis. When that was accomplished, the error codes went away and I never had another issue.

Omodan · Jul 8, 2022

Ford of Murfreesboro managed to have a Tech look at it yesterday. The Tech thinks the gateway module needs to be replaced. They managed to recharge the battery and it appears to be running fine for now. He said he is no longer receiving error codes but cant confirm it wont happen again. We have scheduled an appointment with our local dealer, Fairway Ford in Evans, to have them continue with the vehicle once we get home.

To a previous post, I can confirm that the fuses are all good. Also, according to the Tech, the typical wires AMP Research requires to tap into have moved to the gateway module which is located behind the Sync screen. He said the wires i tapped into are 1. Diagnostic BUS and 2. the 12V power line. I am just surprised it took a couple months after disconnecting everything before an issue presented.

I plan to go ahead and pull everything related to the power running boards and just reinstall the old ones for now.

Hopefully once we get the new gateway module, we wont have any further problems.

5280tunage · Jul 8, 2022

Glad you found something.

My first issue with all of this is that you got the running boards from a Ford dealer. So they should have been able to cross reference the part numbers and make sure it was compatible, and if in fact the install procedure has changed to keep them compatible, it's on amp and Ford to update their guidance. I would be all over the two of them at this point!

Omodan · Jul 9, 2022

The running boards spec’ d and purchased through the dealer (Loganville Ford) as part of the vehicles purchase is a whole different issue…. They have offered to refund me the cost once i return them. I was, and still am, pretty pissed they didn’t confirm they were compatible first.

As a side note, we did drive home and made it safely. So the emergency aspect of this ordeal for us is done. Overall, we still love the vehicle but it may be a bit before I am comfortable going on long trips with it. I am just glad we were visiting family at the time versus away from any form of support base.

22 Timberline - Cascading Errors/Inoperable

kjtully

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LazSlate

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buffy

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Rob6805

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airbrush

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Omodan

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5280tunage

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Omodan

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