Latest CRD1 calibration update?

[TripleTransAm]

Just got a call from a new dealer I'm trying out for service (new alternator, new tensioner, new lower steering shaft, etc.).

One of my other complaints involved something I've mentioned here before: at very low speeds or at a complete stop, turning the steering wheel back/forth (like, when dodging parking garage support pillars, for instance) will make the idle very erratic, sometimes to the point of practically stalling (I think it did happen once, actually, but usually the worst is watching the dash warning lamps flicker on as the engine momentarily dies).

One technician thought maybe the pressure sensor was not working reliably. The final proposal put forth to me today was a new calibration supposedly released for my car (CRD1 tear tag) that raises the idle speed to 600 instead of 545. I'm not only wondering what this will do for my fuel consumption in traffic or while waiting in the parking lot with engine running, but I'm worried about what else this new calibration brings with it.

Does anyone here with connections at Ford (Oasis, etc.) know anything about this new calibration?

Also, does anyone else here have the same behaviour: in Drive, hot idle, foot firmly on brake, flicking the steering wheel at a moderate pace back and forth in harmony with the engine trying to compensate for the extra power steering load... are you able to trip up the engine into dipping below 500 RPM (say, as low as a guessed 300 or 400, with bonus points for getting a warning light to come on?)?

I am concerned that they are avoiding diagnosing a bad power steering pump or bad rack by applying a band-aid fix of a calibration change that was originally meant for some totally other complaint that I am not complaining of. Because, other than the steering situation, I don't feel I have any reason to want to change my idle speed (and whatever else this calibration might bring with it!).

[Eric91Z]

Well, I don't know about other options for you, but I know that my '04 with Lidio's XCal2 tune has the idle set at 600rpm and I have no problems. I have no fluctuations at idle or anything like that. And no real change in gas mileage that I have noticed, but then again I don't sit at idle that much. I don't think 55 rpm will hurt gas mileage much when people that have gone to 4.10 gears and are running a couple hundred more rpm on the highway haven't hurt much for gas mileage.

Just my $.02. I hope they can solve your problems for you.

[Larry Bondoc]

First, I'd like to compliment you on your website! I enjoyed reading your details about your Marauder and studied your site before purchasing my 04. Unfortunately, you didn't have much good news. I bought mine about 5 months ago with 20k miles on it from a co worker. It has the factory moonroof and spoiler on it. My co worker only drove it on the weekends, and didn't have a problem at all with it. The only problems I've had where both heated seat button lights burning out, a squeak in the dash which ended up being a dash bracket, and a loud a/c clutch (that the dealer heard, not me) and the idle. My Marauders battery light was flashing at me once in a great while when I would press the gas at a green light. It did die out coming out of a parking space on a very busy Chicago street, thats what made me bring it in and complain. The car OBVIOUSLY would not do it for the dealer, but they did replace a sensor on the air intake that sets the idle level. This was 2 months ago and it has done it to me once since then. I personally think Mercury should have just set the idle higher on this car. The sensor they replaced on my car is the same one they use on the Grand Marquis (which Mercury used on both models). My back tires also wore down just as fast as yours did. I cant believe how awful those BFG on the back are. I haven't replaced them yet. Keep your website updated and the pictures rollin, I enjoy reading it.

[jgc61sr2002]

Larry - Welcome to the MM site. :welcome: Enjoy your new ride.

[snowbird]

Steve,

Nice to hear from you !

About your post: I happen to also have a CRD1 but never heard about an update availability. It would be nice to have the release date of some sort. Also, to my knowledge, i think this code was only available for the canadian market but maybe some others could confirm this or not.

I do not have the idle problem related to the steering pump action that you just stated but have one related with the ventilation/AC operation. With the ventilation or AC at on (and since our car is working automatic with a thermostat), the computer is making constant readings and have to start briefly the AC compressor at about 3 to 6 seconds interval. When doing this, he blips a bit the idle up to avoid stalling if the car is idling, say at a red light. So the idle is going up 100 or so rpm then falling back and so on and so on. Pretty annoying.

I went to a good dealer but after three visit, they don't have any solutions. If i put the ventilation at off, the idle correct itself in three to four seconds and then the fat cat idle is a very stable and happy one.

Since my car is , hhhmm hhhmm sligthly moded, the idle is set higher at about 800rpm. So it is making the problem worse. I'm still seeking a solution for this but must admit i'm done with any idea about it.

So maybe this CRD1 code is kind of ill in some way, i wouldn't know but if ...
C would be for code
R for roughly
D done

Then the nickname would explain itself.:D

[KilledKenny]

The update calibration is for a concern with the check engine light comming and and setting a code P0460 in memory. The PCM may store a false code and the updated calibration will correct this concern.
Also it might be that the throttle body might be getting a little dirty and restricting the air flow. The IAC (idle air control) might also be a dirty or binding a little which can also cause your concern.

[TripleTransAm]

Okay, maybe I'm way out there, but from what I see, P0460 is "Fuel Level Sensor Circuit Malfunction"...

Where oh where in my original list of complaints up top did I mention a Check Engine Light? And if there is no check engine light, where would they have grabbed a P0460 error code from? TRUST ME: the moment I'd see that light come on while the engine was on, I'd have Autotap connected on there so fast, the PCM would be begging me for a cigarette when I was done.

Therefore, I would just love to get a glimpse at the thought process that was used to determine that this updated calibration was what was needed for my car.

So from the looks of it: I was charged $76 Canadian bux for a fix for a problem that I never complained of. Nice. PLEASE oh PLEASE tell me that there is more to this new release of calibration than a fix for P0460... because if there is not, then come Monday morning I am going to grab that SOB service advisor by his ears and put my foot so far up his a$$ that I'll be able to trim my toe nails and his nose hairs with just one clip.

**********

Smilies are irrelevant here... there is NO smilie currently in existence that could accurately portray the level of rage that I am currently experiencing. This rage is so intense, so low-level that it's practically acting on a cellular level (if not at a viral level). If sudden onsets of intense rage are responsible for domestic violence, then let me say that I am at the point where I am likely to beat my NEIGHBOR's wife, not my own, I am THAT ticked off.

**********

(brief moment of mental clarity happening here...)

KilledKenny, your other suggestions are indeed valid, thank you for suggesting them. The only hiccup is that the car has behaved this way since Day One (Day of Infamy?) and I guess I'd been disregarding this as a possible problem because I was well aware of the 4.6L's similarity to Lance Armstrong "down there" (if you get my drift, please don't ask me to be more specific) at low RPM. I will however investigate the possibility of a faulty or IAC, if it is possible for the Ford's IAC to be faulty without throwing a code or showing some other symptom, I just don't know (or care: right now, I am looking both at my fireplace and my Marauder service manuals and wondering just how much I can save on my heating costs this year).

The idle is otherwise really smooth as long as I'm not moving the steering wheel but I won't discount the possibility of a bad IAC (or damaged during assembly, a strong possibility given the fact these cars appear to have been screwed together by dropouts from Special Ed.).



(moment of intense depression coloured by a sense of huge financial loss happening here...)

Oh, if I could go back in time with nothing more than a roll of duct tape, and meet myself face-to-face just moments before I prepared to issue my speech to my wife on why we should get this car....................

[TripleTransAm]

Oh, I forgot to fill y'all in on the results of all this fiasco.

Problem 1:
========
Annoying belt shreak: gone.
Bouncing tensioner: will check tomorrow morning in daylight.
FIX: replaced alternator and tensioner.

Problem 2:
========
REALLY annoying "tock tock tock" looseness in the steering wheel once warm: fixed.
FIX: replaced lower steering shaft.

Problem 3:
========
Surging RPM when moving steering wheel at low RPM in tight parking situations: not fixed.

That's right folks. Item 3, the one 'fixed' by applying a fix for a problem not actually reported, didn't do squat.

Did these inbred excuses for technicians even test the frakking car once they applied the fix? I mean, there is NO change between what I showed one tech during the road test, and what I witnessed this evening after I picked up the car. I didn't see any RPM change, to be honest, even though the quarter-wit that called to propose the calibration change mentioned a 50 RPM increase in hot idle. I'll have to dig out Autotap to be sure, though.

I had almost forgotten about the surging problem by the time I got home, until I went to back up onto my driveway... made the 'mistake' of turning the wheel as the car was backing up at idle and lo-and-behold, the car was surging once again.

All frustrations with this car's poor excuse for engineering aside: this IS a problem that I'm taking more and more seriously as I realize my wife will possibly be driving this thing in the near future, and I fear she won't be experienced enough to anticipate the random surging as she's maneuvering this behemoth into a parking spot in the underground garage at work! Indeed it did catch me off guard early on: you're backing slowly (idle crawl) with a certain pressure on the wheel to keep the arc, and then suddenly you ease up on the wheel ever so slightly, and the car speeds up a bit due to the surge in RPM... unacceptable for a modern street car, in my opinion.


I'm fairly certain this is not a calibration thing as I've generally been VERY happy with CRD1's base delivery. Now the REAL struggle is to convince someone to actually make an effort to try and fix this once and for all.

[TripleTransAm]

And my last post for the evening: for those of you interested in trying this at home.

Car must be warm enough to be at the lowest idle RPM. The hotter the better. If you're not certain, go and beat up on some 300Cs. (more on that later).

Test 1:
=====
With the car in gear, foot firmly on brake, turn the steering wheel in one direction and stop. Note if the RPM changes as you place load on the engine through the PS pump. Most likely, the engine RPM will surge upward once you stop (since the load is now removed) and will quickly settle back to the slow idle... this is normal.

The trick is to stop and resume turning the wheel at the moment that the RPM is on its way back down to normal. This will probably trip up the motor into dipping below the slow idle. The questions here are: how much is normal? And is it normal to occasionally dip so low that the engine momentarily "stalls"? And why do my other V8s w/ automatic trannies not even flinch when I do the same? (incl. my carb'ed totally-non-electronic '78 T/A)

Fun-for-the-whole-family bonus activity: time your tugging on the steering wheel with the dips and amaze your friends and kin folk with the dancing RPM needle.

Test 2:
=====

Attempt to back the car up into a parking spot perpendicular to a cement wall while turning. As the car is backing up into the spot, apply a few gentle tugs on the wheel, lasting a second or so at a time. Try to get the car up next to the wall while simultaneously operating the steering wheel: don't forget to change your shorts as the car decides to move at moments you least expect it to.



The sad part of it all: it was probably a combination of cold air and a zapped computer (battery disconnected, if not due to the new calibrations) but the car was positively a rocket this evening on my way home. Perhaps the new alternator and tensioner also contributed to reducing drag on the engine as well. This dark-coloured 300C must have seen me rocketing along the merge lane to a small rural 2-lane-each-way highway because all of a sudden he was blowing right past me and zigging around slower traffic, possibly to show off?

I was still in a good mood from being oblivious to the facts that KilledKenny just posted, so I waited for an opportunity to come up alongside this 300C at a light (no idea if it was a him or her, the windows were as tinted as mine!). This is a rural type of highway with fields on either side for as far as can be seen, with the occasional traffic light for crossing roads that allow access to the residential areas in the distance. So the light turns green, and although I briefly had a good listen to the 300C's exhaust note and a good view of where that exhaust note was emanating from, top of 1st and all of 2nd was mine all mine. I let off abruptly to settle back to the speed limit but he just blew by me and kept on going until he was out of sight...

No big deal, maybe someone on some 300C board out there is claiming a Marauder kill tonight, I don't mind. Won't change the size of my ***** either way.

The way it jumped off the line, I seriously wonder if it wouldn't have been able to beat my previous best time had I been at a track tonight.

[ckadiddle]

I noticed the RPM increase when turning steering wheel at idle a long time ago. Learned to expect it and compensate for it. I assumed it was there to keep the engine from dying when power steering load is applied at low rpms. I even notice it with cold engine. Definitely more noticeable after having mufflers removed. I can sit in the car and go "vroom vroom" just by turning the steering wheel. ;) Yesterday I loaded Dennis Reinhart's tune with my new xcal2 yesterday, and it seems to have cured the behavior along with the other improvements. Not having to deal with that annoying surging behavior seems to be an added bonus for me. Some time back when I had Blue Thunder at the dealer for routine service and other minor issues, I had typed a list and included checking the PCM firmware version and updating if necessary in my list. It was totally ignored.