I just got a clone VCM II from China, and then I installed IDS V95 and it did a software update which finished successfully.
IDS detected the VCM II just fine, the lights light up correctly, but when I plugged it into my 2014 Ford Fusion it would not detect the PCM to establish any communication.
Ans I did not know if it is necessary to reflash different software or downgrade.
Worried about the quality, I decided to see the PCB.
The quality looks good on the PCB and no lose connections from what I can see. I seen some other images around the interwebs that show PCB’s that don’t look all that great. This one has the WiFi, but given its a clone I will most likely only chance the wired USB. I don’t need to be doing a file transfer such as a module programming and increase the already present chance of a connection dropout.
Having talked about with some repairing friends and forum guys, I decided to have a try with my FORD VCM II. Here is what I did for it.
I reinstalled the firmware in recovery mode using Ford_VCM_II_Software_Setup_v2.1.119.3 from the BOSCH website.
I also updated IDS to version 95.05 and using a 3 day trial after upgrading from version 91.01. I reinstalled the BOSCH software again so IDS didn’t prompt me to update to the newer version of the software from September 2014 vs February 2014 (.3). (As I think this is what caused my issue of no communication in the first place)
I did all of this in a VMWare Workstation 10 image of Windows 7 that I created and made a backup copy of the image in case I mess the image up. I probably won’t use it much anyways as it is just for my personal use on my own car.
It seems to be working great, reads my vehicle now, cleared DTC codes, I even updated 8 modules in my 2014 vehicle after downloading the calibration files with no crashes or errors.
If only there was a way to not have to deal with the 3 day trial nonsense without spending $700. Also I wonder if it will work with IDS version 96.01 which is due out on the 24th.
Anyways it was a good investment, I think.
I have my genuine Drew Technologies Mongoose Pro Ford (PWM) J2534 programmer, which can only program some modules like the PCM… It only supports CAN Bus (capable of ISO 15765, GMLAN, and ISO14229), J1850PWM / SCP, and ISO9141 / KWP2000… It is nice the clone VCM2 can read modules on the other, two out of three, CAN networks newer Ford vehicles use such as Medium Speed CAN.
