FordTechCA

well IDS is exactly like WDS in the way it works. basicly IDS is WDS on a laptop right now. i originally bought a laptop a year and a half ago in getting ready for IDS. then when PDS was released and i still couldnt use my laptop i have since bought the pocketpc for PDS. they both have their + and - when using them. in comparison PDS is like using NGS, its portable and fast when you need to pull codes quick. it will also do almost everything WDS does that you dont need extra cables for. reprograms,pids,pats,power balances, evap test, active commands and also get into the rest of the modules. downside to PDS, when you look at pids you can select as many as you want but can only view 3 at a time due to screen size and have to scroll up and down to see the rest that you selected. IDS is WDS on speed. IDS navigates just like WDS so everything that WDS does can be done with IDS. downside, it sucks on road test trying to controll a laptop, drive and watch pids. unless you spend extra money on a laptop with touch screen or get a tablet pc you will need to use the mouse to navigate. thats about the only thing i miss right now, no touch screen as for which one i would buy? well i have a laptop and pocket pc and used the shops VCM for PDS til i got the IDS beta package. once i got PDS working when i first got my pocket pc i hardly used the WDS unless i needed to do a injector flow test. i was using PDS for everything. now im playing around with both PDS and IDS. if your shop has a VCM i would go with PDS until we see what kind of package Ford releases when IDS comes out at the end of the year or beginning of next year.

well no real suggestion on how to get involved. as i posted earlier in this thread it was a well timed post on the Ford boards that got me noticed by one of the people in charge of the program. we were also asked up front before the beta got started to not let it out on the Ford boards that we had been chosen to do the testing because the cost of everything was way more then the PDS beta Ford only had room for a limited number of testers. i think last count i had was there is only 15 techs using IDS right now across the country. reason you saw the IDS is out post on the Ford boards was we had gotten the OK to talk about it in the forums. i wasnt part of the PDS beta but had been in contact over the internet and in person with someone at another dealer that was part of the PDS beta. that may have helped too. from what i see right now as what may happen with PDS and IDS in the shop is probably the techs spending a bit of money. IDS is WDS replacement. once it is released WDS will no longer be updated, kinda like what happened to SBDS when WDS was released. so i expect dealers to buy the same amount of IDS kits to replace their WDS. the dealers can make their IDS as fast or slow as they want depending on how much money they spend for the laptop to run IDS. i kinda expect the cost of IDS to be less then WDS from what i see so far but with the way Ford does things its way too early to tell. i kinda think PDS cost will fall on the tech. get your dealer to buy 1 VCM for every NGS you currently have and the tech may end up buying their own pocket pc. i cant see a shop pocket pc. we all know how the NGS gets abused and a pocket pc cant take that kind of beating. the nice thing about PDS and IDS is they use the same VCM. no reprogramming the VCM when you switch between the 2. switching between the 2 is pretty painless. if your using IDS and need to road test, disconnect the cable from the VCM to the laptop, plug in the cable that PDS uses( PDS and IDS uses different cables to connect the VCM to the laptop or pocketpc), fire up the pocket pc and do your road test. anyways anymore questions about IDS feel free to ask and ill try to answer them the best i can

i mentioned the rumors of a huge recall to my boss. he then called someone he knows in Ford and added to the rumors. my boss told me things like injectors, head gaskets, wiring harness may all be on the recall block. he didnt get much more info but im guessing these will depend on the year. the rumor is the price tag will be in the billion dollar range. i expect to see something in writing around the summer or near the end of summer

i mentioned the rumors of a huge recall to my boss. he then called someone he knows in Ford and added to the rumors. my boss told me things like injectors, head gaskets, wiring harness may all be on the recall block. he didnt get much more info but im guessing these will depend on the year. the rumor is the price tag will be in the billion dollar range. i expect to see something in writing around the summer or near the end of summer

well PDS is great. i dont use a NGS anymore and very rarely use the WDS. PDS is basicly a handheld WDS but way faster. PDS will just about everything WDS does that you dont need extra cables. now on to the WDS replacement, IDS. i have had the beta for a couple of weeks now. there will be no re-learning how to use a new tool because Ford is using the WDS software as a starting point. basicly it looks like WDS except its very fast. IDS uses the same VCM as PDS so you can change back and forth between PDS and IDS by only changing cables. the things i like most about IDS so far, more speed, being able to have a scan tool and service info on one machine. what ive been doing as of now is using IDS in the shop and when i need to road test i switch to PDS.

they are usually cheeper then the trucks and way cheeper if its in the flier. i bought a stud extractor set off the RTP site and saved $70 off the price the snapon truck wanted. best part was when i showed the snapon guy the price he said he cant even buy them that cheep.

ok guys 2005 ultimate masters challenge is here and you have til 2-22 to take the test. have you done it already? if so post your scores just got done, 36 out of 50. seemed to be a better mixture of questions this year. some 6.0L, 7.3L and Hybrid question on the test, along with the usual NVH stuff. good luck all

well i like doing trans work but wouldnt do it paid flat rate, im paid hourly where i work. anyways after bad mouthing this recall to the boss that Ford was on glue with their times in this recall i finally got my first one to do. needless to say the time is beatable. i did a 4X4 which is worth 6.4 hours with time to spare and seeing we our hourly and it doesnt affect my pay i put a full 6.4 hours on the ticket. it was only my 3rd torqueshift i have ever opened up. by the way i heard from parts on thursday that mercon SP is on backorder /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rofl.gif anyone surprised?

well i like doing trans work but wouldnt do it paid flat rate, im paid hourly where i work. anyways after bad mouthing this recall to the boss that Ford was on glue with their times in this recall i finally got my first one to do. needless to say the time is beatable. i did a 4X4 which is worth 6.4 hours with time to spare and seeing we our hourly and it doesnt affect my pay i put a full 6.4 hours on the ticket. it was only my 3rd torqueshift i have ever opened up. by the way i heard from parts on thursday that mercon SP is on backorder /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rofl.gif anyone surprised?

this is only the first stage in the change. ive seen preview's of the next stage and if it all works the way i have been told the best is yet to come. yes the main page need some work or at least an option to customize it. the next stage will make searching for service manuals,evtm's, pced's and running oasis easier. basicly youll enter in a vehicle and tabs will come up to go to each section. ive also been told Ford has a way to gather up vin numbers as they are run when the vehicle is droped off, then when we get the RO we will go to a section on the site where the vin are stored and find the vin. they are susposed to be grouped together by year and model. say you have 4 2004 Explorers on the lot. you select 2004 Explorer and all 4 vins will be there and you select your vehicle. then the next page will load with the tabs for manuals,wiring diagrams,evtm,oasis. kinda like the new main fmcdealer page is where on mine i have tabs for message center,sales,finance,parts and service

we just had a wild one. it was a 05 F350. runs rough. using the enhanced power balance test with wds we decided to put 3 injectors in it. still ran rough, then put an injector harness in it, still ran rough. ended up replacing the FICM and all was good after. we were surprised it ended up being the FICM when at the beginning while killing cylinders everything acted like injectors were the problem because we werent getting much response from the 3 problem cylinders when we disabled them

of all the trucks we have sold and serviced we have only seen 2 for the recall and 2 other torqueshifts for anything more then a solenoid replacement. the last 2 trans we did, one was for the recall done by another tech and the other was done by me, parts took about 4 days to show up. with the solenoid body on these im surprised Ford hasnt switched to a different style of filter in the pan that can catch stuff better

of all the trucks we have sold and serviced we have only seen 2 for the recall and 2 other torqueshifts for anything more then a solenoid replacement. the last 2 trans we did, one was for the recall done by another tech and the other was done by me, parts took about 4 days to show up. with the solenoid body on these im surprised Ford hasnt switched to a different style of filter in the pan that can catch stuff better

yeah backordered stuff really causes problems. the biggest problem i have at the dealer im at is just a total lack of stocking of necessary parts. our parts manager has a lame policy that if we use the part 3 times in 3-6 months he will stock it. most of the time he doesnt follow that and there seems to be alot of times where we will use it 3 times then Ford updates the number and we have to start from scratch. then if we dont use the part for 3 months he takes it out of stock.

well i expect to hear soon on the testing of IDS. ive heard beta testing should be starting soon and i hope to be a part of it. another rumor i heard is the VCM price is about as good as it gets dont expect a price drop at all or anytime in the near future.

me and another tech watched it. it made for a good laugh to start the day off but that was about it. i did pick up on the features of the power balance test for 6.0L's. ive never used the power balance but now that i have seen what it can do i just may play around with it the next 6.0L i get for a poor/rough run.

well what kills me about the price of $2200 is the VCM is only a part of the whole tool. the VCM wont work without a NGS or PocketPC as of now. the NGS still sells for $1700 brand new and its an outdated tool or you have to buy a PocketPC for $300-600. how many VCM's does Ford really expect to sell for $2200? what would make more money for Ford, selling a 1000 VCM's for $2200 or reducing the price to say $1200 where a tech may be able to afford it better and selling 5000 VCM's at that price. another perfect example of Ford not making good business decisions

i put up a semi bitch post on the ford boards when PDS software was released complaining about why didnt they release it to connect to computers at the same time. well 10 min after i posted it the lead guy in the PDS program called me at work. we had about a 15 min talk and during that talk i asked about future beta testing and he asked me to send him some info, like who i was and where i worked. last i heard in December they are still trying to get the VMM designed and working like they want it before beta testing for IDS gets started. when i hear something ill let you know

me and another tech just ordered the discounted HP 4705 pocket pc. the shop has one VCM and we are beating the boss up to get a second one while telling him more will be needed. we just about have him convinced that if they buy the VCM's ,most of the techs are willing to get their own pocket pc's. i also have my name in to get on the beta team for IDS, which will be the replacement for WDS. IDS will use a combination of the VCM and the still in development VMM while attching to a desktop/laptop computer. the VMM will be a small module that connects to a pc by usb and have all the connectors that are along the top of the WDS. i would buy my own VCM if Ford priced it more reasonable. say $1000-1200 but at its current price ill just settle for my own pocket pc to hook up to the shop VCM

we have the redline SBDS and have used the NGS repair thru them. the NGS turn around is faster then sending into Hickock and the readline SBDS is a great backup to the WDS and NGS. they have updated the software to do alot of the 2000 and newer vehicles. i think it can go up to 2002 now and some 2003's, non-can vehicles of course.

i have had a laptop on my box for over a year now. i got it for 2 reasons, i was tired of waiting for the lone shop computer and i was also getting ready for future diagnosis tools knowing WDS is on its way out in the next year or so. i dont know what i would do without a computer now.