Need help calibrating tire size with AE

ert01 · 12-25-2015, 09:53 AM

I purchased the AE scan tool and the Ford enhanced package a little while ago and so far it's been great except that I can't seem to program my tire size... Can anyone offer any advise? I've poked around on FTE and thedieselstop but there's very little van specific info there.

Anyways, my van is an 02 E350 7.3 Powerstroke.

I can connect to the ABS system and I see the "calibrate tire size" option in the pull down menu but I can't make anything change or happen there. Do I need the van running or off or does it even matter?

Ford_6L_E350 · 12-25-2015, 05:24 PM

Have you called AE? I found them very helpful when I has questions.

Mike

ert01 · 12-25-2015, 08:10 PM

I will once the holidays are over

I sent them an email but I don't expect a response anytime soon.

ert01 · 12-26-2015, 12:01 PM

I got a response this morning! Very pleasantly surprised that they took the time to respond during the holidays but unfortunately the response is not what I wanted to hear...

That rather unfortunate because it was half the reason that I bought this tool... I didn't want to have to pay a dealership to do the calibration. Hm.

Disappointed that this wasn't disclosed somewhere in advance. Everything I read said I could do tire size calibration on the 7.3L Powerstroke if I got the enhanced package.

**daveb** · 12-26-2015, 01:40 PM

Yeah I've yet to find a way to program past a certain tire size on my 06. Still looking though.

mgmetalworks · 12-26-2015, 06:29 PM

The dealer's tool (IDS) doesn't have a great deal of flexibility for tire size adjustment either. I have the tool and it is woefully inadequate for most things if you're wishing to go outside of the short list of factory parameters. Maybe there are some technicians out there who know a few tricks but don't assume that you can walk into any dealership and they'll be able to adjust to any size you tell them.

ert01 · 12-26-2015, 08:03 PM

Yeah I kinda figured as much... When I first bought the van I had an engine code come up and I brought it to the dealership to get it checked out. I asked them to adjust the speedo while they were poking around on it. In the end they charged me $100 and all they did was clear the code. They told me it was a EBP code related to my chip. They also said they adjusted the speedo. But it was just as bad as before.

The reason I bought this AE and the enhanced package was so that I wouldn't have to pay a dealership every time I need something checked out. In that sense, this tool will pay for itself in short order I'm sure. But I also wanted to spend the time to get my speedo accurate...

Now I think I'll have to find a different (better) dealership or someone local with the tool to mess with my van. It's off by 7% (speedo reads too slow). Which is too much of a margin of error for me to be comfortable with.

The last dealership said they could only guarantee +\- 10%. And they only told me that AFTER the last calibration failed. It was within their 10% so I didn't get my money back from them.

depark · 12-27-2015, 06:08 PM

My experience with my local dealership has been great. They adjusted my speedo (on the 2nd try). I took my van in for other things and asked for the to try. The first time they couldn't do it and did not charge me anything. I have a Bully Dog programmer so I could adjust the speedo myself so I wasn't too concerned. The second (because I thought I might sell it) attempt worked and they charged me $100. The mechanic said he had to "fiddle around with it a bit". (no joke, his words)

Anyway it is within 1km of my gps. I'm happy with that. Anyway it can be done but I assume that it is a crap-shoot.
Cheers
Darryl

**daveb** · 12-28-2015, 12:16 PM

FWIW I was able to get the 285's dialed in but the 315 were a different story. I'm thinking that the new programmer I'm installing might work but I'm not too hopeful.

carringb · 12-28-2015, 02:06 PM

I believe the proper place to make the changes is under the VSS menu, which I don't think is available on AE, only on Ford IDS. Basically, you use a Tire-height/gear ratio table to input a revs/mile ratio. Some other-than-stock tire sizes can be entered depending on gear ratio, however that range is limited. I was able to adjust for 4.30 gears, because I had 265 tires. But I couldn't adjust for 4.56 gears. I ended up buying a signal converter box, but I've never gotten around to installing it.