Hello! I have recently added a TCU to my 2016 Ford Focus MK 3.5 Titanium following multiple guides online.
I have gotten as far as making my own custom harness to wire the TCU directly into my DSP module for power and I CAN, following the guides that I found online.
I am quite comfortable working with wiring and using FORScan since I have been tinkering with it for around 4.5 years now.
The issue I am currently facing is that the APIM recognizes the TCU and properly displays the serial number. It also now appears in the Fordpass app and asks me to start my vehicle and connect, but it never sends the authorization screen to my head unit and I cannot see the TCU in FORScan to see the current status of the TCU.
I have read on Focus Fanatics that the issue lies with the IPC configuration and not being able to relay the communication of the TCU to the HS CAN and MS CAN bus respectively.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to get this to work? I did additionally purchase a 2018 Ford Escape IPC but it wouldn’t even power on when connected to my Focus. I also own a 2017 Ford Escape Titanium and tested the IPC to confirm that it wasn’t faulty.
Part of this gets down to the simple questions of does the vehicle have keyed or push button start, where did the TCU come from (different models eg Mondeo vs Kuga have different configs), do you have factory/Ford remote start or not.
The other issues come from things like other module firmware/calibration levels, the IPC is the primary module that FordPass talks to, the APIM is just an interface for accepting activation and resetting activation or configuring the hot spot (if the TCU has it available).
Hello! I am happy to report that this Focus is equipped with the factory remote start, exterior keypad, and push-to-start.
TCU is from a 2018 Ford Escape.
I have read on the forums that only certain calibration levels work with the Focus due to them not using the HS3 CAN bus.
From my understanding, anything below a K series TCU should work in this car. I am also aware that the K series TCU can be downgraded to run J series calibration.
I am happy to post pictures of my setup as well as part numbers if needed!
The Focus has HS3, the difference comes down to the architecture which is the same across the CMax\Fiesta\Escape\Focus.
The TCU has to be running H or J series firmware to work, which a 2018 Escape should have.
Have you run the re-activation\activation sequence using ForScan per F150Chief’s doc?
I had been researching this for quite a while before I ended up buying the hardware to make sure it would work, hence why I am able to answer these questions so easily. But I’m confused as to why it won’t after following the steps outlined.
The TCU I have equipped is a J series TCU but I also have access to the H series TCU out of my 2017 Ford Escape and neither one shows up in FORScan or activates in my vehicle.
I don’t typically ask for help since I have been doing custom retrofits for a while but this one really stumped me!
If you read the ForScan doc it does not pickup modules that were added to model\year combinations that they were not available on.
Try loading the saved profile from a 2017/2018 (one which came with a TCU) and see if you can modify the AB config of the TCU.
Do you mean to load a saved Escape profile to scan my Focus? From what I have read the Focus platform never came with a TCU entirely, so I cannot load another Focus profile to my knowledge.
If you read the Forscan forums, the way around this is to load a saved ForScan config from a year of the Focus that had a TCU.
This keeps ForScan from looking for modules, so you should be able to read/write the AB config of the TCU that’s been added to the vehicle.
As far as I have seen online. The Focus platform never came with a TCU equipped from the factory for anything from MK 3 (2012 - 2014) to MK 3.5 (2015 - 2018)
The only way I have been able to program this TCU is by placing it into my 2017 Ford Escape and setting the AB bits, and then moving it back into my 2016 Ford Focus.
If you want I can move the module to my Escape and set some bits if that’s what you need me to do.
When you run the initialization its grabbing the VIN from the Escape, for it to work in the Focus is has to be initialized in that car so that it passes the correct VIN to Ford’s servers.
So what would be my next step? I cannot use another profile since there is no way I can load a profile from another Focus since the C346 platform never came equipped with a TCU.
I cannot edit the asbuilt since it’s not visible due to the limitation of adding modules and the only way I can edit the AB data is by placing it into my other vehicle and editing it…
This is where it gets confusing and hence why I reached out to the forums. I have gotten as far as Fordpass telling me to connect to the vehicle but I cannot pass that screen.
I greatly appreciate your help with this but it seems like it might not be possible due to not being able to load another Focus profile.
So doing a bit of Google search on the EU Focus sites, there are folks that have added a TCU.
And considering that the Focus Electric came with a TCU, I’ve got to ask.
Are sure you don’t have your HS3+ & HS3- wires reversed?
Have you done a continuity test from the TCU connector to somewhere further up the harness that you tapped into?
Are you sure you tapped into the HS3 pair? Sometimes you have to go by pin on the source connector rather than color because Ford is known to change colors across model years.
I honestly forgot completely about the Focus Electric
I know that the HS3+ and HS3- are not reversed since I looked up both pin-outs for both my TCU and my DSP module.
I have also done multiple continuity tests to ensure grounds, power and HS3 CAN wires are all properly connected to ensure it wasn’t a connection issue. I did the test when I first wired everything up for sanity lol.
I can submit some photos of what I have done if you like to double check I have connected everything correctly!
Yes, I have been starting the FORScan connection with no profile every time to see if it picks up that module and nothing appears. The only module that sees the TCU is the APIM and does not report losing communication with it when it is connected.
But if I disconnect the TCU and scan for DTCs with FORScan it says it lost communication with: “Telecommunications Module A”
Should I be connecting the HS3 CAN wires to the DSP module as the Document suggests? When looking at my wiring book for the Focus it doesn’t say HS3 CAN.
I have them connected to pin #1 and pin #11 as the Document suggests but my book says those pins are for the Multimedia CAN bus.
My book says pin #1 is: “INSTRUMENT CLUSTER # CAN BUS MULTIMEDIA HIGH”
and pin #11 is: “INSTRUMENT CLUSTER # CAN BUS MULTIMEDIA LOW”
I have attached a photo of the DSP pinout that I am using for communication currently.
That’s indicating the wires run back through the cluster first (it is a gateway module).
How does you manual describe APIM pins 19 & 20? 19 is HS3+ & 20 HS3-
Ican was the Infotainment bus on the CGEA 1.2 network. On the CGEA 1.3 network they changed it to HS3. For the most part they are the same but the 1.3 network added a GWM that takes over routing functions from the IPC and BCM.
