MACS Service Reports - 2016 - APR7

tis2web.service.gm.com

time, we've got good news! The folks at ASA (Automotive Service Association) have put together a
user friendly website that is a nice addition to the
familiar www.nastf.org and www.OEM1STOP websites. This new site, www.oerepairinfo.com lists very
handy links to various hot topics techs often go to
for OEM information; everything from factory scan
tool info to OEM service manuals in an easy to navigate list (Figure 12).

No More Free Lunches at Select OEM Info Sites
Almost all OEM's have been in a long standing
tradition of providing access to factory repair information and software to flash (and in some cases,
scan) for a reasonable fee. Kia and Hyundai provided such services for free for several years until moving to a subscription based service in more
recent times. Ford on the other hand has charged a
reasonable fee for service information and module
software updates but kept a few resources free to
anyone who wished to visit www.motorcraftservice.
com. The free things are a simple mouse click away
when you jump to the Ford website.
Something fairly new (in the last few months) at
Ford is a registration that's now required (once)
along with a login and password each time after that. One helpful free resource that still is free
online at Ford is the OBD-II Theory and Operation section sporting 100-300 page downloadable
PDF files telling you everything you ever wanted
to know about Ford emissions and drivability (including Mode $06) by model year for 20 years of
gas, diesel and hybrid applications. I'm so glad to
report these very detailed emissions related documents are still free. Module software updates are
an important part of our service world these days

Figure 13: GM's tis2web website is THE place to go for GM calibration
update listings. Just type in a VIN to find out what software updates may
be available.

and Fords may occasionally have an update that's
not listed in a TSB. You used to be able to check
that out for free on Ford's website. Not the case
as of the last few months. Now if you just wish to
browse module calibration updates to determine if
the Ford you are working on has an eligible update,
you have to pay. GM's calibration update listings
(Figure 13) (by VIN) are still free at https://tis2web.
service.gm.com/tis2web (just Google GM CAL UPDATE) and for good reason. Around 45 % of GM's
software updates are NOT documented in TSBs or
PIs (Preliminary Info). On the other hand, most of
Ford's calibration updates are documented in TSBs
and they now require that you pay to see if there
is anything to buy in order to update one of their
"F.R.E.D.s" for a software related service fix. ■

If you've never been to Ford's website and registered
as a customer to pay for service info, module software
updates or on-line training, you must do the following
now even to access the resources that are still free
such as OBD-II technical info and owner's manuals:
1. Register a user ID and Password in the
login fields.
2. Scroll, click, scroll, and click numerous
"I Agree" spots in the lawyer fields.
3. Make sure the ID you try to register with
is a full blown e-mail address. I tried my
usual "dave1234" generic user ID that I use
for just about everything only to pop up error
messages on the site.

April 2016

MACS Service Reports

http://www.nastf.org http://www.OEM1STOP http://www.oerepairinfo.com http://www.tis2web.service.gm.com http://www.motorcraftservice https://tis2web http://service.gm.com/tis2web

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MACS Service Reports - 2016