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3.73 to 4.88 Gear Swap Problems **RESOLVED, STEEDA TUNE FIXED ALL ISSUES**

L0566Bullitt

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Posting here as well to try and get some more visibility.

On June 5th I bought a 2020 Bullitt. Love the car but first thing I noticed was how long the gears were. I could never do a pull and even get into 4th on the highway. That's ridiculous. What a waste of 4th, 5th, and 6th gear. So with only 1800ish miles on it, I took it to East Coast Gear Supply and had them swap the stock 3.73s for 4.88s. Completely different car, pulls insane and now it actually feels like a 500+ hp car. However, the PCM does NOT like the new gears. It's throwing all sorts of blindspot, parking aid, cross traffic, neutral switch shorted to ground, abs, and powertrain control module faults. I took it to the dealer and they have no idea what's wrong. They said somehow they're all tied in to the network and if one thing is off (like gear ratio), then it throws everything off. They said they put a request into corporate Ford for help. In the mean time, I took it home and hooked it up to Forscan which found all sorts of DTCs. In the BdyCAM there are two rows for "Axle Ratio". One row let's me manually enter 4.88 which is good, but the second one only let's you select 4.10 as the lowest gear ratio. Since I have the one above it set to 4.88, the one below reads something like "48800 - Incorrect or Incompatible Configuration" or some sort of error.

I have a few questions. Has anyone heard of a gear swap messing with the BLS/rear parking aid/cross traffic/ABS/neutral switch sensors? I will say that when I first drove it home off the lot, I noticed it never displayed the gear I was in like I had noticed in some videos previous to purchasing. I just thought I didn't have the display set correctly. It also had some faults show up but I just thought it was buggy software so I restarted the car and they'd all go away. Every once in awhile I'd receive some of the same faults and it wouldn't allow me to change drive modes and/or steering options. I once again just thought it was buggy and didn't pay much attention to it. But now that I'm getting the neutral switch shorted to ground fault, it's all making sense now. After I clear that DTC, as soon as I drive down the driveway about 50 feet, the neutral switch DTC is thrown and I lose my gear position indicator on the dash. Instead of showing N, R, 1st, 2nd, etc., it's just blank (see pics below).

Fast forward to getting the gears upgraded, and now it does this ALL the time. They drove it before and after and even they noted it was messed up. I told them not to worry about it because it had done it before so I just figured a simple reboot would fix the problem like before. But the difference is after they swapped the gears it does it ALL the time now. Question is, are there sensors down by the rear axle they could have broken and/or plugged in backwards?? Both the left and right Side Obstacle Detection Control Module (SODCMs) are throwing faults as well. I've used Forscan to do module resets on every single module I can, cleared DTCs, did PCM relearning, EVERYTHING I can think of to try and clear these faults but nothing makes them go away permanently.

I told the first dealer (where I purchased it from) it almost seems as if there's a wiring problem since I'm getting "shorted to ground" faults. He said that is definitely not uncommon for these cars. I was surprised to hear that.

A different Ford dealer also told me that changing the values in Forescan isn't enough and that the PCM actually has to be flashed for 4.88s to match what is set in the modules that Forescan can write to. This doesn't make sense to me; isn't Forescan writing values TO the PCM?

As a last resort, I purchased an SCT X4 from Steeda as they seem to be the only ones with a Bullitt tune so I'm hoping I can set the gears to 4.88 there. I'm not going to do anything else because I don't want to void the warranty. Everyone says SCT can do 4.10s and 4.56s but no one knows if it can do 4.88s. Anyone know if the SCT X4 can flash 4.88s as well??

In one of the pictures you can see I'm in 6th gear but there's no indicator in the center of the tach...it's just blank.

The other pictures are of the wires shorted to ground. I think it may actually be a wiring problem??

Any input is greatly appreciated. View attachment 500143
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ice445

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Well I think there's two problems going on here. For one, the PCM can only "learn" up to 4.09/4.10 as far as I can tell with how I've looked into this (I'm looking to swap in 4.09 on my 2020). That means that it has the correct torque tables to plug up to that number into the AdvanceTrac system. 4.88 is out of range, and I'm 99% certain you'll need to tune the PCM to accommodate it. This in some ways is uncharted territory, because from what someone else posted on here, the 2020's don't pull the "as built" info about gear ratio from the BCM anymore, but it may depend entirely on build date of the vehicle. But the problem remains that the PCM doesn't have that set of tables as standard equipment, so it will have to be added if you can't plug in the numbers manually like you're saying.

The second problem is that you have a wiring harness issue. The first thing I would check is the 6 pin plug into the transmission housing that reads the gear positions, it may have a chewed wire or is partially unplugged. But the BCM codes are somewhat concerning because the autolamp circuit is included. Does your car have the auto leveling headlight system?
 

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Thanks for posting all this information about rear gear increase causing issues. I recall others putting 4.56 gears in their Mustangs. I don't recall reading about them having issues.
 

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Sounds like a bad solder joint between processor and flash memory. You need to go back to stock to get it warrantied out and retest known working good setup.

It the board passed supplier testing at one point, it can likely be salvaged by inspection, reflow, xray bga chips, clean, retest. But likely cheaper to replace.

Find someone to borrow a spare diff and swap it in to debug issues stock?
Then swap in new diff.
Or go drive another bullit stock to see if funky?
 

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I don't have anything to add, but like most manual owners, I'm not happy with the tranny gear ratio changes Ford did. I hope you get it worked out, and post up on how it runs, because I will be doing a gear swap in the future as well.
 

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I'm not going to do anything else because I don't want to void the warranty.
Sorry I can't help with the rest, but this won't really work. No matter how little or big change you make, it's going to show up on a dealer's scan as a flashed PCM which they will assume is an aftermarket tune. That can easily give them the chance to deny any powertrain claims.
 
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L0566Bullitt

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Well I think there's two problems going on here. For one, the PCM can only "learn" up to 4.09/4.10 as far as I can tell with how I've looked into this (I'm looking to swap in 4.09 on my 2020). That means that it has the correct torque tables to plug up to that number into the AdvanceTrac system. 4.88 is out of range, and I'm 99% certain you'll need to tune the PCM to accommodate it. This in some ways is uncharted territory, because from what someone else posted on here, the 2020's don't pull the "as built" info about gear ratio from the BCM anymore, but it may depend entirely on build date of the vehicle. But the problem remains that the PCM doesn't have that set of tables as standard equipment, so it will have to be added if you can't plug in the numbers manually like you're saying.

The second problem is that you have a wiring harness issue. The first thing I would check is the 6 pin plug into the transmission housing that reads the gear positions, it may have a chewed wire or is partially unplugged. But the BCM codes are somewhat concerning because the autolamp circuit is included. Does your car have the auto leveling headlight system?
Great info, really appreciate the reply. I definitely agree there is an issue separate from the gears. Especially since it was doing it from the beginning. I don't think it has the auto-leveling headlight system? I'll have to check on that and get back with you though...attached is the window sticker. Don't think I have it.
 

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L0566Bullitt

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Thanks for posting all this information about rear gear increase causing issues. I recall others putting 4.56 gears in their Mustangs. I don't recall reading about them having issues.
Just hope I can get it fixed. I'll report back once I figure out what the issue is.

Sounds like a bad solder joint between processor and flash memory. You need to go back to stock to get it warrantied out and retest known working good setup.

It the board passed supplier testing at one point, it can likely be salvaged by inspection, reflow, xray bga chips, clean, retest. But likely cheaper to replace.

Find someone to borrow a spare diff and swap it in to debug issues stock?
Then swap in new diff.
Or go drive another bullit stock to see if funky?
That sounds like a whole lot of work for a brand new car. The Ford dealer did say it could be a bad ECM so hoping to swap that out and see if it clears up some of these DTCs that make absolutely no sense.

I don't have anything to add, but like most manual owners, I'm not happy with the tranny gear ratio changes Ford did. I hope you get it worked out, and post up on how it runs, because I will be doing a gear swap in the future as well.
Will do. The 4.88s feel amazing. Literally like a different car. Highly recommend (if I can get these issues figured out).
 

M.A.N.

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I have written about this on other post, I changed mine to 4.09 on 2019 Bullitt and it does not work, Same issues that you had.
I tried Forscan to make the change in the BCM, talked to FP they said even the package they was coming out with to make the change in a GT would
not work on the Bullitt. It's not a bad plug or wiring. I'm sure only way you can change the gear in the Bullitt is with a tune. Changed the gear in my 2019 GT350
with no issues, jump in and drive, just like the good old days.
 
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L0566Bullitt

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I have written about this on other post, I changed mine to 4.09 on 2019 Bullitt and it does not work, Same issues that you had.
I tried Forscan to make the change in the BCM, talked to FP they said even the package they was coming out with to make the change in a GT would
not work on the Bullitt. It's not a bad plug or wiring. I'm sure only way you can change the gear in the Bullitt is with a tune. Changed the gear in my 2019 GT350
with no issues, jump in and drive, just like the good old days.
But did you also have all the other sensor issues (BLIS, ABS, neutral switch, park aid, cross traffic alert, etc.)?
 

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WD Pro

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I posted this info :

OK, don’t shoot the messenger ... :cwl:

Me to ford performance :

“Hi,

I am looking at installing the 4.09 gear (M-4209-88409A) in my UK spec 2020 GT with manual transmission, the car currently has a 3.55 gear.

After installation of the 4.09, do I need to alter any of the computer settings to ensure everything works perfectly ?

If so, what needs altering and what is the best way to do it ?

Thanks and best regards”

FP to me :

“You will have to find an aftermarket source that has a calibration for the gear change.

If you install gear without a calibration it will go into a protective mode”

Me to FP :

“Thank you for the confirmation.

Can the gear change calibration be amended through FORscan ?

Thanks and best regards”

FP to me :

“In the states the dealer system is IDS.

They cannot change calibration for any gear”

Make of that what you will ...

Does anyone have any more questions I should ask them ?

WD :like:
On this thread : https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/how-are-people-liking-4-09-gears-in-the-mt82.111146/

I’m interested to see how this goes - hope it works out well for you :like:

WD :like:
 
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L0566Bullitt

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M.A.N.

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But did you also have all the other sensor issues (BLIS, ABS, neutral switch, park aid, cross traffic alert, etc.)?
Yes all of them, cross traffic alert, hillside assist, Blis, couldn't change drive mode and wrench in dash, I'm sure the Bullitt will have to have a tune.
I played with it for sometime. Then changed it back. lol
 

WD Pro

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There seems to be very mixed opinions on this swap and what it can / can’t effect with regards the software - some guys have had zero issues ...

I will have to plan for the worst and hope for the best ... :like:

WD :like:
 
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L0566Bullitt

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Yes all of them, cross traffic alert, hillside assist, Blis, couldn't change drive mode and wrench in dash, I'm sure the Bullitt will have to have a tune.
I played with it for sometime. Then changed it back. lol
Man...you swapped your gears back to stock??
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