Ford Maverick Drive Mode Hack to Set Eco-Mode

[@ronfurro4161]

Fantastic job! You are what make the Maverick DIY community so great! Put some affiliate links in your description, so we can order the parts and you can make a little something on the transactions!

[@CubanRedneck]

... thank you, please visit my blog for links KZbin has been acting stupid about links.

[@wpiofm]

Fascinating. Shame on Ford to not code the Maverick computer to do this.

[@CubanRedneck]

... I know but this has been going on for a while. And according to comments other makes are doing the same. Not only that but it is not correctable via software.

[@wpiofm]

@@CubanRedneck Ford's coders could do it. Copy that we can't after-market-wise. Sidebar: We love the Cuban Americans for what they stand for.

[@CubanRedneck]

... thank you!

[@carianoff]

Can't Ford just fix this with a firmware car update or something. This is way too much work.

[@CubanRedneck]

… thank you for stopping by! I know and I agree! That would make sense, but that is not the case. You lose control of what everyone is doing by decentralizing the ECU into several little pieces (14 in the Maverick)! And know that other manufacturers are starting to do the same! One day, they are going to question why everyone is buying Toyotas! Now you know the answer!

[@iSteven180]

Great idea! I was thinking about something like this when I Get my Hybrid.

[@CubanRedneck]

Right on! ... I am still learning about the truck, I have had it for ten weeks and my first Ford in over two decades but I already see myself making a version 2.0 with added functionality. That seatbelt status when you first power up is really annoying.

[@michaelmoore1149]

Great video but if you want to get rich like Scotty kilmer did offer a mod that one can buy for $39.95 including shipping. With simple installation instructions it should sell well.

[@CubanRedneck]

Thanks for the info! But understand the channel is a hobby, I am enjoying retired life just came from fishing all day and rain or shine there is a check hitting the acct the 4th Friday of the month. Nevertheless, thank you for the visit!

[@AwholvNation]

I'd pay $49.99 + shipping...

[@CubanRedneck]

@@AwholvNation ...I appreciate that but I just don't have the time. We are in Daytona this weekend. Another trip schedule for next week. Then driving up to Talladega. The only reason you haven't seen more Maverick videos is due to my schedule.

[@danhergenrederjr338]

This has been something I've been thinking of doing for a while. Nice well put together video. My only concern is since you spent so much time on this, why not use a solid state relay? Who wants to hear 4 clicks everytime they get in? Also, why are you using a timer? I haven't confirmed yet but my intuition is telling me any Arduino micro controller should be able to handle switching this on it's own. Anyways, good work on the video , and thanks for the good explanation of the vehicle components!

[@CubanRedneck]

By the language, I can tell you know what you are talking about, but that is not humanity as a whole. I am not into selling products, and the point of using over-the-counter devices was #1 cost, and #2 facilitate ease of duplication by people with minimal or no experience. When I used to race, I always built my nitro controllers and dealy boxes from circuits in the Radio Shack Engineering Notebooks. I also built my first computer on and on… That said, and although the timer boards I used in the video are readily available, the number of requests for a turn-key module has been overwhelming. I am working on a solid-state circuit using transistors as switches with added functionality for 10% percenters like yourself, and once tested, I will post that circuit on my blog. Thank you for stopping by, and BTW the clicking is around 70bd. It sounded lauder in the video because I had the box taken apart!

[@danhergenrederjr338]

@@CubanRedneck Makes sense, and good to know. Sounds great, looking forward to it!! Thanks for the awesome maverick videos!

[@CubanRedneck]

... you are very welcome!

[@Sembazuru]

IMHO the electromechanical relay is a good thing. I would expect to get used to hearing it and then know something is wrong if I don't hear it. (i.e. feedback loop) I agree that an Arduino should be able to do this without sweat. Unfortunately, have you tried to get an Arduino lately? The ATmega328 chips that most Arduinos are based on are really hard to get. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/enKZoXuKYpeZjtU That said, I think Adafruit M0 feathers are still easy to get a hold of for $20USD, add on the relay feather wing for $8USD and one can replicate this circuit with less parts and less wiring. Additionally, add a simple SP4T switch mounted somewhere accessible by the driver and the default drive mode for the next ignition start can be set by the driver w/o having to access the controller.

[@CubanRedneck]

... the clicking is not an issue. The test on the video was done with the box open. With the box close and put away the clicking is under 70 dbs. There is actually more clicking and beeping coming from the vehicle than what the box is emitting.

[@chrisd2730]

Hi! In the 2.0. ecoboost,, does the Eco mode make the gears shift earlier, at lower rpm's? Thanks!

[@CubanRedneck]

… thank you for stopping by. It does several things, i.e., locks the converter, alters shift points, injector duty cycle, etc. Life is a little busy, and I haven’t had a chance to circle back to that. In fact, I haven’t published a video in a year, but at 20K miles, the MAV is getting a solid 25+ on the city and 35+ on the highway. I have also permanently disabled the start-stop, which many claim that it improves MPG. Honestly, I haven’t had a chance to do an A/B test, and since barometric pressure, air temperature, and several other factors contribute to the final result, I don’t feel that simply driving the truck around is a good A/B test.

[@chrisd2730]

@@CubanRedneck Thank you so much for you response! Your feedback is greatly helpful! 👏🏻

[@CubanRedneck]

…any time! GOD permitting, I’ll be back to making videos soon!

[@DREWTampa1]

Since this is so easy, can you just design a plug and play module and I will buy it please cry😢

[@CubanRedneck]

… thank you for stopping by! The bottom line is that I don’t want to have to deal with people who can’t follow directions, damage modules, or, even worse, cause damage to the vehicle and then turn around and blame me. The question raised in the Maverick forum was, can this be done? I have enough engineering background to design and show what needs to be done, nothing else. I have no appetite for drama in my life.

[@DREWTampa1]

@@CubanRedneck well, sad! I didn’t even think about all of those pitfalls that come with designing and releasing a product, I was just super intrigued with your work, and I think you are brilliant. I am nowhere near smart enough to do this myself lol 😂

[@CubanRedneck]

... consider reaching out to a user named (Telemachus) on the Mav forum - www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/default-to-eco-mode-with-this-diy-module.17805/post-569755 He is considering making this module. I just don't have the time to offer the support needed at the moment.

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

Can anyone confirm if Ford fixed this issue?

[@CubanRedneck]

.. hey thank you for stopping by. What do you mean by fixed? Not remembering the last selected has been present on all Ford products for over a decade. In fact, many other makes are now doing the same thing. As I mentioned in the video, this is a by-product of using multiple small ECUs instead of one centralized one.

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

@@CubanRedneck I thought I remember reading something about a fix being issued by Ford some time ago. I got pretty frustrated with Ford over my Mav taking so long to be built I kinda just quit paying attention to anything about it. But got an email that it has now been scheduled and kinda getting into everything again.

[@CubanRedneck]

... no this is still an issue and honestly it is no big deal once you get use to it. It is no different than when you get a new phone. But, it is something that as an engineer and software developer makes you question, what were they thinking? As I said several other manufacturer are following this format and I can see this becoming the norm.

[@ronrandall7118]

Cuban Redneck, in the future, will Ford or someone else come up with a mod to select a drive mode and then every time you start the engine again it defaults to your selected mode unless you decide to change it to another mode?.

[@CubanRedneck]

… thank you for stopping by! I doubt it. In fact, many other manufacturers have started to do the same. By decentralizing the ECU into several little pieces (14 in the Maverick), you lose control of what everyone is doing! A guy on the Maverick Truck Forum was making a module based on my findings and selling them. I think if the demand gets up there, the aftermarket should cover the gap, but that is truly wishful thinking. Hopefully, engineers at the manufacturing level will realize this is a HUGE boo boo and make corrections accordingly.

[@johnmancus8844]

Nice work!!!

[@CubanRedneck]

Thanks for the visit!

[@Rojasdrums]

I have a request!!!! The maverick display is way too DIM!!

[@CubanRedneck]

... hey, thank you for stopping by. Are you sure you don't have the dimmer turned down? There are two buttons, left of the light switch that control the brightness of the dash and radio.

[@sgroca]

Excelente! Muchas gracias por compartirlo. Ya encargué las piezas para hacerlo, pero tengo 2 dudas: Primero: Que tipo / modelo de relay se utiliza. Segundo: No me quedó claro cuáles son los cables a conectar en la consola. Muchas gracias!!

[@CubanRedneck]

… Gracias a ti por la visita!

[@jonathanfairchild]

That’s cool I had a similar idea of how to do this when I noticed this “feature” too. Glad to see someone actually went through the effort of automating the push button sequence. It’s kind mind blowing that you cant go through some menu to preset the drive mode. Another idea I have is to see if there is a signal on the OBD2 CAN lines that communicates the drive mode. If there is there is a chance that you could program the default drive mode using any open source CAN bus or OBD2 product. The arduino has one that I’ve had good luck with in a Transit so it might be similar.

[@CubanRedneck]

… thank you for stopping by! This module is very raw and simplistic. Undoubtedly, using an Arduino or similar programmable device will give you more functionality and accuracy. However, that involves programming and other skills that may prove challenging for some. As to the BUS signal, all the ground trigger does is toggle a latching transistor. Not very sophisticated. Once the ignition is cycled, it defaults to NORMAL mode.

[@xfreakerx1]

This is fantastic! I'll be doing this for sure! I would like to see some real-world data on Normal vs Eco fuel savings. Does the mode really modify various motor parameters? or are you just as well driving in Normal and conservatively?

[@CubanRedneck]

…. Hey, thank you for stopping by! As to your question, if you baby the gas pedal on takeoff and make the trany shift sooner by pedaling it, you can probably achieve a similar result. What the eco-mode does, according to the data collected, is shift a lightly sooner and create a slight lag on the gas pedal input. It has been hard to get solid data as to how much with the equipment I have, but it looks like boost and timing are also down slightly. If and only if you get on the gas slowly, if you put the pedal down hard, eco-mode is overridden for like 5 - 10 minutes. My MPG currently without exhaust or air intake (waiting on 10K service) is 25 in the city and 36/37 on the highway with 37 psi on the tires. I think I can get in the 40s with AEM smart coils, cold air intake (or high flow filter), and exhaust. Some people are reporting no result or difference on eco-mode. That is due to low mileage. We are guessing that the ECU has a pre-programmed break-in period. During this period timing advance is limited, and the AFR is slightly rich. This corrected itself around 3500/4000 miles.

[@xfreakerx1]

@@CubanRedneck Thank you for the thorough answer!

[@CubanRedneck]

... any time!

[@WoogieG]

Is that button a dry contact or is there voltage pass through? If there voltage pass through is, I’m curious on the voltage/current

[@CubanRedneck]

… hey, thank you for stopping by, and yes, these are plain old-school surface mount four-legged micro push buttons switched as they used to use in TV remotes and things like that. Putting a MM in series with the circuit only measures a few millivolts. Way within the MM error window. But there is a solid reference for ground on the black with the blue trace.

[@wesavelawns2406]

Thank you for your videos. You do outstanding work

[@CubanRedneck]

You are very welcome ... stay tuned more to come!

[@scottjones1404]

Is there a way to do this without cutting into the trucks wiring? i.e. a plug disconnect I could use to insert this module in between? Making it easy to undo when needed. Also, it was not clear if the two fuses were already in the car or if you had to wire them in yourself?

[@CubanRedneck]

… hi, thank you for stopping by. Also, know that no wires were cut in the installation! The switch is a mechanical device not a smart switch and I guess you can hunt down pigtails at a junkyard and make a Y-harness but I have been visiting my local salvage yards on a regular basis and fail to find any wreck MAVs. As to the two fuses there were added, for extra safety!

[@scottjones1404]

@@CubanRedneck Thank you for your response and the clarity on the two fuses. In the video at the 12:38 marker, I can see you holding a harness connector that I assumed you had spliced or soldered into. Is this not correct? Or did you pin the wires and they went into empty spots in the connector? Sorry just trying to get an idea in my head of how feasible this mod would be before I order parts and start to tear my maverick apart.

[@psychodad1961]

Good stuff! I'm going to use this with a single pulse to turn off auto start/stop.

[@CubanRedneck]

... thank you for stopping by! Yes, it works with all the switches in the center console.

[@williemeam]

Good stuff, love my new maverick. Thank you for info...

[@CubanRedneck]

... right on, thank you for stopping by!

[@williardyouger7257]

I love your recipes and DIY projects. I am having some trouble with this one. If I understand the concept correctly, the time delay relay is triggered to ground through the 12v relay by the start signal. Then after a 5 to 6 second delay the time delay relay energizes its relay triggering the sequence relay to ground. What I have found is that the timer relay is activating as soon as it is triggered and stays on for 5 to 6 seconds rather than energizing after the time delay. This is immediately triggering the sequence relay Am I misunderstanding the concept, am I wiring it incorrectly, or do I have the wrong relay?

[@CubanRedneck]

…. Thank you for stopping by. Have you seen the diagram on my blog? Please take a look here - cubanredneck.com/how-to-automate-eco-mode-on-the-ford-maverick/ So here is the concept, and by the way, several people have made revisions to my original design at the Maverick Truck forum. The ECU has a deaf zone of about 4-5 sec. That means it will not listen to any command for 4-5 sec. The way the box works is as follows. Timer A starts counting the minute it sees the starter signal. It counts for 6-7 sec and engages the relay, which feeds ground to timer B. Timer B needs to be programmed to the number of pulses of the function you want to execute.

[@williardyouger7257]

@@CubanRedneck Thank you for your prompt reply. I have the diagram from your blog in hand. This is the information I needed: "Timer A starts counting the minute it sees the starter signal. It counts for 6-7 sec and engages the relay, which feeds ground to timer B" This is how I assumed circuit works. The "timer A" I have energizes as soon as it is triggered and then remains energized for the 6-7 seconds. I have the wrong "timer A". I need the find the opposite timer that energizes after the time delay. This is the description of the timer I bought: "Operating mode: the initial state, module outputs: normally open (NO) and the common terminal (COM) is disconnected, normally closed (NC) and the common terminal (COM) connected. Providing a low pulse signal, or touch trigger key, relay and indicator lights, the output of the state: normally open (NO) and Common (COM) connected, normally closed (NC) and the common terminal (COM) is disconnected. After 0-24 seconds (this time can be adjusted according to your needs) relay off, back to the state before the trigger." Again thank you for your prompt reply. I enjoy your work Su fan del sur de Texas

[@CubanRedneck]

.. any time. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

[@Green-he6ht]

Do you do all the maintenance on your Maverick?

[@CubanRedneck]

... thank you for stopping by. Yes, why?

[@the305hauler]

Booyah, 👊😁👍🇺🇲🇨🇦🇲🇽

[@CubanRedneck]

... dimelo 305! Thank you for the visit!

[@jeremywheeler8417]

I don't intend to use this, but damn you're smart.

[@CubanRedneck]

... thank you! It is not smart, it is just mileage. I tried to make it as simple as possible but I understand it is not for everyone. Hopefully, someone will come out with a commercial module.

[@slimj82]

When and where can I order one from you set to eco mode? Also I asked first.. 😂

[@CubanRedneck]

... I am not sure if I want to get into making these things. I have all kinds of projects going on. Please go to my blog and download the PDF at the bottom, I don't think it is difficult at all! I have also included links to the timers. But please let me know if you need additional assistance - cubanredneck.com/how-to-automate-eco-mode-on-the-ford-maverick/

[@slimj82]

@@CubanRedneck thank you for the response, if you do decide to sell any,.... I asked first 😁. I'll look into whether or not I'm able to figure out the wiring and make an attempt before I'm back here to bother you 👍😂

[@CubanRedneck]

... use the contact form on the blog if you need help! Trust me it is not all the difficult. I chose easy to find parts so the people could clone it! Otherwise I would had design my own circuit. No a fan of giving the Chinese or Amazon my $$$$

[@shahphone]

Shouldn't be hard to add a resistor at the connector... Much less taking apart the center console.

[@CubanRedneck]

… thank you for stopping by! Yes, not an issue for me, and since you brought up the subject, perhaps that is something you can do as well! But not something for the majority of my audience. That is why I often air on the side of caution and, more often than not, choose a less technical path. BTW - taking off the center console proofed to be quite simple, and it gives you better access to the entire harness!

[@shahphone]

@@CubanRedneck did you by chance measure the resistance between the connector and the button on the ground wire?

[@CubanRedneck]

.. I didn't because I already had the console apart. The resistance may be irrelevant, it can simply be a diode, or the LEDs use for illumination sharing the same ground. I am pretty sure the ECU is not looking for a given resistance value. More then likely just a reference to ground.

[@shahphone]

@@CubanRedneck The pinout for the connector (C302) shows that there is direct continuity between pin 47 and pin 12 on the instrument panel console (C3010), with wire color BK-BU (Ground). Also, direct continuity between pin 7 on C302 and pin 1 on C3010, color GY-VT (Switch Econ Control Eco). Should be no difference accessing at the mid point connector. I'll test it and report back. Love your idea, BTW. I plan on using a PIC microcontroller to control an optoisolated solid state relay to control it all.

[@cecilfreeman6147]

Thank you you are amazing!

[@CubanRedneck]

Happy to help!

[@johnbladykas4885]

I agree

[@CubanRedneck]

...…hey, thank you for stopping by!

[@couponlover93]

Super smart!

[@CubanRedneck]

... thank you!

[@randyhenry2477]

Mr. Cuban Rednick: Can that shift knob be changed to a custom knob? My leg has bumped it out of drive many times. The rubber grip is so at fault as it is out flush with the console's wall. The torq to change "gear" is so light that a smooth surface would be better. A smaller knob is my need. I suppose that knob is one massive assembly, not just a 1/4 inch shaft that I could bring my own knob to. Thanks for considering.

[@CubanRedneck]

… hmm that is a very particular situation. The back of the switch is kind of bulky, about the size of the raised area around it. If there are any custom car stereo shops in your area, I would consult them to see if they can make you a guard that can be attached to the raised area to the left of the shifter. I think a 2~2.5" X 9" X 3/16" plexiglass piece with two rounded top edges can be attached to the console with 3M double side tape and do what you need. Not many places to relocate that knob!

[@Sembazuru]

@@CubanRedneck I was thinking the same thing as your plexi suggestion (though I hadn't flushed it out any more than "attach something to act as a physical shield between the dial and the driver's leg").

[@CubanRedneck]

... agree, it don't have to be bulky, just big enough to cover the point of contact

[@hugoarbucias5380]

dude you just have to push a button to select, how hard is that!

[@CubanRedneck]

... true, try doing that 10 -12 times in a span of a few hrs. People requested, I show them how! I am now using a piggy back module so its locked on ECO MODE 24\7 and loving the 37 MPG (26-27 in heavy traffic) - only 3 miles from my goal of 40 MPG @ 73 MPH. But a lot more work to do.