6.0 SOTF not working after removing FICM relay

[JaegerWrenching]

As the title says I removed my FICM relay as vehicle theft, especially 6.0's, is really bad in my city... Anyways the SOTF isn't currently working. It was working flawless for over two months of me spamming the heck out of it. Then I removed the FICM relay a week ago and noticed it quit working so I hooked up the VCM scanner to see which tune file was selected if any, and well it said position 5 was active! Right then I then tried switching and it started working again.... Worked flawless until I left the FICM relay unplugged again for 4 or 5 days straight this time. But now i'm back to square one but hooking up the VCM isn't working like it did last time lol. I tried reflashing the ECM and FICM, no luck... Cruise control isn't working either which is odd... so not sure if anyone knows if cruse has to be working for SOTF to work? Maybe the clock spring connection is finally gone bad at 202k, here is the schematic.Steer wheel controls.png

[Powerstrokecustoms]

Instead of pulling your ficm relay, just unplug the starter wire on the passenger side fender. or pull fuse F2 103, F2110 or F2116.. they will all allow the truck to not start. SOTF is a horrible idea anyway on the 6.0's because it doesnt change anything in the transmission. if you have ids you can select the pid and see if you steering wheel control is activating it. ref SCCS in your pid selection.

[JaegerWrenching]

Yeah I would do that but guys here are really really good at stealing and know what to look for and how to bypass all the easy stuff. These dudes are no joke, we were #1 in the country for vehicle theft for years! Crack heads be crack heads lol. I figured the ficm relay is a semi unique relay that there is only one of it's type in the fuse box, unlikely for a thief to carry one with them, and it's no easy swap from say a horn relay into its slot or another fuse into a fuse slot. I will be adding a kill switch soon. They stole my dads 06 gmc once, got it back and then they broke into it 4 more times, tried stealing my 2000 chevy 4 times, very well designed/hidden kills witches saved both of them. I really wish it wasn't as bad as it is here... As for the trans and shifting i've had good luck getting it to shift well by adjusting the torque table and scaling the on coming and off going clutches to match for the higher output. How ever it does reset adaptives every time it is switched... so if your solenoids are in bad shape or the clutches are worn out you'll get some slightly bad shifting until the adaptives have time to catch up... Do you have any major issues? BTW I don't use every SOTF option either, probably not even half TBH... some things like fuel pressure I tried out and I think it's better to use the single table with more resolution and same goes for timing and torque tables. I just scale the tables to match the higher mg/stroke output and it works really well! I really enjoyed hitting two buttons to change tunes, shoot even just for high idle it was nice lol. The whole reason I even care is this truck just got some love, I fixed a semi melted VGT solenoid connector and it's wires were melted together yet somehow still not making continuity between them lol. I also replaced the VGT solenoid itself because I had some surging after overnight sitting during cold to semi warm. The vane control/back pressure were both very erratic and ICP was solid during the surging. Therefore I was hoping to test it out to see if there was any difference post repair. I will know tomorrow regardless but i knew how it felt during all throttle inputs previously and it would've been nice to have the same tune post repair for that back to back comparison ya know? It actually held tune position 5 until i disconnected the PCM connectors during the repair. After that it was set back at slot 0.

[JaegerWrenching]

IDS shows no button input from pressing the steering wheel buttons on the left side. How ever the Hvac and radio controls on the right side don't show any input either but still work just fine...

[Powerstrokecustoms]

Ive never used the sotf but if it worked for you, scale ipr table to go to .14 all around and the truck will never start. make one of your settings like an anti theft. just make sure you dont hit that position while driving or it will die.. ill look on ids tomorrow when i plug into a truck. im pretty sure you can go into datalog and i think its under transmission. the ref code is sccs. it will show up as a box and will give you an input ref.

[JaegerWrenching]

I think I figured out the issue, it must have been super very coincidental timing wise to removing the relay... I got the steering wheel controls to work consistently with the steering wheel turned 3/4 of a turn or more to the right. I was also able to replicate the issue multiple times in a row by straightening the wheel and turning it 3/4 of a turn back to the right. I must have a bad clock spring... I really like the idea of using the tune position as a kill switch, maybe even double down and put a mechanical switch between the cruise wire so both will have to be used but you can't use one without the other.

[JaegerWrenching]

Just an update for anyone else out there in the same situation. I went ahead and swapped out the clock spring and everything works great. On my 06 and pictured in the diagram above it was in fact the LT BLU/BLK wire that was intermittent bad. Anyone at home could easily test this on their truck by removing the steering wheel air bag and popping the lower dash cover off. Trace the black smooth loomed wire harness coming from the steering column that splits to a grey 8 pin connector and two pin black connector. Check the LT BLU/BLK wire in the gray 8 pin for continuity between the steering wheel side and that grey connector side. If it's got continuity move to the black wire. If both check out good your issue lies elsewhere. If either is bad my guess is your clock spring will be bad. This one of mine lasted 202k miles.