Principles of Operation

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2003 Ford Escape. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

Some modules support the ability to change specified factory configuration settings and preset preference items. The process used to change the settings and customer preference items is module configuration. There are two different methods of module configuration:

Programmable module installation (PMI)
Customer preference items
There are three storage locations for module configuration information. One primary storage location and two secondary (or backup) storage locations.
Primary location is the memory of the specific module.
First backup location is the VID block memory of the powertrain control module (PCM).
Second backup is the As-Built Data Center.

During PMI, the diagnostic tool will attempt to extract the module configuration information from the module to be changed. If this is unsuccessful, the diagnostic tool will use the first backup and attempt to extract the module configuration information from the VID block in the PCM. If this also fails, the diagnostic tool will display instructions to contact the As-Built Data Center. This is the only time the As-Built Data Center should be contacted.