Auto Stop / Start Eliminator

[CoastieN70]

I got my Ranger Raptor last week and the first thing I ordered for it was the 4DTech AutoStop eliminator. I looked at the video when I ordered it and thought "Here's a 15 minute job that'll take 2 hours!"
A day or so later I started reading all the reports on the boards and most everyone said it was easy, BUT there were a few who had problems, mostly guys like me with "ham hocks" for hands and then I am double cursed because I have short sausages for fingers.
I was encouraged by a post from a member that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) when his wife got tired of his profanities after an hour of so, she came out with her "girl hands" and got the damn clip off in under 2 minutes. OK! I have a wife with girl hands if I need them!
Stubborn me, I had to try for at least 30 minutes and a pint of blood. Went into the house and showed the wife the video rerunning her part several time till she was confident she knew her part.
The wife gets to the scene of the drama and immediately declares: "You gotta be F*ckin Sh*tin ME!!!" I chuckled and explained the difference between video and reality, and she put on her "Big Girl Pants" and dove in. Long story short, she failed to get the tab depressed even with me being the "worlds greatest Ford Lamaze Coach!" When she finally extracted her now slight bruised had with a couple of deformed fingers from her valiant attempt, she made a fist, partially to see if she still could but more so, so she could punch me in the groin for subjecting her to the indignity and pain!
Back to square 1. I again assumed the position and tried 1 last time. I could feel the tab, but I couldn't budge it. I contorted myself to get maximum leverage on the damn tab and I heard it "click!" Damn thing was STUCK and I finally freed it up! But remember, ham hock hands with sausage fingers, no matter what I couldn't get enough grip to pull the plug. I went to my tool box and retrieved a 10-inch pair of hemostats with a slight angle at the tip. I worked them onto the plug, locked then down and tugged. The plug finally surrendered and separated with ease.
The rest was just as easy as the video. 1 hour 55 minutes including swear breaks!

post script: The 4DTech plug has a different style tad than the Ford harness tab, look at the video closely.

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[GLW]

I got my Ranger Raptor last week and the first thing I ordered for it was the 4DTech AutoStop eliminator. I looked at the video when I ordered it and thought "Here's a 15 minute job that'll take 2 hours!"
A day or so later I started reading all the reports on the boards and most everyone said it was easy, BUT there were a few who had problems, mostly guys like me with "ham hocks" for hands and then I am double cursed because I have short sausages for fingers.
I was encouraged by a post from a member that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) when his wife got tired of his profanities after an hour of so, she came out with her "girl hands" and got the damn clip off in under 2 minutes. OK! I have a wife with girl hands if I need them!
Stubborn me, I had to try for at least 30 minutes and a pint of blood. Went into the house and showed the wife the video rerunning her part several time till she was confident she knew her part.
The wife gets to the scene of the drama and immediately declares: "You gotta be F*ckin Sh*tin ME!!!" I chuckled and explained the difference between video and reality, and she put on her "Big Girl Pants" and dove in. Long story short, she failed to get the tab depressed even with me being the "worlds greatest Ford Lamaze Coach!" When she finally extracted her now slight bruised had with a couple of deformed fingers from her valiant attempt, she made a fist, partially to see if she still could but more so, so she could punch me in the groin for subjecting her to the indignity and pain!
Back to square 1. I again assumed the position and tried 1 last time. I could feel the tab, but I couldn't budge it. I contorted myself to get maximum leverage on the damn tab and I heard it "click!" Damn thing was STUCK and I finally freed it up! But remember, ham hock hands with sausage fingers, no matter what I couldn't get enough grip to pull the plug. I went to my tool box and retrieved a 10-inch pair of hemostats with a slight angle at the tip. I worked them onto the plug, locked then down and tugged. The plug finally surrendered and separated with ease.
The rest was just as easy as the video. 1 hour 55 minutes including swear breaks!

post script: The 4DTech plug has a different style tad than the Ford harness tab, look at the video closely.

Hilarious! You’re blessed as my wife figured out years ago to just say “no.”

 

[cc1999]

Ford does need to taper those sharp edges, took me about 30 min counting swear breaks and hunting for tools I could fit up in there.

After cutting my hand had to wash the blood off, finding a bandage and put on some mechanics gloves. I used Some tiny knipex pliers and got it pretty quick after all that action at the start.

 

[Hoss]

I got my Ranger Raptor last week and the first thing I ordered for it was the 4DTech AutoStop eliminator. I looked at the video when I ordered it and thought "Here's a 15 minute job that'll take 2 hours!"
A day or so later I started reading all the reports on the boards and most everyone said it was easy, BUT there were a few who had problems, mostly guys like me with "ham hocks" for hands and then I am double cursed because I have short sausages for fingers.
I was encouraged by a post from a member that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) when his wife got tired of his profanities after an hour of so, she came out with her "girl hands" and got the damn clip off in under 2 minutes. OK! I have a wife with girl hands if I need them!
Stubborn me, I had to try for at least 30 minutes and a pint of blood. Went into the house and showed the wife the video rerunning her part several time till she was confident she knew her part.
The wife gets to the scene of the drama and immediately declares: "You gotta be F*ckin Sh*tin ME!!!" I chuckled and explained the difference between video and reality, and she put on her "Big Girl Pants" and dove in. Long story short, she failed to get the tab depressed even with me being the "worlds greatest Ford Lamaze Coach!" When she finally extracted her now slight bruised had with a couple of deformed fingers from her valiant attempt, she made a fist, partially to see if she still could but more so, so she could punch me in the groin for subjecting her to the indignity and pain!
Back to square 1. I again assumed the position and tried 1 last time. I could feel the tab, but I couldn't budge it. I contorted myself to get maximum leverage on the damn tab and I heard it "click!" Damn thing was STUCK and I finally freed it up! But remember, ham hock hands with sausage fingers, no matter what I couldn't get enough grip to pull the plug. I went to my tool box and retrieved a 10-inch pair of hemostats with a slight angle at the tip. I worked them onto the plug, locked then down and tugged. The plug finally surrendered and separated with ease.
The rest was just as easy as the video. 1 hour 55 minutes including swear breaks!

post script: The 4DTech plug has a different style tad than the Ford harness tab, look at the video closely.

Great story

 

[Sea Lindsey]

These stories make me feel somewhat vindicated. Thank you! Though, I wish I had thought of using a hemostat.

 

[Yonder_MN]

I got my Ranger Raptor last week and the first thing I ordered for it was the 4DTech AutoStop eliminator. I looked at the video when I ordered it and thought "Here's a 15 minute job that'll take 2 hours!"
A day or so later I started reading all the reports on the boards and most everyone said it was easy, BUT there were a few who had problems, mostly guys like me with "ham hocks" for hands and then I am double cursed because I have short sausages for fingers.
I was encouraged by a post from a member that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) when his wife got tired of his profanities after an hour of so, she came out with her "girl hands" and got the damn clip off in under 2 minutes. OK! I have a wife with girl hands if I need them!
Stubborn me, I had to try for at least 30 minutes and a pint of blood. Went into the house and showed the wife the video rerunning her part several time till she was confident she knew her part.
The wife gets to the scene of the drama and immediately declares: "You gotta be F*ckin Sh*tin ME!!!" I chuckled and explained the difference between video and reality, and she put on her "Big Girl Pants" and dove in. Long story short, she failed to get the tab depressed even with me being the "worlds greatest Ford Lamaze Coach!" When she finally extracted her now slight bruised had with a couple of deformed fingers from her valiant attempt, she made a fist, partially to see if she still could but more so, so she could punch me in the groin for subjecting her to the indignity and pain!
Back to square 1. I again assumed the position and tried 1 last time. I could feel the tab, but I couldn't budge it. I contorted myself to get maximum leverage on the damn tab and I heard it "click!" Damn thing was STUCK and I finally freed it up! But remember, ham hock hands with sausage fingers, no matter what I couldn't get enough grip to pull the plug. I went to my tool box and retrieved a 10-inch pair of hemostats with a slight angle at the tip. I worked them onto the plug, locked then down and tugged. The plug finally surrendered and separated with ease.
The rest was just as easy as the video. 1 hour 55 minutes including swear breaks!

post script: The 4DTech plug has a different style tad than the Ford harness tab, look at the video closely.

At least your lovely wife will help you! Some of us suffer from the "not my job" attitude with our significant other! Thanks for sharing!

- Joe

 

[bigb]

I installed mine yesterday in about 10 minutes. The trick is to get one hand under the dash and behind the connector and your other hand in front of it. Then as you press the tab in with one hand, wiggle and tug downwards at the same time while with your other hand wiggle and push downward on the front side of the plug. You're wiggling and forcing the connector downwards with both hands. Mine came right off. I even had a bad injury on my band saw to my left index finger this Summer and it's still pretty much useless so I was down a finger!

Actually took longer to plug in the 4D because it's so hard to know where the exact location is. I ended up twisting my head into the footwell and straining my eyeballs to one side to get a good look. Pay close attention to it's location before removal (which I failed to do) and it will be easier to find with the new plug.

Just read about the parking brake module and added that to my wish list.

 

[Flak]

Mine took only a few minutes. 150% worth it. I went with Autostop eliminator. The plug was relatively easy to remove for me, just grabbed what I thought was the clip right up against the housing and gently rocked and it came right out. Was expecting a way worse fight based on other's experience, I suspect they just weren't grabbing the release high enough on the plug.

Only thing that drew blood was the cable ties the Ford assemblers file down into little knife blades.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Was there an update from Ford? My truck retains auto start/stop selection from last time I drove the truck. I feel like it happens if I'm in "Sport" mode, so not sure if it is specific to that, but I haven't really had an issue with it unless I'm missing something?

 

[VictoryDaveAZ]

Was there an update from Ford? My truck retains auto start/stop selection from last time I drove the truck. I feel like it happens if I'm in "Sport" mode, so not sure if it is specific to that, but I haven't really had an issue with it unless I'm missing something?

Possibly when you switch from Sport back to Normal you are turning it back on. If you turn off the truck with auto stop on, it will be on when you start the truck again. The auto/stop device will retain whatever state it was on when you shut the truck off.

 

[JimG]

Was there an update from Ford? My truck retains auto start/stop selection from last time I drove the truck. I feel like it happens if I'm in "Sport" mode, so not sure if it is specific to that, but I haven't really had an issue with it unless I'm missing something?

If you’re in the raptor mode the Auto S/S switch is disabled. When you shut the truck off the raptor mode is disabled and you need to turn it back on.

 

[RaptorME]

If you are in Sport and go back to Normal ASS stays off, I experienced many times. Now with 5-Star tune the icon on the dashboard isn't even there and the button does nothing. Works for me.

 

[JimG]

If you are in Sport and go back to Normal ASS stays off, I experienced many times. Now with 5-Star tune the icon on the dashboard isn't even there and the button does nothing. Works for me.

I have a ProCal tune, but I know nothing about a 5 star tune.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Possibly when you switch from Sport back to Normal you are turning it back on. If you turn off the truck with auto stop on, it will be on when you start the truck again. The auto/stop device will retain whatever state it was on when you shut the truck off.

Sorry, I suppose for clarity, I meant I do not have any aftermarket device. My truck will retain whatever setting I had when I shut the truck off last when I start it back up.

So if I have the start/stop turned off, I then park the truck and shut it off - I go back to the truck and start it back up, and the start/stop is still in an "off" state. Which seems to render the need for the aftermarket device useless as the truck seems to be doing it already without anything tacked on from the aftermarket?

 

[RaptorME]

ProCal doesn't let you have the ASS automatically turned off. The other tuners (5*, Livernois, Goose) can permanently disable ASS.

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