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My truck's check engine light came on and the mechanic found a 'black box' device hooked into the OBD port
So I took my 2018 F150 into a shop last Thursday for a weird lag when accelerating. The tech pulls out this little unmarked device wired into the diagnostic port, says it's not factory. I never put it in there, bought the truck used six months ago from a dealer in Phoenix. He unplugged it and the truck runs fine now. Anybody run into mystery trackers or mods on vehicles they bought used?
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evahenderson1mo ago
@king.val is probably right about the safety recall thing, but honestly it could just be some random GPS tracker the last owner stuck in there and forgot about. Either way, a $100 used truck isn't worth getting worked up over unless it starts causing real problems.
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Wait, is there any chance that black box was a safety recall bypass or a cheat device? I bought a used Chevy once that had a little module plugged into the diagnostic port that was meant to shut off the check engine light for an emissions issue the previous owner didn't want to fix. It basically tricked the computer into thinking everything was fine until the engine started running rough. The tech told me some of those things can even interfere with the throttle response, which might explain your lag. Might be worth checking if your truck had any open recalls or if the dealer you bought it from does post-sale inspections.
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ivan7741mo ago
Maybe it was a fleet tracking device from a previous company truck.
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lunah121mo ago
Three years ago a buddy found one of those little grey boxes tucked behind the OBD port in his truck, and the dealership had no idea what it was... turns out it was a GPS tracker from a rental company he never worked for. Makes you wonder how many used vehicles are rolling around with stuff like that hiding in plain sight.
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