programming new pcm

whats up guys. Just a question,i ordered new pcm and made appointment at local ford dealer to program it to my car, a lincoln ls v8 yr 2000.The dealer says 2and a half hours to transfer data from old pcm to new. I heard it is done in less than 30 minutes,sometimes as little as 10 minutes. Autozone says new pcm flashed by cardone , the company they get the pcm from. They also said the ford dealer only has to link new pcm to car.Anybody with information on this greatly appreciated, thanx.

It doesn't really matter how long it takes. (It is longer than ten minutes, but less than two hours.) The dealer has a particular labor charge that he is going to apply. You can call around to other dealers and see if they will do it for less. Some locksmiths may have to tool to marry the new PCM to the car. They may charge less.

At a minimum the PCM and PATS module need to be programmed to one another. Since the PATS is electronically serialized, there is no way Cardone could set that up at their facility. I have no idea how long the process should take, what to expect it to cost, or who besides the dealer may have the tools to do it. Since well equipped lock smiths are able to access the PATS module to program new keys, they may be able to program the PCM for the PATS as well. I don't know about that.

-Rod