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Ford Performance Tune

roadrunr said:
The Ford engineer is just going to say that the part was not designed to handle more power than stock. The only response most people are going to have is that other people have the same mod without a problem. The problem with that argument is that just because the part did not fail for others does not mean you got a faulty part, it could have just been at the wrong end of the tolerance stack, would have been fine without the mod but could not handle whatever additional stresses the mod caused.

Once the engineers get involved, they are going to explain things in a way that will leave you needing to prove that the mod did not cause the failure.
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Ford lawyers reading this thread: Write that down, write that down!.
 
I mean I will defer to the actual attorney but like... This just ain't gonna happen! You'll be FINE!
 
eric_sfo said:
I'm in Midwest as well outside of St Louis on the Illinois side. Your midwest labor is far better than mine. So yeah, sounds like time to have another dealer quote me or ASE mechanic. I just want to find someone that has a clue of what the procal tune is before I move forward. Understandable a random mechanic shop wouldn't but I would expect a Ford Dealership would.

This same dealership charging $300/hr labor quoted me nearly $700 for a 20k service which really seem to amount to an oil change and filter replacement. I thought the Chevy place right next door was more reasonable when I had my Cadillac.
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Finally found a ASE mech after calling around town and he would do it for $150. So ordering it from Levittown Ford plus install for $800. Now to decide if my want is strong enough to pay for it plus the future the premium fuel.
 
eric_sfo said:
Finally found a ASE mech after calling around town and he would do it for $150. So ordering it from Levittown Ford plus install for $800. Now to decide if my want is strong enough to pay for it plus the future the premium fuel.
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I mean I read the install pdf and I have a windows laptop. Seems like just do it yourself if your truck is outside the 3/36 already.
 
eric_sfo said:
Finally found a ASE mech after calling around town and he would do it for $150. So ordering it from Levittown Ford plus install for $800. Now to decide if my want is strong enough to pay for it plus the future the premium fuel.
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It's a 70k truck. If you can't afford premium fuel, you can't afford the truck.
 
TexasTea said:
It's a 70k truck. If you can't afford premium fuel, you can't afford the truck.
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Good point but I got it with 17k miles for 56k so it isn’t a 70k truck for me. That said it’s more of do I want to versus can I afford it.

So curious is the premium a requirement or recommendation to get the full amount of quoted gains?

I’ve heard it improves gas mileage although I am sure it’s a wash after paying for premium fuel. It would be nice to see >20 avg MPG though, 1000 miles in and I have averaged 17ish.

I no doubt will do it. It’s just a matter of when.
 
TexasTea said:
I mean I read the install pdf and I have a windows laptop. Seems like just do it yourself if your truck is outside the 3/36 already.
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True except I plan on getting an extended warranty. Never have been an extended warranty person but I’ve come around to it. After dealing with warranty issues on my last vehicle. Especially when I can get a Ford Protect warrant that doubles or betters the factory one for around 1500, last I got quoted anyway.

I’m sure this will spark the whole “will this tune void your extended warranty” debate but don’t want to get into it.
 
eric_sfo said:
True except I plan on getting an extended warranty. Never have been an extended warranty person but I’ve come around to it. After dealing with warranty issues on my last vehicle. Especially when I can get a Ford Protect warrant that doubles or betters the factory one for around 1500, last I got quoted anyway.

I’m sure this will spark the whole “will this tune void your extended warranty” debate but don’t want to get into it.
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Fair enough. Dealer shop rates are hard to justify for an easy task that is essentially not discoverable unless your engine blows and they do some kind of forensic failure analysis...
 
I emailed them asking about 2024's. Response:

"2024 F-150 calibrations are in the works at this time. It is too early to comment on an ETA at this time. I anticipate more information being available later in the year (possibly in Q3 of this year)."

Just FYI.
 
Follow up on this, i might finally pull the trigger on the tune. Any long term reliability reports - reports of dealers being sh!tty about servincing your truck, no ragerts?
 
Only ragert is paying $5/gal for 92 octane now. I might drop it back to stock and run 87 until prices come down. Maybe. I just filled up with 92 again, the HP is real.
 
I would find it hard to believe that the stock tune/ecu isn't pulling timing when you use 87 octane on a 90 plus degree day, or under heavy loads like mountain roads or pulling a trailer. I have not tuned this truck myself, but I've built my own ecu's in the past for several different brands of car, several engine swaps (k24s, ls1/ls3, s52/s54 etc) and with modern compression ratios, and particularly forced induction, you do not hit rated mfg horsepower figures without running premium.
 
eric_sfo said:
Good point but I got it with 17k miles for 56k so it isn’t a 70k truck for me. That said it’s more of do I want to versus can I afford it.

So curious is the premium a requirement or recommendation to get the full amount of quoted gains?

I’ve heard it improves gas mileage although I am sure it’s a wash after paying for premium fuel. It would be nice to see >20 avg MPG though, 1000 miles in and I have averaged 17ish.

I no doubt will do it. It’s just a matter of when.
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It’s a turbocharged truck—it’s designed to perform best on premium fuel. While it will run on regular, both performance and long-term durability are tied to octane. Under boost, higher cylinder pressures increase the risk of knock, and premium fuel helps prevent that so the engine can maintain proper timing and power.

Yes, the computer will adjust if you run lower octane, but that comes at the cost of reduced horsepower and efficiency. The engine pulls timing to protect itself, which means you’re not getting the full benefit of the setup.

If you’re running a “Ford Performance” tune, the expectation is added power—and that power is built around premium fuel. That’s part of the trade-off.

I’ve had the tune for about a year. I do mostly freeway driving and haven’t seen any real change in MPG—I’m still around 18. My driving habits haven’t changed, so there’s been no noticeable gain or loss there. If anything, running lower-octane fuel would likely decrease MPG since the engine can’t operate as efficiently.

That’s really the whole idea behind “EcoBoost”—you can stay in the “eco” side with lighter driving and lower octane, or step into the “boost” side for power, which comes with the need for premium fuel.
 
I ran 87 octane for the first 30k miles. I started running 92 and MPG went up 1-2 and of course more power (the rated 400hp). Now with tune it's supposed to be 450hp/500ft/lbs.
 
You could technically see an increase in mpg with a proper tune... not likely to be true with an a canned/off the shelf tune. For example, when tuning K24s (honda 4cyl), LS1s, S52/54 (bmw i6) and BP4w (Mazda i4s) a full standalone ECU will see a mpg improvement in typical fwy cruising speeds because you can run much leaner under no load. I saw 2-4 mpg improvements in all of the above mentioned car/ems pairings after spending a few hours on a dyno. This does increase emissions however, so not legal/common if your state has those regulations.

These ecoboost motors, run a lot of cylinder pressure... much more then 20 years ago pre-turbo proliferation era. These engines, like all high output FI engines are subject to LSPI especially when you combine automatic trans shift early logic, 5w-20 crap oil and low octane fuels.
 
TexasTea said:
Follow up on this, i might finally pull the trigger on the tune. Any long term reliability reports - reports of dealers being sh!tty about servincing your truck, no ragerts?
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No regrets
 
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