Jump to content

Ranger/ 5 Star tune


Recommended Posts

Just now, Bob Rosadini said:

Interesting comments on warranty.  Think there was a reason Ford derated the engine for truck use??  And it sounds like he is telling you to revert back to stock tune when you take it in for service?  

A lot of people will revert the tune to stock when taking the vehicle in for service.  I never did with my 2005 Mustang GT.  Of course, I never had a problem with my Mustang.  :)

The hp/torque improvements sounds similar to what is seen with the Ecoboost Mustang.  I haven’t decided to tune my 2018 Ecoboost Mustang yet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, CurtisH said:

A lot of people will revert the tune to stock when taking the vehicle in for service.  I never did with my 2005 Mustang GT.  Of course, I never had a problem with my Mustang.  :)

 

That isn't going to work-there is a start count from the last time the PCM was reflashed. If they check it before doing work, that is going to raise a red flag. 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, silvrsvt said:

 

That isn't going to work-there is a start count from the last time the PCM was reflashed. If they check it before doing work, that is going to raise a red flag. 

I agree.  I wasn’t implying you could hide it from the dealer.  If I decide to tune my Ecoboost Mustang, I’ll get the Ford Performance tune.  They finally announced it for the 2018/2019 models.  It won’t provide as much of an increase, but I think it is a little safer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is very cool - been around for Ford trucks a long time.  I have a SCT with 3 custom tunes for my 2008 Ford Explorer 4.0 SOHC (given to me as a gift).  Since I live in the mountain west and tow a camping trailer, I wanted longer shift points - especially around 3-4.  The tuning guys crushed it! Very noticeable on steep climbs, no gear searching - holds right where it needs to be and when I creep up on a slower vehicle and back off the pedal, it stays right in the sweet spot and dosen't  shift up only to have to shift back down.  They also dis-engage the torque converter more actively, which is almost like adding gears in between.  Cost me a bit of gas mileage, but the driving experience is well worth it.  I think it is overall easier on the truck, to not want to shift all the time.  When I put it back to stock I get frustrated and plug it right back in and load the mountain tune!  Of course I am long out of warranty.

When I finally invest big bucks in a new Ranger I am all over this.   I am pretty sure Ford knows these are going to modified and that is part of their appeal. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn!  That is impressive.  The stock Ranger is as fast as any 60's muscle/street car.......or at least most.  '62 Galaxie, 406, 4 speed, tri-power, '63 Chev, 409, dual quads,  GTO's, 383 Mopars, '66 390 Fairlane.   Then with a tune it's into street Hemi territory, 428 CJ Mustangs  (13's in the quarter).  What does the Ranger weigh?  I'm sure it's more than a '68 428 Mustang.  Wow!  Very impressive.  Can't wait to take delivery of my new Ranger.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, ford-boy said:

Damn!  That is impressive.  The stock Ranger is as fast as any 60's muscle/street car.......or at least most.  '62 Galaxie, 406, 4 speed, tri-power, '63 Chev, 409, dual quads,  GTO's, 383 Mopars, '66 390 Fairlane.   Then with a tune it's into street Hemi territory, 428 CJ Mustangs  (13's in the quarter).  What does the Ranger weigh?  I'm sure it's more than a '68 428 Mustang.  Wow!  Very impressive.  Can't wait to take delivery of my new Ranger.  

But at same time they where saddled with poor tires too..I wonder how they would roll with modern rubber...

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Poor tires... yes.   The '66 Fairlane 390 GTA that clocked a road test 15.6 at 92 mph wouldn't be more than a 15.0 ride with better tires.   The '62 Galaxie 406 (fully prepped suspension and engine, open headers, 7 inch stocker tires) that won B/S at the '63 Winternationals did a 13.28 for the class win.  That 5 Star tune was about a 13.8.   I still say, very impressive from a 4 cyl. truck.   All tires back then were pretty narrow.  

Edited by ford-boy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW, when you return it to stock, you delete the codes that may have been stored in memory in critical modules which makes diagnosis of your issues harder. Pisses techs off, especially when you lie and try to say its never been tuned.  

Trucks get "detuned" because they have different operating parameters than cars. Just dumping a "car" tune in it is a terrible idea. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m curious as to the reasoning for the stock tunes to be so non-aggressive. I never got a straight answer. Is the oem objective to hit middle road for performance, emissions, mpg, Drive ability? Or is it for longevity? Or is it sandbagging to upgrade the performance next model year with a tune? I believe they would try to hit mpg and emissions first and everything else secondary. Anyone have better information on this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, fordtech1 said:

I’m curious as to the reasoning for the stock tunes to be so non-aggressive. I never got a straight answer. Is the oem objective to hit middle road for performance, emissions, mpg, Drive ability? Or is it for longevity? Or is it sandbagging to upgrade the performance next model year with a tune? I believe they would try to hit mpg and emissions first and everything else secondary. Anyone have better information on this?

Reliability, Cold Emissions and variation in engine performance from block to block. Granted that's what I was told 20 years ago when i was in powertrain but it makes sense. I know we could see 7% in engine performance variation from block to block when testing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They're mixing all those wishes, but "Truck" tunes are lower because they have to operate at higher loads over a longer period, in potentially more adverse conditions. The point is keeping combustion chambers cooler for NOx emissions AND longevity. Ford has ALWAYS erred on the side of caution, to hit their emissions targets, so they have always left a lot on the table. They used to not care so much about making advertised power until they stepped on their d**ks with the 99 Cobra. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, fordtech1 said:

I’m curious as to the reasoning for the stock tunes to be so non-aggressive. I never got a straight answer. Is the oem objective to hit middle road for performance, emissions, mpg, Drive ability? Or is it for longevity? Or is it sandbagging to upgrade the performance next model year with a tune? I believe they would try to hit mpg and emissions first and everything else secondary. Anyone have better information on this?

Emissions and fuel economy are the primary motivators, most likely followed by shift quality (most drivers want smooth shifts). Durability used to be, and to some extent still is, but if you look at what these 6R and 10R transmissions are designed to do, for most trucks, a tune isn't going to shorten their lives by even a few minutes.

FWIW, I'm running a 5Star tune on my Coyote. The Eco tune wasn't noticeably different than stock, but the 87 Performance tune really wakes it up (I have a 93 Performance tune, too, but I'm too cheap to pay the vig for the fuel). If you fill up with E85, I'm told that it'll run like a scalded dog once the fuel system detects the ethanol and the PCM kicks in the strategy for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reason for returning to stock for a dealer visit is not to hide anything.   The reason is that if the dealer reflashes the PCM resulting in a strategy code change, it can cause issues.   Tunes are created to the car's specific strategy code.      For tuning a turbo, Livernois is a good option.    Dan Millen is among the best in the business, IMHO.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, brucelinc said:

The reason for returning to stock for a dealer visit is not to hide anything.   The reason is that if the dealer reflashes the PCM resulting in a strategy code change, it can cause issues.   Tunes are created to the car's specific strategy code.      For tuning a turbo, Livernois is a good option.    Dan Millen is among the best in the business, IMHO.

 

 

Sorry but majority return to stock because they believe Ford csnt tell it was tuned which is not the case.  They dont do it because of being worried a dealer will reflash (majority of people that is)   

Also, strategies are the same for same model year vehicles.  My 15 SD 6.7 is tuned with 5 star.  I go 500 miles per regen now instead of every tank, shifting is far superior then Ford's junk in the 15/16MYs and mpg are equal with 100hp more.

All 2015s have the same strategy, all 2016s have the same strategy etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have statistics on what the majority of people think.    Tuners like Livernois ALWAYS tell customers to return to stock for dealer visits for the reason that I shared.   The Senior Master Ford Technician at my dealership specifically told me to return my tuned cars to stock if they need to reflash the PCM.    He knows my car is tuned.   In fact, he does the supercharger installs on Mustangs as well as the Ford performance tunes so I have developed a relationship with him.

Not all same model year vehicles have the same strategy code.     In fact, after I had some reprogramming done on my Continental, the code did change.    Here are just 3 codes applicable to my year and make.   There are actually more than that.   This info came from Livernois who gets their info from Ford.

These are the 3 possible strategy codes I can find for Bruce's car.    The one in yellow was the original factory cal which is what we have loaded on his tuner already before it shipped.  

FSJJ4BZ JR3A-14C204-VG
FSJJ5NB JR3A-14C204-VH
FSJJ5BT JR3A-14C204-VJ

By the way, my code is now  FSJJ5BF.....still different than those above.   Livernois built me a new tune for the new code.

Edited by brucelinc
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Returning to stock wipes codes. IF you return to stock and bring it in for a MIL issue, it makes diagnosis difficult/impossible and I lose money on it for the NPF. For instance, lots of 6.0's used to be fine once the customer flashed back to stock, but would show what the problem was when tuned. Leave me your tuner and I will return it to stock if necessary. But the majority of owners will not disclose the tune because they think they can fool a "stupid tech".  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

YT90SC, that is good info.   I have never had a mil issue.   However, I would think the majority of people with tuned vehicles would simply use their device to see what the code was before going to their dealer.    It makes sense not to erase it if a dealer visit is necessary.   In any case, I was speaking returning to stock prior to PCM updates or programming various features that rely on the pcm.....not diagnosis of a mil.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, brucelinc said:

Not all same model year vehicles have the same strategy code.     In fact, after I had some reprogramming done on my Continental, the code did change.    

Yup. The first thing 5Star has you do (as was noted in the video) is connect the tuner to pull the PCM's code revision. If it's not new enough, they'll tell you to go to the dealer and get it updated before they'll send you any tunes.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...