Why run a tuner?

[ZBoater]

I have the ford premium care thing but still want a tuner. I'm really on the edge of buying one. My dealer said they are fine with it. I just wonder what can of worms I'm going to open when I load that tune in and that diod pops which shows ford the computer has been altered

It's a risk you must be willing to accept. If you cannot accept paying for a denied warranty claim, don't tune. There's a vendor that sells a warranty with their tune in case Ford denies coverage. It's expensive, but it might suit you.

 

[TBONE21]

Well I'm still weighing it. Dealer said I wasn't a crazy driver and probably won't have any issues with a tuner. In the their opinion, the people that have warranty issues are the ones that tune it and run the pure crap out of it.

 

[Bulletnjm]

My biggest issue with the stock tune is the shifting it sucks. Other than that there is plenty of power for me, not saying I don't want more power but I'm satisified

 

[RaptorFlipper]

You want to see better shifts, throttle response, and more power? Get a tune! I am telling you it is a big difference. I would bet the % of guys running tunes who have had issues under warranty and been denied because they had a tune is 1%. Hard to miss out on so much fun, and better performance worrying about "what could" happen in a tiny percentage of cases. These are high end performance trucks, and you will find quickly that all "stock" engine limitations are quite restrictive. Ford has to cover their ass and keep issues to a minimum. It sucks, but is reality. Get quality mods done with reputable vendors and you will be driving a completely different truck, but you will actually be driving the truck the raptor really was made for. And you have nothing to worry about!!! I drove my buddies new raptor last week, and then he drove mine, I swear they are nothing alike. Needless to say he ordered and tune and CAI the next day. Exhaust is next.

 

[TBONE21]

You want to see better shifts, throttle response, and more power? Get a tune! I am telling you it is a big difference. I would bet the % of guys running tunes who have had issues under warranty and been denied because they had a tune is 1%. Hard to miss out on so much fun, and better performance worrying about "what could" happen in a tiny percentage of cases. These are high end performance trucks, and you will find quickly that all "stock" engine limitations are quite restrictive. Ford has to cover their ass and keep issues to a minimum. It sucks, but is reality. Get quality mods done with reputable vendors and you will be driving a completely different truck, but you will actually be driving the truck the raptor really was made for. And you have nothing to worry about!!! I drove my buddies new raptor last week, and then he drove mine, I swear they are nothing alike. Needless to say he ordered and tune and CAI the next day. Exhaust is next.

I see ur using a Jdm tune. What in your opinion is the best tune out there for someone that doesn't know much about them?

 

[2014RubyRed]

Ive got a 5 star tuner. Nothing crazy. A CAI. Makes it a completely different truck. Take mine in for service all the time. Set in the parking lot and reload the stock tune before the service. When I pick up the truck, I take a few minutes and reload my tune. Couldn't be easier. Dealership has never asked a question even when I had a keyless entry issue. Ive got an extended warranty as well. No worries.......

 

[RaptorFlipper]

tbone21,

I did the same thing as Rubyred. Went with 5star to start: 93 performance and CAI. 2 years ago when I did this 5star was the best tune by far at the time. Great service from Mike and his staff. Tremendous difference in the truck's responsiveness. That is what I would do. SVC has gotten a lot of props on here lately. They seem to be quite good as well. I went with JDM after I supercharged. They know their stuff as well. I am getting and upgraded throttle body and heat exchanger from him next week. And a tune adjustment. Should get another 50hp hopefully.

Side note here from Rubyred's last comment. Do not be fooled, dealerships can ABSOLUTELY tell your truck has been tuned, no matter what you do, they just may not say anything. And they shouldn't unless your warranty issue is directly related to the tune. Last bit of advice: Never go to the dealership for anything except warranty work. Not even free oil changes, unless you know someone in upper management, and even then I would not go. Dealerships 9 times out of 10 have no clue what they are doing around raptors, and neither do their techs.

 

[Badass69]

What I want to see is actual proof the dealership can see anything. I have followed a couple threads on some other Ford boards and guys come in and say the dealer can tell and prove you tuned it and so on..... but don't say how. Now to counter that a couple members actually own IDS software and were playing around trying to specifically see where any data was stored to prove map history. Doesn't seem to be anything.... and the people that said it could be seen all of the sudden were very quiet lol. The one guy in particular was an ex Ford tech himself and was trying to prove if they could void his warranty. Well to this day he hasn't found anything and neither has any servicing dealership. I know on GM's global platform you actually have a file of about the last 10 or 20 tunes written to the PCM. If that be the case it is easy to see if any flashing has been done other than at a dealer even if the codes don't change.

I know personally I had my one truck ( 2013 FX4) in for an a/c concern and they were trying to get me to tell them it had been tuned. I left my air intake on and I guess because it had that and exhaust it was time for them to investigate. All that dealer could prove was that I had some odd communication errors between modules he hadn't seen before and it was then Ford's tech line that advised him to go after me on tuning. So..... if they could so easily pull conclusive data to prove the truck had been tuned, why didn't they exactly? I am in Canada.... there is no Magnusson Moss act here so it's not like they have anything that a customer could fall back on. I denied it being tuned and there was nothing they could do... warranty is still intact.

I have had the same truck in again about the a/c and its stench and poor performance..... and this time I swapped my factory intake back on. I have the truck now tuned with HP and not SCT so I reflashed the stock file for fun. The dealer this time never said a word and is just replacing non functional parts.

I am confident if that other dealer could have proven I was tuned they would have... and killed my warranty on the spot. I mean they were contacting Ford about after all.... and yet they couldn't and didn't do anything. If I had said "Why yes of course I have tuned it with SCT" I am sure the outcome would be a bit different.

 

[Raptor Embroidery]

Why?

1. Better throttle response

2. Better shift points

3. Firmer shifting

4. More efficiency

5. Fuel economy (unless you are running a 93 octance performance tune all the time like me)

6. Throttle blade fully open is allowed at all RPM rather than (I believe) the stock 4500 RPM for fully throttle blade opening.

My 5 star tunes on my SCT x3 have been super reliable tunes. No stalling, hard shifting rough idle. It completely fixed everything I hated about the stock tune. The stock tune was very slow to change down when you need it and it went into 6th gear at 40 mph. Honestly, if you get stuck behind someone 10 - 15 under the speed limit and go out to pass, put your foot down, there is a super long delay and by then it's too late.

 

[TBONE21]

What I want to see is actual proof the dealership can see anything. I have followed a couple threads on some other Ford boards and guys come in and say the dealer can tell and prove you tuned it and so on..... but don't say how. Now to counter that a couple members actually own IDS software and were playing around trying to specifically see where any data was stored to prove map history. Doesn't seem to be anything.... and the people that said it could be seen all of the sudden were very quiet lol. The one guy in particular was an ex Ford tech himself and was trying to prove if they could void his warranty. Well to this day he hasn't found anything and neither has any servicing dealership. I know on GM's global platform you actually have a file of about the last 10 or 20 tunes written to the PCM. If that be the case it is easy to see if any flashing has been done other than at a dealer even if the codes don't change.

I know personally I had my one truck ( 2013 FX4) in for an a/c concern and they were trying to get me to tell them it had been tuned. I left my air intake on and I guess because it had that and exhaust it was time for them to investigate. All that dealer could prove was that I had some odd communication errors between modules he hadn't seen before and it was then Ford's tech line that advised him to go after me on tuning. So..... if they could so easily pull conclusive data to prove the truck had been tuned, why didn't they exactly? I am in Canada.... there is no Magnusson Moss act here so it's not like they have anything that a customer could fall back on. I denied it being tuned and there was nothing they could do... warranty is still intact.

I have had the same truck in again about the a/c and its stench and poor performance..... and this time I swapped my factory intake back on. I have the truck now tuned with HP and not SCT so I reflashed the stock file for fun. The dealer this time never said a word and is just replacing non functional parts.

I am confident if that other dealer could have proven I was tuned they would have... and killed my warranty on the spot. I mean they were contacting Ford about after all.... and yet they couldn't and didn't do anything. If I had said "Why yes of course I have tuned it with SCT" I am sure the outcome would be a bit different.

If you read back in this thread I said how they can tell. There's a diode in there that will blow when you push the tune into the computer. That's how they can tell if the truck has been tuned. That's what the service manager told me at the ford dealer here and it's a very good dealer.