I purchased the SF3 from James Hinson, this forums active custom tuner, in order to disable PATS for my engine swap. The SF3 did what it said it would do and James was an immense help in an area that was beyond my experience and also beyond my interest in becoming a master.
I would make a few comments:
The SF3 is a full featured OBD II code reader and data logging device so if you don't have one already that accounts for $100 of the price. If you do have one, as I did, the sale price is a big shock.
It is effectively locked to one PCM. Once you 'tune' a PCM you have to restore it to the factory program before you can tune another one and then you are limited to a total of 5 PCM's that can be tuned . . . one at a time. That makes buying an used one just taking a chance that there is one left. Because of my problems I purchased a second PCM and therefore my SF3 has used up 2 of its 5 lives.
SCT's documentation is pitiful but tech support folks were very helpful but didn't resolve the problems I experienced. I was left with the opinion that their business model was to wholesale the device through franchise dealers (tuners) and let them resolve problems. James did that well and I have nothing but praise for his efforts to assist me.
SCT's software downloads are not at all user friendly and for a company that sells an auto computer programming device a frightening concern.
The SF3 has a serious character flaw in that it doesn't report communications problems between itself and the PCM. My month long problem was that I was loosing communications during a reflash due to a bad connection in the data port connector. Since my car was an engine swap into an old car with a hand made wiring harness and a junk yard PCM that offered a world of opportunities for something to be wrong. The SF3 never reported the problem, it just never finished the upload. My code reader reported a communications problem the first time I hooked it up which allowed me to fix it in a few minutes.
SCT does not provide any documentation of Ford PCM programming. The unit allows you to make some specific changes but you are on your own to find the information necessary to get beyond their limited menu. Need to turn off MIL codes set in a swap and you are SOL. That's what the tuner/retailers are for. They do make available a week long tuner training program in Florida if you are so inclined. The TwEECer RT is the SF3's competition and does provide the PCM programming information as it is more intended for user modification of the Ford software. Once you get your hands on that things become a little more clear.
How's that for opinions? Hope that helps. Overall I think it is overpriced and only the support of the tuner could make it anywhere near acceptable.
Want further comments, PM me.
