Well im still giving it time to Learn and adjust tot he 4,500 feet up in the thinner air im at so ill have more performance review stuff later.
But far as right now.
WARNING, spelling and grammar errors may be present, thats what i get for writing this at midnight lol.
Updating the tuner...
Well, lets just say... Got ahead and start the update, Go make dinner, Eat it. Then watch a TV show or two, then maybe go see if its done yet... lol
It took me a total of over 2.5 hours to get all the updates done on my intune. It just very very slow at it.
Quality and ease of use
Well you are not paying for some high quality iPod touch type of device. Its really cheap plastic and pretty cheap touch screen. But... remember you are not paying for the hardware really, that is the cheap stuff with tuners like this. You are paying for all the time and money they spent tuner those 100+ cars this one tuner supports. Thats a lot of man hours.
But all in all its ok and it does that job
Tuning
Well, it was very very easy.
Just follow the step by step instructions on the intune and it only takes like maybe 8-10min to tune. It first backs up your current stock tune. Then you choose what lever of tune you want (EI. 87,91 or 93oct) then it puts the tune in the PCM then it lets you adjust things like speed limiter, idol RPM's and shift rev limits and couple other things. Then after you chose them it builds the custom tune and uploads it to your PMC.
Now its kinda weird tuning a newer car/truck like this because last time i tuned a PCM was on a older mid 90's Bonneville SSEI and you do that outside the car most of the time. But when you tune the explorer all sort of weird things go on with the dash lights and Info center and even the security like flash with a Hard drive light in a computer lol.
But after the tune i had no problems worked the first time. The second time when i changed the idol RPM to be lower in N and D i did get a check engine light and i just cleared it and it never came back.
First Drive
The very first thing i noticed was the throttle response was much nicer. I dont know if the V6 Ex have the same problem as the V8's but just with a tiny touch of your foot it feels like the truck ones to take off and kill someone lol. just so much low end power. Now its smoother and easier to take off slower. But dont be fooled if you get on it it does respond faster now and does kick you back in the seat.
At first when shifting it didn't seem much firmer but i did see it shifting a little higher in the RPM rang and another very cool thing now is when im slowing down to stop it now downshifts so that if you need to get back on the gas you dont have to wait for the trans to downshift from 5th or 4th to 2 or 3rd its already there now. 1st gear you still have to pretty much come to a stop still to get it into it but that fine.
Now for what everyone wants to know, Power. Well i think my problem is the 4,500feet thingy.... inTune was made and tuned in FL at sea level. So the first thing i felt when i got on it and also floor it was the lag and it trying to get air like when i first moved to utah form sea level. But the lower end power did feel better.
Its now been a few more days of the PCM learning the thin air and also now i have fully gotten 91oct in the tank not the 89/90 it was at when it first did the tune. The power is not starting to come in. The power down lower you can really feel it push you back in the seat more now. also when i do get on it now and floor it it doesn't feel like its trying to find air to make bigger booms lol. Its starting to feel faster now. You can also hear the tone and growl of the engine sound deeper and better like when i went to Cali a couple weeks ago back at sea level the truck felt so nice and powerful.
Another thing that got better over the past couple day was the shifting. It now does shift faster and firmer then stock. Its pretty nice, its not harsh it just lets you know it really did shift into another gear lol. Also the throttle response got even better partly i think because of it learning the thin air thing though.
Conclusion for now
For now i do think its worth the price. $300ish for a tuner is pretty good for a newer car or truck also for one that you can move to a another car or truck if you change. I think it does still need some more updates but in due time im sure it will happen.
I will give another update review next week after a full week of driving to and from work and some more WOT runs.
I did take some pics and videos and i will get them together tomorrow and post them up if I dont forget LOL.
