Is Tuning Safe

[Pratorb]

I have a Sport that is primarily driven by my wife, who doesn't care about power, and for the most part I am satisfied with its performance. However, if I can get more power safely without effecting drivability then I am all for it. This is a car we will more than likely keep for at least 100k miles. So is there a "safe" tune for the long run or would it be best to just leave stock? Also, since it seems to be relatively easy to improve power without hurting fuel economy or drivability then why doesn't Ford do it in the first place?

 

[peterk9]

I don't think that the majority of buyers aren't looking for big horsepower numbers. I have the 3.5L Ecoboost and have driven in towns, cities, merged onto highways and have still to use all the 365 horses available to me. I just haven't had any occasion to use it all. It has plenty of power for merging and passing without having to call up all the ponies. There are many who have added a 'tune' to their Explorers for their own reasons, and all the more 'power' to them. I guess it is all in the way you drive and how you want the vehicle to perform. Personally I'm more than happy with the engine the way it is. The only tunes I have had in the vehicle lately are Christmas ones.

Peter

 

[gns30]

I would venture to say that tunes are fairly safe as long as you stick with a reputable tuner. Most are not extracting the maximum amount of power that is actually there, they are selling a product that is on the conservative end for the masses, but with good results. Now if you go and get a dyno tune and push it to the max for your particular vehicle then you are running closer to the edge. Additional factors are how you drive it, type of fuel quality in your area, and mods done to your car that you don't disclose to the tuner.

You could always go with a low octane tune, you will still see an improvement with throttle response, shifting and possibly fuel mileage. It all depends on what you want.

 

[corpflyboy]

The shifting strategy alone is worth every penny.

 

[Sgt1411]

the shifting strategy alone is worth every penny.

+1

 

[Pratorb]

Thanks for your input. I have only seen one person post on this forum about having a tune for about 30k miles with out any issue. Just wondering if that would be expected after 60k+ miles. I know there are too many factors that contribute to that with driving habits probably being being the biggest. Still the tune must increase boost therefore increasing compression and probably higher combustion temps too?

 

[74d34h]

Thanks for your input. I have only seen one person post on this forum about having a tune for about 30k miles with out any issue. Just wondering if that would be expected after 60k+ miles. I know there are too many factors that contribute to that with driving habits probably being being the biggest. Still the tune must increase boost therefore increasing compression and probably higher combustion temps too?

Any of the tuners will tell you that if you blow the engine and they link it to the tune your screwed. But as long as you flash the ECM back to stock, you should be good to go. I drove my SHO with the LMS 93OCT Performance to 28k miles and the car was serviced alot, matter of fact I left my AIR Raid CAI setup and didnt hide my modifications. But I always flashed the ECM back to OEM mode when I brought the car in.

I have 2500 miles now on my 15 Xsport, I added the Evenflow Thermostat and 3bar map sensor for the 3bar 93 Oct performance tune. The Xsport is amazing, I could never run stock after experiencing these tunes!

 

[Boostking]

20000+ miles of custom tuned joy. No issues. If you get a good custom tune or preloaded tune that is SAFE, then yes you will be fine. Most of the tuners here on the forum offer great gains with a good margin of safety.

 

[corpflyboy]

Sort of off point, but I noticed if the tune you have becomes a lil sluggish, I have a remedy.

Go back to the stock tune for one day and re-tune it after that day of cruising around. I am guessing the computer absorbs a lot of information about your daily driving and somehow can make your tune stale. The remedy I mentioned seems to work, not just with this ride, but others I have had in the past.

Buzz

 

[Sgt1411]

Sort of off point, but I noticed if the tune you have becomes a lil sluggish, I have a remedy.

Go back to the stock tune for one day and re-tune it after that day of cruising around. I am guessing the computer absorbs a lot of information about your daily driving and somehow can make your tune stale. The remedy I mentioned seems to work, not just with this ride, but others I have had in the past.

Buzz

I was thinking about this the other day but you nailed it with calling it "Stale"

Going to try that tonight

 

[TMack2300]

I was thinking about this the other day but you nailed it with calling it "Stale"

Going to try that tonight

LMS told me to do that exact thing if the shifts start getting soft.. I believe they told me that all you have to do is actually reload the tune that you want to reset... So i would just reload the 93 performance tune back in. They DID NOT tell me to go to the 87 tune or the stock and then reload the 93.

I have almost 20K on my 14 XSport and the tune has not impacted my station wagon at all...
I would not want my XSport with out a tune... was the best $500 i spent on my XSport by far...
Tune the damn thing!!!!

 

[Sinister-CO]

Still the tune must increase boost therefore increasing compression and probably higher combustion temps too?

Increasing boost is one way to increase power for sure. Another is with more timing. I believe this is why you might see better mileage numbers. A combination of the two is what you'll get from Unleashed or LMS. Neither of them will push your Sport beyond safe limits unless you ask them too.

You're probably not going to be running high boost for long periods of time so I wouldn't worry about the cylinder temps. I don't think it's an issue regardless. If you're really wanting to cool the intake charge though, you could always install a meth system.

 

[Fpo]

Not sure on the Explorer... But I have had m Mustang Gt tuned for 7 years and 170,000 miles with no Ill issues

 

[Boostking]

As for the Stale comment, this is true. Its actually part of the vehicles adaptions. Most of the time when you reflash the vehicle, the adaptions are reset. With SCT, the adaptions are reset after each flash. So you dont have to go back to stock and then re-install the tune, just reflash the same tune.

This is also true about adaption. If you flash a tune and then drive like a jack butt for the first 50 miles, your trans adaptions and other things will learn those habits and your vehicle may not shift like you want. I always tell people to drive casually for the first 10-20 miles and then go crazy if you want.

I used to get calls all the time about harsh shifting and such, and most of the time it was just the customers lead foot after a freshly installed tune, creating adaptions that were unsavory for daily driving. After they get the "must go WOT" out of their system and drive a bit more normal, daily driving and WOT seems to be much better.

Also on the XSport, if you are going to be drag racing, do not reflash right before you make a pass. The vehicle has a pre-adaption shift schedule that is really tame/soft and thus your quarter mile times will be slower. It is recommended to do at least 2-3 hard WOT launches after a reflash, or at least drive it 10-15 miles before doing your drag pass to get back to normal shift schedule driving.

 

[Pratorb]

As for the Stale comment, this is true. Its actually part of the vehicles adaptions. Most of the time when you reflash the vehicle, the adaptions are reset. With SCT, the adaptions are reset after each flash. So you dont have to go back to stock and then re-install the tune, just reflash the same tune. This is also true about adaption. If you flash a tune and then drive like a jack butt for the first 50 miles, your trans adaptions and other things will learn those habits and your vehicle may not shift like you want. I always tell people to drive casually for the first 10-20 miles and then go crazy if you want. I used to get calls all the time about harsh shifting and such, and most of the time it was just the customers lead foot after a freshly installed tune, creating adaptions that were unsavory for daily driving. After they get the "must go WOT" out of their system and drive a bit more normal, daily driving and WOT seems to be much better. Also on the XSport, if you are going to be drag racing, do not reflash right before you make a pass. The vehicle has a pre-adaption shift schedule that is really tame/soft and thus your quarter mile times will be slower. It is recommended to do at least 2-3 hard WOT launches after a reflash, or at least drive it 10-15 miles before doing your drag pass to get back to normal shift schedule driving.

Well that confirms what I was thinking caused my Sport to shift like crap when I recently left the dealer for having the windows tinted. I had less than 2k miles on it when I took it to the dealer to have the front windows tinted and when I picked it up from the dealer it didn't want to shift until about 4k rpm no matter how easy I was driving. This only lasted for that first drive cycle but sounds like they must have "test drove" it pretty hard after tinting the windows.

 

[dentalpain]

or disconnected the battery