F150 Ecoboost Stock Versus Tuned

I play tunes on my radio.

Lantley wrote:
Some of us are just like to tinker which is fine. HOwever there are way too many satisfied drivers without custom tuning that rely on factory tune for me to believe the factory tunes need tweaking.
Tuning opens up a whole can of worms especially when it comes to emissions.
The factory must comply with EPA rules tuners are supposed to but too often do not. Although I read on another post the feds are cracking down on the tuners.
The question becomes do you believe the EPA is improving the air quality for everyone or is it all a farce.
Tuning to keep you fog lights on isn't really tuning, nor is adjusting our exhaust brake. I consider tuning adjustments to the drivetrains performance via the engine or transmissions programming.
Personally I'm fine with the factory performance with late model diesel trucks.

As I said before, It is not just about adding power, and many who have never driven a custom tuned truck will never understand. Your 7.3L was not custom tuned since you could not control injection timing, turbo vane operation, torque converter lockup, shift points and so on.

I am not talking about canned tunes that come with a tuner like Superchips. I am talking about a custom tune that you can work the tuner to adjust parameters of the truck to your liking. I have the opposite subjective view that many have one or two things that they would like to change on their factory truck, but are not willing to void warranty or spend the money to do it.

I also consider adjusting other things in the truck apart of tuning since you have to unlock and remap the ECM to adjust these parameters just as you would when you load a tune. It is not like my BMW where I can code things I want into the different control modules in my car. But hey, that is my subjective view.

Some of us are just like to tinker which is fine. HOwever there are way too many satisfied drivers without custom tuning that rely on factory tune for me to believe the factory tunes need tweaking.
Tuning opens up a whole can of worms especially when it comes to emissions.
The factory must comply with EPA rules tuners are supposed to but too often do not. Although I read on another post the feds are cracking down on the tuners.
The question becomes do you believe the EPA is improving the air quality for everyone or is it all a farce.
Tuning to keep you fog lights on isn't really tuning, nor is adjusting our exhaust brake. I consider tuning adjustments to the drivetrains performance via the engine or transmissions programming.
Personally I'm fine with the factory performance with late model diesel trucks.

Lantley wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:

AlmostAnOldGuy wrote:
What motivated the tune? Can I ask you to contrast your before and after tune experience? I ask because I have thought the performance of the engine to be very good pulling 8k. In tow haul mode thought the upshifts and downshifts were well timed.

Thanks,
Stu

I have custom tuned everyone of my vehicles for the past 15-20 years. Some I did myself and some I have purchased through tuners like 5 Star. Before that I was swapping cam, heads, headers, and anything else I could to make the vehicle unique to my liking. I don't like driving generic vehicles meant for everyone. I like driving vehicles that are specific to my preferences and shift when I want them to, lock up instantly with firm shifts instead of buttery smooth shifts that creates more trans wear, and so on. It is just my thing.

It is not just about adding power, and many who have never driven a custom tuned truck will never understand. Just a fair warning, once you do, then you will never want to go back to driving a generic vanilla tune from the factory.

I had a tuned 7.3 PSD. That tune really woke up the 7.3 engine. However the modern diesels have ample power for heavy towing and practical use. The only reason to tune now is for racing,otherwise there is ample power for typical real world use, including heavy towing.

I would have to disagree and so would many of my friends and family including my father in law who just traded in his old custom tuned 2003 F350 6.0L for a 2018 F350 6.7L. The custom tune he had altered his boost levels at lower rpms to generate a lot more torque/horsepower at lower rpms. I have to constantly hear how he wishes he still had the low end power of his 6.0L in his new truck and he doesn't want to tune it until it is out of warranty.

He also hates the shifting of his new truck because it shifts too early. I had the same issue with my 2014 2500 CTD, and the custom trans tune made a world of difference. I also had my custom tuner do some other things that bugged me about the truck like leave my fog lights on with my high beams, keep my exhaust brake on in the last position I had it in when I turned off the truck, and a few other things non performance related that I wanted.

ShinerBock wrote:

AlmostAnOldGuy wrote:
What motivated the tune? Can I ask you to contrast your before and after tune experience? I ask because I have thought the performance of the engine to be very good pulling 8k. In tow haul mode thought the upshifts and downshifts were well timed.

Thanks,
Stu

I have custom tuned everyone of my vehicles for the past 15-20 years. Some I did myself and some I have purchased through tuners like 5 Star. Before that I was swapping cam, heads, headers, and anything else I could to make the vehicle unique to my liking. I don't like driving generic vehicles meant for everyone. I like driving vehicles that are specific to my preferences and shift when I want them to, lock up instantly with firm shifts instead of buttery smooth shifts that creates more trans wear, and so on. It is just my thing.

It is not just about adding power, and many who have never driven a custom tuned truck will never understand. Just a fair warning, once you do, then you will never want to go back to driving a generic vanilla tune from the factory.

I had a tuned 7.3 PSD. That tune really woke up the 7.3 engine. However the modern diesels have ample power for heavy towing and practical use. The only reason to tune now is for racing,otherwise there is ample power for typical real world use, including heavy towing.

philh wrote:
{sigh}

Factory "tunes" the cars to drive in -40 to 120F. Low to high barometric pressures. High and low humidity. Sea level and mountain towing. OEM's can't have engines blowing up to bad tunes. Years ago, there was a guy traveling through the midwest "tuning" cars. The accolades were piling up from his work... until the reports started coming in on blown up engines.

A whole second improvement in 1/4 mile? LOL

I have three vehicle, two have tuners, so I have more that a passing knowledge.

Sorry people, but especially on a turbo truck used for towing, I wouldn't go near modifying the factory tuner unless i had a specific and articulate reason for doing so.

I wish I still had my data logs from my old Ecoboost to show you that the engine ran more reliable tuned than not. There were more knock events(which go unnoticed unless you were logging them) on the stock tune to keep it emissions legal. Tuned, there was significantly less knock events and trans temps were lower.

Most engines today are tuned to meet emissions even at the detriment of the engine just like how EGR's on diesels cut engine life, but are there to meet emissions. Most ignorantly believe that if you add power by removing this emissions tuning then you are reducing the life of the engine. Many of those very same people have never data logged a modern engine or tuned them personally and are just going by what they read on the internet.

AlmostAnOldGuy wrote:
What motivated the tune? Can I ask you to contrast your before and after tune experience? I ask because I have thought the performance of the engine to be very good pulling 8k. In tow haul mode thought the upshifts and downshifts were well timed.

Thanks,
Stu

I have custom tuned everyone of my vehicles for the past 15-20 years. Some I did myself and some I have purchased through tuners like 5 Star. Before that I was swapping cam, heads, headers, and anything else I could to make the vehicle unique to my liking. I don't like driving generic vehicles meant for everyone. I like driving vehicles that are specific to my preferences and shift when I want them to, lock up instantly with firm shifts instead of buttery smooth shifts that creates more trans wear, and so on. It is just my thing.

It is not just about adding power, and many who have never driven a custom tuned truck will never understand. Just a fair warning, once you do, then you will never want to go back to driving a generic vanilla tune from the factory.

Very impressive truck.

A couple of weeks ago I drove a new F150 Lariat Crew Cab 4x4 2.7EB to Dallas and back, and was extremely impressed with the performance of that truck. The truck made a solid 24mpg and that round trip.

Based on the strong performance I wouldn't feel the need for a tuner.

{sigh}

Factory "tunes" the cars to drive in -40 to 120F. Low to high barometric pressures. High and low humidity. Sea level and mountain towing. OEM's can't have engines blowing up to bad tunes. Years ago, there was a guy traveling through the midwest "tuning" cars. The accolades were piling up from his work... until the reports started coming in on blown up engines.

A whole second improvement in 1/4 mile? LOL

I have three vehicle, two have tuners, so I have more that a passing knowledge.

Sorry people, but especially on a turbo truck used for towing, I wouldn't go near modifying the factory tuner unless i had a specific and articulate reason for doing so.

Just amazing what trucks can do these days.