F150 Ecoboost Stock Versus Tuned

bikendan wrote:

JeremyFr wrote:
I've got a 2016 F150 3.5L EB and went through Livernois for my custom tuning.

I will say this it's like a whole other truck with the Livernois tunes vs. Fords stock tune. Like others have stated it's not just about performance as at least Livernois re-programs the transmission and more to greatly improve the overall driveability. I have both Performance tunes and Tow Specific Tunes. The biggest difference between the 2 being transmission performance.

I've done an extensive amount of towing with the stock tune and while it's been enjoyable and sufficient. The improvement in drive-ability using the Livernois Tow Tunes has been amazing. The transmission performs far better especially on grades and makes for an overall far more enjoyable tow.

I use their 91 octane performance tune for daily driving and see better MPG with the tune than I do on the stock Ford tune. And again the drive-ability has been far improved. The other modification I made was to go with a low temp thermostat from Livernois (which they adjust the ECM for as well with your tunes)

I can't recommend Livernois enough if you own a Ford vehicle, their support has been fantastic and once you purchase a tuner, you get lifetime tunes and support with it. If you add to or modify your truck you just reach out to them let them know what you've done and they adjust your tune for you.

Do you mind if I ask how much the tune cost?

The tune, and the thermostat came out to just under $700, and it was worth every penny. You actually can have up to 4 tunes + stock on the tuner at any given time. So I carry both stage 1 87 octane performance and tow tunes and stage 3 91 octane performance and tow tunes. It takes roughly 5 minutes to change the tune on the truck which is nice. They'll customize to whatever octane you'll be using (obviously the higher the octane the better increase in performance you can get).

The tunes also completely change the transmission, they re-work the torque managment, shift points, and more. I also find that with the tow tune that while in tow/haul the tune uses the trucks gyro to sense grades and automatically downshifts and holds lower gears for engine braking, I also feel that engine braking is improved with the tune as well.

One of the other things I've noticed is that the with the Stock tune, the waste gates are essentially left open by the ECM when not in the throttle, where the Livernois tune seems to keep em closed more often so that when you hit the throttle you have far less turbo lag waiting for the waste gates to close and the turbo's to build pressure. Boost is very much more "there" with the Livernois tune which I greatly like as well.