I was hesitant to put a tuner on mine becuase I thought more power would have to mean shorter life. New year's eve I was towing a 10,000lb toy hauler up Interstate 8 outside San Diego in 35º weather. I didn't know that the stock Fuel Inejection could run so lean that the engine could be damaged. $4200 later I will get my truck back. The truck has 61,500 miles on it.

A quick Google search and some time on this forum found that I am not the first one to have engine damage from the stock tune. My thread on this forum is "Sad V10 Owner".

Mike's tuner would have prevented the damage and you can bet I will be ordering a tuner from Mike.
Michael

 

Thanks Guys I really do appreciate the opportunity to earns everyones Business!... Got to love a V10 engine pulling. If your on the fence about a reflash, we dont run our fuel strategies to the ragged edge, these are heavy trucks that you work not mustangs, so we run a very safe fuel strategy and we also compensate for 10% ethanol, which Ford did not in factory form until model years 2011, which aids in making the truck run correctly.

In a nut shell the 2v V10 needs the open loop strategies enabled so not to run in closed loop at WOT causing a lean condition and the 3v V10 needs the fueling delays corrected as some have 60 second delay for open loop. Both V10s need the 10% ethanol strategies.

 

Another recent 5 star customer here.... I am very pleased with the product and Mike's customer service cant be beat. He really knows the V10 like the back of his hand and always there to help answer your questions both before and after your purchase.

I was hoping to get some MPG data to write a quick review but I cant keep my foot off the floor since its so much more fun to drive. That said, I didn't buy it for the fuel savings so if I end up getting the same or a little worse, I would be just as happy. Any gain would just be a bonus.

One of the main reasons I got the tuner was to be able to lock it out of 5th (or 6th if you will) when towing. Its slick because the way Mike did it, I can switch it to OD on the fly just by shutting off tow/haul mode. So if I come to a stretch of flat ground, I can go into OD.

The tuner (in my year van) also allows adjustments for gear and tire size changes. Important to me since I have been thinking about getting a gear change (4.30). I want to see how the van tows my camper with the added HP and OD off first. Now if spring would just get here so I can go camping.....

 

Just ordered my tuner and y-pipe. Lookin' forward to it.

 

Hi CraigOutdoors
thanks for the call today and the opportunity
Mike

 

Hate to double post in an appreciation thread,,, but Mike just sent me an updated tune for my truck with a tweak.
WOW.
Now, its perfect.

Can anyone answer WHY Ford didnt tune these trucks like this from the factory?
My truck is running fantastic.
Its so much fun to drive now.
I am so mad I waited 6 years into my V10 ownership to get a tune from 5 Star.

Anyone fence sitters reading this,,, dont let it happen to you.
Do it.
You will regret every day that you drove the truck prior after you get it done.

 

Hi Jimmy
Thanks for the post... I think the thing that gets me most is the closed loop fueling at wot on all Super Duty's/ RVs 1997-2004 5.4L / 6.8L engines. Plus we also correct the fueling for 10% ethanol which is at the pump these days if not a higher percentage.

 

These two things are what tipped the scale for me to do it. I'm planning on keeping this truck for a long time, and with the 10% ethanol mix not being factored in, well, I've heard there can be some problems. Plus, I figured that with the amount of driving I do in my trucks a 1-1.5 mpg increase will pay for the tuner in a year or less. Much less if the price of gas goes up like they're predicting.

Thanks for taking the time on the phone with me Mike. You're very informative and helpful. I'm pretty stoked about the tuner.

 

I had a terrible experience with Mike and 5 star tuning. The program he sent me totally messed up how my transmission shifted, it would not go into 4th gear until after 60, it revved to 3,500 RPM before shifting, it freewheeled my Torque converter, and much more. And I got no power increase.

It was the worst money I ever spent on any automotive product.

Then when I sent it back for a refund of $419.00, they only credited me $300.00. Plus shipping both ways.

So they sell junk that made my truck run terrible and cheat you. These guys are the worst ever!

Stay away from these guys!!!

 

Hope you are wearing Nomex underwear....err, panties.

 

Wow, I guess if they sell enough their going to get a bad review sooner or later. I think rick700raptor is the first that I can remember not being happy.

 

This is definitely the first time I have ever heard of someone not being happy with 5-star.

Ok, maybe the SECOND time, but the first had to do with being unsatisfied with the results, not a total failure.

And definitely not anything to do with a refund ...

Waiting to hear more.

On edit: Message sent to fordmdb

 

Rick,

I will offer you the same offer I made in this post as I did in prior emails with you.

Our return policy is main page on our website. We do not try to surprise anyone with our any item in our return policy. We offer a 30 day return policy. Day 31 - Day 39, there is a 30% restock fee. Post 40 days there are no returns. You purchased your tuner on March 2nd. You asked for a return May 12th at day 71! You wanted no revisions or tune alterations. We authorized a FULL refund for you given all components arrive in shape and intact. Most of the components arrived except for one. You were issued a partial refund (minus our restock fee). I offered you a full refund via email once the final part arrived less shipping. Rather than respond to my email or call me at the shop, you opted to vent here.

So rather than you feeling the need to degrade us via our prior email conversations or try to defame us via your online posts all I ask if for you to send the last component back and I will issue you your refund.

Chris

 

As someone who once-upon-a-time dealt with "customers" who know little to nothing of what they're buying I'm not too surprised Mike as finally endured one of those "people". (Quotes meant as mocking the words used when others would be much more insulting and fitting IMHO. )

Its fascinating in a bad way that after we learn the rest of the story how a disgruntled "customer/person" is more at fault than they believe or lead us to think they are. Its so typical, this "the customer is always right..." nonsense so many "customers" want to believe is their God-given right.

Despite my non-ownership of a V10 I've been here too long, read too many glowing reports of Mike's insanely great customer service to give this one "person" even the smallest bit of credibility. I dare say--from past personal experience with this type "person"---the very manner in which the reply was posted tells more about the real situation rather than what's claimed in an ill-conceived rant.

 

I sent everything back the tuner the cable and the box, possibly a small cardboard insert in the box, is that a component to you?

As i explained to Mike and to you is that this truck is stored and only used when I tow, so I did not drive the truck in may, so how could i know how bad it messed up my transmission shifting until then?
You guys ruined a 205 mile drive on my favorite vacation. I spent the last 60 miles of the drive stuck in 3rd gear your programming would not allow it to shift to 4th gear at all and the TQ converter was doing some weird free wheeling. After I returned the tune to stock it is fine again.