I just bought a 09 F250 with a 5.4L Only has 40k miles on her and has 35" Toyo AT installed. I am looking at getting a little more power and fuel economy out of her and have been looking into 5 Star Tuning. Anyone with a similar setup that can tell me whether or not it was a noticeable difference to tune? Also, will this negatively impact the reliability of my truck? TIA

 

I have a 2006 F350 5.4l with a 5star tune in it; is a noticable difference in throttle response. I run 91 octane in it because thst's the only ethanol free grade around here, so I run the 91 tune. This is primarily a plow truck for me. My daily driver is a 2011 F350 6.2l, so I have something good to compare my 2006 5.4l to.

 

I'll be following this and can't wait to see what you decide on since I am also looking into tunes for my 2010 5.4. My truck is stock and is used as a daily driver.

 

Well I was hoping more people would jump in and have some advice here on this. Not sure what I'm going to decide on.

 

SCT tuner with 5 star tunes is the best, if not only, way to go for the 5.4.

 

I have an 08 with the sct live wire ts tuner and tunes from 5star. There is a huge difference in throttle response and overall drivability. I did notice a couple mph increase, but I also added an airrade intake and flow master 40 series exhaust at the same time. That being said on a good day I see 10 to 12mpgs. I do however have 3.73 gears with 35s.

5star customer service is stellar and fast! I ordered my tunes and got them the next morning. I highly recommend it. I also recommend that you add the intake and better exhaust to get more benefits from the tuner.

Another big help is clean your throttle body, I just cleaned mine the other day and it helped alot too.

 

I have a superchips tuner and like it a lot. Good power, former shifts and better throttle response. The biggest gain I got was from ditching the y pipe and going to a h pipe and dual exhaust. Gained power everywhere, gained 2 mpg and the power is much smoother. Also dropped a second doing 0-60

 

Only thing a tuner does on a 5.4 is helps remove the drive by wire delays and adjusts the trans slightly. Does nothing in HP or TQ increase, if you want a true increase do a gear swap

 

I disagree with that statement 100%. I have done many 0-60 and 1/4 mile tests stock and with all mods. I have also don't various tests towing the same weight with and without a tune. I agree the lag gets removed but that only affects on and off the gas driving not WOT.

 

Trans tuning is whats showing on the test. Higher shift points keeping motor in the power band, been through this with my 5.4

 

I don't have my shift points increased so that's not the case.

 

What year and what transmission did you have?

 

The tuners are marketing scams.

The truck feels peppier because the throttle potentiometer is recalibrated to minimize the "dead pedal". There's no real power increase, just a touchier pedal.

Doing this also makes the truck more difficult to drive in off road, rough terrain conditions, as the pedal is now more sensitive.

 

I bought sct and tunes from 5 star and I am very happy with it. What gears do you have? Those 35's might be eating your lunch.

 

2004 with the 4R100 and 3.73 gears then changed to 4.30