Those of you who have one already know where I am going with this post. For the rest...let me start by saying that historically, I have not been a fan of tuners for gas engines. They typically have a much greater performance and mpg impact on diesels. I have seen many statements from owners of tuners belittling the impact their tuner had on their gasser. It is apparent to me now that Mikes' tunes on V10 Fords are anything but "typical".

My plan was to run the 91 performance/tow tune down to Fredericksburg and run the 87 perf/tow on the way back so that I could see the difference between the two. I ran 91 perf/tow the whole way. My truck is an '08 250 CC SB, V10 2WD 4.10 ls. The trailer is a Keystone Outback 23RS TT weighing in around 7k loaded. 2 axles on fairly new maxxis radial trailer tires. TT is a small one - 24'11" going down the road. Prior to the tuner, my mpg started out awful and slowly climbed as the motor broke in and I added a few mods. These other mods include a Job 2 4x4 air dam, an Airraid CAI and a Roll-n-lock bed cover. On my first tow, I was worried as the truck got about 6.5-7.0mpg. This was as bad as my old F150 got but it didn't worry me too much as I knew the motor still had to break in.

Over time, mpg towing our trailer slowly increased to about 8.0mpg overall. The indicated mpg seems to run about .2 higher than hand calc'd when towing (tow/haul always on). Realistically, 7.5mpg was about as good as it got when Momma put the numbers to it. A few other things still bothered me. The power of the V10 seemed good for our little trailer but it concerned me that we bought this truck to eventually move up to a mid-profile bunkhouse 5th wheel. The way it would shift out of 5th in a mild (for West Texas) headwind was not a good sign I thought. Still, it was a huge improvement over my old 2V 5.4 powertrain so I didn't complain.

Shoot - forget all that now. 91 Perf'/Tow from 5 Star is such a dadgum nice improvement that it put a smile on my face for the whole trip. Everything is up. Power is awesome. I even found that with my trailer hooked up and the weight distribution bars loading about 1000lbs onto the truck, I could spin the tires. Mama did not like that stunt one bit. The truck is *much* stronger now. I don't have any hard data to show but I hope to take it to a dyno one day - if the one here weren't so dang expensive. I could pull easy grades in 5th no problem. The first shift from 5th would turn the motor up to around 2500rpm. This shift, prior to the tuner, was useless. Entirely worthless. Now - yeah it is a usable gear that I can manage with accelerator pressure to keep speed on a hill if need be. For steeper hills, I still lean into the throttle enough to make it shift again and the truck would just lope up any hills at 3100rpm...easy. Headwinds, which we fought a hard one on I20 on the way back, could be pulled in 5th as well. I feel like I could damage our little trailer with the accelerator now. This is not an exaggeration. The trans shifts much better and the powertrain as a whole acts happier since there is less hunting around. I might still ask Mike to tweak the shift schedule at a certain point but I haven't decided yet. I need to get in another tow to decide if I like that one shift as is or if I want it to hold in gear a few hundred more rpm before it shifts to 5th (under acceleration).

Best part of the whole deal was this.

< I had taken a pic of the dashboard readout, about an hour down the road from Lubbock, showing 9.6mpg average at 65mph but it looks like I can't post pics yet>

We were quite literally, stunned. We pulled from Lubbock to San Angelo and still had a quarter tank showing and almost decided to continue the remaining 45miles to our overnight stopover in Eden but with 3 girls in the truck, a bathroom break was needed. Lubbock to Eden is about 235miles. If we had filled up right before we left town, we would have been able to make it to Eden no problem. Prior to the tuner, we would fill up in Big Spring, 105mi. from Lubbock so we could then make the trip to Eden with no worries. In my old F150, we had no choice but to stop and fill in Big Spring. We averaged right around 9.0mpg for the whole trip to Fredericksburg and back. The tow on I-20 between Abilene and Sweetwater was a nasty one with that bad, bad wind so that knocked our average down a bit. It would have been a few tenths higher otherwise.

Ford - you rock for making this awesome powertrain available for a ridiculously low $600 upgrade cost. Mike - you rock for making this powertrain a true beast. I feel totally confident about getting that 5'er now. Thank you!

Curtis

 

Hi Curtis
Awesome feedback guy... thank you for taking the time to post , lots of good real world info.

thank you again
Mike

 

Just wait until you get the mid-profile 5er--your mileage will increase!

At least it did for us: we moved from a 27ft trailer (shaped like a brick) to a 31ft mid-profile 5th wheel of about the same weight. The 5er is a lot less brick shaped and thus provides a little bit less drag.

At the time we made the shift we had a 2000 V-10 and noticed about a 1mpg increase in mileage. Now we have an '08 V-10 with a little help from 5-Star/Mike and just love it...
BSEG here.

 

Thanks for the great towing report. I have the same engine, trans, rear axle ratio as you except in a F-350 long bed. Mine is a 2008 as well. I got my X3 from Mike about 2 weeks ago and I'm totally satisfied with it. My travel trailer is lighter than yours, but having the tuner makes towing it so much better. The Ford programming just didn't work for me when towing, there was too much torque converter unlocking/locking. Mike set my tuner up so that when I'm using the tow/haul mode overdrive is basically locked out (it would engage at 80 mph, but I never see 80 when towing). I use the tow/haul up to about 65 mph (2700 to 2900 rpms). If I'm out on the interstate and want to run 70 I just turn the tow/haul off and then overdrive is enabled. My truck is the perfect towing machine now. Let me add that it's much improved not towing as well. I've only used the 87 octane tune so far.