For some reason. my 87 performance tune has a little better highway fuel economy than my 87 economy tune. I was very surprised. Anyone else experienced this?

 

My recent experience. Long, but it wasn't all good at first.


I finally broke down and ordered a SCT X4 from 5 star. They were very friendly and got my order fast. I got my tunes and downloaded them. But I did not install on my truck for a few weeks. I got a call from my company wanting me to go to South Dakota for a couple months. I would be towing my RV(28' travel trailer, 8500gvw). I had 2 days to get ready and go. I went to install my new tune.


The X4 downloaded my stock tune but when it went to upload the custom tune I got an error code. It then said to return my truck back to stock. The tuner would not return my truck to stock. I then was not able to start my truck.


I called 5 Star and talked to one of their tech's. He said they have seen this a couple of times. In the end he was not able to fix my problem. He did give me the number to SCT in Florida. Due to the time difference from Idaho I just barely got a hold of a Tech. After about an hour on the phone we were not able to fix it. He wanted me to ship my X4 to them and they would try and fix it. I told them I am leaving for a job on Saturday(this was Thursday), he then tried to download my stock tune off the X4 remotely through my computer with the X4 plugged in. He was successful.


He then had to actually call a employee to come back to work after hours to download my stock tune onto a different older tuner. Then that employee rushed it to FedEx and overnighted it from Florida. I received the tuner around 3:00pm the next day. I then called him back he was able to walk me through the process and was finally able to reload my stock tune and got my truck running. I was able to leave on time for my trip.


I was not charged anything for the shipping. I then shipped their tuner and my tuner back to them. They had my tuner for almost 5 weeks before I tried to get a hold of them to find out what was happening with my X4 tuner. Finally after several days of communicating with them they determined my tuner was bad from the start and promptly sent out another brand new tuner. I then had to have my Mom ship it to me in South Dakota when it arrived at my house in Idaho.


I then contacted 5 Star to get my tunes for the new tuner. They was very good about that. But tell you what, was I nervous about trying to use it the first time. Here I am with only one vehicle that I needed for work. I finally tried it. I installed the 89 octane performance tune. I must say it really woke my truck up.


I just returned from South Dakota returning the same route as I went. When I went I had no tune. Then coming home I used the 89 octane tow tune. I noticed a huge improvement in my pulling power pulling my 28' 8500gvw trailer up and down the mountain passes. But I had anywhere between a .5 to 1.5mpg loss in fuel mileage using the tune. When I have some time next week I am going to talk to 5 Star and see about modifying my tunes a little.


So from having a bad experience with my tuner. I did have a good experience with 5 Star and with SCT and their tech's. They went far and beyond expectations in trying to get me on the road. I would recommend them to anyone. They have a company with great customer support.

 

I noticed I got much better fuel economy in town driving with my 91 octane performance tune over my 91 econ tune. How much of your driving is highway and how much is in town?

 

Suburban driving while on vacation. Some in town and some highway; no interstate. I think I'm going to leave the 97 performance in all the time when not towing.

 

Just ordered mine, great service...., I will report once installed

 

Anyone hear of a potential black Friday sale? I want to pull the trigger on an x4 with tunes but I wont be towing much this winter. If there is a sale coming up though I will jump on it.

 

Just ordered my X4 tuner. Can't wait to see how well it pulls off the line and shifts!

 

Have to say for all the hype, I been a little disappointed. Forgot the guy who took my order but told what I was looking for and seemed he could care less. Almost hung up but with reputation thought i might like the tuner. So they ship me the programmer but havent been in hurry to send me a tune. Now I will be leaving on trip with 3 different hauls and cant use the tuner the I paid for. Guess I'll see next time?

 

And what did they say when you called back to inquire about the tunes delivery?
Your post is somewhat lacking in detail, we have no idea if you have been waiting a day, week or a month. Either way, I would contact them to ask what's going on instead of spending the time to post a conplaint here.

 

Been waiting several days.
Guess disappointment is when asking specific questions on shifting, driveability, it was hard to get any specifics, guy I talked to wouldn't give much details unless I asked specific questions from feedback on this site. Most reply I got was will shift better and not downshift as much. Didnt get an answer on lockup schedule or lower gear shifting since they say they use the 5th gear more.
I asked about tune, with time frame of trip, and was told, when we get to it, we get to it. Seemed odd to take time to answer email fairly quickly but not send a fairly common tune, it's a older 3v v10, which I'm sure they have done hundreds of times and just a matter of sending the file.
Just thought it was worth a comment, since all I've seen when researching a chip, was they have best service, and take care of you quickly.

 

I feel for you Veltech. I have been nothing but happy with the two different 5-star tuners I have bought for my V10 trucks and the customer service was great. I have posted that on this forum many times.

But, I have made 2 phone calls in the last couple of years asking for info about getting one for my 2015 Taurus non-sho and I have hung up both times just shaking my head. There isn't much info on their website for my 3.5L Taurus, understandably, but I could get no specific answers to my questions about hp and torque increases or even affects on shifting. It was like they didn't even care that I was willing to give them 400 bucks if they just acted like they knew something about their product. If they offer the tune for this engine they absolutely have to have some information to share about the results.

At this point I am not sure I want to recommend them anymore.

 

@fordmdb we could use an official response here...

 

Having previously read nothing but glowing reviews of both performance improvements and customer service these latest questions do need to be addressed---seems highly out-of-character for 5 Star Tuning.

 

Veltech,

Not sure whom you have spoken with. I am happy to assist and speak with you directly. My ext. is 102 and email is chris@5startuning.com. Most of our tuners deliver in 1-2 days from order and tunes follow within 24-48 hours. Mike is in as well if you prefer to speak with him. We want to ensure you have the experience that others have mentioned. Someone seeming to care less is not something we support in any capacity.

 

Love the change in shift points with the tuner, but didn't feel any improvement in power or MPGs. I've read here that some have added a few degrees of timing and wondered how I'd go about doing that. I live at 6000ft and tow over mountain passes in every direction from my house. Would also like to know if there is anything different between the non y-pipe tunes vs with a y-pipe? I ordered and installed my tuner about a year before installing the y-pipe and wonder if I need an updated tune.