anybody running a tune on a ecoboost?

 

I'm waiting on some feedback from the pioneers....the 5 Star tune has got my interest but I'm still not 100% sold that my Ecoboost is going to hold together through the entire warranty period without catastrophic failure even without the tune. I'll be glad when I start hearing the reports of 200K Ecoboost engines that haven't had the heads off yet.

 

based on what I've read and heard from my dealer, a tuner will kill an Ecoboost warranty.

Yes, there have been a few bad luck reports here and there of poor MPG's, one guy leaking oil and another losing power. Don't let these posts get into your head and erode your confidence in your gorgeous truck.

My dad owned three brand new Chevy's in a 10 year period all with the highly revered and very competent 350 V-8. His second one, the '79 2500 stayed in the shop all the time for nickel and dime stuff. Sadly and oddly enough in these days of automation and extreme QA, a bad one still slips through the cracks.

The people that have bad luck trucks flock to the internet looking for answers, I know I would.

 

THAT never stopped dummies like me with diesel trucks. Actually I'm sure *if* I were to tune my current truck my warranty would be void should Ford happen to find out about it

 

You are so right Tim, for the few that have issues, there must be thousands that don't. I do know I love the new ride and this engine is frickin cool, don't really care if the thing gets 2 or 200 mpg, I like playing with it and having more room than I can imagine for me and all my crap!

 

I read a thread on f150 regarding the topic of tunes and the dealership. Mike from diablo seems to think that the diablo tune will be undetectable if done correctly.

I have had predator/diablo tunes on my lightning and 7.3 with no problems.

I also donot subscribe to the theory that the little ecoboost can not make anymore power safely.

 

I swore by Diablo, I had it in my '05 for more than 50k miles with no issues at all. I would always put the stock tune back in before taking it to the dealer. That being said, a tuner will void the warranty if the dealer and Ford finds out one was in the truck, because they can detect it if they wanted to look. I knew that when I had mine and took that chance. Bully Dog has an EcoBoost tune of 42.9 HP, and 55.4 lb. ft. of torque, but I would be very concerned of blown head gaskets and who knows what. The Eco has so much power now and is one of the most powerful half ton motors on the market. The only thing it doesn't have is a V8 exhaust note, certainly not a deal breaker for me, that's for sure.

 

I'd be very leary of a tune on a turbocharged motor still under warranty, and I modify all my vehicles right out of the gate. But, you start increasing boost on these (which is pretty much the only way to get more power out of a 3.5L V6) and you're asking for trouble. Head gaskets, bent valves, blown turbo seals are just a few of the variable. And an "undetectable tune" seems like a pipe dream with today's ECUs.

Technically, modifying cars or trucks shouldn't void warranties unless it can be proven that the modification was responsible for a warrantied failure. That being said, we know how Ford is at "honoring" warranty repairs and I wouldn't give them another excuse to not do a necessary (and probably expensive with this motor) repair. I'll probably slap a 4" exhaust on it in the spring and call it a day. 365 hp and 420 ft lbs is PLENTY in this truck, considering the Pirelli's can't keep up with that power level anyway.

 

First off, ain't no amount of power enough. He he

If a tune can be more efficient the added power would decrease load. The better milage wouldn't hurt either.

I think the biggest gains in the seat of the pants feel department would be in the shifting and boost dump function

 

The way you can get away with a tune and ford not nowing about it is by using a black box tune.

The tuner, plugs in down stream of the ECM. It intercepts the signal from the ECM, modifies it to what ever the new tune is, and sends it to the engine.

If anyone has ever head of a Power Commander, used on street bikes mostly. This is exactly what they do.

The ECM has no idea that the signal is being modified, so ford cannot tell either. As far as tuning and saftey, its the same as directly installing a tune onto the ECM.

 

i've been following the eco-boost and my next vehicle will be one.
be careful with the power adders as the factory programers are putting in code that detects running parameters that are out of factory range..
like torque converter pressure. which your load has a factor in that pressure. something for the power programmers to consider..