I don't know if the CPU in my truck is stock or not. Rather that fork over $200 to the local Ford dealer to find out, can I just buy a chip like the DP Tuner F5 and set that for a stock tune?

 

I'm not sure if the chip will work probably if your ECM has been flashed. I've heard of it causing issues such as burning up the ECM and the chip.

I would call DP-Tuner and see what they say.

They carry great products BTW. I wouldn't go anywhere else even if I was paid to.

Those scenarios were taken from a shop trying to update a flashed ECM though.

 

The chip will overwrite the pcm program. I had a PHP chip on mine and liked it.
A lot of different choices out there. Do some homework and see what works for you.

 

get tunes from gearhead,tony wildman,or brians truck shop

 

A.) If the dealer wants $200 just to read the calibration, they are a ripoff. Find another dealer. Or, you might be able to get it done quick and cheap at a local garage. I believe that if they try to read the PCM/calibration ID with a scan tool ( such as a snap-on,etc...- not a crappy code reader), and your pcm does not have a "legit" Ford calibration, then the scanner will display a bunch of garbled nonsense characters where the calibration Id would be. I know this will happen with a chip. I'm not sure if an aftermarket tune "flashed" on the pcm will behave the same. Call a tuner, such as DP. On that note, if you can afford the downtime, you could ship your pcm to one of the tuners who can read it for you.

B.) So you want to BUY A TUNER, in order to possibly override an existing tune, and make the truck STOCK? That's crazy, and bass ackwards. First, a "stock" tune on a chip is never really considered truly stock, especially for diagnostic purposes. Second, if you are dead set on having a stock pcm, then either spend the money to have a dealer check and possibly reflash your pcm to a factory calibration, or find/buy a used pcm.

C.) If your actual goal is to tune the truck, and you just aren't sure about the history of the pcm, then that's different. Buy the chip/tunes of your choice. Forget about whats on the pcm. A chip will override/ignore any calibration in the pcm, and substitute its own ( whats on the chip). That's how they work. Then, yes the tuner can supply a simulated "stock" tune as one of the positions on the chip. This will provide stock power levels and general stock-like behavior, but it will not be considered true 100% stock, as long as it is going through the chip. That might only be an issue if you later to have do some deep diagnostics and suspect the chip may be part of the problem.

 

Not entirely accurate. I know what you meant, but what you actually "said" is not true. A chip will not OVERWRITE the pcm. Having the pcm flashed WILL overwrite the pcm program, as in permanently change/replace it with whatever tune is flashed.

A chip WILL OVERRIDE whatever calibration is on the pcm, by essentially physically bypassing the relevant memory storage chip on the pcm circuit board. That is what happens when the chip is plugged into the J3 port. It is re-routing signals through the chip, and ignoring certain parts of the stock pcm. But it does not overwrite anything. Pull the chip, and the pcm is back to the way it was before.

 

The dealer CANNOT read the calibration (as in "extract the binary"), nor can any aftermarket scan tool. The calibration of which the binary is based on (hex code) is the only thing read by available DLC tools and is what Ford will base a reflash on. For the most part, there isn't a flash device out there that will remove the .hex portion of the binary structure so regardless of the flash, Ford should be able to flash the latest-and-maybe-not-so-greatest stock Ford calibration to the PCM. If there is ANY portion of the binary that is garbled nonsense characters with a PCM flash, good luck even getting the engine to start. Just because a chip does it does not mean the flash in the EEPROM will do it.

Why is it backwards? Stock is nice at times and for EVERYONE'S information, if a tuning company sells you a "Stock" calibration for a stock-injector vehicle, IT IS STOCK. It might not be "Stock" compared to your current PCM code, but it is a stock calibration and would be treated as such for ANY diagnostic purposes.


See the last one.....

 

If you are wanting to confirm the tune flashed on your PCM is stock, we can do it for a lot less than the mentioned dealer price. We will just flash back to stock. There is no way for us to read the tune that is on there though. Contact me via PM, e-mail, or phone call for pricing.

As stated, when you install a chip on the PCM, it will override whatever is flashed on there. Once the chip is removed though, you will be back to what you started with. So to the OP... Yes, if you get a chip from us or any other tuner, then the stock tune on the chip will be a stock calibration, not whatever is flashed. We (along with most other tuners) will put the best available stock strategy for your PCM family on the chip in the stock position. Of course, the "best" stock strategy is subject to opinion.

 

If I can do it, I know Jody can - he has much cooler toys than I do.

Yep, one person's "best" is not always considered "best" by another. Too bad most them suck horrendously and it comes down to picking the lesser of two evils. Hmmmm. Sounds like politicians!

 

tjmike,

Jody can pull the tune off the PCM and tell if it is factory stock or a performance tune. Though its not commonly something asked of us to do it can be done. Justin did not know this as he has never been asked this before in the 3 years he's been with us. This tells you just how often we get asked to do it. LOL We mainly get asked to flash to a stock tune because our customers bought a blank PCM replacement or they want a performance tune.

Our charge to flash it back to stock if it is not stock is $50 and to read it to see if it has a performance flash is $45. Like others have already posted, you are wasting your money once you put a chip on it.

Just chip it.

A stock tune for the chips comes complementary when you buy a chip, switcher and tunes from us.

Hope your questions were answered.