just got my tunes loaded last night. I went with 89 tow and 91 performance. I definitely feel some extra power. My Excursion has 4.30 gears so it had decent off the line pull. With the 91 performance the engine pulls much stronger to red-line. I'll have to see if there is an increase in MPG.

 

 

WE3ZC, your right! its fun hearing the ol' V10 sing thru the gears. My Ex has a custom dual exhaust so it has a nice sound.

 

I don't tow over 70mph, so wondering what my RPMs would be with either the 4.30s or the 4.56s and my 285 tires? Have no need to go as large as the 35s ever again. Just adds extra rolling resistance and weight. I might be in the minority in this group because I can't stand lifted vehicles.

 

Ok, I'm going to pull the trigger on some 5Star tunes now that the 2 for 1 sale is on. As many have mentioned, they like the Perf tunes over the Tow tunes. So, biased on the following, what do you think I will need, and, would it be worth it for a custom tune?

2004 V-10, no engine mods other than Gibson shorties and the 5 Star Y-pipe. The rest is stock. Factory tire size with the 3:73 rear. This will be my DD as well as Tow Vehicle. Trailer fully loaded will be about 7-8K. I'm retired, so do not do much actual DD activity. When I do, I tend to put my foot into it more than not. Living in Florida, I will mostly have to deal with the bridges and not the mountains, though I am looking forward to at trip towing into the Smokies soon. I'd like to run regular, but will put higher in if needed for towing in the mountains.

How many tunes? 87 Perf and 89 Perf? Maybe throw in an 87 Eco?

Also not planning on towing above 65-70 mph

 

I got 16.3mpg empty and about 8.5 towing. Stock V10 with 3:73 gear, factory size tires. When you say you run the 89 Perf tune, are you also running 89 octane to match? I buy my gas at one of the wholesale clubs and they only offer 87 and 93, no mid-grade. The prices are usually the lowest in the area.

I'm interested in hearing what the Y pipe did for your V10. Then to hear what the gear change does with the same tires. I'm going to do both Shorties and the Y pipe, not sure I'll do a gear change.

 

The reason I like the Perf tunes for my towing chores over the actual Tow tunes is that the Tow tunes are too aggressive when it comes to downshifting, they have it drop out of OD too early when the engine is still making enough power to hold OD on most Interstate grades (in my current configuration). The Perf tunes will allow for more throttle opening while holding OD and this suits my driving style and configuration better, I'm happy to allow a bit of speed to bleed off on a climb if it will allow me to stay in OD as that nets better MPGs (and I still get where I'm going! ). But I'm running with an effective ratio of 4.39 vs your stock 3.73 ratio, you are pulling 4500 lbs less with a lower trailer and I don't know what driving style you favor, so I really don't know if the Tow or Perf tunes would serve you better. The more aggressive Tow tunes would be a better choice for someone who wants to maintain the same speed (up to the power train limits) on mountain climbs. So give it a little thought on what you feel would be the better match for you and your equipment. I've had this conversation with 1EXCamper who also tows heavy with 4.30 gears and he tried the Perf tune and didn't care for it, so he went back to his favored Tow tunes, its a personal choice based on a few factors.
I bought my tuner from 5Star during a sale where I got the tuner and 5 tunes for a pretty good price, so I got the 87 Econ, Tow, Perf and the 89 Tow and Perf. These days as the EX is pretty much a dedicated tow rig I only use the 87 and 89 Perf tunes, but mostly the 89 perf and matching 89 Octane gas. If your station only has 87 and 93 you could split your fillups between the two, which would give you a tank of 90 Octane if you want to run some 89 tunes. The tunes do advance the timing a good bit so running a hotter tune with lower Octane gas could lead to some pinging and detonation. What is the current sale offering? If the number of tunes is limited I don't think I would get the Econ tune as I'm getting some of the best mileage that I've seen on the 89 Perf tune. (14.5 MPG at 65 MPH)
What tires do you have on the car trailer? Some ST tires are speed limited to 65 MPH and are only good for 3/4 years or less, my factory ST tires on the TT didn't even make it to the 3 year mark before I had two failures. Many of the newer ST tires are being built better than the common China bombs and are rated for higher speeds and seem to be aging a bit better.
With your RWD EX I would seriously consider the gear change, just look for a factory 4.30 Sterling axle and swap it out with your 3.73 axle, it should be pretty cheap and fairly easy to do and it will make for a better tow rig and a better performing daily driver with almost no downsides! maybe a 1 MPG drop in daily mixed, but some report even better in town mileage and you should see an improvement in towing MPGs, I saw an almost 25% towing MPG increase going from 3.73 to 4.88s pulling 9,500lbs on 32" tires, that was all before I had the tunes!

 

I've been on-call for the hospital and have worked the last 42 days straight without any time off, so........I have yet to actually make a road trip with it since the Y-pipe install. At idle, there is no difference in exhaust tone. However, once you step on it or are driving at a steady 2000 rpm, you can hear a difference in the tone. Not throaty or a low growl, but maybe a hair raspy. Hard to give a written response to its sound without actually having a video or audio clip to go with it, but there is definitely a difference in both the tone and the db level while underway. Butt-dyno didn't detect any noticeable gains, but at best, we're only talking 10-15hp on a vehicle that weighs in close to 8k lbs. Once my new employee is trained and pulling shifts on her own, my plan is to hitch up to the sled trailer and head for the mountains for a good weekend ride and a soak in the hot springs. I'll know then if I've added any additional pulling power.

 

No hurry on the Y pipe. I'm going to do the Shorties and Y pipe anyway. Just wondering what to expect. Thanks for getting back to me.

Tom, as always, so much information. Thank you.

Though I do like the power, when towing I do not need to maintain speed while going up a good grade. Let it throttle up, downshift, slow a bit. I do not feel the need to be so aggressive and maintain cruising speed while climbing. I don't want it to slow to a crawl either. Sounds like both of us are on the same page here.

I'm going to go with the 3.73 and stock tires for now. As mentioned, I'm pulling less weight than you and the trailer is much lower, as seen in my sig picture. Non loaded pure highway I got 16.4 mpg. I will see how things go with the Shorties, Y pipe and tunes to see if I really need to do a gear change. Maybe if one drops in my lap for a good price..... :-)

So you are only running the Regular and Mid grade Tunes, not the Premium? Is there that much of a difference between the Regular and Mid grade Tunes when you run the matching octane gas?

My trailer still has the tires that came with it, just going on 2 years old. ST225/75-15, Speed Rating L (75MPH) China made. :-( I keep tire covers on them to keep the sun off. Luckily my brother owns/runs a boat repair business and I can get good tires for a good price. I plan on traveling with 2 spares for the trailer.

 

To answer the question, 5Star currently has for December 2018, 1 OR MORE EMAIL TUNE(S) FOR 1996-2017 FORD SCT/BULLY DOG DEVICES ONLY (BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE!), and many other makes and years, but I'm not advertising :-)

 

Yep, pretty much, no real hurry while vacationing and I always have an eye on my mileage, being a hyper-miler in real like helps. With my configuration and at a combined weight of 19,000+lbs it can hold OD on most of our Eastern Interstate Highway grades, only needing to downshift on the bigger climbs. Of course this does require good throttle management and picking up a little extra speed prior to the hill's start so I have more speed to bleed off on the climb.

16.4 MPG is better than my best ever (all stock) of 15.5 MPG, so you are doing pretty good! Towing lighter and shorter (wind drag is a real drag! ) do make things easier for your setup. The stock exhaust manifolds are a serious choke point, the internal passage hardly increases in size as each cylinder dumps into it. Each one of my header's primary tubes has about 80% of the manifold's cross sectional area just after the fifth port, going with headers will make a bigger improvement than the Y pipe alone, together they provide a nice performance bump.

Yes, the 89 Perf tune is noticeably better than the 87 Perf tune. On an average-ish Interstate grade at 60/65 MPH my EX would downshift out of OD at about 45% throttle opening while towing my TT. With the 87 Perf tune it will hold OD till the 55% throttle opening point before forcing a downshift. With the 89 Perf tune and matching gas it will go up to about 65 % throttle opening before forcing a drop down out of OD. Sometimes for trips on flat land I will cheap out and run the 87 tune and gas, but more often than not its the 89s for all its travels. I have though about getting a 91 Perf tune, but haven't moved on that thought yet.

My TT's stock 15" E rated STs came apart internally and just started to tear when I found them (different trips) and fortunately did not cause any trailer damage. I upgraded to 16" all steel Sailun STs in load range G (110 PSI), that required swapping in 8 lug hubs, new larger bearings and 8 lug 16" high pressure wheels and I installed an upgraded heavy duty shackle kit (twice as thick as stock) and wet bolts with bronze sleeves (to replace the stock PLASTIC sleeves) in all the suspension points. Those tires (beasts!) have earned an excellent reputation in the RV world and served us very well for the past 2 years.

 

I have the 5200 torsion axels, simplifies the suspension. I'm also running a TPS system on the trailer tires. the little dash pod display has no problem reading the senders (pressure and temp) on the trailer's tires.

 

I use the TST 507RV TPMS on my EX and TT, neither trailer tire that failed lost any air or overheated, so they didn't get the attention of the TPMS, they broke the belts internally and developed a round face vs the normal flat tread face. I found both failed tires in my driveway, one before a trip and the second just as I was unhitching from a trip.

 

Quick update: Purchased 2 tunes, got 4 on the Holiday 2 for 1 sale. I got the 87 Eco, 87 Perf, 89 Perf and 93 Perf
I updated my X4 and had all kinds of troubles. Ended up calling SCT and have the tech remote into my computer and completely re-program my X4. Something about the 04's and earlier not having the VIN in the ECU.

Anyway, 1st thing I notice is the early upshifts. Next is the lack of downshifting, though I have only gone about 3/4 throttle. After a week of driving, I see it is getting better mileage though I would like to finish off 1 tank before getting a true reading.

 

I noticed that the 87 Eco tune held overdrive longer than I'd like it to. Other than lazier shifting, I didn't see any benefit to the Eco tune and so I never use it. Pretty much leave it in 89 Perf all the time unless I'm hauling heavy, then I switch to 91 Tow.