I know a guy that will sell me his Superchip Microtuner for $250. He had it in his expedition but it will work for the v10 as well. He traded in his truck and put it back to stock before the trade in.

Is this a good price? it is part#1715 What do you think? And is it worth it?

 

that tuner locks to his vin. it's worthless to you

 

Cap, isn't that one of the tuners that unlocks when you put the vehicle back to stock?

 

page 2 right side of superchips installation manual right by the photo of the tuner " this tuner is vin locked" meaning it can't be used on any other then the vin pulled out of the pcm at the time the tuner was used and stored the factory flash. it is worthless to any one but the true car it was used on.

 

The tuner in question is not VIN locked. As long as you return the vehicle back to stock, the tuner can be used on any number of vehicles one at a time. I have played with several of them. The tuner will still read codes on another vehicle even if it is VIN locked.
BTW, If you buy one that is VIN locked, Superchips gets $200 to unlock it.

Back to the original question, $250 is roughly what they bring on Ebay in used but useable condition.

 

Ok thanks BUT are they worth it? I woul probably only want to use it in the 87 octane mode.

 

According to your profile, you have a 2003?

If so, the y-pipe mod would probably give you more power than the tuner w/87 octane.

Guys?

ps: Charlie, I read that instruction sheet, and it does say "VIN locked" ... and it does NOT say it can be unlocked by programming back to STOCK program. However, I'd still check with Superchips first about that. I have heard MANY times on this site that they unlock when you return to stock, but that doesn't mean that's not wrong

 

I am still trying to figure out if they actually improve gas mileage enough to justify the expense (probably not). You do gain immediately a higher top end as you can bump up the speed limiter. You can also change shifting of the automatic and the rpm of the engine at shift points.

 

Don't go looking for MPG gains of more than 1-2%, I'd think. Ford's historically run "rich", tuners/chips will usually lean out the mix a little bit making better MPGs (Chevies run lean, and tuners will usually richen them up, making MPG worse).

I wouldn't look for a major increase in mileage though.

As to whether or not it's worth it MPG wise, probably not. For shift points and other things (like recalibrating the speedo for bigger tires), that's up to you to decide

 

more mpg's NO! i spent 7k on my 05 and got a very poor showing on poor increases and my mpgs droped to 9 from 11.6 to 12.4.

as to vin locked when a sct or super chips is first used it stores the vin of the first car or truck forever . yes it can be unlocked by returning but at that point you have the price of brand new into it and some one else has your cash in the bank. and by the way guys the shop i help out in is a sct and superchip dealer so i have first hand.

 

Sorry Cap, one of these days, I'll stop questioning you and Fred... until then,

 

not much longer we will be a site sponser in the tranie section. and no need for sorry art g-d made us all the same .

 

yes its a good price, very good , use it to firm up up that weak 1-2 tranny shift that these trucks have, and my 1715 was preowned, last vehicle was returned to stock, worked just fine.

 

Does firming up the shift point really make that much differance? What does it do exactly hold it in gear longer? Just curious.

 

there are 2 different settings, shift points, changes shift times and then there is shift firmness. I left the shift points stock.
There are 9 settings for pressure on the 1-2, 2-3, 3-4 shifts and it reduces slippage, similiar to a shift kit by increasing the line pressure. I found the 1-2 shift was sloppy, and the superchip adjustment worked great. I set that one to MAX pressure, the others, about 1/2 way on the scale.