Tuner
Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,769
Likes: 8
From: Lubbock
if you are having trouble getting ahold of innovative diesel and want their tunes then get ahold of adam @ FIRST COAST DIESEL PERFORMANCE. raul @ STEALTH AUTOMOTIVE. both sell the tuners and have access to different gause setups and typically have some sort of special. most of the time innovative sells the tuner with 3 tunes of your choice then it cost $80 extra for a extreme tune. with a extreme tune your looking at a night and day difference in performance. 7000# 14 sec truck in the qtr. i would get a tow tune a good street tune and the edge insight.
adam and raul sell the tuners for innovative if i didnt clarify that
adam and raul sell the tuners for innovative if i didnt clarify that
Last edited by Lubbockguy1979; Nov 1, 2009 at 09:21 PM. Reason: clarification
New User
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Edge will cause the engine light to come on. I got a SCT X3 Power Flash. I did a 4" exhaust. I just bought the truck with 101K miles (2005) and drove it maybe 3K miles. Now the engine is seized and at the dealer. I don't know if the SCT was the cause but I wouldn't take a chance. Just trying to save you some big $$$$. It's going to cost me a fortune to fix. I would do the 4" exhaust and an EGR delete and leave it at that. The shop said the engine hydrolocked? I asked if this was a common problem. He said "Yes". Check out POWERSTROKEHELP.COM - The Information Source for Ford Power Stroke Diesel Owners
Last edited by Royger; Nov 4, 2009 at 08:31 PM. Reason: Add information
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 10,626
Likes: 7
From: Plano TX and Brentwood TN
To my knowledge it does not give you Fuel PSI and that is a gauge that I would actually put if not in the top 3 gauges to get then in the top 4 to get.
Senior User
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 462
Likes: 1
There are a few reliablity mods you need to do before adding a tuner. Just throwing a tuner on a stock engine you are taking a chance and even when you do put a tuner on your taking somewhat of a chance even with the reliablity mods. It's all about how you drive it and if you wanna play be willing to pay. I've done about all the reliable mods I can think of and run a hot tune for gas mileage but sometimes it's too hard not to romp on it a little bit but I know if I brake something it's my own fault for being stupid at the time. It's not a bad engine it just has it's limits like everything else man made.
New User
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Fort Collins
i am not meaning to hijack here, but i know everyone says that off the shelf tuners such as edge bullydog and banks are a bad idea, and i have heard that it is mainly because of the change on the fly...if someone had one of these set ups wouldnt the tune work if you did not change it on the fly and did it when you shut off the engine? or am i missing the bigger picture?
if you ran the lower end settings and didnt change on the fly would anyone recommend these systems? sorry just curious.
if you ran the lower end settings and didnt change on the fly would anyone recommend these systems? sorry just curious.
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 10,626
Likes: 7
From: Plano TX and Brentwood TN
i am not meaning to hijack here, but i know everyone says that off the shelf tuners such as edge bullydog and banks are a bad idea, and i have heard that it is mainly because of the change on the fly...if someone had one of these set ups wouldnt the tune work if you did not change it on the fly and did it when you shut off the engine? or am i missing the bigger picture?
Edge and Banks are what are referred to as "inline fuel modules". They actually don't do any tuning to the truck's computers whatsoever. What they end up doing is intercepting the truck's signals, modifying them, and then sending them back on their way.
Bullydog uses varying fueling tables to create shift on the fly, now if you were to take shift on the fly out of there, they may not use varying fueling tables, but you still have to deal with the "one size fits all" tuning. Due to that one size fits all tuning, you have varying degrees of success with different owners of those products. I know my truck responded pretty well to the lower power settings, but flip it up to the street or extreme and the tranny really didn't like it all that much. Some people have those issues, some do not. That's one of the pitfalls of tuning for the masses instead of custom tuning.
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New User
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
From: Trenton, SC
My vote is for the Spartan Phalanx. I recently purchased one and it was the best move
I have made with this truck. The truck runs like a champ now and we recently towed
our 10000lb 5th wheel over 1000miles and it was like a different truck. Easily pulled
up the grades and we got 3mpg better(15mpg) than with the stock tune. Once this
truck is out of warranty we will do a turbo back 4" straight exhaust.
Gene
I have made with this truck. The truck runs like a champ now and we recently towed
our 10000lb 5th wheel over 1000miles and it was like a different truck. Easily pulled
up the grades and we got 3mpg better(15mpg) than with the stock tune. Once this
truck is out of warranty we will do a turbo back 4" straight exhaust.
Gene
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 393
Likes: 0
From: Bountiful, Utah
I used the Edge on a 2004 6.0L for 14,000 and lost a transmission and and engine. Not worth it!! DO not do it!!
I love the SCT it out performs the Edge hands down. I got mine on eBay for $280.00, and the Spartan tunes are for FREE. You can not get any better than that.
I am running "Archived" Spartan tunes and I use Aggressive Street Economy as my daily driver.
I love the SCT it out performs the Edge hands down. I got mine on eBay for $280.00, and the Spartan tunes are for FREE. You can not get any better than that.
I am running "Archived" Spartan tunes and I use Aggressive Street Economy as my daily driver.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 6,757
Likes: 5
From: Corvallis, OR
I would advise custom tunes from Eric at ID. For some people the free Spartan tunes work fine, for others they don't. Mine doesn't shift very good with them, so for now I'm running stock until I can order tunes from Eric. I also get EGR codes with them occasionally, not sure why as I thought they turn EGR off.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 6,757
Likes: 5
From: Corvallis, OR
SCT with custom tunes, don't waste your time and money on anything else.
SCT Diesel Part # SCTX3IDP - SCT X3 Programmer- IDP Custom Tuned - Diesel Performance Parts
SCT Diesel Part # SCTX3IDP - SCT X3 Programmer- IDP Custom Tuned - Diesel Performance Parts
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 10,626
Likes: 7
From: Plano TX and Brentwood TN
He did, but it turned out that people were reporting back to him that they were getting more mileage(how they were calculating I don't know) with the EGR enabled(wonders never cease), so he turned them back on by the time he made that archive.
The tunes that he makes for the Phalanx are better then those archived tunes, those archive tunes are more like off the shelf tunes, but with individual strategies accounted for, so they are better then tunes from Edge and Bully dog because of that.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 6,757
Likes: 5
From: Corvallis, OR
I won't buy a Phalanx, or anything from Spartan for that matter. Their customer support is just way too poor. I understand if they are overworked, but they can control that and not let customer service suffer. I was in the market for injectors last year and tried contacting them several times about their Economax injectors, never got a response. Also, after they did nothing to compensate their customers that purchased lifetime custom SCT tunes when they lost their SCT contract, that just steered me away more. Tex, you may have a different experience, and from reading your posts I think you do, but you are also one of their Beta testers and (within driving distance?) so that gives you an edge. Everything I read about Innovative's customer service is excellent, so you really can't go wrong there.