OK here is one that My Ford tech cannot figure out:

2003 F 250 with 4 inch turbo back exhaust

Ran SCT Tuner with Eric's tunes for 3 weeks and it ran fine at fine wide open

Now with tuner on truck at 2800RPMS the truck stutters or hesitates

With the tuner off the truck it runs fine with no issues at all

Today we monitored fuel pressure and it was at 52 which I think is good

Then we hooked up the computer to the port and it showed Injection control Pressure was needing 3000 and the truck was giving 1500?

Then we ran it factory and ran where it needed to run.

I called IDP and they said it may be the ICP. Just replaced the ICP a month ago from Ford.

But if it was the ICP would the truck run fine at factory?

What else can I check?

The weird thing is the truck ran fine for 3 months with the tuner

Thanks

 

52 psi fuel pressure at idle? What is it at WOT? I bet with a tune it's dropping way below 45. That might be easily fixed with a new spring or a BB. ICP could be IPR or HPOP or a leak. What code did it throw?

 

It was at 52 psi sitting at idle WOT in park

That was factory setting not with the tuner on it

No codes at all

Do I need to hook up the tuner and then run the fuel pressure test or does it matter?

 

you should check it with the tuner installed. the injectors will flow closer to there max volume when tuned.
I suspect you have a high pressure oil pump going south. possibly a low volume condition with it.

 

IIRC Eric's tunes fool the computer into thinking the ICP is low so the IPR opens more.

 

I think you also need to test the FP with a load on the motor. Driving it. Not just in N and revving the eng.

 

I have been running Erics Tunes for a year (Extreme Street) and things seemed fine. Last month I finished getting the last of 11 gauges installed, which was the Autometer HPOP gauge, installed when I did the sinister EGR cooler delete and had the top of the engine apart, so that I could reach the ICP (new sensor installed). ICP sits @ 500 at idle, and goes to 1500, only at wide open throttle does it jump to 4000, then quickly back to 1500. This was odd to me.

But last week I had the truck on a dyno and it acted very weird. It was not consistent over three dyno runs. And the Autometer HPOP gauge would go to 4000, then go bakc to 1500, with open throttle. (This is not the case when de-tuned and stock).

I went to OCDieselshop last night and Bud stuck a computer on it and we drove around. The command sits at 1700 psi for the ICP, and so does the Autometer gauge. Also, the truck overheats, and the gfans are uncontrollable. So we de-tuned the truck, and the fans kicked in and quickly brought the oil and water temps down from 240 degrees F to 220. So I know the 1 year old oil cooler is working good. The fans don't work when tuned with eric's tunes.

The Autometer gauge works perfectly with the truck stock tuned. I also have an ISSPro HPOP gauge that I could try.

Is there someone better than eric for SCT X3 tunes? or someone that can explain why the fans and HPOP gauge go wacky when the tunes are installed?

I went with eric 'cause I heard he was good. But the dyno confirmed that something odd is going on with the truck when tuned.

BY the way, we cleared all codes, & reset everything so that EVERYTHING was working good, verified this, fan works, HPOP gauge works, etc. Then tuned it back up with the X3 and things went wacky again. I am running stock right now until Eric finishes getting some new tunes cooked for me.

YOUNG GUNS, I thanks for the comment. I wish eric would've just told me that. That's easy to understand. (Eric's tunes fool the computer into thinking the ICP is low so the IPR opens more.) BUT WHY DO THE FANS STOP OPERATING NORMALLY DURING A TUNE?

and by the way, the fuel pressure generally sits at 50psi. This is the pressure at the fuel filter in the block. It goes to 50 psi at the first turn of the key when the plugs warm up and stay there while the engine's running. The 7.3L had a mechanical pump, so fuel pressure didn't kick up until the pump started pumping, after the engine was running. There is a fix for this, too (for the 7.3L's).

Any comments or advise?

 

Hey thanks for the feedback can you PM your number so I can get more information from you. I am having the same issue.

I will PM you my cell

Thanks in advance

 

my tunes are in my sig ,, give him a call

matt@gearheadautomotiveperformance.com

 

I just received my four tunes from matt for $100 (srl+, srl++, 8k tow, unlimited tow). Money well worth it. The HPOP reads a little more smooth as compared to erics tune (the HPOP reads differently when tuned vs stock; for various reasons I won't go in to right now), but the truck starts and runs much smoother in the morning, and the turbo spools much quicker, giving much better throttle response. The turbo boost now gets to a max of 32psi, for my ARP studded truck.

Matt answered a ton of questions, and helped me understand some other items that needed clarification. Don't get me wrong, eric has responded fairly quickly to my emails, but he is probably so busy, that he always blows my questions off without an answer. Or maybe he just doesn't know the answers. Anyway, Matt's srl++ tune spools the turbo quicker than I have ever seen. The throttle response is almost instant, the truck has never been this responsive. And it holds the gears a bit longer. NOW, My truck really runs nice with the 3.73 gears, since the truck now stays near 2k rpm all the time. Eric's tunes always drop the truck to 1300-1500 rpms, which is too low. The truck was always "lugging" around, even though it had a lot of power. I'm sure my mileage will go down a bit, but I really am not driving this truck for mileage. I have been getting a pretty consistent 10mpg for the past year.

Normally, when making a turn from a dead stop from one road to the next, if you "punched it", you sat for a second or two while the turbo spooled, slowly moving the truck, then it blasted off, spinning the 40's with ease, but you were well into the turn. Now, if you drop the pedal half way, the tires are already spinning and there is 15-20 psi boost. Matt's tune is a lot different from Erics, and much better for my truck. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing on eric's tunes, but for my setup, matt's tunes seem to take the "custom" tune to a new level, really making my setup perform nicely. Eric's were so much better than stock, true; no question.

It appears that the HPOP gauge reads a bit more true under Matt's tune vs Eric's. Under Eric's tune, I never noticed fuel pressure to drop ANYTHING below 50psi. Matt's tunes, under WOT, drop fuel pressure to 43-45psi, and that's with brand new fuel filters installed 2 nights ago. DOES ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH THE AIRDOG II? I feel this may increase the fuel delivery with a cleaner than stock air-less fuel stream.

Erics XtremeStreet Tune is nice, but my truck has been acting strange as of late, so eric fixed me up another tune. I have been running his for over a year now, but the truck is just not happy with his tunes; and runs just fine when stock tuned, albeit a bit more tuned down. BUT Matt's srl++ tune is making this truck run incredibly good. I have read many times over, that a custom tune will expose a problem area/item that a truck may have, that is NOT normally detected with a stock tune. Well, for some reason, I have been having problems with eric's tunes. Is it my truck, or his tunes, or some odd combo of the two? I'm not exactly sure. But I do know that the truck is running incredibly powerful right now, with matt's tune. I will give more info as I get more experience with this new tune from matt. Thank you Zman for leading me to Matt.

One last note; matt mentioned that removing the EGR valve completely (with a complete EGR cooler delete, of course), thus throwing CEL codes, may affect cooling fan performance. Can anyone verify this? I had the mechanic @ ocdieselshop in SoCal check the truck with the laptop and IDS software, and egr codes were popping up with my old tune from eric, which appears to have been corrupt. I also checked the truck after installing eric's new 'fixed' tunes, which had the egr system fully deleted, with my AutoEnginuity software/laptop, and the EGR error codes were still popping up, even immediately after clearing them. I have since reinstalled the EGR valve (a few days ago). I can now hear the cycling of the EGR valve and spooling of the turbo in my cat-less & muffler-less exhaust. Sounds which were non-existent when the EGR valve was removed from the truck, over 3 months ago. There is no EGR Cooler, so there is no dirty soot going back into my intake/engine anymore, when the EGR valve cycles. And I haven't checked to see if there are any EGR error codes, since installing Matt's srl++ tune, and reinstalling the EGR valve. I will give an update at a later date. I have to go to bed. It's 1am and worktime comes way too quickly.

 

I love your description! Nice job and at 1am even

now every time some one PM's Me why I didn't like Eric's tunes ,, that and He never ,,,responded to my inquiries be it email of phone calls

ps I think Matt's are called SLR tunes? street light race not SRL ?

 

I think you mean, every time someone PM's you and asks why you like MATT'S tune better, no?

Thanks for the props on my writeup. But Matt is the star here. Matt really put a lot of thought and made quite an effort to tune this truck correctly. His effort really makes a difference in the way the truck runs. Eric is good, Matt is awesome, at least for this application. I'm sure many are happy with eric's tunes, and that is good. It was a step up for me, to go to Matt's tunes. I can't stress how much more responsive and nice the truck is to drive. Keeping it in the 2k rpm range makes a world of difference for me.

Yes, they are SRL (street race light), I'm looking at the files now. The "srl+" tune is for standard boost, which 'should' get to 30-32psi, and the "srl++" tune makes sure that the turbo gets to the max of 32psi boost. Erics XS tune would get to 25 psi, probably similar to the "srl+'. NOTE: this truck is ARP studded.

I did not try the "srl+". I went straight to the meat of the "srl++", and I am seeing exactly what matt said I would see, 29-32psi boost MAX.

I am now seeing the fuel pressure drop at WOT from 50psi to 43-45psi, so I think the AirDogII pushing fuel at low pressure to the stock fuel pump will help. Anyone have any experience with this? ACTUALLY, let me rephrase; it looks like the new AirDog II with quick disconnects REPLACES THE OE fuel pump and filter. I just printed and read the 22 page installation manual. I think I'll read it 10 more times before I think about installing it. It looks like it's $650 online with free shipping, and is medium in installation difficulty.

 

Guys thanks maybe before I do anything I should get Matt's tunes? Maybe the issue is Eric's tunes.

I can get Matt's tunes for $100 bucks to see if that is the problem verses putting a new HPOP in my truck.

I do need to a fuel pressure guage regardless.

I never hear back from Eric and Matt calls me and helps me and has not even sold me tunes yet. That is cool!

I don't know if Eric even is real? I can only get in touch with Ted at Innovative

 

I would definitely get his tunes, it's worth the $100. Give him as much info about your truck as possible, and exactly what you want your tune to do.

I find that the tuning guys implement different methods of getting more power. Matt's tune allows my HPOP gauge to read pretty true. Eric's made it do some wacky things, but that is not to say he didn't get the engine to produce. The issue appeared to be the HPOP gauge. Even Matt agreed that tunes can do different things to the HPOP readings. I never stuck the ISSPRO HPOP gauge on the truck (still sitting in the package on my desk) to see how it compares to the Autometer during normal use.

I'm sure Eric has reasons for not getting back to you. I'm not making excuses for him, especially since Matt is my present tuner. Eric has been relatively responsive in the past, and did a decent job. I just find that Matt's tunes spoke very loud with the performance they provide, even more so that the fact that he was referred as a good tuner. The tunes speak for themselves. The gauges and the truck just seem to run really nice, like never before. Matt definitely spent time doing his stuff.

And the fact that he answered my MANY questions before I bought his tunes, showed he cares about his customers and he presently has time for them. And he had a pretty good understanding about the truck and it's parts. Top notch all the way. I think Eric was like that in the beginning. Maybe he has some personal issues he's dealing with. He never sent me a revamped tow tune, with the EGR Cooler portion deleted. At least he told me he would, but never did. And the tune he did revamp for me never performed as good as Matt's.

Get the tunes, be specific and clear with matt, so he knows what to provide you with. This will give you a good idea where to head in getting the truck fixed, if that ends up being the case. Like I mentioned, Matt's tunes make my fuel pressure drop a little bit, which hasn't happened before. Maybe his tune shows the weakness my truck has in keeping fuel pressure up. Now I know what I need to fix. Time for Airdog II to keep the fuel pressure up to 50psi all the time.

 

I would actually raise the fuel pressure up to about 60 psi, which you should have no problem doing with the AD2. Your injectors will like it much better than 50. You might actually try shiming the stock fuel pressure regulator or try the upgraded spring before dropping $650 on the AD2. 50 on a stock pump is actually kind of low IMHO. You should be easily able to get 60+ from it, but the pressure drop is the MOST important thing.