Sold my 2016 F250 earlier this year. Have owned several diesels but none that were deleted. I have the opportunity to buy a fully deleted 2019; however, the dealer does not have the tuner (says it was a trade-in and they didn't get anything from the previous owner).

So, number 1 I do not have any idea what tune it is currently running. And number 2, if I ever want to run a different tune or go back to factory I will need a tuner to do that.

My question is, can you still find delete tuners? After reading some threads, my impression was that they are no longer produced. However, I found a website (dieseldiscounter.com) that sells the Mini Maxx and it says it works for 2011-2019 6.7s and has a 50, 100, and 150 tune.

I love the truck but also don't want to buy something that down the road could become a paperweight if I need a new tune and cannot get my hands on a tuner.

 

Get the previous owner's info and call them. They may have the tuner that was married to that truck. If not then you will have to find a tuner with delete features, have the dealer reflash PCM to stock then install new tuner.

Good Luck.

 

Yes they are still produce & there a multiple tuning options out there.

 

I can check, but not sure if they will provide the owner's info or not. But worth a shot. And just so I understand, I cannot just buy a new tuner and replace whatever the current tune is with a tune from the new tuner?

 

I rarely post in delete threads. Let's just say I have some experience with deleted trucks and tuners. I don't like to talk about the subject on forums because there is so much disinformation out there from people that claim to know a thing or two about the subject (JUST LIKE IM DOING RIGHT NOW).

Without the exact tuner that tuned the truck, you can't return the ECM (possibly PCM if the trans was also tuned) back to stock. This is important so that you can start fresh with another tuner. If the truck is not flashed back to stock, it's very possible that the ECM will become rendered useless (aka "bricked") when you go to flash another tune unless it's done live with a tuner that really knows what they are doing. It's not something that can be done in your driveway by your do it yourself kind of YouTube mechanic (no disrespect intended).

My point is that the dealership had better make it their mission to contact the previous owner and get the tuner or the truck is a huge liability. I'd run from it unless they are willing to give you a new ECM. That being said, if the tuner is located, the truck might be fantastic. Don't let the fact that it's deleted and tuned scare you off. Don't buy the truck unless you know exactly what you are buying.

Here's one to demonstrate why this is so important. I know a buddy that we deleted his '15 6.7 and it ran great and had no issues. Then one day, his tail lights stopped working. We spent HOURS looking for a chaffed wire, broken wire, corrosion, ANY reason whatsoever to explain why the tail lights didn't work. Brake lights worked fine. Try driving a lifted/deleted/black smoke billing truck with no tail lights/directions without getting pulled over. After no less than 40 hours looking a guy smarter than me suggested we take the truck to dealer and have it reflashed to stock software and back. This meant driving it there (into the service bay), flashing the tuner back to stock, hooking up the dealership computer and reflashing the truck to the most up to date version, and then retuning the truck. Bingo! Tail lights started working again. i can't explain why. I can just tell you that sometimes software issues come up and flashing back to stock and back (basically rebooting the tune) fixes a lot of bugs. Sometimes you need to really start over and reflash the ECM at the dealer too.

Bottom line, you need the tuner.

 

have the general manager call the previous owner, they have contact info. then they are not giving a stranger their customers info.

 

how can a dealer legally sell a deleted truck? does it not have to go through emission or some sort of inspection to get a license plate?
what state are you in
imo they are on the hook for 1st buying a deleted truck, 2nd trying to sell it.
to much fish smell?
I assume deleted means.. no egr cooler, or no Dpf or any of the other emissions related items
how evet...i had an 02 running a Diablo tuner. Tuner got stolen ..diablo had a way to put truck back to stock and basically start from scratch. I had to buy a new Diablo tuner, then they walked me through a procedure over the phone. Seems, somehow the tuner used previously held a file in trucks eck that allowed all changes to be set back to stock. Not sure if this is an option anymore.

 

That sums up the very important first step in this situation which provides a lot of detail to get started with making an informed decision.