Microtuner Question
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Joined: Aug 2000
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From: West Liberty ,Ohio
Microtuner Question
If I purchase a Microtuner and sell my truck in a few years and buy a new one can I send the tuner in for updates or will I have to start all over again with a new tuner? Thanks
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Joined: Mar 1998
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From: Virginia
Hi Orlando,
Nice looking underhood you have there! Before I get to your question, just as an aside, if you'd like to get rid of the large gaps that are currently showing on your factory throttle body cowling (that happens with any aftermarket intake kit, by the way), we have a special throttle body cowling that will take care of that for you, it's over at our web site - www.TroyerPerformance.com - take a look in our Intake section & you'll find it there. It can be painted, etc., as well. Just thought I'd mention that, as your underhood looks like you've put a lot of effort into making it look sharp.
OK, now to get to your actual question................
There is no accurate answer to that question, as that will obviously depend on what vehicle you buy years down the road, as well as what automakers may or may not do from now until then, and nobody can possibly know all of that.
We have no way of knowing what you'll get, nor is there any way to predict what changes will occur in powertrains and powertrain controls in the future. You might get lucky, you might not. I wouldn't count on getting lucky in that regard.
For example, all the 1997 thru 2003 F-150's can use the same Superchips Micro Tuner, but if Ford changes the PCM in 2004 as we expect them to in the F-150, you may very well have to use a different Superchips product to optimize the powertrain programming.
Same thing applies with the Superchip modules; for example, the same module worked on all the 1997 thru 2002 F-150's, but for 2003 Ford threw us a whammy & changed certain communications protocols thru the J3 connector, so as a result Superchips had to redesign the Superchip module to work on the 2003 Ford vehicles. That same new F-rev module is (luckily) backwards-compatible with most 1987-2003 FoMoCo vehicles, but there's no way to know if it's going to work on *ANY* 2004 FoMoCo vehicles, as they don't even exist yet
The bottom line is there's just no way to predict what kind of controls these vehicles will have years from now. I wouldn't think of expecting *ANY* performance part for any 1997-2003 F-150 to work on any 2004 or future F-150 models, as that isn't likely.
As most people know from all the information & pictures here on this web site, as well as from all of Ford's many announcements and the fact that Ford has already unveiled the all-new 2004 F-150 months ago at the Detroit auto show, the 2004 F-150 is an all-new truck. It has an all-new automatic transmission, different powertrain controls, a different 5.4 engine, completely different platform & interior (shared with the 2003 Expedition), etc. Therefore, most likely there is very little will carry over from the current 1997-era design F-150's to the 2004 & newer F-150's.
In general, you'll want to remember that when you buy any performance part, you are not buying a part that can be expected to work on any other vehicles you may own in the future. You're buying a performance part that was specifically designed & developed to improve the performance of the 1 specific vehicle you actually bought it for, not for any other potential future vehicles.
1997-2003 F-150's share a lot of things in common, just as the next 2004 F-150's thru probably about the 2010 model year or so F-150's will probably have a lot in common, and so it goes........
Good luck!
Nice looking underhood you have there! Before I get to your question, just as an aside, if you'd like to get rid of the large gaps that are currently showing on your factory throttle body cowling (that happens with any aftermarket intake kit, by the way), we have a special throttle body cowling that will take care of that for you, it's over at our web site - www.TroyerPerformance.com - take a look in our Intake section & you'll find it there. It can be painted, etc., as well. Just thought I'd mention that, as your underhood looks like you've put a lot of effort into making it look sharp.
OK, now to get to your actual question................
There is no accurate answer to that question, as that will obviously depend on what vehicle you buy years down the road, as well as what automakers may or may not do from now until then, and nobody can possibly know all of that.
We have no way of knowing what you'll get, nor is there any way to predict what changes will occur in powertrains and powertrain controls in the future. You might get lucky, you might not. I wouldn't count on getting lucky in that regard.
For example, all the 1997 thru 2003 F-150's can use the same Superchips Micro Tuner, but if Ford changes the PCM in 2004 as we expect them to in the F-150, you may very well have to use a different Superchips product to optimize the powertrain programming.
Same thing applies with the Superchip modules; for example, the same module worked on all the 1997 thru 2002 F-150's, but for 2003 Ford threw us a whammy & changed certain communications protocols thru the J3 connector, so as a result Superchips had to redesign the Superchip module to work on the 2003 Ford vehicles. That same new F-rev module is (luckily) backwards-compatible with most 1987-2003 FoMoCo vehicles, but there's no way to know if it's going to work on *ANY* 2004 FoMoCo vehicles, as they don't even exist yet
The bottom line is there's just no way to predict what kind of controls these vehicles will have years from now. I wouldn't think of expecting *ANY* performance part for any 1997-2003 F-150 to work on any 2004 or future F-150 models, as that isn't likely.
As most people know from all the information & pictures here on this web site, as well as from all of Ford's many announcements and the fact that Ford has already unveiled the all-new 2004 F-150 months ago at the Detroit auto show, the 2004 F-150 is an all-new truck. It has an all-new automatic transmission, different powertrain controls, a different 5.4 engine, completely different platform & interior (shared with the 2003 Expedition), etc. Therefore, most likely there is very little will carry over from the current 1997-era design F-150's to the 2004 & newer F-150's.
In general, you'll want to remember that when you buy any performance part, you are not buying a part that can be expected to work on any other vehicles you may own in the future. You're buying a performance part that was specifically designed & developed to improve the performance of the 1 specific vehicle you actually bought it for, not for any other potential future vehicles.
1997-2003 F-150's share a lot of things in common, just as the next 2004 F-150's thru probably about the 2010 model year or so F-150's will probably have a lot in common, and so it goes........
Good luck!
