I understand that this forum is mostly "go fast guys" but I would really like to know how much the micro tuner will improve my towing. I'd like to firm up my shifts and gain a little HP. Anyone towing with a micro tuned F150 5.4L. I have an 03 F150 7700.
Mike Cummings

 

Hi Mike,

Glad you dropped by!

You're right in that there are indeed a good number of us "go- fast" guys here, but there are also a good number of people who are doing *exactly* what you're thinking of - using the Superchips tuning to help with towing, and that makes perfect sense. Towing is the single most common use for the Ford F-150, and we have to specifically take towing into consideration when we make the programs for these vehicles, as that is an integral part of their design purpose.

We have 2 different towing-specific programs designed into the Superchips Micro Tuner (#1715) - one for 87 octane with a small power gain (about 8 HP), and then another for premium gas that gets you about an 18-20 HP or so gain - it also has another tune for premium gas for even more power that you *can't* tow with, as it's specifically designed for *maximum* power without the additional load from towing.

What will happen is that thanks to the Superchips full-range tuning, you will have about 8%-10% more power on tap all the time with the premium gas tuning - at any throttle position, and at any rpm, and it's the part-throttle torque in particular that helps towing the most.

Get familiar with the search feature here (the icon is in the upper right portion of your screen here) and use it to search for posts in this specific section about towing - in particular, there are some posts by "Family Ride" and from "Conocoan" that give very good detailed before & after results, including the fuel mileage. This is how to get the info, as once people have posted their results, they rarely come back to answer the same questions again and again every time another new person drop by - which is every day on this very popular web site, as you can imagine. This is why you'll want to use the search feature, it's easy and powerful and will instantly give you access to very specific info by proper use of the search criteria & filters.

There are years of posts with this kind of info here, and it's very rare that anyone comes up with a question that hasn't been asked & answered here before - and usually hundreds, if not literally thousands of times.

So for any number of reasons, the most important of which is getting the info you want quickly & easily, the hot tip is getting familiar with the search feature & using it to retrieve the tons of info already posted here.

The same thing that helps "towing performance" helps performance overall - and that is, more power available all the time, at any throttle position, at any rpm - that helps not only towing, but every aspect of performance. Optimizing the powertrain program is the single best bang for the buck performance enhancement, whether you're at the drag strip or towing a load. The Superchip tuning will not turn a 2-3 ton truck into a race car of course, it's just the best bang for the buck, defined as amount of performance improvement per dollar spent.

I hope this brief info helps, & please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, we'll be happy to help. Best of luck with your truck!

 

'03 SuperCrew 5.4L - $25000.
'03 Jayco 21' Travel Trailer - $14000.
Towing with the Microtuner - Priceless.

Seriously, I bought it more to help the trans than I did for power. I'm happy with the improvements for how little the tuner costs.

 

Linetest,
That was my first priority too. Shifts are a little soft. I may be pulling a little more weight than you are but I have a standard cab and 2WD. With the 7700 package I'm rated for a max tow rate of 8800# and I'm only pulling 70%. She pulls good but a little extra torque can't hurt. It came in the mail yesterday. Now I just have to find the nerve to go out and plug it into my new truck. I love that part where it says IF IT WON"T START, DON'T PANIC

 

Mine runs about 4200lbs loaded to go. The truck doesn't strain at all towing it, so power wasn't the issue. But I hated the shifts, and knew towing a load with the marshmellow shifts wasn't good for the trans either. But I admit I'm on the 92 octane tow performance mode. I think I will switch back to the 87 program though.

 

2001 Scab 5.4l, towing pkg, 3.55ls, helwig rear bar
2001 27' Sunnybrook 2708SLE (4200lbs dry, 6500lbs max)

I use the 93 performance program while towing and it has made a HUGE difference. I've had NO problem merging onto highways where before I was always concerned. The truck seems to not mind highway overpasses nearly as much as in the past.

I haven't gotten a full tank through it yet while pulling so I don't have any hard data so far on MPG but we are going camping this weekend and I will get a whole tank through it. Will report.

mjc3834, it's a piece of cake. Just follow the instructions and be sure to pull that fuel pump fuse before you start. If you want to look at the trouble codes, be sure to read them BEFORE you re-program.

After we have returned from camping I program back to the 87/performance code as I won't spend the money on 93 octane for everyday driving. Hey Mike, am I going to wear out the computer or programmer doing this?

Russ

 

Russ, linetest,
I'm pulling about 6200# total including wife, dog, and toys. I plan on running the 92 program but gas may be a problem here in Mn. About all I have close is Holiday, SuperAmerica, and Food& fuel type stations. One Amoco but I'm a little pissed they sold out to BP. I can remember riding motorcycle escort in the 70s and the Harleys wouldn't run on Holiday or SA premium. Would barely idle and overheated in traffic. I have 92 from a truck stop selling Conoco now. Noone has a 93 that I can find. I plan on programing today and we'll see what happens.
I read somewhere that Mike T said he filled his tank with low grade gas and "had to drain the tank and refill" Wouldn't a couple cans of an octaine booster been an easier fix? Doesn't work? Hard on the truck? I'd be interested to know if anyone has used that stuff.

 

Hi Everyone,

Some excellent posts here with feedback on towing using the Micro Tuner.........

Russ........

No, you won't wear out the Micro Tuner or your PCM flashing it like that - I've always said that I wouldn't flash any PCM a dozen times a month for example, but there is no limit to the number of times you can flash the PCM with the Micro Tuner.

Mike..........

That was a situation that occurred with my Lightning, due to a really bad tank of BP/Amoco gas at one particular station on Newtown Rd. right at the Va. Beach/Norfolk border - for all I know, with as bad as the detonation was, it may have just been a mistake when the tanker truck filled up their underground tanks - who knows, it could have been just 87 or 89 octane that I actually got instead of 93 - that's the way it acted, like I was trying to run it on low-octane fuel, as the detonation was unrelenting, and that has never happened before on any premium fuel (not even Exxon), not to *that* degree.

But even so, keep in mind that was in a 500 HP+ 11-second Lightning running 17 PSI of boost - not a regular F-150 with a normally aspirated (not supercharged) engine & mild modifications, and that makes all the difference in the world. My truck has to be fed the better pump premiums, but it does in fact run fine on good quality 93 octane premium, like Citgo, Sunoco, Shell, etc. That bad tank of BP/Amoco I got was probably a one-time thing - but I also probably won't ever use BP/Amoco again due to that. Interestingly enough, since that time I have found an Amoco station that is *not* branded BP/Amoco, it looks just like the traditional Amoco gas stations before the merger with BP, & the fuel I got from *there* a few weeks ago was fine.

The fuel brands you're talking about there are off-brands, no-name fuels that I'd never use in my Lightning. But in a standard F-150 what usually happens is you just don't get as good fuel mileage, and performance isn't quite what it could be - you shouldn't get detonation (shouldn't, not won't). Even so, they wouldn't be my choice. Sounds like you'll just have to drive a few more miles to get good quality fuels, perhaps.

In general, I'd say forget octane boosters - don't use them unless your only other choice is walking is our advice, as most of them cause pink, red & purplish deposits on the spark plugs & O2 sensors. Plugs are easily replaced, but O2 sensors cost a few $$. The cost of octane boosters will never be effective in turning lower octane fuels into higher octane fuels, and would not have taken care of that situation I had.

I'm sure you'll find a fuel that is OK, you can always try that 92 octane Conoco you were talking about - good luck!

Have a great weekend everyone,

 

Programed my truck this AM. Very pleased. Smooth idle, great throttle responce, and nice crisp shifts. Shifts are smooth as silk at light throttle and nice and firm at 3/4 throttle. Don't think she's ever seen WOT on the street (not towing) and probably never will. I'll be towing my trailer this weekend to put it in my kids polebarn for the winter and I just might go out of my way to pull the hill at Hudson Wi.
I'm running the 92 program. I don't remember it asking me if I was towing or not. I'm sure it did and I'm sure I would have pushed yes. I'm running the Conoco 92 and as a matter of fact I only put 22 gals. in my 30 gal. tank. The rest is 87 but she's running fine. A couple more fillups and she should be running the best I can get what ever that will be. I will try some of the other stations (brands) but with a stock truck and this mild tune I don't think I'll be able to tell the difference unless it runs bad. Then I'll no which ones to stay away from. Some one said their truck got even better after a couple hundred miles. I'm happy now and I'm sure she'll get a little better when I flush out the 87 thats in the tank. Anything after that is frosting on the cake

 

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your detailed post, observations, etc.!

I'm going to give you some FYI stuff here, so please bear with me a moment or two.............

We do not advise "topping off' a tank of 87 with premium like that, because that dilutes the incoming premium & results in not enough octane for the tuning. Doing that will always hurt the results and can even cause detonation if the total combination of the tuning, octane level & fuel BTU content ends up putting the motor outside of the effective compensation range of its knock sensor system - the performance of those knock sensor systems can vary a good deal from one vehicle to the next, just to let you know.

Before installing either of the Micro Tuner's premium gas programs, we advise letting the tank of 87 octane run down **at least** until the low fuel light first comes on, as at that point you still have a minimum of 3.5 gallons of fuel still in the tank, and it can be as much as 5 gallons - so we advise letting it run down until the low fuel light comes on, then fill it up with premium, and *then* install either of the premium gas tunes in the Micro Tuner.

You can double-check which program you're running on by just plugging the MT back in for a minute - it will usually ask if you want to change to either of the other 2 programs, depending on that trucks code, so you can tell which one you've uploaded. If you select the "max" performance tune by mistake & tow with it, the EGT's (exhaust gas temperatures) will get too high when towing heavy loads, or when towing up grades, etc. The difference between the premium gas tow-safe program (tow-perf) and the "max" performance tune is in the A/F ratios - the "max" performance tune sets them at about 12.4:1, which is great for safe max power when not towing, but it not appropriate for towing. The towing program has richer A/F's as is appropriate for towing.

Octane mixing basically yields linear results, so having 22 gallons of 92 and 8 gallons of 87 nets you 30 gallons of 90.6 octane, which is just under the minimum requirement of 91 octane - not quite enough. Your resulting 90.6 octane is generally high enough so that you won't get *audible* detonation, but that is primarily thanks to your vehicle's knock sensor system.

What's happening right now is in some situations (primarily higher load, meaning 50% or more throttle, any towing, etc.), you are running in knock retard, where the PCM has retarded timing, so your performance and fuel mileage will not be quite what it should be, though it will be better than stock.

We recommend running your current tank of 90.6 octane down until the low fuel light comes on before you put any more fuel in. I would do that for the next 2-3 tanks just to get that 87 run out of there and then after that, go back to filling up whenever you like.

On the issue of getting even more power as you accumulate some miles after installing the Micro Tuner, that is indeed true - when you run the 87 down until the low fuel light comes on before filling up with premium, it will usually take about 350-500 miles before you get the full 100% effects - this is not only due to needing to run all the 87 out, but is also due to the PCM adapting to it's new programming - and that takes about 350-500 miles & a dozen or so drive cycles. So what you heard in this regard is basically true - it'll get stronger as you accumulate those first 500 miles or so - icing on the cake, as you put it.

This is just some basic FYI stuff, Mike - thanks for your post & best of luck with your truck!

 

Lot's of replies so far. I'm not using a MT but a good old standard, single program chip. See sig for truck and mods.

2000 Searay 240 SD - 7500# fully wet and loaded. 7200# pretty dry.

I blow people away with how quick I can get that thing rolling; heck I surprise myself still. I always tow in OD and NEVER have "hunting" issues. On pretty good grades, I can hold speed down to about 1100 RPM in OD and pull a hill. Not on a highway of course, I keep it up to highway speeds then. Oh, 11-12 MPG towing too! I towed to Arkansas with some friends who also had an Expy towing a boat that was about 1500# less than ours. They had a hard time (couldn't get more that 68MPH) and they got about 9 MPG. Only way to get better is to dump the spark plugs and blow black smoke!

 

Hi FamilyRide,

Nice to see you drop by again!

By the way, I saw you mentioning the upcoming Whipple blower setup for the Ford 5.4 2 & 3 valve motors in another thread.......

They don't have any dyno numbers yet, they just mocked up 1 prototype on a vehicle to show at SEMA this week - so the kit is not finished, thus production is not up & running yet of course, but it is indeed a real product that will be available (finally!). They are hoping to have the kit ready by roughly the first of the year - that sounded a bit optimistic to me given current status, but that's what they're saying right now. Just FYI in case you may not have heard those details (you probably already know, but just in case)...........

We have been asking them to make a twin-screw blower kit for these trucks for years, and now it's finally going to happen. If all goes as planned, we'll be putting one on a 2004 5.4 3-valve SuperCrew Lariat 4x4 we picked up a few weeks ago, and we'll be offering those new twin-screw systems.

As always, thanks very much for dropping by another towing thread here - we often mention your name for people to look up some of your past posts in the search engine here, due to the thorough details & results you've always posted.

All the best,