I recently bought a used 04 FX4 from a used car lot. It came with Flowmaster DOS catback and a Airaid CAI. I attempted to contact the previous owner to find out some history on the vehicle with no luck. The transmission has a good crisp 1-2-3 shift. My brother-in-law has the same truck with the same trans and 3.73 gears. His transmission has the soft lazy shift between gears and I can pull away from him with ease and both transmissions were recently serviced. His truck runs good and is comparable with another f150 that I have driven on occasion. I am thinking that my trucks computer has been re-programmed due to the crisp shifts and the very noticeable performance gain over the other truck. Both trucks has the same top speed at or around 105mph. I would rather not spend the $ on a programmer if it has been done already. How can I find out if the computer has a different tune, can a ford dealer tell me and what would they charge?

 

I suppose if you knew someone with an Edge or even a Gryphon with at least one canned tune of the type for 2004+ trucks, you could "borrow" it after it was set back to level 0. Plug it in to yours, and if the Edge/Gryphon was able to program yours to a level above 0, it would mean that your truck was stock.

It may even be, now that I think of it, that the Edge/Gryphon would not even recognize your truck if there was a tune already on it.

Welcome to the forum!

- Jack

 

Welcome!

It would still be beneficial to get a programmer with 3 custom tunes, whether you are tuned or not. You may want a customized tune for higher octane or when/if you add modifications that may require a customized tune.

 

You might just have updated factory programming and your brother in law does not.Being a 04 ford probably improved it over the years and yours is more current.

 

Probably correct...Some 04' had throttle lag issues that were later corrected with a reflash.

My concern would be if it was tuned, say with a performance tune, using lower octane gas or towing would be very bad for your engine and transmission.

 

From what I understand if I have a CAI then a tune is needed. Also would a factory reflash or a customized tune change how the transmission shifts. I would not say it shifts like it has a "shift kit" installed but it does not have any lag like most auto trans. have.

I have some experience with 03 Cobras and having dyno type tunes. From what I have seen on this site for newer f150's custom tunes are loaded into a programmer so a dyno tune is not needed. Bring me up to speed on this, thanks.

 

- A factory reflash may help with the shift firmness but can and did help with the throttle lag issues.
- A custom tune WILL firm up the shift points.
- You do not need a custom tune to run a CAI.
- No, you do not need to dyno test for custom tunes to be effective but it does help.

 

From what I have read he will need custom tunes for a CAI on an '04, early '05. The truck may be running lean and he may not know it.

 

Always "thought" it was the poorer designed CAI's that ran lean but they would throw a code didn't they?

 

No, as far as I know, they don't throw a code. The problem seems to be that some of the CAI's relocate the MAF sensor or change its "environment" so that it is "fooled" by the increased air volume. It doesn't "see" it so the injectors are not commanded to enrich the mixture in response to the higher air flow. This is probably only a concern at or near WOT, and, if this is an open-loop condition, the fact that it's operating lean will not be noticed, so, no code. But, possible engine damage!

- Jack

 

I took a trip to Modular Depot in Newport KY to check the air fuel mixture and to see what kind of power I am putting to the ground. I was concerned that the previous owner may not have tuned the truck after adding a CAI or if it was tuned it maybe set up to run 93 octane fuel. At the rear wheel the horse power is 229.9 and torque is 283.xx. The previous owner had in fact tuned the truck with a conservative 87 octane safe tune, according to Ken at Mod. Depot. How do these numbers stack up to other 2004-2008 5.4L stock or with minor mods?

 

Those numbers appear to be equal to many stock numbers I have seen.