I have been contemplating adding a custom tune program to my 2004 Scab Lariat 5.4 V8 (I have a CAI that I haven't installed yet). As I read all the threads about this subject I realize that it's sort of a love-hate relationship in having one. There also seems to be a lot of activity related to the selling and buying of the various programmers here in this site. Makes me wonder - is it really worth the investment, or is it a fad or phase every truck owner goes through? I know we all want our trucks to look and sound as good as possible (within our budget$$). I am planning on keeping my truck for a long while (it's paid for) maybe even passing it on to my kids. The question is, is it more of a hassle than it is worth? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.

 

Getting a custom tune was by far the best purchase I've made for my truck. I would never drive a stock 04-08 ever again.

The only reason I can think of to get rid of a tuner is tight times and they need the cash, or they had 93 octane tunes and wanted to go back to 87, again to save some money.

- NCSU

 

My tuner is my single best mod. I can not imagine being without it. I hate to return it to stock to go in for maintenance, and tune it back before I leave the dealer parking lot. It adds about 30 hp and much better shifting/downshifting, plus the gauges that I use constantly. I have had it for 65,000 miles, over 3 years.

 

My tuner has been great!
It improved the drivablity of the truck.
The reason your seeing some come up for sale is times are tight or they are looking at getting newer ones, as technology advances so do the programmers.
I wouldn't necessarily call programmers a fad, they have been around for awhile.

 

To carry hattrick's comment one step further --- I've got a 06 Lariat 5.4 with a Volant CAI. I'm running an EDGE with the stock 93 performance tune. I LOVE the way the truck drives and would hate to have to go back to stock.

Most of my driving is around town and in summer a lot of cross country highway miles. Should I get a custom tune? What do I have to know to get one? Is upgrading to a Gryphon the best/most affordable option???

What if I do nothing and just stay with the stock 93 tune? I don't mind so much so long as gas prices don't get much higher - then a 83 performance tune might be nice.

 

If you convert to a Gryphon, Bill will write the tune to account for your intake mod which will improve the performance even more.

Even a canned PHP tune is more reponsive than the canned Edge tune as Edge has to maintain CARB certification.

When Edge/PHP can finally offer a CTS, I will get two custom tunes, 87 economy and 87 towing and I'll keep the canned 93 performance (I don't intend on using it).

 

The lean issue is a big deal in the 04-05's BUT it also could be a problem in your truck also.
An upgrade to a gryphon would be more beneficial in the long run. Wher you could get rid of the tranny only tune and replace it with a lower octane tune and also get your higher octane tune customised and upgrade or keep your tow tune the same.
In my opinion the upgrade is affordable.

 

have had mine for 2 month's now. had been running level 2 all this time so far and i like it alot. just switched to level 1 ten minutes ago to see what that do's. mainly to see the mpg. difference between the two different levels. heck i may try level 3 in a week or 2. will for sure be running level 2 tow in the summer when i am pulling a boat. so far to me it was money well spent.

 

Thanks for all the input and comments. I think I'll take the plunge and go for it. I'm leaning towards the SCT X3 from VMP.

 

There are a lot of things in the factory tune that are a compromise for performance. One significant item is the delay times to go open loop. Even the canned tunes can correct that. CAIs can also be a detriment to performance. If your CAI is an open filter element that is not separated from the engine compartment to where it can draw colder air outside of the engine bay, it's going to suck in engine heat and the PCM will see high ACT temps and pull timing and add fuel. Because the MAF sensor is calibrated for a certain amount of air, sticking the sensor it in a different tube with different bends can throw the calibration way off. A good tuner can fix the transfer function, but it would need to be a custom job or a known transfer function for that intake. The transfer function is the table that the PCM uses to interpret voltage signals from the MAF as air flow.

 

I"ve had my Gryphon for 17 months now and my AF1 CAI for about two years with no issues (knocking on wood ) and love them. I agree that the tuner is the one mod that I could not do with out. And as far as the cai, yeah, lot of love/hate going on there but one thing that can't be argued, it sure does make the engine sound cool