so i wanna do some things for my truck and i really want a tune. i read the tune FAQ thing and i still have some questions.

do i gotta buy anything? i know they make the hand held tuners, but cant i take the truck somewhere and have one installed?

and how much do these things cost? just a ball park figure. i dont wanna break the bank.

and honestly, should i even bother with a tune when my trucks got 267k on it?

 

Hey.

Yes - you need to buy a handheld flash programmer. Your choice of units that come with preloaded (canned) tunes, or a unit that a tuning shop provides with custom tunes (which can be emailed and dowloaded intot he device yerself).

It's so simple you do not need to take it anywhere to install it (see the install stickies where you found the FAQ).

Cost = approx $400 - more for a fancier unit with colour displays, touch screen, etc - but if you just needed to load tunes, a more basic unit is fine. You may be able to find a decent used unit in the Classified section here - either canned or custom. Just stay away from an older Edge Evo - thay have had some cable failure issues. If an Edge product is desired, go with a CS or CTS model. BTW - both of these can also support custom tuning, from PHP.

Should you bother? Yer call - the truck needs to be in good mechanical condition with no existing problems - tuning is not a bandaid for pre-existing issues.

Keep in mind that on an older MY truck like yours, true gains come from premium fuel tuning. But - the tranny shifting &driveability improvement alone is good enough for some, even with an 87-octane tune.

My personal choice is SCT hardware, and custom tuning.

www.troyerperformance.com
www.vmptuning.com
www.gopowerhungry.com
www.diablo.com

Stay away from Jet, Hypertech and Bullydog (IMHO - vendors, please don't get bent, lol)

Good Luck.


MGD

 

I'll just add that for your year of truck stay away from the edge evolution monochrome unit due to cable issues.

 

Slow as usual - that was already addressed


MGD

 

Nice edit while I was writing my post........
As you can see I quoted you're original post.
Not your edited one.

Get working and get it right the first time........

 

ok thanks alot. heres the problem i have. what company's have the handheld programmers for my truck? i can only find them for mustangs or for 04 and up.

 

Given the age, not too many anymore.

That is why I recommended SCT devices and tuning - or optionally, an SCT-custom-capable device with preloaded SCT canned tunes.

The SCT Xcal3 ( or Livewire, or a used, unlocked Xcal2) supports a huge array of Ford models - as long as they have an OBDII port.

And while yer PCM can support a 'chip', due to restricted flexibility they are not the best option.

So - contact SCT, or one of the SCT-capable tuners listed above.

Plug yer vehicle info into here: http://www.sctflash.com/index.php

You'll find BOTH canned SCT and custom SCT handhels are available for yer truck.

MGD

 

I would go for the phoenix switch on the fly chip from PHP. i just installed one not long ago in my dads 97 f150 and have been saving to get my own. i think it was only $350 or so with 3 custom tunes and well worth it

http://phptune.com/_phoenix.shtml

heres a link

 

SCT offers a similar product - one that offers 5 switchable custom tunes, for the same price: http://www.troyerperformance.com/cgi...alogno=SCT6600

While I have no issues with using chips, the OP needs to be aware of the fact that if any tuning changes are desired, or need to be made, the device needs to be shipped back to the tuner for reburning.

With a handheld flash programmer, the end-user can do some on-device adjustments, and/or revised/new tunes can be downloaded and flashed into the PCM, again by the end-user.

Additonally - the newer handhelds will support the next (Ford) vehicle the owner may buy - and no new Ford PCM has a J3 port to allow the reuse of a chip. But ALL have an OBDII port for a handheld.

The handhelds are also code scanners - something a chip cannot do.

Some handhleds (noteably SCT's) provide excellent datastream capture and datalogging. With excellent analysis / display software for free. Chip? Nope.

For the very marginal difference in cost (approx $50) - the handheld is the way to go based upon features, flexibility and 'future-proofing' alone. Hands-down.

Just say 'No' to chips

MGD