Hello all, been a lurker here for quite a while, usually found everything I needed in the past with a search. First off I drive a 2004 F150 (non Heritage) 5.4 2wd SCab with the 5.5 bed and I have 145K on the odometer.

It's time for new tires on the truck and I wanted to go with a tire that was a bit bigger. The tires that came on it didn't really fill out the wheel well that much. I'm going from a 245/70/17 to a 285/70/17. I installed a 2.5" leveling kit today and got about 3" of actual lift from it. Tires will go on on Saturday.

I've also been looking at a CAI as well, however I'm glad I stopped by here first before I ordered it. After reading dozens of threads here about the A/F ratios being off after a CAI install and hearing about the custom tunes, and reading the stickys I still have a few questions. From everything I have read it sounds like the SCT programmer is the best option. I have heard two sides to the story: A a CAI will lean out the engine too much, thus throwing codes and possibly hurting the engine and B the PCM can properly "re-learn" A/F ratios after a CAI. Which one do I believe? I understand the whole "stock, canned, and custom" tune differences.

Here is where I get lost:

1. In order to get a bit more power from this engine I have to throw between $400-700 at it. Really? What happened to the good ol days of slapping a CAI on it and picking up a couple extra horses?
2. With a custom tune for a CAI what kind of HP gain am I looking at?
3. Where would I get a programmer that I see used here?
4. Say I buy a programmer, are there now "canned" tunes for certain CAI's?
5. Can I buy a programmer from a "tuner" and have it loaded with the tune I need before they send it to me? How does all that work?

Sorry if I missed a thread where all this was addressed, I have read so many threads (and gained a whole lot of information). Thanks for helping me out.

 

A so-called "cold air intake" really doesn't do much, if anything, for you. It's actually a "warm air intake" - it gets its air from under the hood, the stock airbox gets its air from the fender well. Save your money and do a "Gotts" mod to the stock airbox. Not only that, most CAI's use oiled filters, the oil can foul the MAF.

The reason you need a tune if you do install a CAI on a 04+ 5.4 is because the particular MAF is very sensitive to being relocated. The tune must be modified to compensate, and custom tunes are really the best way to go unless you get something like a Diablo that comes with tunes for some specific CAI's.

Programmers are shipped with canned tunes. If you want custom, you buy the programmer from one of the reputable tuning companies mentioned here, and they will want data from you to write your custom tunes. When they are ready, they either e-mail them to you or put them on a server so you can download them.

 

Thanks the the info, someone else also sent me a bunch of useful info. So I have been looking at a few different programmers and again reading thread after thread. However I see that much has changed over the past few months and some threads are old and no longer true. Here is what I have gathered:

1. Stay away from Bullydog, Superchips, Edge, and Hypertech.
2. Edge = Gryphon. Are they the same thing?
3. PHP no longer does custom tunes for the Gryphon? I still see people posting about their custom tunes with a Gryphon after Dec. 31st.
4. So that leaves SCT and Diablo.
5. I really liked the dash mounted setup, can you change tunes on the fly with a mounted programmer?

 

A Gryphon is an Edge modified by PHP. They are no longer doing custom tunes for the CS/CTS because of issues with Edge, unless you bought it from them prior to 1/1/2013. They are still upgrading/selling the Evolution and doing custom tunes for it for 2004-2008 trucks only.

Tunes can NOT be changed on the fly with any programmer.

 

I think I get what they do, but my ignorance is overwhelming on this issue. I think I could use one. I put a K&N air filter in, thought about doing the CAI, but probably going with the "Gotts" if I can get my intake tube apart without destroying it, and I'm about to put SIDO Magnaflow exhaust it.

But I have some really basic questions.

1st- Do I have to keep the tuner plugged in while the truck is in operation or can I just use it to tune my truck then put it in the shed.

2nd- Are there any risks involved to my truck's computer?

3rd- can I get one to just help me get better mileage with 87 octane gas?

 

1. You may remove it after loading the tune. However, do NOT put it in the shed, lock it in the glovebox or console.
2. There is always some degree of risk.
3. Maybe. Some users do, some don't.

Get that K&N filter out of there, use a stock-type paper filter for best filtration.

 

So I purchased and installed my Gryphon programmer. Installation went smoothly and I started off by installing the level 2 towing tune. Its just the canned tune until I get my custom tunes. I noticed that under power the motor pings pretty good. I stopped and switched to the 93 performance tune. It doesn't ping at any throttle or load. So what causes it to ping with the towing tune? Too rich? Also will running the 93 performance tune on 87 octane harm anything? I've put it back to stock for now till I figure this out.

 

Never run a tune for a higher octane than you are using, and if it pings, use higher octane fuel.

Pinging is either too much spark advance or running too lean.