F150 Ecoboost Stock Versus Tuned

[ShinerBock]

As an owner of an Ecoboost that was tuned by Mike over at 5 Star, I can tell you his tunes are legit. They don't just add power, but the shift and torque converter improvements completely change the truck for better driving feel especially when towing.

Ford F150: Does Tuning Your Truck Work? 0-60 MPH and 1/4 Mile Results

[ShinerBock]

JeremyFr wrote:
To the OP, just wanted to tell you about my most recent experience with my tune.

I just completed towing from Tacoma WA, to Anaheim CA. Overall I got 10.2 MPG towing a 6200LB trailer and an overall GCVW of just shy of 13k.

The truck did amazing over all the passes and did not require a single brake application coming down the Tejon pass (Grapevine) To say a tune is worth it, is an understatement. And not once did it approach redline on the downhills.

Temps were all great the entire trip.

I did the same some years back. I did two trips from south Texas to Moab, UT towing my off road Jeep, a RZR, some spare parts, and gear(9.5k total) in my old 5 Star tuned F150HD. Went up to see some fiends in Ouray, CO and then cut across to Moab. Highest elevation was 11k ft and had some pretty steep passes.

Never got close to redline going down, and had more than enough power to maintain all speed limits going up.

[JeremyFr]

To the OP, just wanted to tell you about my most recent experience with my tune.

I just completed towing from Tacoma WA, to Anaheim CA. Overall I got 10.2 MPG towing a 6200LB trailer and an overall GCVW of just shy of 13k.

The truck did amazing over all the passes and did not require a single brake application coming down the Tejon pass (Grapevine) To say a tune is worth it, is an understatement. And not once did it approach redline on the downhills.

Temps were all great the entire trip.

[srt20]

I have no problem with it going to redline on descent braking. My bud has a 2012 Duramax that has hit 4500 rpm downhill, stock. He actually talked to an engineer on the Duramax. He said it will safely hit 5500 rpm if it needs to.

[ShinerBock]

JeremyFr wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:
Here's a video of the same truck pulling the Ike.

Link

It appears that TFL wasn't concerned with the rev's coming down hill. Personally I've not heard good things about 5star tunes, I've heard alot of people have consistency issues with 5star.

Livernois has been a predominately Ford performace shop since they started. They bought one of the very first EB F150's that rolled off the line when Ford first introduced it and they do extensive testing etc on their tunes.

I don't work for them, I'm not paid by them, I'm just an extremely happy customer who has found both their product and their support to be fantastic. Their people are VERY knowledgeable when it comes to Ford engines from my experience with them.

I've done some pretty steep downhill grades with their tune with a 6500# trailer and I've never had it redline going down hill but I have seen better engine braking performance than I did/do with the stock tune.

As for overall towing, I've seen similar if not slightly better towing MPG with the tune vs. stock, but I've also found on my Gen 1 3.5 with the 6 speed auto that the sweet spot for MPG in my particular setup is about 62MPH which doesn't bother me as I don't like towing any faster than that (unless i need to pass someone)

I see average of around 11-12MPG towing at 62 and under. Speaking of passing there is absolutely no issue of putting the pedal down and confidently passing others when needed, the power is just there when you need it and even going up a grade the truck immediately takes off and easily pulls past just about anything you may need to get around.

I am not sure about that. I had tunes from 5 Star, Unleashed, Livernois, MPT, and SSI in my old HDF150 Ecoboost. Some I purchased and some were given to me to review in the old F150 forums I was on. Star was by far my favorite and best to tow with. I never heard a bunch of bad things about them either.

[larry_barnhart]

not that hard to keep our duramax from revving that high and it never has on our travels. Probably because we are match very well. Bigger and heavier probably a different story.

chevman

[ib516]

Donnoh wrote:
I watched the TFL test of this truck tune going down hill and it whipped the engine to over 7000 RPM (way over redline) before it upshifted. No thanks.

The Duramax will also go over redline when engine braking - or would before the ones with the exhaust brake. I don't know if it's a big deal. That said, I wouldn't tune a truck that's under warranty. Just not worth the risk IMO. After warranty - tune the heck out of it. I tuned both my diesels and loved the increase in performance.

[JeremyFr]

FishOnOne wrote:
Here's a video of the same truck pulling the Ike.

Link

It appears that TFL wasn't concerned with the rev's coming down hill. Personally I've not heard good things about 5star tunes, I've heard alot of people have consistency issues with 5star.

Livernois has been a predominately Ford performace shop since they started. They bought one of the very first EB F150's that rolled off the line when Ford first introduced it and they do extensive testing etc on their tunes.

I don't work for them, I'm not paid by them, I'm just an extremely happy customer who has found both their product and their support to be fantastic. Their people are VERY knowledgeable when it comes to Ford engines from my experience with them.

I've done some pretty steep downhill grades with their tune with a 6500# trailer and I've never had it redline going down hill but I have seen better engine braking performance than I did/do with the stock tune.

As for overall towing, I've seen similar if not slightly better towing MPG with the tune vs. stock, but I've also found on my Gen 1 3.5 with the 6 speed auto that the sweet spot for MPG in my particular setup is about 62MPH which doesn't bother me as I don't like towing any faster than that (unless i need to pass someone)

I see average of around 11-12MPG towing at 62 and under. Speaking of passing there is absolutely no issue of putting the pedal down and confidently passing others when needed, the power is just there when you need it and even going up a grade the truck immediately takes off and easily pulls past just about anything you may need to get around.

[FishOnOne]

Here's a video of the same truck pulling the Ike.

Link

[JeremyFr]

Donnoh wrote:
I watched the TFL test of this truck tune going down hill and it whipped the engine to over 7000 RPM (way over redline) before it upshifted. No thanks.

Not sure what tune you're referencing but I've not once ever experienced this with Livernois's tunes, they do an amazing job with the transmission management in their tunes.

[Donnoh]

I watched the TFL test of this truck tune going down hill and it whipped the engine to over 7000 RPM (way over redline) before it upshifted. No thanks.

[JeremyFr]

bikendan wrote:

JeremyFr wrote:
I've got a 2016 F150 3.5L EB and went through Livernois for my custom tuning.

I will say this it's like a whole other truck with the Livernois tunes vs. Fords stock tune. Like others have stated it's not just about performance as at least Livernois re-programs the transmission and more to greatly improve the overall driveability. I have both Performance tunes and Tow Specific Tunes. The biggest difference between the 2 being transmission performance.

I've done an extensive amount of towing with the stock tune and while it's been enjoyable and sufficient. The improvement in drive-ability using the Livernois Tow Tunes has been amazing. The transmission performs far better especially on grades and makes for an overall far more enjoyable tow.

I use their 91 octane performance tune for daily driving and see better MPG with the tune than I do on the stock Ford tune. And again the drive-ability has been far improved. The other modification I made was to go with a low temp thermostat from Livernois (which they adjust the ECM for as well with your tunes)

I can't recommend Livernois enough if you own a Ford vehicle, their support has been fantastic and once you purchase a tuner, you get lifetime tunes and support with it. If you add to or modify your truck you just reach out to them let them know what you've done and they adjust your tune for you.

Do you mind if I ask how much the tune cost?

The tune, and the thermostat came out to just under $700, and it was worth every penny. You actually can have up to 4 tunes + stock on the tuner at any given time. So I carry both stage 1 87 octane performance and tow tunes and stage 3 91 octane performance and tow tunes. It takes roughly 5 minutes to change the tune on the truck which is nice. They'll customize to whatever octane you'll be using (obviously the higher the octane the better increase in performance you can get).

The tunes also completely change the transmission, they re-work the torque managment, shift points, and more. I also find that with the tow tune that while in tow/haul the tune uses the trucks gyro to sense grades and automatically downshifts and holds lower gears for engine braking, I also feel that engine braking is improved with the tune as well.

One of the other things I've noticed is that the with the Stock tune, the waste gates are essentially left open by the ECM when not in the throttle, where the Livernois tune seems to keep em closed more often so that when you hit the throttle you have far less turbo lag waiting for the waste gates to close and the turbo's to build pressure. Boost is very much more "there" with the Livernois tune which I greatly like as well.

[bikendan]

JeremyFr wrote:
I've got a 2016 F150 3.5L EB and went through Livernois for my custom tuning.

I will say this it's like a whole other truck with the Livernois tunes vs. Fords stock tune. Like others have stated it's not just about performance as at least Livernois re-programs the transmission and more to greatly improve the overall driveability. I have both Performance tunes and Tow Specific Tunes. The biggest difference between the 2 being transmission performance.

I've done an extensive amount of towing with the stock tune and while it's been enjoyable and sufficient. The improvement in drive-ability using the Livernois Tow Tunes has been amazing. The transmission performs far better especially on grades and makes for an overall far more enjoyable tow.

I use their 91 octane performance tune for daily driving and see better MPG with the tune than I do on the stock Ford tune. And again the drive-ability has been far improved. The other modification I made was to go with a low temp thermostat from Livernois (which they adjust the ECM for as well with your tunes)

I can't recommend Livernois enough if you own a Ford vehicle, their support has been fantastic and once you purchase a tuner, you get lifetime tunes and support with it. If you add to or modify your truck you just reach out to them let them know what you've done and they adjust your tune for you.

Do you mind if I ask how much the tune cost?

[JeremyFr]

I've got a 2016 F150 3.5L EB and went through Livernois for my custom tuning.

I will say this it's like a whole other truck with the Livernois tunes vs. Fords stock tune. Like others have stated it's not just about performance as at least Livernois re-programs the transmission and more to greatly improve the overall driveability. I have both Performance tunes and Tow Specific Tunes. The biggest difference between the 2 being transmission performance.

I've done an extensive amount of towing with the stock tune and while it's been enjoyable and sufficient. The improvement in drive-ability using the Livernois Tow Tunes has been amazing. The transmission performs far better especially on grades and makes for an overall far more enjoyable tow.

I use their 91 octane performance tune for daily driving and see better MPG with the tune than I do on the stock Ford tune. And again the drive-ability has been far improved. The other modification I made was to go with a low temp thermostat from Livernois (which they adjust the ECM for as well with your tunes)

I can't recommend Livernois enough if you own a Ford vehicle, their support has been fantastic and once you purchase a tuner, you get lifetime tunes and support with it. If you add to or modify your truck you just reach out to them let them know what you've done and they adjust your tune for you.

[danrclem]

Teamfour wrote:

FeatherFam wrote:
What does it cost to "custom" tune?

My 6.2 tune was about $500. That included three tunes and the SCT tuner needed to install it. The SCT will do much more than just install the tune.

5 Star Tuning

I have a 6.2 and am pretty much satisfied with it except for the fuel mileage which I knew going in that it wouldn't be good. I'm not saying that tuning can't improve performance for actual driving and towing but will the tuning improve the mileage?