Keep tuner or no? Opinions please

[sarmikgar]

I have had nothing but bad luck with my sf3 tuner since I got it a couple months back. None of the sct tunes ran right, and after getting three tunes from AM things arent getting any better. My wife is mad(her car, she drives it daily) because she wanted exhaust and views the tuner as a waste of money, which I know its not.. but I cant really use any of the 6 tunes on it either. Long story short the car will ping during low rpm high load situations and has a big flat spot visable on the tach ~4k.

I mainly got the tuner because I wanted gears next and figured the tuner would make adjusting the axle ratio easy along with the benefits I would see directly from the tuner. I am at the point now that I am ready to get gears very soon but still dont have a good tune to work with.

I am sure AM would continue to write tunes for me but at this point it almost seems like a waste of time for both parties to continue trying out email tunes.. the ones I have recieved have not fixed the problems I have had and I think are dialing out power and response with each tune, along with a huge decrease in mileage(I gave very detailed info on what the car was doing wrong with each tune). I am torn between selling the tuner and getting a couple bolt ons, just holding onto it for a dyno tune or giving AM more shots at it. I hate to get rid of the tuner since it means no gears or dyno tune in my future essentially.

I want to add that AM has been very helpful and has quickly replied to all my emails. I understand it is not AM's fault, nor the guy trying to write the tunes but when you spend $380 and dont get to use the product you bought it kinda makes you ask why you spent the cash, ya know?

What do you guys think?

 

[40oz]

well, I'd think your best bet is to get a tune from a shop near you rather than keep going back to AM. You got the tuner knowing it could do far more for you than adjust for gears, so for now why not go with a stock tune and just adjust for the gearing, and get a tune locally on it when time and money permits.

It seems to me it's not a waste of money unless you dump it for a loss. You just bought it before you needed it, IMHO.

 

[ErikTheBeast]

Prob a dumb question of me to ask but are you using the right octane fuel for the tunes you've gotten ?

 

[twogts4us]

This is a similar situation for me, my Mach, and my Diablo Predator tuner. Cannot get the canned tune (with or without upgrades, version updates, etc) to run right. I finally gave up and use this $300 electronic box to turn off the traction control. Am I frustrated? Yes.
But as 40oz points out the option is to get a dyno tune to get it dialed in. Until then, it's an expensive traction control disabler.
Have you tried SCT's website / forum(s)? While they ultimately didn't get me where I wanted to be (I ultimately gave up on it), but if I wanted to continue to work on it, they were willing to continue to try to help me. The Diablo folks and the customers over there are a great source of assistance. I'd try SCT's website/forums.

 

[sarmikgar]

well, I'd think your best bet is to get a tune from a shop near you rather than keep going back to AM. You got the tuner knowing it could do far more for you than adjust for gears, so for now why not go with a stock tune and just adjust for the gearing, and get a tune locally on it when time and money permits.

It seems to me it's not a waste of money unless you dump it for a loss. You just bought it before you needed it, IMHO.

I wish I could adjust on the stock tune, but the SF3 doesnt allow that, can only modify the canned and custom tunes for things like gears, shift points etc. There is a dyno shop in town that is listed as a SCT dealer, I just dont want to bring the car in there yet since its basically stock still. I think you are right about buying it before I really needed it, I was just hoping for gains out of a tune rather than more mods and a dyno tune since it is advertised to work that way.

Prob a dumb question of me to ask but are you using the right octane fuel for the tunes you've gotten ?

Yes, Ive pretty much always ran 87 in the car so Ive only tried the 87 oct tunes, I even tried the 87 economy tune and still had the pinging under high load low rpm situations, and all the tunes from AM have been for 87 oct. The ping doesnt exsist through the whole rpm range, its more of a "crunch" right when you mash the pedal then goes away as the rpms climb.

This is a similar situation for me, my Mach, and my Diablo Predator tuner. Cannot get the canned tune (with or without upgrades, version updates, etc) to run right. I finally gave up and use this $300 electronic box to turn off the traction control. Am I frustrated? Yes.
But as 40oz points out the option is to get a dyno tune to get it dialed in. Until then, it's an expensive traction control disabler.
Have you tried SCT's website / forum(s)? While they ultimately didn't get me where I wanted to be (I ultimately gave up on it), but if I wanted to continue to work on it, they were willing to continue to try to help me. The Diablo folks and the customers over there are a great source of assistance. I'd try SCT's website/forums.

SCT was the first place I went for help, they told me that it was my car and that I possibly had a fuel system problem. While I wont rule this out completely the car runs perfect on the stock tune, doesnt ping and doesnt throw any codes on any tune. AM told me on the phone once that some cars ping, sounded like they dont know why(or he didnt explain it anyway).

I have a big windfall coming up probably in December if not sooner and I think I will go with catted X, t/b and plenum and gears, then take it to the dyno. Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[streethorse]

Get rid of it and go back to stock, you want to keep running regular gas
and dont race, right? Otherwise you would need to drop some more cash in to it to do it right.

 

[sarmikgar]

Get rid of it and go back to stock, you want to keep running regular gas
and dont race right. Otherwise you would need to drop some more cash in to it to do it right.

Not sure exactly what you mean by "dont race right".. my goal was to get a few mods on the car and start going to friday night "test and tune" at my local track for fun. If AM could get the 87 oct tune right I would ask for a 91 oct tune, but I figure one thing at a time

I have put the stock tune back in right after testing each canned/custom tune for pinging.

 

[streethorse]

I was thinking that if you were going to thhe track you would want a 91
octane tune.

 

[sarmikgar]

I was thinking that if you were going to thhe track you would want a 91
octane tune.

Ah, I gotcha now.. Yes I would for sure.

The plan I have in mind for the car was basically going to be like this:

Get tuner, and use the canned or email tunes for a little gain and trans adjustability(on email 87 oct tune), then gears and use tuner to adjust for axle ratio change(on same email 87 oct tune), get a few bolt ons(catted x, udp, t/b, plenum, maybe some shorties) and get a new email tune for that setup, then welded sfc's, then 75 or 100 shot with dyno tune for 91 oct. My hope was that I could have a DD on an email 87 octane tune with a few mods, then hit the track with the nitrous and a dyno 91 octane tune.

Looking now like a dyno tune will be needed after gears to get things running right with new axle ratio, and again after the bolt ons instead of sticking to email tunes..

edit:
I am somewhat new to Mustangs, V8's, and RWD, so my plan for my car may sound odd, or may not even be feasible as far as the tunes go, I think it would be a decent setup for a DD with a little added fun factor.. I have been modding and racing GM 4 cyl FWD cars for about 13 years prior to owning the Mustang, so its not completely foriegn to me, but obviously I have nowhere near the knowledge that some people on these boards have about these cars and the mods for them. My love for speed was pretty much born in the back seat of a lightly modded 85 GT while growing up though

 

[Mr. Rustypwnz]

you guys know you can modify the tune right? there isn't a email tune that works right. you have to play with it. and run 93. sct tunes are very aggressive run the 87 tune with 93 and the 93 tune with 10percent more fuel and it should be good.. if not take out timing

 

[twogts4us]

My love for speed was pretty much born in the back seat of a lightly modded 85 GT while growing up though

Ahh yes, been there, done that! Seems there are alot of people who caught the bug when the 'new' GTs hit the market in the 80's. Compared to my mostly stock 1973 Mach 1, my first car, these new GTs were very fast; sideways in second was easy! A friend of mine bought a new one in 86 I believe...I was addicted at that point.

 

[sarmikgar]

you guys know you can modify the tune right? there isn't a email tune that works right. you have to play with it. and run 93. sct tunes are very aggressive run the 87 tune with 93 and the 93 tune with 10percent more fuel and it should be good.. if not take out timing

Yes, I knew that.. I tried taking 4* timing out under 2k and saw no change in the pinging. After that I was trying out email tunes and they said to just run it as is and report back if the pinging still exsisted or not.

Its kinda stupid because the range it pings in is a spot where you would probably never find yourself with a 5/6 speed car. Because its an auto if your in D(or 2) and going 20 mph and floor it the pinging happens before the downshift, will do the same at 65 mph(in D) on the freeway if cruising and then you floor it. Ive never heard any pinging once above 2k or while just cruising around, only when jumping on it real hard at a very low rpm, and again its more of a "crunch" as far as the duration of the pinging, almost like your smashing something under the gas pedal when its mashed down.

The SCT canned tunes did seem very aggressive, especially above 4k the car felt alot stronger there. When I first put the canned tune in I could tell right away just reving the engine in the garage, it reved up much quicker and "free'er".

We only have 87/89/91 here, but I have not tried 91 with an 87 oct tune, nor have I tried any of the 91 oct tunes, car had 87 in it when I got the tuner so I just started there.

Why dont they ask for a datalog to be done to help figure it out?

 

[ninjastang125]

Yes datalogging will help them out with what they need to adjust. Have you sent them your datalogged info?

 

[Mr. Rustypwnz]

if its more of a hard knock like you say, its lean very lean, I definitely get some 91 oct and richen it up 4 or 5 percent and go from there, knocking will murder a 4.6 because the whole engine is cast!! where are you located im sure someone would come and help ya out..

 

[sarmikgar]

Yes datalogging will help them out with what they need to adjust. Have you sent them your datalogged info?

I have not, I figured if they needed it they would ask. If I try another email tune I will ask them if they want datalog info.. Id be glad to log it.. they just havent asked and I wasnt sure they needed/wanted it.

if its more of a hard knock like you say, its lean very lean, I definitely get some 91 oct and richen it up 4 or 5 percent and go from there, knocking will murder a 4.6 because the whole engine is cast!! where are you located im sure someone would come and help ya out..

It makes sense that it is real lean, or way too much timing.. after the drives testing the tunes and running the car hard I would cruise a bit to cool things off before going back home, once I was home and popped the hood I could feel alot more heat coming off the engine then I ever felt before and the fan would be running when I pulled in the garage(not even in 100*+ weather did it do that, but that could be the fan setting on the tune I guess).. I figured it was running hot due to the timing advance which also explained the knock/ping.. being real lean of course could cause that as well.

If I put the car in 2 and go about 20 mph I am at about 1500rpm, at that point if I gun it hard or floor it the car will ping/knock then go thru the rpms with no audible noise that I can hear. I can mash the pedal over and over and reproduce the ping each time as long as the rpms are low enough. After hearing the ping/knock I went back to the stock tune everytime. I may try playing with fuel settings this weekend.

I am in Las Vegas, NV.. I live on the edge of town and have lotsa dead roads around me I can test run on. If anyone lives here and has the time and knowledge to help that would be great.

The only things I can think of doing on my end is checking/changing spark plugs and putting in a new fuel filter.. I dont know how long either of those parts have been on the car, Ive owned it almost 2 yrs and it just hit 70k yesterday.. who knows they could even be the original parts! Part of my plan was to change those out and try the canned and email tunes again someday.. just havent had the time lately and am unsure about changing plugs myself.

 

[ninjastang125]

I dont know of the ability of the AM tuner but i know the guy John Lund can email you a canned tune and he is pretty good and on the mark with his tunes but I dont know what he charges. You can go to Lundracing.com and email him.