How safe are tunes?

I ve never tuned a car before but am considering it now. Is the tune doing any damage to other parts of the car very likely? I don't imagine it would be but would like to here from someone more experienced in this area.

From a reputable tuner, no there is not much danger. Its just a way of optimizing the way the car runs. Lots of times it fixes nuances from factory that we wish would be different. Do your research with this car in particular since it is a new platform, look at the guys tuning 2011-2014 cars to get an idea of who the reputable tuners are and who the fly by nighters are. I can't empahsize the "do your research" portion enough. Ill leave it at that.

I've owned several Livernois tuned cars. 1 EcoBoost.. A SHO that as tuned when new and raced weekly for 60,000 miles with no issues. Several of my friends also have Livernois tuned EcoBoost vehicles and none have had a single issue. I highly recommend them.

Had a tune in my car for the last five years and no problems. Really brought my car to life. I got three tunes at the time 87/89 octane tune, 93 street race tune, and an emissions tune. I love running the 93 tune. The car is a monster. When I needed to pass emissions I put the emissions tune back in and all was passed.

For the record Chris Rose did my tunes when he was with Tillman. He now works for American Muscle/Bama.

A calibration poses no addition threat or worry to an engine system. Infact, in some situations a factory calibration can be more detrimental!

anthony@fftec said:

A calibration poses no addition threat or worry to an engine system. Infact, in some situations a factory calibration can be more detrimental!

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How is that?

Today, running on the dyno with a stock EB calibration on the ECU, we noticed fueling goes pig rich. This can cause spark plug fouling, or misfires, which can be detrimental to the health of the engine (fouled spark plugs, or worse) and performance.

Im coming from a custom-tuned V6 Genesis coupe that, with the tune and a few mods, was putting out a little over 300 hp to the wheels. I drove with that tune for 50k miles with zero issues, and I ran my car HARD. There was rarely a day that passed that I didnt hit 7200 rpm. And even with me running it hard, I never had any mechanical problems, and I got better mileage than this Ecoboost thing.

I wouldnt worry too much. These guys seem to know their stuff.

I think the biggest thing to know is that quality of your tune. A tune can mean the long life, or quick death of your engine, especially with a complicated engine and computer like used on the EcoBoost engine. On conventional engines, there are far fewer things to worry about when doing a tune, but on a direct injected turbocharged engine, there is a great deal that is dependant on a complete understanding of the computer, and engine operation. This is why we've been perfecting calibrations on various EcoBoost engines since 2009, we knew that the EcoBoost engine family would only continue to be more and more mainstream in Ford's lineup.

215,000 original miles on my 2005 Ford Focus, it has been tuned for 87, 89, 91 and E85 since the very first week. 37mpg and NO mechanical issues other than an alternator.
You decide...

Zoink said:

Im coming from a custom-tuned V6 Genesis coupe that, with the tune and a few mods, was putting out a little over 300 hp to the wheels. I drove with that tune for 50k miles with zero issues, and I ran my car HARD. There was rarely a day that passed that I didnt hit 7200 rpm. And even with me running it hard, I never had any mechanical problems, and I got better mileage than this Ecoboost thing.

I wouldnt worry too much. These guys seem to know their stuff.

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Did you go with the BTR tune? Because they are amazing

I've seen plenty of GC's burn to the ground with competitor's tunes

There's going to be plenty of support and R&D for the EcoBoost's tunes. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out with the EB

Nick C.

It's really unlikely anything will be damaged if you go with a reputable tuner. There's been loads of Research and Development that has gone into the COBB Stage 1 tune. We've already put over 4000 tuned miles on one of our EcoBoost Mustangs. These miles are made up of a lot of harsh, stress testing conditions, commuting in traffic, and plenty of "spirited" driving sessions. During all of this, tons of data was gathered and used to provide us with the information needed to create the highest quality calibrations. Our Stage 1 tune offers a nice increase in power while maintaining all of the factory reliability. Whether you live in extreme cold, heat, anywhere in between, at any elevation, on any fuel quality, you can rely on the COBB Off The Shelf maps. You also have the added benefit with the Accessport to monitor gauges in real time and take datalogs. This is the only way to be 100% sure the car is doing exactly what it should be!

Kyle@COBB

anthony@fftec said:

Today, running on the dyno with a stock EB calibration on the ECU, we noticed fueling goes pig rich. This can cause spark plug fouling, or misfires, which can be detrimental to the health of the engine (fouled spark plugs, or worse) and performance.

Click to expand...

And is generally done to save the cat converters....I cant see Ford's tuning causing misfires in the field, resulting in warranty visits....

kws6000 said:

And is generally done to save the cat converters....I cant see Ford's tuning causing misfires in the field, resulting in warranty visits....

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Don't underestimate factory tunes ability to be a piece of crap. The original tune on the BRZ was a big ole nasty that would blow through the DI seals and cause cam sprocket failure. So, yes, factory tunes can in fact cause warranty issues. The reason why the warranty exist is predominantly insurance telling the customer, "If we mess up, you get it fixed for free".