Need a quick schooling on engine tunes

[white trash wagon]

Did a major servicing on my 160K mile 2001 Ranger- plugs, wires, removed the upper plenum & cleaned, cleaned the TB, cleaned the IAC, then flushed the injectors using a pressure can setup. Truck runs nice.

It's got a Dynomax Catback,and a gutted factory airbox with an under the bumper ram air setup.

Do I have to own an SCT or other tuner to put a tune on it? Can one be borrowed? Do you have to have a vehicle specific tuner? Or can I just have a local speed shop put a tune on it?

[white trash wagon]

Wow - no one on here has an answer?

[Chili]

Every handheld tuner I have seen is married to the vehicle once the tune is installed. Typically the stock tune is backed up on the device. You can use a handheld to install a custom tune as well, but a tuner would have to provide you with the appropriate file to sideload onto the device.

A cheaper option, if you don't plan on making a bunch of future changes, would be a chip. Tune cost would be roughly the same but instead of $400 for the handheld tuner, the chip will have a much cheaper cost.

All that said, not sure either would be worth the money on a Ranger.

Next time, instead of waiting on an answer for 3 days, why not get to googling?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ford+ranger+tuner

[white trash wagon]

Every handheld tuner I have seen is married to the vehicle once the tune is installed. Typically the stock tune is backed up on the device. You can use a handheld to install a custom tune as well, but a tuner would have to provide you with the appropriate file to sideload onto the device.

A cheaper option, if you don't plan on making a bunch of future changes, would be a chip. Tune cost would be roughly the same but instead of $400 for the handheld tuner, the chip will have a much cheaper cost.

All that said, not sure either would be worth the money on a Ranger.

Next time, instead of waiting on an answer for 3 days, why not get to googling?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ford+ranger+tuner

Thanks ! I had searched it, and it pulled up what your link did, countless links to websites wanting to sell me a tuner. None of those will give you an honest answer about if you can utilize a pre-owned tuner, or if a tune shop can do something.

[blownaltered]

The tuners are married to the vehicle they were used on. You would have to call the manufacturer to see if the will unlock it for you.

[Chili]

Thanks ! I had searched it, and it pulled up what your link did, countless links to websites wanting to sell me a tuner. None of those will give you an honest answer about if you can utilize a pre-owned tuner, or if a tune shop can do something.

Haha, gotcha.. Too much info is sometimes as bad as not enough info.

Generally with the handhelds, they will come with a preloaded "performance" tune, and then give you some additional options to teak some of the variables on top of the tune. The types of things they will usually let you modify on top of their canned tune is shift point and shift pressures for auto trans cars, adjusting speedo calibration for varying rear end gear ratios or non-stock tire sizes. Most will also allow you to make changes, by a percentage, to fuel and timing at WOT. Most will also allow you to datalog. The benefit of that is if you are using a custom tune from someone remotely (as opposed to a dyno tune). So you can install their first shot at a tune, then if you datalog passes, or even dyno pulls, and send that file to them, they can further refine your tune without needing the vehicle in house. Lastly, with most handheld devices you can read and clear engine codes, and turn off rear 02 sensors, saving you the cash for MIL eliminators when running "offroad" exhaust.

Custom tuners setting you up with a dyno-tune are still going to need some way of installing a tune they write. That can be via a handheld tuner you bought and provided them, or a chip. The chip is way cheaper, but you don't have the ability to use any of the other features I mentioned above. If you think you will want to get a dyno tune, you will want to check with the shop first, to confirm what software they use. For example, if your custom tuner writes his tunes with SCT software, you are going to need an SCT tuner. Diablosport is the same situation.

The tuners are married to the vehicle they were used on. You would have to call the manufacturer to see if the will unlock it for you.

Very true assuming you buy a used tuner that was never "unmarried" to a vehicle, though I don't think that is the issue here. The question as I read it was if he needed to buy a tuner for his vehicle specifically, or if he could borrow one to install the tune, then give it back.

Back to the OP - To be clear, what I am saying does not mean that you cannot buy a "used" tuner. You just have to make sure that the previous owner "unmarried" it (reloaded their stock tune) prior to buying it. I have sold 2 different ones that I had used. Usually the sale was conditioned on the buyer plugging it in and uploading the unit's "performance" tune. It only takes a couple of minutes and will only work if the tuner isn't already married to something else.

I know that in the past, when I had a Predator tuner, if you had a married tuner that you wanted to use on a different car you would have to send it in to Diablosport and pay them like $150 to reset it. The only time you should really have to do that is if you had a tuner / tune installed and totaled your car, or the car was stolen, preventing you from "un-marrying" it.

I had a Predator for my Mustang, and I used a "mail order" tune written by a guy in Florida or something. I told him my mods and he put together a relatively conservative tune that he emailed me. I downloaded it to the handheld, and took it to the dyno just to get a couple of passes with the wideband AF. I then sent that to my custom tuner and he made the teaks necessary to get that extra little bit out of it. The nice thing about having the handheld is that if he was a little too aggressive with the timing on a 93 octane tune, or I would be travelling to a state that capped out at 91 octane, I could simply pull some of the timing from the WOT tune to avoid detonation issues.

[Chili]

If you are serious about wanting to get a tune, first decide if you think you will want / need a custom tune. For the mods you mention, a dyno tune will probably not be worth the money. you can get a mail order tune for a fraction of the price. Just make sure the tuner will include a couple of adjustments to it, after the initial, included in the price. The chances of him nailing it 100% on the first try are slim to none.

Dyno tuners shouldn't have that issue as the make adjustments to the tune as they are running it.

The other thing I will add is that if you have a standard transmission, don't intend to change rear end gear or tire size, and don't foresee multiple tune changes, you will probably be better off with a chip. As far as out of pocket expense. Once my tune was dialed in, the handheld sat in a box for several years.

I think I paid $250 for my Diablosport Predator back in the day, for my 2004 Mustang. Retail was consistently $400 but I found a guy on ebay selling them NEB for less. It was a bit of a risk on my part, but I was lucky and it was flawless.

I paid about $75 for a mail order custom tune from a dude in FL. Told him my mods, and he gave me an initial swing at it. I took it to a dyno day a couple weeks later and found that the tune was running a bit rich. I let him know, and sent him the dyno file, and he worked out the issues.

If I had made additional mods to my car, necessitating an update to the tune, the guy would do it, but he charged a nominal service charge in those cases. Seems like $25 or so.

The the tuner went back into it's box and sat there for 3 years or so. When I sold the car I first unmarried the tuner. Then, after th car was gone, I listed and sold the tuner separately. I think I got around $200 for it used.

After all of that, peak power and torque were not all that much higher, but the overall curve was much improved. So while I may have only picked up 12 rwp at peak, at lower RPMs I may have picked up an additional 30-50 rwhp.

The biggest improvement for me was that on part throttle driving (normal non-WOT cruising). In that regard the tune made it feel like a completely different car.

Now that was a shit-ton of info, so hopefully it helps.

[white trash wagon]

Thanks Chili ! You've been MOST helpful. The truck is a manual & will stay as-is, with factory 3.73 gears. I'm looking for a chip - I basically just want more ignition advance & a little more fuel.

Middle school - it's March kit I adapted to fit my truck - since the tube coming off the bumper scoop goes straight up, and I do have an air filter - I've had zero problems.