My dad has a 2005 F250 Super Duty with a 5.4L. He wants to know about programmers that will help with mpg, performance, and so on. Looking for any advice on what brands and what works and what doesn't. Any help will be appreciated.

 

I bought a Livewire TS for my 2005 F250 with tunes from Vivian @ QuickTricks.

Honestly the fuel mileage didn't go up a lot (~1mpg) but when I put my foot down on the pedal the truck is a whole different monster.

I can't testify to how much of a difference it makes on gas engines, but on my diesel it made a world of difference.

 

You are going to need to pick what you want out of that list. MPG gains and performance (if performance is judged by HP/TQ gains) are mutually exclusive.

Plus, longevity is affected by adding in devices such as these. Unfortunately, longevity typically isn't affected in the near term, but long term and that's when people don't make the correct connections with what they've done and what's going on with their truck. Happened a lot with the 6.0 crowd.

Although, I must say, MPG gains are typically a pipe dream as long as your pumping in the HP/TQ gains to it. On my 6.0, I never saw any MPG gains, but I got it for the performance aspect and enjoyed every minute of it. Given that performance gains for a gasser aren't like what they are for a diesel, to me the benefit isn't there. I never modded my 5.4 150 and it was just fine. I modded out the ying yang on the 6.0, no real plans for the 6.7.

 

I just picked up an '06 F250 with the 6.0 in it and I know that some work was done on it tuning wise but not sure what all was done (picked up from a parts place that did not know the original owner) and was wondering how to find out what was done on the engine, would a reader or scan gauge be able to do that?

 

No. Best thing to do is take it to ford and have it flashed. Then that way you can put your own tunes on it and know what's on there.

 

That's not necessarily true. Some tuners can leave a communication bus error (typically a U code) that code readers can pick up on. Not all throw that code, so it could still have a tune on there and you wouldn't know, but it is possible that you could get a code that would show that it has tunes on it.

Now, if you want to start with a clean slate and have nothing to worry about, then you would need to get it flashed from Ford. You would be getting the last program though, not all were good, so bare that in mind, but at least you would have the peace of mind of knowing what's on your truck.

 

That's true but you could never return to stock and if you had problems with the tune you are screwed. Best bet is to take it to ford and get it flashed. Heck if you were around here I would do it for free.

 

Absolutely true. Couldn't agree more, but I was just trying to point out that it is indeed possible to pick up if there is tuning done through the codes.

Typically this is going to be the case with your off the shelf tuners (or modules) that will have this show up (Bully Dog, Edge, Banks etc), but it can happen with custom tunes as well. Just depends on the tune writer.

 

I am kinda of tired.lol. Might of misunderstood I thought he already knew it was tuned, just didn't know what type of tune. We are on the same page brother.