Does SCT tuners really work?
10-30-2011, 09:03 PM
#5
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 627
In a word: Occasionally.
It's been pretty well decided that dealers now have the capability to determine if an aftermarket tune has been installed even if you take it back to the stock tune, so if you are exceptionally concerned about warranty-voiding, I would perhaps not do this mod.
As for "Occasionally", the tunes will absolutely work, and the vast majority of tune vendors (American Muscle/Bama, Livernois, Jon Lund, etc. etc.) provide excellent tunes that really wake the car up and have been proven to be 99% reliable. I would shy away from SCT's canned tunes. They've been known to make engines go kaboom in the past. I don't know so much about the present, but the vendors' tunes are so much better than the SCT canned tunes I wouldn't use them just for that reason.
The problem is, the tuner itself (the physical device) is a festering pile of crap. It's just as likely to render your car temporarily unusable as it is to load tunes. I say temporarily, but it's out of commission until you contact SCT support and have them fix it. I'd just as soon set it on fire if it hadn't cost me $300. Until they fix their constant firmware issues (god help you if you try to update the firmware and the software on your computer bricks the tuner itself!), I'd be leery of them.
It's been pretty well decided that dealers now have the capability to determine if an aftermarket tune has been installed even if you take it back to the stock tune, so if you are exceptionally concerned about warranty-voiding, I would perhaps not do this mod.
As for "Occasionally", the tunes will absolutely work, and the vast majority of tune vendors (American Muscle/Bama, Livernois, Jon Lund, etc. etc.) provide excellent tunes that really wake the car up and have been proven to be 99% reliable. I would shy away from SCT's canned tunes. They've been known to make engines go kaboom in the past. I don't know so much about the present, but the vendors' tunes are so much better than the SCT canned tunes I wouldn't use them just for that reason.
The problem is, the tuner itself (the physical device) is a festering pile of crap. It's just as likely to render your car temporarily unusable as it is to load tunes. I say temporarily, but it's out of commission until you contact SCT support and have them fix it. I'd just as soon set it on fire if it hadn't cost me $300. Until they fix their constant firmware issues (god help you if you try to update the firmware and the software on your computer bricks the tuner itself!), I'd be leery of them.
10-30-2011, 09:13 PM
#6
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 243
Got mine through American Muscle/Bama and they most certainly make a very noticeable difference. An absolute necessity if you're going to be modding often or anything drastic. I've had to update the firmware a few times, and have been through probably 20 or a few more tunes with it, never had so much as a slight problem. Handy for more than just the tunes, too. Can check/clear codes, for one thing. Data logging, another. Very handy little thing, easily the best money I invested out of all of my modifcations.
But as already stated, even if you put the stock tune back prior to going in, the dealer WILL know you had a tune on it. If you're concerned at all about warranty, definitely wait until your warranty expires before you get one.
But as already stated, even if you put the stock tune back prior to going in, the dealer WILL know you had a tune on it. If you're concerned at all about warranty, definitely wait until your warranty expires before you get one.
10-31-2011, 01:39 AM
#9
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 2,073
I talked in depth with a Ford tech today and the current gen PCMs (for sure the 5.0's and 3.7's, definitely not on the 05-09's) do record when a tune has been loaded and they cannot be wiped by unplugging the battery.
He suggested that if you were to get a second PCM from a junkyard and pull your original PCM and put it on a shelf just in case you have issues and need to take it to the dealer, and you swapped in your original PCM and they would not be able to tell you had a tune loaded, it would only have the record of a battery disconnect..
He suggested that if you were to get a second PCM from a junkyard and pull your original PCM and put it on a shelf just in case you have issues and need to take it to the dealer, and you swapped in your original PCM and they would not be able to tell you had a tune loaded, it would only have the record of a battery disconnect..
Last edited by danzcool; 10-31-2011 at 04:04 AM.
