5 Star 87 economy tune worse than stock?

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allinon72

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Loaded a 5 Star 87 economy tune after running their 93 performance tune for the last several months. I did this right before a 1k mike trip to Florida and I barely got 15mpgs. I got 16.5 last summer completely stock tune. What am I missing here? Tire pressures are 45psi and stock otherwise besides Corsa exhaust. Did the engine been more time to adapt? That’s the only thing I can think of.
 

B E N

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Could have been speed (68 vs 75 equates to more than 1mpg on these), fuel quality, driving habits, tire pressure, additional weight, choice of route, number of stops, amount of traffic, air filter condition, wheel bearings, brakes. Its tough to compare when your talking about a year passing between.

My 5 star tunes were not good, I think others have had problems with them as well. I went to a different tuning solution and picked up MPG.
 

weimer

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Could have been speed (68 vs 75 equates to more than 1mpg on these), fuel quality, driving habits, tire pressure, additional weight, choice of route, number of stops, amount of traffic, air filter condition, wheel bearings, brakes. Its tough to compare when your talking about a year passing between.

My 5 star tunes were not good, I think others have had problems with them as well. I went to a different tuning solution and picked up MPG.

What tuner are you using?
 

Buzzard2

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My Truck came with a 5 star tune but no tuner and the cats were turned off and would not pass smog. Called 5 star and to say they were less the interested in helping out is an understatement. I will go out of my way to bad mouth them whenever I can. Got it flashed back to stock and added a JDM tune and been very happy with product and service.
 

Landon T

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JDM +1. Had 5 star before I added the blower, talked to 5star when I added it and they didn't help me. JDM was nothing but professional and Im super happy with the driveability.
 

bruiser

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i kinda regret get the 5 star tune, after installing the tune my 3rd-4th gear shift was so rough, it would lock the seat belt they did send a new tune but it wasnt much better
 

bruiser

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I'm using HP tuners, it's pro/DIY software. JDM seems to have a good reputation for the gen 1.

havent heard of many running the HP tuner, how is it? is there a plug and play option like the SCT or is it all custom mapping?
 

B E N

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It's all custom, and it's not particularly user friendly as you have to understand what to change to get a certain result. Most of the ford parameters are written in engineering lingo rather than english. You need to have a very good understanding of what the engine sensors do, how they relate to eachother, how EFI works, and a mastery of the combustion cycle. If you don't have the basics it will be tough but you would certainly learn a lot about modern engine management.

It allows you to tweak and change a multitude of things and that is a double edged sword, because until you really learn it there is a lot of stuff to mess with and it can be tough to get the results you want. Once you get it dialed in you have a vehicle that drives better than stock in every environment, gets better mileage and makes more power. For me it's fun to tweak and tune on things, especially if i don't feel like getting dirty. There was also an economical side to it, paying for tunes for every vehicle was getting old - now I can write my own for mine or my friends and play with them until the end of time at the one time cost of tuning credits.

The ability to datalog a vehicle makes diagnosis a snap. I can tell exactly what is wrong with an engine or trans in just a few minutes of driving it around without even popping the hood. Even stuff that is intermittent is reasonably easy to find.

There is no plug and play, you can grab tunes from the repository that other people have written and adapt their info, and it may work great, or it may not. You need to be able to filter through and understand what is going on well enough to make sure whatever you adopt from another tune is safe for your configuration. It is well supported, the 6.2l uses the same ECM family as the mustangs so there is plenty of people working with it.

Summary: It is hardcore gearhead stuff, and easy to get frustrated with... you have to commit to it. But it is an awesome tool once mastered.
 
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bruiser

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It's all custom, and it's not particularly user friendly as you have to understand what to change to get a certain result. Most of the ford parameters are written in engineering lingo rather than english. You need to have a very good understanding of what the engine sensors do, how they relate to eachother, how EFI works, and a mastery of the combustion cycle. If you don't have the basics it will be tough but you would certainly learn a lot about modern engine management.

It allows you to tweak and change a multitude of things and that is a double edged sword, because until you really learn it there is a lot of stuff to mess with and it can be tough to get the results you want. Once you get it dialed in you have a vehicle that drives better than stock in every environment, gets better mileage and makes more power. For me it's fun to tweak and tune on things, especially if i don't feel like getting dirty. There was also an economical side to it, paying for tunes for every vehicle was getting old - now I can write my own for mine or my friends and play with them until the end of time at the one time cost of tuning credits.

The ability to datalog a vehicle makes diagnosis a snap. I can tell exactly what is wrong with an engine or trans in just a few minutes of driving it around without even popping the hood. Even stuff that is intermittent is reasonably easy to find.

There is no plug and play, you can grab tunes from the repository that other people have written and adapt their info, and it may work great, or it may not. You need to be able to filter through and understand what is going on well enough to make sure whatever you adopt from another tune is safe for your configuration. It is well supported, the 6.2l uses the same ECM family as the mustangs so there is plenty of people working with it.

Summary: It is hardcore gearhead stuff, and easy to get frustrated with... you have to commit to it. But it is an awesome tool once mastered.


Gotcha, doesn't seem like the fit for me. i think my next step is taking it to get tuned instead of these email tunes. i don't have the patience to tune it myself, i've tweaked tunes on bikes but something about doing it on my truck that i need to drive more often than once a month =makes me uneasy lol
 
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