SCT Live Wire program

[Greg In Austin]

Joey,

You have about 4 months with the Live Wire installed..... how many miles have put on with it?

In checking the SCT website, I cannot find a product for a Ford E-series.
What product/model did you use?

Our PSD SMB is on order, and we are ready for a rather large decrease in fuel economy when it joins the family; our daily driver vehicles are a 2006 Prius (52+mpg) and a 2001 Insight (50+mpg) so we are sensitive to fuel economy. I don't see us being in a hurry in the SMB, and we are not worried about being a slow-poke on the highway, but anything we can do to improve the fuel economy would be great.

Thanks,

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by gregmckay

Joey,

You have about 4 months with the Live Wire installed..... how many miles have put on with it?

In checking the SCT website, I cannot find a product for a Ford E-series.
What product/model did you use?

Our PSD SMB is on order, and we are ready for a rather large decrease in fuel economy when it joins the family; our daily driver vehicles are a 2006 Prius (52+mpg) and a 2001 Insight (50+mpg) so we are sensitive to fuel economy. I don't see us being in a hurry in the SMB, and we are not worried about being a slow-poke on the highway, but anything we can do to improve the fuel economy would be great.

Thanks,

Greg if you go with a tuner or chip, go in with eyes open. There have been (according to postings on TheDieselStop) of a number of engine/transmission warrantees being cancelled by Ford due to power enhancements. Seems to be dealer dependent, but with all the engine problems Ford has had with the 6.0L, they're a bit on the cautious side.


Herb

[Greg In Austin]

Herb,

Understood.

We have researched the voiding of warranty and extended warranty. The bottom line is that Ford would have to show that the failure that we would want covered by warantee was CAUSED by the aftermarket piece. The reason we researched this was because we have added mods to our Prius to autolock the doors and to allow for an EV mode.

There is always a possibility that this type mod could actually cause some problems. ...but from what I understand, this product can also be removed... if you needed to of course.

At this point we are just looking for possibilities of increasing the fuel economy. We have learned how to drive a little more conservatively and even at 55mph on the hiway in order to get better fuel numbers.... but if there is a technical way to help also... we want to look at it.

Thanks,

[BroncoHauler]

Yeah there's the Magnusson-Moss (?) law, but I know Ford has better legal representation (deeper pockets) than I do.

Yeah, the tuners are easy to remove, but at least with 6.0, Ford designed in non-clearable memory that the dealer can look at to see if a tuner has been installed.

As long as you go in with your eyes open. If I didn't have to worry about a warranty, I would go with an SCT tuner, with a custom program from Innovative Diesel. They have an outstanding rep on TheDieselStop.com.


Herb

[JoeyNick]

Originally Posted by gregmckay

You have about 4 months with the Live Wire installed..... how many miles have put on with it?

I'd have to double check but about 4,000.

Originally Posted by gregmckay

In checking the SCT website, I cannot find a product for a Ford E-series.
What product/model did you use?

Livewire. I believe there's only 1 kind.

Originally Posted by gregmckay

Our PSD SMB is on order, and we are ready for a rather large decrease in fuel economy when it joins the family; our daily driver vehicles are a 2006 Prius (52+mpg) and a 2001 Insight (50+mpg) so we are sensitive to fuel economy. I don't see us being in a hurry in the SMB, and we are not worried about being a slow-poke on the highway, but anything we can do to improve the fuel economy would be great.

Yeah, you're in for quite a drop compared to the Prius and Insight!

I'm thrilled with 20MPG in the Tow setting. I'm into my second tank on the Street tune but this one had been almost exclusively local driving (the other car is in the shop.) The first tank came out to 16.71 MPG with the fill up. Granted, it was only one tank (so far) but it gives you (and me) an idea of what can be expected. I was doing a little better than this with the stock tune.

SCT is supposed to have an extreme economy tune that I'd like to try. I'll bet it will make the van feel like a dog, though.

Originally Posted by Bronco_hauler

There have been (according to postings on TheDieselStop) of a number of engine/transmission warrantees being cancelled by Ford due to power enhancements. Seems to be dealer dependent, but with all the engine problems Ford has had with the 6.0L, they're a bit on the cautious side.

A lot of the people complaining on the Diesel Stop added the tuners and are hammering their trucks every day, from what I can see. Did they really think they could add that much power, use it regularly and expect the engine to hold up indefinitely? And to then expect Ford to pay the warranty claim? I want some of what they are smoking...

In my opinion, a light tune (like the TOW setting) SHOULDN'T really hurt anything but if it does, I know I'm on my own. Of course, I'd fight them to prove that it's the tune that did whatever the damage is. Tell me it's a bent rod, blown hear gasket or something and I'll believe it. Tell me the alternator went out because of the tune and I'll be fighting.

But, I take care of my rig, use synthetic oil throughout and don't hammer on the throttle very often. Yes, I got on it when I first put the tune in (I had to see what she could do) and I've had a couple of on-ramp sprints with the street tune, just because I knew she'd take off, but that's it. Once this tank of diesel is gone I'm going back to the TOW tune.

I heard somewhere that they way Ford can tell if you altered the program is because the tuners will go over certain factory pre-set maximums, which are recorded by the computer (boost pressure, speed limit, etc.) Has anybody else heard this?

-Joey