Performance chips for my truck?

Monofletch

Monofletch

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I was told about performance "chips" for my truck. A friend bought one for his f150 that is suppose to give him 6 more mpg and 65 more HP.
Can any of you BF members give me the good, bad, or ugly on these chips? Are they worth the price? Your opinions are welcome!!
Thx
 
they are fake chips you get on eBay.

the only real way to do it is to hookup an ecu tuner that can log and allow you to adjust the tune. something like ecutek, cobb tuning, mega squirt, motec, syvecs etc etc etc.
most of these are pretty expensive and having a pro tuner can be costly for there time and even more costly if you get one that is bad tuner.

some systems like the cobb tuner are great because they make them vehicle specific and have base tunes and allow the user to log and verify the tune is safe by plugging it into a computer and sending the logs to cobb to check.

there is no magical chip that can do it all for the most part. there are some specific to models that may tune it... but will it be safe? are you running to lean? do they log? is 6mpg worth it? 65hp with a chip lol...

ive been in the aftermarket a long time, don't even bother.
 
What you need is an ecu like Mo2 said. Basically, they reflash the maps controlling fuel/air mixture, when and how much fuel is delivered, and possibly advance/retard the timing.

You plug it into your OBD port and, depending on the unit, it'll either overwrite the current map, or some stay mounted in the truck, and 'bypass' it. The better ones will come with predetermined maps for your specific truck - stock, towing, performance, economy, etc.

For a stock vehicle, it really depends on how much power the manufacturer 'left on the table'. If your F150 in an eco-boost motor, there's a good bit of room to open up the turbo's, as Ford kept the tune relatively mild to meet fuel economy goals. If it's a Coyote block, I'm not sure what kind of gains are to be had.

I've been debating putting a tuner on my Ram 1500 to shift the curve for towing a bit, but I want to make it breath a little better first. That's where a tuner really comes in handy. Custom tunes help you take advantage of mods, and stock tunes can really hinder a heavily modded motor. My old 335i had a COBB unit installed to open up the turbos quite a bit (BMW left a lot of power to open up to begin with) and take advantage of the extra airflow from the upgraded intake/exhaust. My Kawasaki has a Dynotek installed with custom tuned maps for the work done to it, and it would run extremely lean without.

My recommendation is go find an F150 forum and start learning what others are doing, and what works/doesn't for your truck.
 
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If your truck is out of warranty and it's done from a reputable outfit, then yes, it's worth the money.
The reputable tuner should recommend the additional HP your truck can handle without compromising any other major components( transmission, drivetrain, gears)
The other thing to consider is the total cost of getting it done. If any pollution controls has to be removed, it cost money. I had to replace the exhaust on my diesel.
If all you're going to do is throw a chip in it, program it and go, then no, it's not worth it. Other things will break, ask me how I know :oops:
 
As others have said, it can have some good effect if its done right, but there is no magic, everything comes at a cost. So power and mileage will cost in emissions, and maybe engine life. It can have some bad interactions with some other systems, depending on the vehicle. While working at the pretend mechanic shop, we had a guy ask us to take the power chip out of his truck because it was icy out, and his truck's traction control couldn't cope with the extra power (also he wasn't that good at driving) I met another guy who had to take it out because he just burned fuel with his foot to the floor too much, and he was burning up his auto transmission with hard shifts.
 
I haven't messed with tunes in about 11-12 years, but had a custom tune (3 of them) done for my at the time 99 F150 4.6V8. After not too long, I eventually went back to the stock tune and didn't see much difference, and in the end just had an expensive OBD code reader. I'm not sure about the newer engines, but it'd usually been my experience that there's much more to be had from diesel tunes than regular NA gas engines. I'm no expert, but that's just my personal experience. I don't believe any claims of a 6 mpg increase, but I'd recommend doing a lot of reading on some of the forums for your truck and seeing their experience with the specific engine you have.
 
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His truck is a 2014/15 f150 eco boost. Mine is just a 2014 f150 with the big V6. (I don't tow or haul much).
His chip was specific. He had to give the place info on his truck. He does leave it plugged in. He bought it from Chip My Car (I think he said).
Thanks for all the info guys
 
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If it has an engine I tune it:
y4ixmvC.jpg

Moates burn 2 for my OBD1 truck (95 K2500 used as a farm truck. Originally a TBI 350 / 4L80e, swapped to a healthy 355 with MPFI but still being ran by the original 7147 ECM modded for MPFI mode)

EFILive FSv2 for everything newer

Not pictures is the Cobb AccessPort v3 which stays hooked up to my wife's Subaru for logging & to function as a dial-a-boost controller
 
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Ford's ecoboosts leave a lot on the table, that's why your friend was able to pick up so much HP (and especially torque) from a chip. Seeing as you have the NA V6, you probably won't see that big of gains.

For an F150 I'd personally use an SCT Tuner like the Bully Dog or X4 for something more basic. As far as tuner goes, I can't recommend Torrie @ Unleashed Tuning enough!
 
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