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Thread: 04 F150 tuning any specific to look for or adjust?

  1. #1
    Tuner glanzergtx's Avatar
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    04 F150 tuning any specific to look for or adjust?

    Looking at getting a 04 F150 and will be tuning. Anything you guys found other than fuel adjust and MAF tuning with timing? I know these trans shift weird as hell im going to focus a little more on the trq management side of it as well. Any input would be great.

    thanks

  2. #2
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    No need to adjust the MAF unless you've changed the air inlet tubing. The 04 should be the first year of the slot style MAF meter. If it has a slot MAF, the truck will be very sensative to cold air kits.

    Before readjusting any MAF curve, make sure you change the stoich to match the fuel you are running.

    Don't zero out the clutch fill times. That table should represent what's happening, not what you want to happen.

  3. #3
    Potential Tuner REVXP800R's Avatar
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    Hey Glanzer, we have talked in the passed on youtube. I did the same thing, i sold my 3.0" built gtp in the spring, and bought an 05 f150 fx4, best thing i ever did!

    Anyways, good information about the cold air and the MAF, i have an AEM brute force on my truck, in what ways does the MAF need to be tuned when we do something like this? Also, if i am swapping between the Cold air and the stock intake between winter and summer months, which should i adjust the MAF to? I intend to leave the timing on my truck alone, unless its at cruising to help with fuel mileage if it has any effect on that.

    I am looking for all the same information as Glanzer GTX
    05 F150 Fx4 Crew
    08 Rev XP 800R

  4. #4
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    A cold air kit must be dyno tuned for, and the PCM would be reflashed to what the dyno says it needs.

    If you put the stock cold air tubing back on the truck, the stock MAF xfer function must be put back into the tune. Why on earth would you want to put a stock cold air kit back on it after dyno tuning is anyone's guess. EFI has the ability to compensate for weather changes.

    If you have an SCT flash programmer, or your own HP tuners software, you could switch back and forth between tunes at will. The SCT device comes with preloaded tunes for different octanes, and has some cold air kits already programmed for as well. Hate to say it on this forum, but if you don't know about tuning, it might be a better choice for your application because you can simply buy an Xcal 3 that will do everything you are wanting it to do, maybe without even having to do any tuning.

  5. #5
    Potential Tuner REVXP800R's Avatar
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    PONTISTEVE i have done some tuning, and when i was running my 3.0 pullied GTP, it got terrible fuel mileage with a cold air on it after it went below freezing here. So i switched back to the stock one for winter and gained fuel mileage back. Cold air i was getting just over 300kms to a tank, where as the stock one i was getting closer to 500kms on a tank. Now that was in the winter as i said. In the summer, i saw a gain in fuel mileage over the stock intake. Take a look at your location compared to mine..... Altitude and weather is totally different, which will make a vehicle react in completely different ways than where you are.

    Chips are for eating, i do NOT want to buy a plug and play chip for my truck as i have heard terrible things with programming issues causing PCMs to go out. I have access to HPtuners on a laptop, and was only going to start with basics such as torque management. However now reading that these trucks are more sensitive than i originally thought, myself and Glanzergtx would appreciate your help with some recommendations as where to start, rather than a criticization on whether or not we know how to tune......

    My original question was: What ways does a MAF sensor need to be tuned when adding a cold air intake. As in when we are looking at the MAF readings, what is it i need to adjust to compensate for the cold air?

    Thank you.
    05 F150 Fx4 Crew
    08 Rev XP 800R

  6. #6
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    Well, the SCT device is not a chip. It's a flash programmer, just like HPT. The only difference is that it comes with preloaded tunes that SCT has already engineered for a specific car/engine. It also comes with some cold air transfer functions preloaded. I was not trying to criticize, but merely trying to guide you in the right direction for your best interest. But hey, if you want to DIY, rock on. That's what hot rodding is all about. But if you hurt the motor, remember there's nobody to blame but yourself. And that is not much comfort at that moment.

    So here's how to tune, in straight talk. First, you need to dial in your MAF xfer function. You do this by monitoring actual lambda via a quality wideband, and comparing it to commanded lambda. You choose a single commanded lambda point, and zero out all tables that are adders or modifiers, so you end up commanding one single lambda. Except you'll have to inverse that, since GM uses EQ ratio.

    You turn off closed loop in the tune by adjusting hooks in the software so the car will never meet the conditions to go closed loop. Then, you put the car in MAF only mode by again playing with hooks in the software that won't allow dynamic airflow. Then, you dial back some timing out of the hi octane table, so you don't accidentally bump into knock. Finally, you log MAF Hz on a load bearing dyno, as well as a custom PID for lambda error, made by dividing commanded lambda by actual lambda. Don't forget to adjust the stoich point.

    You'll have to hold the car at each MAF break point until the lambda readings stabilize, record the error in a custom histogram or with your pen and paper, and then adjust the tune. You do this at every MAF hz point, and you do it as many times as it takes until your lambda error is zero. On the dyno, you can only get so far up the curve doing this before you run into major heat issues. Beyond that, you'll have to settle for power sweeps and datalogging.

    Once you've dialed in your MAF, you can return that other stuff back to stock, and then move on to finding MBT spark, optimal equivelance ratios at WOT, and then depending on what else is done to the car, a whole lot of other tables need looking at.

    The only reason your GTP got terrible fuel mileage with a cold air kit on it would be because the MAF curve didn't represent actual airflow at a given frequency. Any time the fuel trims are more than a few percent, it affects fuel mileage. Also, getting away from MBT spark can add to that as well, if your engine was modified.

  7. #7
    Potential Tuner REVXP800R's Avatar
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    Thank you for the info pontisteve!

    Definetly a lot more than what i want to get into with this truck, so i will look more into the SCT as like you said it will be probably easier than trying to get my hands on my buddies dyno to do all this, as well as since the HPtuner is not mine, it could just turn into more of a hassle than i want.

    So the other thing that i have been reading on is the torque management for throttle response. This is something i should do with the HPtuner, or should i wait for the SCT then?
    05 F150 Fx4 Crew
    08 Rev XP 800R

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    Well, if you do go SCT, the reduction/removal of torque management is something that would already be done in their preloaded tunes. You want your PCM to be bone stock before you flash it with an aftermarket programmer like the SCT. That way, you can return it to stock at any time.

    FYI, you can actually use both tuning products. For example, first you start with a bone stock vehicle, and do a PCM read using the HPT software. Save this file as your bone stock tune. Next, flash it with an SCT tuner and a preloaded tune, and you should be all set. The SCT device has user programmable options you can play with to fine tune the basics.

    After you've flashed it with SCT, you can use HPT to read the PCM again, and save that file as the SCT tune in your HP Tuners folder. Now, you'll have the stock tune, and the SCT tune saved in your HPT folder. At that point, you could use the HPT software to further manipulate the SCT tune if you wanted to. You could use the compare function to see what the original vs SCT tune differences are. You could tweak little things further than before, experimenting and getting comfortable with the tuning process.

    Any time you aren't getting the results you want, you could just reflash it back to the SCT tune using your saved SCT tune file in HPT. From there, you could go back to stock stock using the SCT device's "return to stock" function, which would free up the tuner to be used on other vehicles.

  9. #9
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    Any specific direction to start in with an 04 f150 4.6?

    Im trying to find as many threads as i can but im coming up short on detailed info.

    Thanks.

  10. #10
    HPT Employee Eric@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Eric Brooks
    HP Tuners, LLC

  11. #11
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    thanks eric.
    2008 Sky RL

  12. #12
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eric@HPTuners View Post
    is this a good source as well for the f150?

    http://www.truckowners.com/content/4...st-and-The-Pro
    2008 Sky RL

  13. #13
    HPT Employee Eric@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Some of it applies, but to the older F-150. The 2011+ is slightly different.
    Eric Brooks
    HP Tuners, LLC

  14. #14
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    mine is an 04 so i guess thats right up my alley!
    2008 Sky RL

  15. #15
    You can do most of your maf (part throttle) with fuel trims just disable the adaptive. As far as the transmission goes the 04 came with
    A 4r75. To really get shifting, durability and all on point you have to do upgrades to the hardware itself (trans). There are good gains to be had in the 5.4 3v trucks with tuning. If you already own hpt then why not hire someone to tune the truck and have the ability to make adjustments on your own afterwards

  16. #16
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eric@HPTuners View Post
    wait this doesnt apply to the 2v 4.6 does it? isnt the 05+ mustang a 3v? my 04 f150 is a 2v...
    2008 Sky RL

  17. #17
    HPT Employee Eric@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by |V3nom| View Post
    wait this doesnt apply to the 2v 4.6 does it? isnt the 05+ mustang a 3v? my 04 f150 is a 2v...
    Its still similar. Just doesn't have the VCT, and the transmission controls are slightly different.
    Eric Brooks
    HP Tuners, LLC

  18. #18
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eric@HPTuners View Post
    can you fix the pics on that link? it shows that all of the images are broken.
    2008 Sky RL

  19. #19
    HPT Employee Eric@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by |V3nom| View Post
    can you fix the pics on that link? it shows that all of the images are broken.
    I no longer own that website, but I emailed the new owners to fix it.
    Eric Brooks
    HP Tuners, LLC

  20. #20
    Advanced Tuner |V3nom|'s Avatar
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    awesome thanks.

    did you ever do a follow up write up for mustang tuning? im wondering what the next step in tuning is.
    Last edited by |V3nom|; 06-16-2014 at 02:30 PM.
    2008 Sky RL