Engine longevity and tune?

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MHW100

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I realize it would be anecdotal but can a tune have a long term detrimental effect on the engine? It's seems no one has destroyed their engine in this forum from a tune which is a good sign but how many years having they been running it? Does the chance of damage naturally increase over time? Very little traffic in this forum so it's hard to tell.
 

SaveMelMac

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If it’s a good tune, and it’s not pushing the engine to its limits, then no.
 

StealBlueSho

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This forum is generally filled with SHO owners who use reputable tuners... LMS and Unleashed are the longest standing tuners. Both of which have customers that 100K+ safely with tunes.

But it’s a shared responsibility right? They are gonna provide the tune and you are going to do the care and feeding of the cars components.




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StealBlueSho

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A: Yes, increased power production and demanding more from the drive train does add additional wear to the components. An aggressive maintenance schedule will help offset that.

B: Like all components in a mass produced vehicle quality control is a concern. No one can promise that a tuned vehicle will last as long as a non tuned vehicle. There are stock vehicles that give out before tuned ones and vice versa. Over time components wear.

I know these are ambiguous answers but they are ambiguous question.

I think you are trying to get an a assertive answer on “If I tune my car am I sacrificing reliability and longevity?” which unfortunately can not be answered.

Historical information helps elude to future results. The best answer is this...

“Go with a reputable tuner and take care of your car. Your mileage may vary.”




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tech10002

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My experience is a little dated since the last time I used a tuner or modified the performance of a car was probably 10 years ago, but I’ve run many modified vehicles over the years and never had any major issues. I have an 06 6.0 diesel with 125k on it. I’ve been running 450 hp tune with head studs and egr delete on it since 36k with zero engine or trans problems. Before that I had a 96 Integra GSR with a Jackson racing supercharger. Ran that for 100k miles with zero problems. And I don’t just have a lead foot—more like depleted uranium. Lol There’s a string of other cars mixed in over the years too, all with some mods. Generally if you maintain a car religiously you will get good results, tune or not. The only cars I’ve had major problems with were bone stock. Go figure.

I’ve been agonizing over whether to tune my SHO or not, too, and I just said screw it and ordered everything yesterday. Life is too short to worry about every possible issue. If it breaks, I’ll just fix it.
 

mybigsho

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I tuned my SHO at 1500 miles brand new now have 30 thousand miles with no issues.. Always on top of oil changes and other service maintenance.. I have around 100 time slips also.. As said before every car is different..
 

luigisho

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As a hypothetical, I would be less apprehensive to do it if I had a good dealer and tech, and warranty was good.
 

MHW100

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I'm really dithering on this issue too .

New 2018 with a 6 year btb . Don't really want to blow off the warranty and face a costly rebuild but the lack of any complaints about that happening with the likes of LMS emboldens my confidence.
 

SM105K

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I'm really dithering on this issue too .

New 2018 with a 6 year btb . Don't really want to blow off the warranty and face a costly rebuild but the lack of any complaints about that happening with the likes of LMS emboldens my confidence.

Like I said, SEND IT!
 

Lostneye

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Agreed....Send it.

Tune/3bar tune and unless you window the block Ford has seen enough PTUs and turbos being replaced it shouldn't draw attention to you. Just flash back before you bring it in, which you should be doing anyway for a number of reasons.

And importantly as SBS said maintenance is key
 

twobitcoder

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Air fuel ratio is what matters when discussing whether a tuned boosted engine will last or not.

So much of the advice on this forum takes the approach of "cross your fingers" without legitimate information. Guys should stop pretending to know what they're taking about when clearly they do not.
 

MHW100

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Air fuel ratio is what matters when discussing whether a tuned boosted engine will last or not.

So much of the advice on this forum takes the approach of "cross your fingers" without legitimate information. Guys should stop pretending to know what they're taking about when clearly they do not.

Are you suggesting the tuners don't know what the appropriate air fuel ratio is for engine longevity ?
 

SaveMelMac

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Air fuel ratio is what matters when discussing whether a tuned boosted engine will last or not.

So much of the advice on this forum takes the approach of "cross your fingers" without legitimate information. Guys should stop pretending to know what they're taking about when clearly they do not.

Pushing 35 psi of boost when the engine blew, but I don’t get it, the AFR was perfect....

There are many more factors that go into a proper tune than AFR. Many factory tunes run very rich at WOT and really aren’t very good. An engine on a proper tune will last just as long as an engine on a factory tune. As long as that tune is not trying to push the limits of the engine and squeeze every last bit of hp.
 

tech10002

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Air fuel ratio is what matters when discussing whether a tuned boosted engine will last or not.

So much of the advice on this forum takes the approach of "cross your fingers" without legitimate information. Guys should stop pretending to know what they're taking about when clearly they do not.

I don’t see anybody pretending to know anything other than stating their experiences with maintenance and the reputation of the tuner. I did a LOT of reading in many forums before picking Livernois. They’re known for being reputable and I’m confident they have done testing and data logging and know what the A/F ratio will be. Most people don’t have wide band, high precision stand alone air fuel measuring equipment to independently confirm parameters(yes, I know the EB 3.5 uses wide band natively) You just have to trust you’ve picked a competent tuner to start with. From the reading I’ve done, there are a bunch of tuners who are less than competent. Plus, Livernois had the technical ability to design their own tuner, not just use an off the shelf product like SCT that 99% of the other guys use. I know enough about electronics design to know that this couldn’t have been an easy task, and you need a pretty intimate understanding of electronics, coding, and the ECU to actually design the interface yourself.

The only thing they need help with is website design because it sucks. Lol
 
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SM105K

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I don’t see anybody pretending to know anything other than stating their experiences with maintenance and the reputation of the tuner. I did a LOT of reading in many forums before picking Livernois. They’re known for being reputable and I’m confident they have done testing and data logging and know what the A/F ratio will be. Most people don’t have wide band, high precision stand alone air fuel measuring equipment to independently confirm parameters(yes, I know the EB 3.5 uses wide band natively) You just have to trust you’ve picked a competent tuner to start with. From the reading I’ve done, there are a bunch of tuners who are less than competent. Plus, Livernois had the technical ability to design their own tuner, not just use an off the shelf product like SCT that 99% of the other guys use. I know enough about electronics design to know that this couldn’t have been an easy task, and you need a pretty intimate understanding of electronics, coding, and the ECU to actually design the interface yourself.

The only thing they need help with is website design because it sucks. Lol

That was well put.
 

luigisho

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While I don't dispute afr is quite important,
what I'd really like to see is a graphical display of condescension: post count ratio
 

StealBlueSho

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Air fuel ratio is what matters when discussing whether a tuned boosted engine will last or not.

So much of the advice on this forum takes the approach of "cross your fingers" without legitimate information. Guys should stop pretending to know what they're taking about when clearly they do not.

Could you clarify air fuel ratio? I’m not familiar with this...


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