Catastrophic failure on tuned Ecoboost

[Shane150]

It's amazing how poor the factory shift strategy is compared to what the thing is capable of.

This is the only reason I want to tune but can’t justify a 4 hour drive to Michigan and an extra $1,000.00 to do it. For reasons yet unknown to me, 2023 PB can only be tuned at Livernois shop and I don’t know if I can trust anyone else with the tune.

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[Snakebitten]

If and when I would have my Powerboost transmission tuned, it would be by someone other than them. Not meant to be the slight it probably sounds like. I just haven't built that kind of trust with them.

So it sounds like I would still be waiting anyway?

 

[Gutshot]

This is the only reason I want to tune but can’t justify a 4 hour drive to Michigan and an extra $1,000.00 to do it. For reasons yet unknown to me, 2023 PB can only be tuned at Livernois shop and I don’t know if I can trust anyone else with the tune.

I’m only 30 minutes from them, I’ve got one more year on my lease then I intend to buy my 22, and I’m chomping at the bit to get their tune and maybe a few extras. I’d like to get a before and after dyno session to see what’s what on my purchase.

 

[Shane150]

If and when I would have my Powerboost transmission tuned, it would be by someone other than them. Not meant to be the slight it probably sounds like. I just haven't built that kind of trust with them.

So it sounds like I would still be waiting anyway?

Who do you recommend?

 

[Snakebitten]

Who do you recommend?

I've had tunes by Gearhead, 5*, and MPT.
All 3 has attributes that I liked about their approach.

But hands down, Gearhead tuning (Matt is the gurus name) had the most polish. He plays a little safer than some folks like, but I'm not looking for the hardest possible hit. I like it to me smooth, but strong.

And Matt has been respected for his transmission tuning for many years, going back to the glory days of Ford Diesel, before the Ecoboost even popped on the scene. As I stated earlier, he worked magic on my previous 10R80.

 

[Old Hat]

In the old days I just dropped the valve body and installed a shift kit when the vehicle didn't have a manual trans. It would be nice if this could be done on the new 10 speed transmissions.

 

[SumGuy]

I would love to tune my truck to clean up the sloppy shifting 10 speed. I have my Reservations though after seeing this. I'd like to know more on what tune that truck was running

Agreed. These trucks shift worse than my old 1991 Geo Prism.

 

[spiritrider1]

Agreed. These trucks shift worse than my old 1991 Geo Prism.

I must have a few outliers because my previous 2018 F-150 STX, and current 2020 Mustang GT & 2021 F-150 PB all had/have the 10speed. Only other than a very occasional lurch or shift, I find them to be very smooth and with decent shift points. The only minor gripe is the PB at launch where I get the momentary clunk that everyone complains about. The dealer did the update/reprogramming but it doesn't seem to have made much, if any, difference. The STX and Mustang obviously don't exhibit that symptom since they do not have the electric motor in the tranny.
All that being said, I'm just curious how much better it would drive and feel with a transmission tune.

And Matt has been respected for his transmission tuning for many years, going back to the glory days of Ford Diesel, before the Ecoboost even popped on the scene. As I stated earlier, he worked magic on my previous 10R80.

Is the transmission tune what they call the 'tow' tune? I checked them out and don't see anything listed for transmission.

 

[HammaMan]

Running e85 with an aggressive tune puts the 3.5s right around 700hp. Ballsy, especially with that many miles on it. Already seen a 21 blown up with an "aggressive" e50 tune (~665hp). Not enough fuel to do it stock which would be my bet as to why it blew up. Guy was sour about it and didn't want to give more details.

The stock powerboost is already exceeding the trans rated capabilities. The mustang forums are the best place to learn about the 10r80s weak points for those interested.

 

[SALEEN961]

Running E85 is considered to be very safe by a lot of people, but it's easy to get carried away on a forced induction setup when you have a fuel like E85 that will tolerate a lot of spark advance and boost. Not enough people consider just how substantially they are increasing cylinder pressures when they start adding timing. Our engines also run fairly tight piston ring gaps that can become problematic when you significantly increase power output and try to do long WOT pulls on the highway.

I'm trying to stay fairly conservative in my efforts to tune my truck. If the calculated torque values from the PCM are reasonably accurate, which they should be for a basically stock engine, it's very easy to hit 500HP and 600 lb-ft at the crank. I'm not sure if I want to go much further than 600 lb-ft, but I might play with slowly increasing boost pressure past the torque peak in an effort to flatten my torque curve and increase HP, but I'm already at a fairly steady 19-20psi.

 

[JJSnell]

Am I the only one that wants to tune their truck to give them 40mpg?

 

[JExpedition07]

Rods often get blamed when the cast piston is what let go first. 3.5 Ecoboost factory pistons aren't anything to write home about. If you are unfortunate enough to get a flawed skirt .....

Are the pistons hypereurectic? I doubt they are using cast.

 

[amschind]

I do think that there is a difference between what this guy did and +30 HP/+30 lb-ft. I have no data to support that, but it seems pretty reasonable. That said, dovetailing with the guy above who wants a 40 MPG tune, I want to be able to pull at rated load wherever and whenever I want at 60 MPH. More peak power probably HURTS that goal, but with a full bolt-on package I presume that the mild tune above probably doesn't hurt it by much. The three big mods that I want are wrapped exhaust, turbo blankets and a big radiator.

 

[Snakebitten]

3.5 Ecoboost Gen2 and Gen2 HO (Raptor)

Non Raptor is a slightly higher compression piston.
I love the Ecoboost. But Ford cheaps out big time on the pistons. They probably acquire these for no more than a few dollars their cost.

 

[Samson16]

@Snakebitten Is the PB a Gen3 3.5, and if so, are there any improvements?

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