smotley7601

MY TRUCK: 2013 F150 CREWCAB 4x4 EcoBoost - 28650 Miles

Back in Feburary i happen to have a connecting Rod go through the side of the block. At the time i was running 5Star 87 PT tune at the time. I was driving normally just leaving a car wash and heading home. I really dont believe that the tuner had anything to do with it. About 2 weeks prior to the engine failing i had an incident with the engine overrevving which was my fault. I was driving with emotion after finding out my now ex wife was seeking attention elsewhere, I placed the truck in "M" mode instead of "D" and floored it and it bounced off the rev limiter several times before i realized what i had done. After that, the truck skipped terribly. I took the truck to the garage where i checked the spark plugs and saw that the number 3 spark plug gap was way off... as if something bent the ground strap toward the electrode. I replaced all spark plugs with the oem sp534 gapped to .030 and the truck seemed to run fine afterwards till the night the engine let go.

Engine Blew at 22500 Miles

I changed oil every 5000 miles with amsoil and motorcraft filter. I have had it tuned since about 9000 Miles with different tunes. The tunes i switched between was the 5Star 87,93 Performance Tow Tunes and the SSI 93 TOW and SSI 93 Performance Tunes. The 5 Star being my favorite ones i mainly stuck with them but i did swich back and forth quite often. Also before the engine failure i used seafoam through the brake booster vac line.

My question: I really enjoyed and now miss my 5Star tunes Do yall think the tuner couldve caused this and/or contributed to this failure? If i use the tuner again would i need to be worried bout blowing my engine again?

My new engine only has about 6000 miles on it now - i have already changed the oil at 1000 miles over to Pennz Ultra 5w-30 with the FL510s filter

I love my truck and the engine i hope to keep this for as long as i can this is why i ask these questions.

Z7What

With proper tuning and datalogging the truck will last you many many years and 100s of thousands of miles. "It's all in the tune" Make sure it's spot on and drive it. My 5.0L has been tuned since 2500-3000 and have had ZERO issues because of a tune!!

Ever other vehicle I have ever owned has been tuned and never had a issue. That's from 2.3L Tanger to a supercharged F150 lifted on 38"s.

Wayne

Brilei5

I'm really curious, did ford warranty the engine or did you have to buy it?

smotley7601

They replaced the engine turbos and oil lines

LTNBOLT

Bouncing off the rev limiter multiple times in low gear is not a good thing. It is bad enough stock but with a tune the rev limiter is usually set several hundred rpms higher. It is either cutting fuel or spark at high rpm to keep the motor from revving and them dumping fuel or adding spark back in a split second once it gets below the rev limiter. You can't tell me this won't cause some detonation and the damaged plug was a sure sign of it. I truly believe this is how you hurt your motor.


Do yourself a favor and burn at least 89 octane in that forced induction engine. I don't care what the owners manual says.


Was the rod that was thrown the same cylinder as the damaged plug?

smotley7601

Yea thas rite.. Number three rod was out the side of the block and number 3 spark plug was the bad one... As for fuel except for a handful of times I only ran shell 93..

papa tiger

U are tune guy so tune it if you feel the need for speed. Of course it didn't hurt Ford payed up. Over revs don't hurt. Lol

smotley7601

I've never really dataloged before assuming that the tunes were safe when driving normally with the occasional fun.. Yes yes I know what happens when u assume.... Basically in a nutshell should I be scared to tune again for fear of damaging and or negating the longevity of my engine?

If to tune again... Which tune would be the best and safest for everyday driving and occasional towing?

5star: 87-89-93 P/T Tunes

SSI: 93 Tow Tune

?

pfbz

No decent ECM with an automatic transmission will allow true overrevs... As in a mechanically induced money shift. Bouncing off the rev limiter is NOT the same thing and should not cause any damage unless your tune is going lean at those high RPM's.

How much the tune increases the rev limiter is a different story, but honestly it seems like a pretty stupid area to be tuning. Plenty of gain in boost pressure and spark advance without trying to spin it a few hundred RPM faster, and you should be well past peak numbers even at the stock rev limiter.

phantomblackgto

Stage 3/5* now offer a warranty with their tunes. I'm running their 87 pt on 91 octane w/ a 6 year/100K mile warranty. Plan on doing this for a looooong time.