Hi Mike,

I read this on another board and was wondering what you have to say about it.

SMC



BTW, I just called Superchips to ask about compatitiblity (duh). They said to check back towards the end of June! I'll still search for the code though, maybe I'll get lucky. But my Expedition is a very recent build (3/03) and I suppose that alone makes it more likely to have unsupported code.


Be very careful with an unsupported code. What this means is that Superchips will not warranty the tune, the tuner, nor the compatability with an 03 vehicle. This says that if you should happen to install an unsupported program and blow your ecu, engine, or anything else, tough luck, Superchips will not help you in any way. The 03's are due to be supported within about 2 months, very wise to wait. You may buy it now, and things are fine, but, if anything goes wrong, you must send your proof of purchase for any warranty work, it will show the date as unsupported, you are out of luck. Just a word of caution.


- Are you saying that when I bought my microtuner in February for my 2003 truck ( because the LGA2 code was supported ) that I was buying a microtuner without a warranty since the 2003 vehicles are not officially supported ? I'm not panicking here , I'm not panicking here , I'm not panicking here.....


Just because the LGA2 code was in the micro tuner does not mean it is a supported program. Yesterday I spoke with Superchips and was told that NONE of the 2003 codes are supported, even if they are in the tuner. Some of the 03 programs are in the tuner, but are not supported. Look on the tuner it states "96-02 Ford E, F, SUV Series V8 & V10". It says nothing about 2003. Superchips reason is that NONE of the 03's were tested with the tuner. We had this same problem with the 1700 when it first came out. It stated 94-02 7.3 L Powerstrokes. 03 models were not supported. Then came the 1705, with the 03's supported. You may want to call whomever you purchased from, we are offering our customers with 03's an exchange when the 03's become supported.

 

Moto93,

I talked with them and they are releasing new codes every month. They had released my code, so I ordered the tuner and installed the program.

Truck runs great. Biggest difference that's noticeable is the shifting. Not just the firmer shifting, but gone is the constant downshifting on small hills.

I rarely go over 2000 rpms during normal driving.

Anyway, acording to Mr Troyer, the 03's are supported as they release the respective codes.

 

I have installed the microtuner on my 2003 Screw, code LGA2, and it does not say it supports 2003 models.

 

Thumpernator,

I have the tuner and it works great on my 2003 too, but, there's a guy on the Ford Truck World forums that's saying that Superchips will not warranty any 2003's because they aren't supported yet. I just wanted to see what Mike T has to say about that.

SMC

 

Hello everyone........

THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

Just joking a bit here with you gentlemen

We understand your concerns, and nothing has changed from what we've told you before on this...................................

Those of you in this thread that are already using the Micro Tuner on your 2003 F-150 know better, you're not having any problems, it works just as it's designed to.

And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if a manufacturer puts a 2003 code in the unit, that means they are supporting it's use for that 2003 code.

But it's really much more basic than that............If you take a look at that first post that was quoted over here, you will see it wasn't even about a 2003 F-150, it was about a 2003 *Expedition*. As most of us know, for 2003 the Expedition is a completely different all-new vehicle from what the Expedition was up thru 2002, the 2003 Expy has a completely different PCM that the Micro Tuner was never designed for, so of course that isn't supported! Nor would Superchips pay somebody to fix their 2003 Expy if they hooked up a present Micro Tuner and had a problem, as the Micro Tuner is not even *made* for that vehicle yet, and is not sold for the 2003 Expedition, either.

The Micro Tuner will work on the Expedition only up thru and including the 2002 model year, because in the 2003 model year, Ford released an all-new Expedition, a completely different vehicle, new frame, completely different PCM, etc. And *that* won't be supported for some time yet, Superchips is working on numerous different ptech platforms (such as the '03 Expy, the new 6.0 PSD, etc.) hard fast & furious. But that doesn't affect any 2003 F-150, as the F-150 hasn't changed for 2003 in terms of it's PCM, etc.

The manufacturer is putting in 2003 F-150 codes just as quickly as they can get them, and for every 2003 code in that Micro Tuner, it is being supported. Obviously, or the code wouldn't be in there in the first place.

In fact, Superchips themselves are *referring* 2003 F-150 customers to us for the Micro Tuner, due to our knowledge & experience from being America's oldest distributor of Superchips products and specializing in these vehicles. Superchips has many people in different departments located in different facilities, and there are many cases in which we'll know more than their sales people will, as we've been doing this longer than anyone else as America's oldest Superchips distributor.

Superchips is saying they don't "officially" support 2003 Micro Tuner only in those 2003's for which they don't have codes yet, or as in the case of the 2003 Expedition because it's a completely different vehcle with a new PCM that the R&D isn't finished for yet. But it's completely unwieldy to have them hand out new code sheets to every salesperson, etc. every day to keep track of what codes are and are not in there for what 2003 vehicles. That's what they depend on *us* for, because we *specialize* in these vehicles.

You see, this is a "MAX" series Micro Tuner, which like all "MAX" Micro Tuners, is designed to have all the codes for each model year, and have that one unit be able to tune any of those vehicles. Well, quite naturally they don't have *ALL* the 2003 codes yet (and in fact, every once in a while we'll find an oddball 2001 or a reflashed 99 or something where they don't have that particular new or oddball program, either), as they are still in production, so Ford is releasing new 2003 codes all the time. Since it's a product that is supposed to be for *all* these late-model F-150's (and F-250 LD's & other Ford trucks & SUV's), Superchips is simply being conservative, they don't want to have 2003 F-150 owners thinking they are automatically going to have every 2003 code out there yet, as that simply isn't possible because 2003's are still being built! And as long as they are being built, there will be new codes released for them on an ongoing basis, until that model year product stops. Actually, even after that, for years we'll see new codes as a result of dealer reflashses.

This aspect of code after code after code is ongoing, and Superchips is simply saying that they aren't "officially" supporting 2003 MT applications because they don't have *ALL* the 2003 codes yet, it's not physically possible to have them all yet, as they are still being made & released every day.

So at this point, they have been referring 2003 F-150 owners that call them directly to *us* here at Performance, or perhaps I should more accurately say we get calls everyday from people Superchips has sent to us specifically for their 2003 F-150, where we don't get referrals from them for any other model year F-150 or other vehicles.

When somebody plugs in a Micro Tuner to a 2003 F-150 that the code is *not* yet in the Micro Tuner, nothing bad happens, as those of you who have done this already know. All it does is store a *copy* of the stock factory program in the unit and then the screen says to "Call Superchips." For the 2003 F-150's, instead of calling Superchips, our customers (those that buy their Micro Tuner directly from us here at Performance) need to call *us* as we have 1 person that handles all the Micro Tuner updates. The codes are updated in the Micro Tuners every week, so it's nice & neat. When a customer of ours plugs in their Micro Tuner and it doesn't have the code, we have it updated & returned to them so they can use it in their 2003 F-150. It's *far* easier for Superchips to have *us* handling that instead of having *everyone* involved in this, there are some things that just work more smoothly that way, and we have a very close relationship with them.

In fact, the way Superchips got a good number of the 2003 F-150 codes was from us sending out Micro Tuners to people to plug into their 2003 F-150 & download the stock program, and then return the unit to us so Superchips could get those programs, make the new Superchips programs to match, and then test & release.

It's not easy to explain all the subtleties involved here, and some of it simply isn't appropriate to discuss on the Internet, of course.

Rest assured that you 2003 F-150 V8 owners have nothing to worry about, and all of you already using the Micro Tuner in your 2003 F-150 didn't have problems installing it and have been enjoying the results. Just as each of you have posted right here on the boards for everyone to see.

What you have to remember is that before *any* program is released, it's tested on these vehicles, and the programs are available first in the traditional Superchip, then once ready, they go into the Micro Tuner.

And as you can all see by using the search feature here, there is no pattern of 2003 F-150 owners having problems installing the Micro Tuner, they've posted right here how much they are enjoying the results.

If anyone has any more questions on this, give us a call at our number listed below & we'll be more than happy to go over this with any 2003 F-150 V8 owner.

 

Thanks for clearing things up for us Mike. You've put a lot of minds at ease!

SMC