I'm looking for some information. I'm considering getting a tuner for my new 07 and have read that you can't use it, or install it or ???? if it's below freezing out.

So what's the story here? Plus if you use one of the tuners is it plug and play (read leave it installed/connected in the truck) or do you install and put the thing away?

I'm old school with respect to performance upgrades so all this is new for me.

Thanks in advance

 

it' advised not to- i've tuned mine below 32 degrees before- but i had the tuner inside the house and my vehicle was full warmed up- i had no prob lems-phil

 

I believe the issue with this is that the battery needs all the power to transfer the programs from the pcm and tuning device. Thats why the temperature is a factor.

 

If you want a problem free tuner get the Xcal2.

 

In the Xcal2 manual, it will tell you not to do mapping when freezing or below, UNLESS as OpenClassPro said, take the tuner in the house to get it warm and run your truck for 5-10 minutes to get it up to operating temp, then it is safe to flash the ECU. Computer memory has a temp range it is designed to work in. Flashing the ram should be done above freezing. I did mine last week and it was right at 32 degrees. I had my tuner in the house, warmed my truck up and then went out and did the flash. No issues. Read your manual and just follow their directions.

I am sure there are those who have just done it with no problems, but the manufacturers make these recommendations for a reason!

 

No tuner is problem free.

 

I have tuned my truck as low as 20 degrees before.

If you're new to tuners in general, just read this thread. It hits the high points of tuning and tuning safely... https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=273030

 

I asked nearly the same question about a week ago... here's the link...

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=272806



Also, Chester... your sig keeps getting longer and longer and longer... care to host it at f150online.com rather than photobucket? The reasoning being is that f150 automatically resizes it for optium loading here on the site... Thanks.

 

I thought it would reduce bandwidth usage,(through steve's server) to host it elsewhere. That's the reason I did it. Oh well, what do I know?

 

As it would...

My point is that it's too big. Resize it and use photobucket... I mentioned my solution as it's a bit more simplistic. You never know who you're talking to on the other end of an IP address from the standpoint of 'computer know how'.

I certainly didn't mean to offend... just pointing out that it's growing at the rate of Pinocchio's nose and I'd like to see it come back into check.

 

Are you calling me a liar too!!??

 

*sighs*

No.

Just resize it. Okay?

 

I know, I was joking! I'm having to work on that excavator pic. It won't get much smaller without REALLY degrading the picture. (MS paint is not the greatest..) I got rid of the quotes..

 

This "issue" of not flashing your PCM when the PCM or the tuner is at or below freezing is a precautionary measure, and just good sense, as there are sometimes when it won't work, no matter whose hardware you are using - some tuners come with that warning in their docs.
Now in wintertime you can get around this by simply bringing the tuner into the house for a little while (if it was out in the vehicle), and also start up the vehicle and let it warm up to normal temperature by idling, and that will heat the PCM up enough under the hood so that you can then flash it just fine in cold weather.

Yes, some people get lucky and flash them OK in 20 degrees with the PCM & the tuner below freezing - that is not a chance I would ever take, it's too easy to do it right.

This is just a quick FYI for everyone in general, no matter what kind of flash device you are using - just trying to help!

 

If you don't mind, I'll add that to the "general info" thread I made...