Am I Tuned?

[urapizzaship]

Is there any way to tell if my used ST has a tune on it or if it's stock tune? It came with a few mods but id like to get a Cobb accessport and I read that if you try to install a tune over anything but stock or Cobb it can mess things up. It had an cold air intake, short shifter adapter, shifter bushings, exhaust was stock, intercooler looks stock. Also read if it is always telling you to shift than it's probably stock. It always alerts to shift at like 2k or 2100k rpms. Thanks in advance

 

[Capri to ST]

One way to tell may be to go to a dealer and ask them to plug in your car and see if your ECU has been reflashed. It's my understanding that if it has been, then the car will record how many times it has been started since then, and that dealers have the ability to detect that. If that number is way out of line with the age of the car, then they will know that the ECU has been reflashed. There are other reasons that that could be done of course besides a tune, but I suspect a tune is the most common one. I have seen a document from Ford where they list ways for dealers can tell if a car has been modified in the context of using that to deny warranty claims. This what the Ford document says about that-

"Compare ignition counter (IGNCNTR) value to vehicle service history. If counter value is abnormally low and there is no history of a recent reflash, investigate for an unauthorized reflash and signs of aftermarket tuner connections. "

They might do what I am talking about if someone has a warranty claim and is claiming their car has never been tuned, but for example has some kind of physical damage indicating that it had a lot more power at one time.

 

[urapizzaship]

One way to tell may be to go to a dealer and ask them to plug in your car and see if your ECU has been reflashed. It's my understanding that if it has been, then the car will record how many times it has been started since then, and that dealers have the ability to detect that. If that number is way out of line with the age of the car, then they will know that the ECU has been reflashed. There are other reasons that that could be done of course besides a tune, but I suspected a tune is the most common one.
I have seen a document from Ford where they list ways to dealers can tell if a car has been modified in the context of using that to deny warranty claims. They might do what I am talking about if someone has a warranty claim and is claiming their car has never been tuned, but for example has some kind of physical damage indicating that it had a lot more power at one time.

Thank you for the reply. I'll have to head to Ford and see what they can do.

 

[Mikey456]

You could also floor it in first or second gear. If you get extra wheel spin you probably have a tune. The standard Oem tune reduces boost in the first and second gear thereby less or no wheel spin.

 

[Capri to ST]

Thank you for the reply. I'll have to head to Ford and see what they can do.

You're welcome, let us know what happens if you do. I'd be interested to see if all dealers have this capability, and if they do whether they will do it for a customer or just for them to try to deny a warranty claim.

 

[urapizzaship]

You could also floor it in first or second gear. If you get extra wheel spin you probably have a tune. The standard Oem tune reduces boost in the first and second gear thereby less or no wheel spin.

I've never driven another one so I can't really compare it, if I'm on it and shift from first to second it'll chirp the tires but haven't noticed them really spinning.

 

[XR650R]

I've never driven another one so I can't really compare it, if I'm on it and shift from first to second it'll chirp the tires but haven't noticed them really spinning.

Odds are that it had a tune, but the PO took some parts off and put it on the Cobb 0 tune, which is stock, supposedly. They sold their AP, and whatever parts were easy to take off. It may still have an aftermarket rear motor mount, which means you don't need to buy one.

If it's running OK, you can leave it alone and just drive it. A stock FiST is far from a boring car. Use good full-synthetic oil and change it every 5000.

If you want to mod it, buy an AP and custom tune it. Or, go bananas and get a big turbo. There are lots of ways to go with a car that is pretty rare in the US.

 

[urapizzaship]

Odds are that it had a tune, but the PO took some parts off and put it on the Cobb 0 tune, which is stock, supposedly. They sold their AP, and whatever parts were easy to take off. It may still have an aftermarket rear motor mount, which means you don't need to buy one.

If it's running OK, you can leave it alone and just drive it. A stock FiST is far from a boring car. Use good full-synthetic oil and change it every 5000.

If you want to mod it, buy an AP and custom tune it. Or, go bananas and get a big turbo. There are lots of ways to go with a car that is pretty rare in the US.

Yeah I have done a few things already and have an Acessport coming. I have a cat back but will probably get a new downpipe and intercooler eventually. The car is definitely slower than my srt4 was but it's absolutely more fun to drive.

 

[Alkoran]

Odds are that it had a tune, but the PO took some parts off and put it on the Cobb 0 tune, which is stock, supposedly. They sold their AP, and whatever parts were easy to take off. It may still have an aftermarket rear motor mount, which means you don't need to buy one.

If it's running OK, you can leave it alone and just drive it. A stock FiST is far from a boring car. Use good full-synthetic oil and change it every 5000.

If you want to mod it, buy an AP and custom tune it. Or, go bananas and get a big turbo. There are lots of ways to go with a car that is pretty rare in the US.

If the PO sold their AP, they should have it unmarried with the car and if so, I believe that it flashes back to the stock tune, no?

 

[urapizzaship]

You're welcome, let us know what happens if you do. I'd be interested to see if all dealers have this capability, and if they do whether they will do it for a customer or just for them to try to deny a warranty claim.

Ford said all they can do is bring it back to "as before" basically the stock ecu. And it'll be about 100$ so not sure what I should do.

 

[urapizzaship]

If the PO sold their AP, they should have it unmarried with the car and if so, I believe that it flashes back to the stock tune, no?

Found this online........ When you uninstall the AccessPORT it writes the stock map that was previously on the ECU back to the car, this is part of the uninstall process. DO NOTE: This is not the same as flashing the "stock map" to the car, you have to go through the uninstall process to "unmarry" the AccessPORT.May 25, 2004

 

[SteveS]

Rather than worrying about something you think you read, how about consulting Cobb about using their accessport? If you read the instruction manual available online it says this:
If a previous installation of an Accessport is detected, you will be given the option to overwrite it with a new installation. Be aware that the previous installation will be permanently lost and unrecoverable. In the case of a previous install, a stock ECU program supplied on the Accessport will be used when you uninstall.

The only thing that is "messed up" if the car has a tune is that you will lose that tune. Presumably that will not matter, since your whole reason for getting the accessport is to put a new tune(s) on the car. If you like the tune that's on there and wish to continue using it, there's no reason to get an accessport.

 

[Poofies]

You won’t know until you get a Cobb yourself. I would guess you don’t as the previous owner would have to reset it to stock in order to not own a $400 brick.

 

[urapizzaship]

Spoke to someone at Cobb, they said when I plugg in the Acessport it should give me a warning that there is a tune on the car if there is one. So I'm guessing if there is a tune that isn't Cobb or stock ill have to bring it to ford to get the "as before" flash 🤷🏽 I'll update once my Acessport arrives if anybody is interested or for future questions like mine.

 

[urapizzaship]

You won’t know until you get a Cobb yourself. I would guess you don’t as the previous owner would have to reset it to stock in order to not own a $400 brick.

Yes I'm pretty sure it is stock.

 

[urapizzaship]

Rather than worrying about something you think you read, how about consulting Cobb about using their accessport? If you read the instruction manual available online it says this:
If a previous installation of an Accessport is detected, you will be given the option to overwrite it with a new installation. Be aware that the previous installation will be permanently lost and unrecoverable. In the case of a previous install, a stock ECU program supplied on the Accessport will be used when you uninstall.

The only thing that is "messed up" if the car has a tune is that you will lose that tune. Presumably that will not matter, since your whole reason for getting the accessport is to put a new tune(s) on the car. If you like the tune that's on there and wish to continue using it, there's no reason to get an accessport.

I was worrying and asked the forum because that's what I thought forums were for. I asked Cobb as well. I only ask because this is stated right on the page under the Cobb access port v3 Warning! Installation of this Accessport over anything other than OEM or COBB software may result in ECU/TCU failure. Please contact COBB Support if you have any questions.

 

[SteveS]

If Cobb said it will warn you, then that's your answer. And, as has been pointed out already, if the previous owner had an accessport and didn't return the car to stock tune by unmarrying the accessport, then taking it off served no purpose because it's useless to them if it's still married to this car.

 

[urapizzaship]

If Cobb said it will warn you, then that's your answer. And, as has been pointed out already, if the previous owner had an accessport and didn't return the car to stock tune by unmarrying the accessport, then taking it off served no purpose because it's useless to them if it's still married to this car.

Yeah Cobb responded well after this post was created. I wanted to hear from the community members as well. Thanks for your reply bud!

 

[urapizzaship]

Update: I installed the Cobb Acessport today. I was not tuned. Everything worked as it should. Can definitely feel the torque increase and the ability to monitor guages you normally don't get to see. Right now I'm running boost Guage, AFR Guage, and OAR for the gas. I'll mess more with it tomorrow but I am pretty happy so far 🤙🏼

 

[Mikey456]

Update: I installed the Cobb Acessport today. I was not tuned. Everything worked as it should. Can definitely feel the torque increase and the ability to monitor guages you normally don't get to see. Right now I'm running boost Guage, AFR Guage, and OAR for the gas. I'll mess more with it tomorrow but I am pretty happy so far [emoji1688]

Torque increase?? So what tune are you running now?