Thinking of tuning your 1.5? DO IT ALREADY!

[redbucky2022]

Thinking about tuning your 1.5L Bronco Sport? Do it.


I finally pulled the trigger and went with 5 Star Tuning. They set me up with an HP Tuners MPVI interface and provided three custom tunes—calibrated for my oversized tires and with the auto start/stop feature disabled.





The result? My BS feels like a completely different vehicle.


The power band is smoother, shift points are right where they should be, and that jerky transmission behavior at low RPMs is gone. Everything just feels more refined and responsive.





Now, a quick word of caution: I’m still under a Ford Protect warranty, so technically this is a risk. But you do get to save your stock file in case you ever need to flash it back before a dealer visit.





All in all, I couldn’t be happier. If you’ve been on the fence—this might be the best upgrade you make. I already know a few members are going to squawk at this but it’s the happiest I’ve ever been with my sport since it was brand new.
If your in SW Florida and considering tuning your are more than welcome to come take mine for a drive and see if you like the difference as much as I do.

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[redbucky2022]

Here are the dyno numbers for a stock 87 tune, 87 Performance Tune and 93 Performance Tune

 

[rugedraw]

My only regret with my F150 after I tuned it was not tuning it sooner. I did not make that mistake with the BS. I had the tune before I had the truck.

 

[jkernitzki]

Here are the dyno numbers for a stock 87 tune, 87 Performance Tune and 93 Performance Tune

Be sure to follow up with fuel economy numbers after a tank or two.

 

[harrkaep]

Thinking about tuning your 1.5L Bronco Sport? Do it.


I finally pulled the trigger and went with 5 Star Tuning. They set me up with an HP Tuners MPVI interface and provided three custom tunes—calibrated for my oversized tires and with the auto start/stop feature disabled.





The result? My BS feels like a completely different vehicle.


The power band is smoother, shift points are right where they should be, and that jerky transmission behavior at low RPMs is gone. Everything just feels more refined and responsive.





Now, a quick word of caution: I’m still under a Ford Protect warranty, so technically this is a risk. But you do get to save your stock file in case you ever need to flash it back before a dealer visit.





All in all, I couldn’t be happier. If you’ve been on the fence—this might be the best upgrade you make. I already know a few members are going to squawk at this but it’s the happiest I’ve ever been with my sport since it was brand new.
If your in SW Florida and considering tuning your are more than welcome to come take mine for a drive and see if you like the difference as much as I do.

Sounds amazing but it feels like you'll be needing to flash your default file often with the amount of times we have to bring the car in for service....

 

[redbucky2022]

Sounds amazing but it feels like you'll be needing to flash your default file often with the amount of times we have to bring the car in for service....

I definitely would agree, those who have that many issues probably shouldn't go this route. My Sport has been relatively problem free. At this point I end up fixing what the dealer breaks during repairs so its easier to keep up with my own issues myself.

 

[harrkaep]

I definitely would agree, those who have that many issues probably shouldn't go this route. My Sport has been relatively problem free. At this point I end up fixing what the dealer breaks during repairs so its easier to keep up with my own issues myself.

You know others have speculated that if your Forscan your BS and take it in, the dealer will somehow know if something's up. But someone in the Reddit sub who used Forscan said that crap. They don't know.

How would the dealer know you've tuned it?

 

[rugedraw]

You know others have speculated that if your Forscan your BS and take it in, the dealer will somehow know if something's up. But someone in the Reddit sub who used Forscan said that crap. They don't know.

How would the dealer know you've tuned it?

Seems like you are talking about two different concerns here: FORScan and tuning. The answer is the dealer will not know either. I have plugged my truck into FDRS well over 100 times and never does it say anything about it detecting it is tuned; same with the BS and other vehicles I've worked on that were tuned. FDRS does not detect or flag any FORScan changes, either. As a matter of fact, what ends up happening is that FDRS syncs the vehicle up to Ford's servers and the FORScan changes you made become your new as-built data on the server. So now, when my F150 gets OTA updates to modules I made changes to, it includes the FORScan changes I made instead of reverting back to what they used to be.

The dealer I work for now sells and services 11 different high-end brands. I can tell you Audi and Porsche dealers CAN tell if the vehicle IS tuned, but not if it WAS tuned. Ford/Lincoln's program cannot tell if it IS or WAS tuned. So this will vary from one manufacturer to the next.

What I can tell you with certainty is that just because the dealer cannot tell a vehicle is/was tuned or re-configured with FORScan, Ford themselves can 100% know if they were to look into it. They use something else that is a lot more capable than FDRS which is what dealers (or people like you and me can) use.

 

[harrkaep]

Seems like you are talking about two different concerns here: FORScan and tuning. The answer is the dealer will not know either. I have plugged my truck into FDRS well over 100 times and never does it say anything about it detecting it is tuned; same with the BS and other vehicles I've worked on that were tuned. FDRS does not detect or flag any FORScan changes, either. As a matter of fact, what ends up happening is that FDRS syncs the vehicle up to Ford's servers and the FORScan changes you made become your new as-built data on the server. So now, when my F150 gets OTA updates to modules I made changes to, it includes the FORScan changes I made instead of reverting back to what they used to be.

The dealer I work for now sells and services 11 different high-end brands. I can tell you Audi and Porsche dealers CAN tell if the vehicle IS tuned, but not if it WAS tuned. Ford/Lincoln's program cannot tell if it IS or WAS tuned. So this will vary from one manufacturer to the next.

What I can tell you with certainty is that just because the dealer cannot tell a vehicle is/was tuned or re-configured with FORScan, Ford themselves can 100% know if they were to look into it. They use something else that is a lot more capable than FDRS which is what dealers (or people like you and me can) use.

So I should cancel my tuning appointment is what you're saying. I have 8k more miles for warranty and I'll probably buy an ESP because reliability so I guess my vehicle won't run perfectly. Sigh.

 

[Dude]

Seems like you are talking about two different concerns here: FORScan and tuning. The answer is the dealer will not know either.

FDRS does not detect or flag any FORScan changes

what ends up happening is that FDRS syncs the vehicle up to Ford's servers and the FORScan changes you made become your new as-built data on the server. So now, when my F150 gets OTA updates to modules I made changes to, it includes the FORScan changes I made instead of reverting back to what they used to be.

What I can tell you with certainty is that just because the dealer cannot tell a vehicle is/was tuned or re-configured with FORScan, Ford themselves can 100% know if they were to look into it. They use something else that is a lot more capable than FDRS which is what dealers (or people like you and me can) use.

That’s very interesting info thanks for sharing

It has me wondering why many owners that did make FORScan changes stated on this Forum that after having work done at the dealership, all of their FORScan changes were gone. They reported they needed to make the FORScan updates again.

there are many posts on this forum that state that

 

[rugedraw]

So I should cancel my tuning appointment is what you're saying. I have 8k more miles for warranty and I'll probably buy an ESP because reliability so I guess my vehicle won't run perfectly. Sigh.

The tune will only have an implication if whatever fails is proven to have failed directly because of the tune. If your a/c compressor stops working, the tune is irrelevant to the cause. If there is some kind of catastrophic engine failure, and the warranty claim makes it to Ford engineers, they can see there was a "footprint" left on the module indicating it was modified and it MAY cause problems with that particular warranty claim. However, tuning a vehicle does not void the warranty in general.

With all of that said: I have and will continue to tune everything I have ever driven and nothing has ever blown up yet, and I am what you might call a spirited driver.

That’s very interesting info thanks for sharing

It has me wondering why many owners that did make FORScan changes stated on this Forum that after having work done at the dealership, all of their FORScan changes were gone. They reported they needed to make the FORScan updates again.

there are many posts on this forum that state that

That is completely accurate; even more so now that FDRS does not report data back to the server automatically and efficiently like it used to. I don't want to derail this thread, but in the toolbox for FDRS, there is a procedure you can run on a module to read the config data on it and upload it to the mothership. This is not required to update a module, so a tech will just update it and when FDRS configures it after it flashes it, it'll load the ab data from the server and overwrite the config that was on it before. Unless the existing config is manually uploaded before the module is updated, FDRS will revert the FORScan changes.

Edit: On sync 4 vehicles, receiving an OTA will cause the interrogator on the server to poll the module and it will update ab data as per what is on the vehicle, so that will sync forscan changes to the cloud, too.

 

[Mark S.]

However, tuning a vehicle does not void the warranty in general.

It doesn't void the warranty on components the tune does not affect. Your warranty guide specifically says damage cause by modified engine control software is not covered by the warranty.

Those who favor tunes often argue that if your engine suffers a RUD it's up to Ford to "prove" the tune caused the damage. That's not entirely factual. A manufacturer can deny a claim at any time if it determines the claim falls outside of the agreed-upon coverage. The Magnusson-Moss Act imposes significant penalties on manufacturers who deny warranty claims without cause, so they are incentivized to be sure they can prove their claims when they deny a warranty claim. At that point it would be up to the owner to prove Ford wrong. In the meantime, you have no car to drive.

 

[rugedraw]

It doesn't void the warranty on components the tune does not affect. Your warranty guide specifically says damage cause by modified engine control software is not covered by the warranty.

Those who favor tunes often argue that if your engine suffers a RUD it's up to Ford to "prove" the tune caused the damage. That's not entirely factual. A manufacturer can deny a claim at any time if it determines the claim falls outside of the agreed-upon coverage. The Magnusson-Moss Act imposes significant penalties on manufacturers who deny warranty claims without cause, so they are incentivized to be sure they can prove their claims when they deny a warranty claim. At that point it would be up to the owner to prove Ford wrong. In the meantime, you have no car to drive.

I agree 100% with all of this. Which is exactly why I wanted to make sure people understand that flashing it back to stock is not a sure-fire way to ensure that you will 100% be covered should the tune actually break something. Ford WILL know (if they look) that the vehicle was tuned at the time said incident occurred.

For certain vehicles in Ford's lineup, there are Ford Performance Tunes available for them that can be dealer installed and do not affect warranty coverage. These tunes are not as aggressive as 3rd party tunes, but the benefit is that if something should go wrong, there is no risk to the owner in terms of warranty violations. Unfortunately, the Bronco Sport is not a vehicle they support so owners of these trucks will have to weigh risk and reward and decide for themselves if a more enjoyable ownership experience in terms of performance is worth it or not.

Edited for accuracy.

 

[rocks]

It doesn't void the warranty on components the tune does not affect. Your warranty guide specifically says damage cause by modified engine control software is not covered by the warranty.

Those who favor tunes often argue that if your engine suffers a RUD it's up to Ford to "prove" the tune caused the damage. That's not entirely factual. A manufacturer can deny a claim at any time if it determines the claim falls outside of the agreed-upon coverage. The Magnusson-Moss Act imposes significant penalties on manufacturers who deny warranty claims without cause, so they are incentivized to be sure they can prove their claims when they deny a warranty claim. At that point it would be up to the owner to prove Ford wrong. In the meantime, you have no car to drive.

and if Ford denies the claim, you'll have to hire a lawyer to fight it and lawyers are expensive. Ford has lawyers on retainer.
I wouldn't go with a tune. The 1.5L works hard enough.

 

[FleaBeard]

Glad to see they finally cracked the ECU encryption on the newer models. Just submitted my stock file and strategy code, should have my tune in the next few days!!!!!

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