James86
New Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 889
- Reaction score
- 10
- Points
- 0
- Location
- 55381, Minnesota
- Vehicle Year
-
1999,
2012,
- Make / Model
-
Ford,
Ford,
- Engine Size
- 3.0 Flex Fuel, 2.5L, 3.3 Flex Fuel
- Transmission
- Automatic
- My credo
- WHY DO I KEEP BUYING DODGES?!?!?
I've been looking around on the site, asking around a little bit, and am curious about tuning my 3.0. I have a 1999 Flex Fuel 3.0 Ranger with an auto and 4.10 gears. I live in an area with around a dozen different E85 stations and have been using E85 for at least 5 years now in my truck and was thinking of looking into a tuner. I haul with it a fair bit but also do a lot of long range drives with it as well (5-6 hr drives when on camping trips or going up to Lake of the Woods.) I've read enough to see that generally people recommend the SCT X-Cal tuners, and have found a licensed shop within reasonable distance that does these tunes as well as dynos ( http://www.mitchsdynotuning.com/ and interestingly enough, in their gallery they even show a Ranger on the dyno lol) and I like the fact that people say the Xcal will allow multiple tunes. I think a E85 tune might be worth pursuing since it's the fuel I run all the time anyways and its cheap and readily available in my area. I just filled yesterday at $2.37/gal at the local Cenex, one of about 10 E85 stations just a few minutes from me.
My questions are:
What are the results people are seeing with tunes? Transmission shifts, power, fuel economy?
Has anyone done any dyno runs on their vehicle? How much horsepower "galloped away" over the years? What should a person expect at a dyno shop and what does it usually cost?
Has anyone had any experience with the tuning shops in MN? I've been thru Sauk Centre many times, but I also go to the Twin Cities quite a bit as well.
People on the forums have commented on Jet vs. Xcal, but nobody has really said why or what their personal experiences have been other than "jet is an expensive paper weight that hurts performance on a 3.0."
I guess I wish someone has a write up on their experiences with a tuner. I recall someone on here doing a write up on using a tuner on a 4.0 SOHC and one thing they noticed was transmission shift quality improved (http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72354 ).
I know the 3.0 isn't a firebreather, but this truck has served me well for 7 years and I plan on having it many more years so I don't think this is something I shouldn't pursue.
My questions are:
What are the results people are seeing with tunes? Transmission shifts, power, fuel economy?
Has anyone done any dyno runs on their vehicle? How much horsepower "galloped away" over the years? What should a person expect at a dyno shop and what does it usually cost?
Has anyone had any experience with the tuning shops in MN? I've been thru Sauk Centre many times, but I also go to the Twin Cities quite a bit as well.
People on the forums have commented on Jet vs. Xcal, but nobody has really said why or what their personal experiences have been other than "jet is an expensive paper weight that hurts performance on a 3.0."
I guess I wish someone has a write up on their experiences with a tuner. I recall someone on here doing a write up on using a tuner on a 4.0 SOHC and one thing they noticed was transmission shift quality improved (http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72354 ).
I know the 3.0 isn't a firebreather, but this truck has served me well for 7 years and I plan on having it many more years so I don't think this is something I shouldn't pursue.