Help me decide…Livernois or 5 Star tune?

[Mirage775]

I have the BDX

also added the 5 star warranty so don’t really want to swap companies

Oh, sorry man... I was clearly going to pay the $500 3 year warranty thingy, but they straight up told me not to waste my money... Wish I hadn't wasted anything with them, since I'm 99% sure they used tunes from a 19-20 and something clearly changed for the 2021... I even have emails from Ford and Superchips saying that the software is different on the '21...

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[D Fresh]

I want to chime in here about 5-Star! I'm pissed off with them!

I too went with 5-Star, (at first), because of their warranty options, (which aren't even theirs, they're actually Stage 3 Motorsports warranty), and they also had an early Black Friday deal on the SCT BDX tuner and also their tunes. I was also having trouble finding tunes available for a 2021... For a 2019-20, tunes were readily available, but something changed in '21, per Ford and Superchips...

About the extended warranty, it turns out, the guy I talked to at 5-Star said the warranty options were a waste of money, in his opinion, as they only protected "the engine", if the dealer found a previous tune on the PCM... He said with their tune, all you had to do was put the truck back to stock and the dealer would never be able to tell if the PCM was ever flashed previously. He said, if you carried the truck to the dealer with the tune on it and they I'm pretty sure that's a straight-up lie?

Anyway, this was the day before Thanksgiving last year. He said, it'll get programmed and shipped out today. A week went by and still nothing, so I emailed them and they said there wasn't an order made last week... I took a pic of my bank statement saying they definitely took the money out! After some more emails, I received it a few days later and installed it in my truck. I removed my Auto-stop Eliminator and Pedal Commander prior to installing the tune. The pre-install asked me a bunch of options, that I thought were already supposed to be installed on the tuner, but I answered them anyway and it took 30ish minutes to install...

Well, after driving around for a week or so, I emailed them and asked a few questions about the tune and a few days later, they emailed me back saying that the device shipped out, without any tunes on it and I was actually using the SCT preloaded base tune....

After they finally emailed me all 6 tunes I had purchased months earlier, I drove around on the 87 Daily/Tow tune for a few weeks, with mileage dropping slightly, but it was expected. Then, when I switched to the 87 Performance tune to try it out, that's when things started going badly...

On MLKJ Day, I had an appointment to get it aligned at the Mazda dealer, (I know the alignment guy there). I only drove it "D" mode and when I was actually going 60+ mph, during decel and downshifting, the truck would shift all the way to 4th, but wouldn't shift any lower, regardless of how slow you were going or how low the RPM's were... When I put it in full "S" mode, it wouldn't have this issue, but more issues came with this though. My mileage went from 15-16mpg to 9-10mpg! I emailed them about the issues and they ignored me for a bit, but finally answered with a BS answer at that. I asked them for a trans only tune and they sent it to me free, but it took several days..., but I took the tune off and thought about buying the ASS and Pedal Commander again.

So, needless to say, I'm not a fan of 5-Star Performance and I will never be purchasing anything from them again.

I thought about selling the BDX, but decided to pay Torrie @ Unleashed for a couple of tunes. I think I paid $299 for labor and the 2 tunes, 87 & 93 Performance only. He actually worked on the tunes one random Saturday and emailed them to me that afternoon. I installed the 87 one and drove it to work the next day and it "seemed" like it was much better than the 5-Star crap? I drove around in "S" for a tank of fuel, which was fun, and I got about 15mpg, but honestly, I've been driving in "D" mode ever since the last fill up and I'm getting 17.2mpg with it. Mileage is definitely better with Torrie's tune. He actually emailed me several times, asking different things, when he was doing the tuning.

With the 87 tune, 259/314 @ wheels and with the 93 tune, 289/364 @ wheels. The gains over stock are, 30/50 @ wheels with 87 and 50/100 @ wheels with 93.

So, if you haven't decided yet, I'd say go with Torrie or if you don't care about that much "performance", you could get the Auto-Stop Eliminator and a Pedal Commander.

Hope this helps?

EDIT:

Oops, I forgot to add that with the FPP tune, you HAVE to use 93 all the time and a Ford tech or an ASE mechanic will have to sign off where they installed it, in order for the warranty not to be fully wasted. I've read and heard that Fold Corporate will not void your engine warranty because of a tune or if any other bolt-on parts have been added, but some on here will disagree with me... Oh well...

I don't know much about the Livernois tune, so I cannot help you with it...

There are more than a few stories like this in their thread on here.

Poor customer service

Questionable tuning methods

An inability or unwillingness to answer questions

These are the hallmarks of 5Star tuning.

Let's try this again since it's been close to a year since I tried.

Howaboutit @5startuning

How do you tune for additional mods? Since you require people to use modifications you sell do you build an OTS map for each mod configuration an just ship that out? Or do you take data logs from your customers and build from there?


If they answer we should all be VERY surprised.

 

[Mustangman02232]

I had 5 star on 2 previous f350s and liked the tunes on those, they dropped the ball on the ranger though

 

[Mirage775]

There are more than a few stories like this in their thread on here.

Poor customer service

Questionable tuning methods

An inability or unwillingness to answer questions

These are the hallmarks of 5Star tuning.

Let's try this again since it's been close to a year since I tried.

Howaboutit @5startuning

How do you tune for additional mods? Since you require people to use modifications you sell do you build an OTS map for each mod configuration an just ship that out? Or do you take data logs from your customers and build from there?


If they answer we should all be VERY surprised.

Yep, I found that thread or a similar thread after I'd already bought from them My wife and I were reading all the negative complaints, poor CS and super poor mileage they were getting...

I spoke to 2 different guys on the phone, the first guy was a real asshole, that's the one who screwed up my order and tunes. Then, I was emailing a guy who wasn't very helpful at all, then he disappeared on me, in the middle of emails... So, I called them again and talked to a completely different guy that said the guy I was emailing had gotten the Rona. A couple weeks later, email guy finally emailed me back, saying that he'd been in Florida for a business meeting. I said, I heard you were sick? He said, yea, I had a little something, but it wasn't serious. I said, wow, everyone I know that caught the Rona hasn't said that... He replied, oh yea, I did have Covid..

Seriously, are you kidding me? I work with people who lie about everything, but how can this company just lie like that per phone/email...

They even said I had to install an oil catch can before putting the tune on my truck... That was another waste of money...

I will definitely never buy from 5-Star again!

I'd be surprised if they will reply too....

 

[Dgc333]

Oh, sorry man... I was clearly going to pay the $500 3 year warranty thingy, but they straight up told me not to waste my money... Wish I hadn't wasted anything with them, since I'm 99% sure they used tunes from a 19-20 and something clearly changed for the 2021... I even have emails from Ford and Superchips saying that the software is different on the '21...

The ECU has a number assigned to it that represents the operating system (or firmware) revision in the ECU. This number is refered to as the Strategy Code. Ford can make changes on the model year as a running change during the production run. The outfit providing the tune is not rewriting the operating system they are changing parameters in tables that the operating system uses to determine how the engine runs. If the tune file was not generated for the Strategy Code of your ECU the engine will not run optimally or worst case not run at all.

This is why tuners ask for the Strategy Code or VIN so they create the correct file for your ECU. I would be suspect any outfit that didn't ask for the VIN or Strategy Code when you order a tune.

 

[Mirage775]

The ECU has a number assigned to it that represents the operating system (or firmware) revision in the ECU. This number is refered to as the Strategy Code. Ford can make changes on the model year as a running change during the production run. The outfit providing the tune is not rewriting the operating system they are changing parameters in tables that the operating system uses to determine how the engine runs. If the tune file was not generated for the Strategy Code of your ECU the engine will not run optimally or worst case not run at all.

This is why tuners ask for the Strategy Code or VIN so they create the correct file for your ECU. I would be suspect any outfit that didn't ask for the VIN or Strategy Code when you order a tune.

I do know about the strategy code, as I had to send mine to 5-Star and then to Unleashed. Problem was, the code changed after I tuned the truck with the 5-Star junk... I sent the same code to Torrie and he said it wasn't working, even after I had returned to stock... I found the new code with my OBDII tool...

 

[Augie81]

I vote against Livernois, not because I know anything about tunes or their company, but because that name makes me uncomfortable. What noise is my liver making and why? Maybe the price I am paying for my occasional weekend drunk nights?

 

[jawalke]

I have the 5star tuning on mine, which I mainly got because I already had the sct tuner and didn’t know about unleashed. I ran the 93 performance tune since the truck was new, it definitely has more power but it does shift harder. I also netted around 25mpg average and still maintained 23 after lifting and running 33 in tires. I also got their e50 tune to save on gas because a local station sells e85 for $2.79 and the price hasn’t changed since I made the switch in October. The shifting is crazy smooth and the power is incredible. I went with 5star here for the warranty because e50 scares me. Like everyone else here any questions I’ve had they’ve come off very hostile.

 

[Aonarch]

I’ve had positive experiences with Livernois for multiple cars.

Their 93 soft shift tune is excellent. Great customer service too.

Phil will chime in, but Livernois has a great history with Ford and racing in general.

 

[shadesofgray19]

Livernois is the developer of the Ford Performance Tune.
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/aftermarket/devices/eo/d-752-16.pdf
Fords version is slightly detuned, without the optional tunes, and sold under Ford Performance to provide the warranty.

Which tune to get depends on your goals and modification comfort levels:
Unleashed - Best if you want a tune for the modifications you've made or future adjustments, possible loss of warranty, non CARB compliant.
Livernois - The tuner for Ford Performance and more power than Ford Tune, several optional tunes, possible loss of warranty, 50-State CARB compliant.
Ford Tune - Sold by Ford, 3 year/36k warranty if programmed at Ford Dealer, 50-State CARB compliant.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

...He said with their tune, all you had to do was put the truck back to stock and the dealer would never be able to tell if the PCM was ever flashed previously. He said, if you carried the truck to the dealer with the tune on it and they I'm pretty sure that's a straight-up lie?
...

I'm pretty sure there's a flash counter in the PCM that can't be accessed by an aftermarket tuner.

@UofMEngineer , can you verify this or is this something you can't divulge?

 

[Doc]

Livernois is the developer of the Ford Performance Tune.
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/aftermarket/devices/eo/d-752-16.pdf
Fords version is slightly detuned, without the optional tunes, and sold under Ford Performance to provide the warranty.

Which tune to get depends on your goals and modification comfort levels:
Unleashed - Best if you want a tune for the modifications you've made or future adjustments, possible loss of warranty, non CARB compliant.
Livernois - The tuner for Ford Performance and more power than Ford Tune, several optional tunes, possible loss of warranty, 50-State CARB compliant.
Ford Tune - Sold by Ford, 3 year/36k warranty if programmed at Ford Dealer, 50-State CARB compliant.

I thought Mountune was associated with Ford Performance.

 

[Aonarch]

Livernois is the developer of the Ford Performance Tune.
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/aftermarket/devices/eo/d-752-16.pdf
Fords version is slightly detuned, without the optional tunes, and sold under Ford Performance to provide the warranty.

Which tune to get depends on your goals and modification comfort levels:
Unleashed - Best if you want a tune for the modifications you've made or future adjustments, possible loss of warranty, non CARB compliant.
Livernois - The tuner for Ford Performance and more power than Ford Tune, several optional tunes, possible loss of warranty, 50-State CARB compliant.
Ford Tune - Sold by Ford, 3 year/36k warranty if programmed at Ford Dealer, 50-State CARB compliant.

Nice, I always suspected this, but never saw it confirmed.

 

[Dgc333]

I'm pretty sure there's a flash counter in the PCM that can't be accessed by an aftermarket tuner.

@UofMEngineer , can you verify this or is this something you can't divulge?

FWIW, every time I bring my vehicles in for the state mandated safety and emissions inspection two of the things printed on the report I get is "how many miles since last ECU flash" and "how many start cycles since the last time the ECU was reset". State doesn't do anything with this info but if generic inspection equipment can see it you no dam well the dealer can too.

 

[RAYJAY]

I understand wanting to go with max power amd all wich is plenty fair but I will also state reliability is something to look for as well. With that I can Say Livernois is the better way to go. Can they update the tunes for different upgrades? Yes but understand if you start going big with an upgraded turbo or want to run E85 you need to take the truck strait to them. I ran the Livernois Tow Tune for almost 2 years and loved it!! Never had an issue. Others run the performance tune and enjoy the hell out of it.

coming from the SHO can see the damage livernos can do to a motor ...... also seen there not so great machine work done on a motor ..... I went with unleashed , ran the 90 tune for while till gas $$$$$ got to much my (commute ever week is over 500 miles ) got the 87 tune from tori and his shift programing is awesome..... and the power from the 87 is impressive as for max power i would rather have a little left on the table and have a stout tune for a long life of the motor, vs losing a motor at max level ....

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