So if you own a '15 to '17 2.7-liter EcoBoost powered F150 and you want to pick up as much
horsepower and torque as possible with the least amount of effort and the least amount
of mechanical work and at around the $600 mark, then you should be checking out a tuner
like this one.
Now, if you've been looking at the product pages and you're watching this video then
you're probably wondering which one to go with, right?
Well, the Edge Gas Evolution CTS2 that I've got in my hand hooked up right now is simply
put going to be the expensive, but it's also going to provide the most amount of pre-loaded
tunes.
It can hold up to 10 custom tunes and it has the most features and functionality available
of all the currently available tuners.
Yes, at around the $599 price point it is more expensive like I just said, but you will
seriously pick up some pretty impressive performance gains.
If you're curious what kind of gains you can get out of this little tuner, take a look
at our dyno graph.
So we ran our truck on the dyno stock and it made 284 horsepower and 351 pound-feet
of torque.
We then installed the performance race tune from the CTS2 with 93 octane in the tank and
our truck ended up making 348 horsepower and 413-pound-feet of torque.
That makes for some pretty impressive peak games of 64 horsepower and 62 pound-feet of
torque.
But what's even more impressive are the curve gains.
If you take a second look at that graph, you'll see curve gains topping out at an additional
47 horsepower and a whopping 78 pound-feet of torque.
There is really no other way to slice or dice this, that's the most performance you can
get out of the EcoBoost with any one mod in particular.
So I think those performance gains speak for themselves out any of the mods you can install
on your truck be they electrical or mechanical.
I would say this is going to be the best bang for your buck.
Now, there are a couple of other cool pre-loaded tunes including a towing tune and an economy
tune and the CTS2 gets high marks in my book again because of those features that some
of the other options don't offer.
You can actually benchmark you truck in real-time on the road, as long as you're doing it safely.
This thing can actually benchmark your 0-60 times including your quarter-mile time and
it can even give you a pretty accurate estimate of the horsepower that your truck is putting
out while you're actually driving around.
You can also read and clear trouble codes, you can install up to 10 custom tunes if you're
working with a speed shop or a different tuning company of your choice.
You can track your fuel economy and your actual fuel cost with the mileage coach that's installed
here.
You can monitor all your engine performance in real-time, you can read and clear trouble
codes, you can connect wirelessly.
This thing really gives you the whole kit and kaboodle for lack of better phrasing.
I'm also happy to say that it is very user-friendly.
If you hadn't guessed by now, it's an entire touchscreen interface, no physical buttons.
So if you're used to smartphones and tablets, you'll feel right at home using the CTS2.
It's very simple to set up, only takes a couple of seconds.
Tuning your truck only takes a couple of minutes.
So if I had to give this thing an install difficulty rating, I'd give it a very soft
one out of three wrenches.
It shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes to go through all the features and get everything
set up and tune your truck.
So again, if you want one of the coolest tuners available, you want to pick up as much performance
as possible without turning any wrenches, go ahead and pull the trigger on the CTS2
and then come back and I'll show you guys how to tune your truck and I'll walk you through
all the features step-by-step.
All right, so like I said using the Evolution tuner is very easy and the set up only takes
a moment.
What you want to do is grab the data cable in the kit which will also serve as the power
cable, plug the HDMI end into the tuner and plug the OBD II end into the OBD II port,
which in this case is located directly underneath the steering column.
All right, once you got the tuner plugged in, go ahead and set it up on the windshield
wherever you want it to live.
It's going to display this little disclaimer here, go ahead and click "Yes" just to acknowledge
it.
It's going to let you know it's going to display that annoying disclaimer three more times.
Simply have to press it a couple of times every time you turn on your truck and eventually
it will disappear.
Now, we want to make sure we're using the correct information for our ECU so we want
to select Ford obviously since we're working with our EcoBoost truck.
It's going to ask that you make sure the key is in the on position without the engine running,
go ahead and do so at this time.
Go ahead and select "Yes" to confirm you've selected the correct vehicle as well.
Now, it's going to ask if the vehicle is equipped with a manual transmission.
Again, obviously, that is not the case with our EcoBoost so go ahead and select "No."
Now, at this point, the tuner will begin reading the ECU and the files located on the ECU before
it brings us to the home screen.
Now, once the device has finished initializing, it's going to bring us to the gauge cluster
screen which is technically the home screen.
Now, obviously, we're all here for performance first so let's go over tuning our truck before
we go over the gauge cluster.
Now, if you want to bring up the menu on the device, simply swipe up and it will bring
us to all the different available functions.
Now, if you want to tune your truck, you want to select performance settings.
Now, it's going to bring us to the home screen for tuning and we have all of our available
pre-loaded tunes, including our economy tune, our towing tune, and our race tune and it
will display the current tune you have on the vehicle.
Obviously, ours is stock.
Now, again, we're interested in seeing what kind of performance we can squeeze out of
our EcoBoost so we're going to select our race tune.
It's going to let you know that you need to have at least 91 octane in the tank.
We currently have 93, so we're good to go.
Now, once you've selected the tune file you want to install the device is going to create
a backup file of your stock ECM.
This is in case anything happens during the tuning process it can revert back to that
stock ECM file.
It's very important that you do not turn off the truck and that you do not remove the key
from the on position during this process.
All right, once the Evolution tuner has saved your stock file, it's going to ask if you
want to create any custom programming for the pre-loaded tune file.
Now, I'm not going to go into this because you can make a lot of changes to different
engine parameters including things like timing, air and fuel and you really only want to make
those changes if you know what you're doing.
If you know what you're doing, I don't need to explain it to you and if you don't know
what you're doing, well, it's safe to say that you should avoid this until you do a
little bit of research.
We're just interested in seeing what the pre-loaded tune can do today.
So we're going to select "No."
All right, once you've confirmed either your pre-loaded or your custom programming, the
tune file is going to initialize once again and it's going to ask if you want to confirm
that your key is in the on position and then select the screen to continue.
It's going to ask you to cycle the ignition on and off throughout the tuning process,
simply follow the instructions when it tells you to do so.
Now, if you heard any of that crazy beeping in the background those are simply some false
alarms on the dash.
That's simply because the tuner's accessing the ECU, you can ignore those warnings while
the tuning process begins.
Now, once the Evolution tuner has finished installing the tune file and it asks you to
confirm by clicking on the screen, it will tell you that the tune has installed successfully
and it will bring you back to the main screen for the different pre-loaded tunes.
You can see we have our current level different displayed at the top which is level three
for our race tune letting us know that the tune has installed successfully.
Now, at this point, if you guys want to stick around, I'm going to show you all the other
features and functions of the Evolution tuner.
So we're going to go back to the home screen by clicking on the home button here.
Now, back to the gauge cluster, as you can see, it has plenty of default values.
We have our engine speed, we have the current voltage on our battery, we have our intake
temperature and we have our transmission fluid temperature and then in the middle here we
have our actual engine temperature.
These are simply default values and you can actually change each gauge by selecting them
with your finger.
Let's go ahead and click on one gauge and it's going to bring you to the home screen
for that individual gauge.
If you want to select a new parameter to monitor, you want to select "New PID."
Now, as you can see the Evolution tuner has a ton of different engine parameters that
it monitors in real-time.
There are simply too many for us to go over in this video, but you can do a little bit
of research online and actually, Edge will give you some pretty good descriptions of
what each of these parameters will do for you.
Let's go ahead and select a new one as an example.
Let's go ahead and monitor our vehicle speed.
Simply select that PID and then you can exit the menu and you'll see that new parameter
displayed on the gauge that we were just in.
You can see right there it just changed to MPH with a numeric value.
You can do the same for any of the other gauges on the screen.
Now, if you want to actually change the layout of the gauge cluster itself, pretty straightforward.
Go ahead and select a menu and select "Layout."
You saw by default we have one center tachometer style gauge with a bunch of digital or numeric
gauges on either side.
You can actually change the background on the tuner itself and on the gauge screen.
As you can see, they threw in some pretty nifty little backgrounds for us, we'll keep
it stock for now.
You can also select between two different layouts.
We have our master and our retro layout.
As you can see, the master is our default layout.
If you want to go to something like an all digital, all numeric gauge cluster or something
with a bunch of needle gauges, you can select them here.
Let's go ahead and select "Digital" just for the heck of it.
And you can see now we have all digital numeric gauges displayed.
And again, you can go through that layout option.
You can select any other layout that you see fit.
you can select two at a time, you can switch between them relatively quickly.
Now, while those gauges display all that information in real-time, you can actually save and view
that data later.
You can actually get a snapshot of the last known values of your gauge cluster by selecting
"Records" here.
You can see we have all default values but any of the parameters you selected on your
gauge cluster will display in here with your last known values.
And if you want to clear those again, you can select "Clear All" and it will default
to those original values.
It will usually zero all of them out.
Now, if you want to get more detail, you can actually datalog your truck.
Data logging means that it's going to record all those values in real-time from start to
finish from the time you turn your truck on to the time you turn it off.
This is very useful if you're doing any advanced custom tuning or if you're doing any advanced
troubleshooting.
To save a data run file, you simply select one of the five available data run slots,
click on one of them and it's going to let you know that data logging will begin once
you return to the gauge display.
Simply select the touch screen to continue and you can see we now have that data run
file on.
So once you go back to the gauge screen and you start driving around, it will record all
that information and save it and you can export it later on using the provided USB data cable
in the kit.
Now, data logging is great if you want to interpret the performance of your truck at
a later time, but one really cool feature that I like about the Evolution tuner is the
ability to benchmark your truck in real-time using actual driving performance.
To do that you can select the performance testing.
There are a couple of different tests that you can conduct again, while you're actually
driving around in real time.
You have a 0-60 measurement, you have a quarter mile measurement and you even have a rough
estimate of the horsepower that the engine is putting out based on the ECU's readings.
Now to perform any of these tests, obviously, you want to make sure you're operating in
safe conditions.
Simply select one of the available tests.
It's going to bring you to a prompt to let you know what to do.
As you can see with the quarter mile test, you want to be at a complete stop and then
the tree will automatically light up as if you were actually on the strip.
Once the light hits green, you can go ahead and hit the pedal to the metal and then it
will begin recording and benchmarking your quarter mile time.
Again, obviously, you want to make sure you're doing these in safe and legal conditions.
Now, next up on the list is diagnostics and this is personally one of my favorite features
of this tuner.
This allows you to read and clear diagnostic trouble codes or commonly known as that annoying
check engine light.
If you ever get that check engine light, you can actually save a little bit of cash, instead
of going to the dealership or going down the road to your local speed shop.
You can simply plug in the tuner when you get a check engine light and it will tell
you what the problem is.
Now, if you do get that check engine light, you want to come into this main menu here
and you can select, "Read DTCs."
The tuner will access the ECU and it will pull that information and it will display
in alphanumeric code, usually something like P0001.
Sometimes it may give you a description of what the underlying issue is but if it does
not, you can do a little bit of Google-fu and if you plug in that code online, you can
get a pretty good description of what the underlying mechanical or electrical issue
is.
Now, if you want to clear that annoying check engine light, pretty straightforward, simply
select "Clear DTCs" and it will clear that light off the dash.
Simply keep in mind if you do not actually correct the underlying issue, the light will
probably return.
Now, the next cool feature of the Evolution tuner is the Mileage Coach which allows you
to track the cost of your trip based on your MPGs and the price at the pump.
Now, before you select the Mileage Coach app, you actually have to make sure you have the
Mileage Coach gauge display.
So go ahead and select "Layout," select one of your two preset layouts and go ahead and
navigate to the second screen and select "Mileage Coach."
Once you've done that, you can actually enter the Mileage Coach app.
Now, once you've entered the Mileage Coach application after you've selected that gauge
you have to put in your fuel economy and the current cost of fuel by the gallon.
So in order to input your fuel economy, you want to select "Last Fuel Economy."
And we'll just put in an example just for the fun of it, we'll just say one and a half
because we like to have a heavy foot here and we'll be very optimistic on our fuel price,
we'll keep that at $1.
Again, if you want to make changes to that simply actually input the real price by selecting
these up or down arrows.
But at any rate, once you've selected that correct fuel price and you've put your MPGs
in there, it will begin calculating your fuel cost and on the gauge display while you're
driving around, it will actually tell you whether your MPGs are good or bad in terms
of cost itself.
All right, next up on our list is the Maintenance Manager.
This is another really cool, unique function of the Evolution tuner.
Obviously, these new EcoBoost trucks and all really new vehicles, in general, have a lot
of maintenance needs.
Sometimes it can be a little bit difficult to keep up on them so what the Evolution will
do is it will actually give you alerts on the device when different maintenance items
are due.
Now, in order to do that, you have to turn the Maintenance Manager on first.
So like that and then you can select your odometer, put in your current miles from your
odometer.
It's going to use that to calculate when your next services are due.
Once you've input that you can select "Maintenance Items" and you can see there are a ton of
different maintenance items that the evolution tuner can monitor for you.
Obviously, changing your oil is the most common and the most important so let's show you how
to turn on that alert.
Now, first thing you need to do is select the alert to be turned on.
There are two different things you can do here.
You can either select an interval for the next service, for example, let's say you want
to get every 4,000 miles get your oil changed or you can select "Service performed" and
that's going to go off of your current odometer value that we just input plus the new interval
which again, let's say on average is going to be very 4,000 miles.
So as you can see, we have our next service now displayed, it calculated it correctly
based on our odometer reading and our interval.
We have 47,500, we have a 4,000-mile interval so we should be getting our oil changed at
51,500 miles.
And once you hit that threshold, the Edge tuner will give you an alert letting you know
that your oil change is due.
And you can select these alerts for any of the other options that were available on the
last screen.
All right, so those were all of the primary features of the Evolution tuner.
Let's go over the settings real quick just so you can see what changes you can make for
the device itself.
Now, first up on our settings is the accessory settings and that's referring to your backup
camera if equipped with one.
Basically, there are two options here.
You can have the camera on at startup assuming that when you start your truck normally it
will be in reverse.
You can turn that on and off.
And there is also a delay on how long it will take for the camera to turn on when you put
the truck in reverse.
Now a couple of calibration options are available on here, including your tire size.
If you want to recalibrate your speedometer or any other parameters, you can actually
change the tire size.
If you've upgraded your wheels and tires simply select "Tire Size" and there are four different
options for how you can calculate that in tire size including English, metrics, circumference,
and height.
And we also have some alert settings here.
These are slightly different from the Maintenance Manager settings.
You can actually turn on alerts if any of your certain engine parameters go past a safe
parameter.
For example, if your cylinder head temperature exceeds the safe limit, you can actually turn
an alert on and the device will alert you in addition to any alerts that you might receive
on your dash.
You can also change the sound duration for the alert when the Evolution tuner makes an
audible beep at you or you can turn the alert off entirely.
You can also make some basic changes to the menu itself and the auto-dimming feature on
the backlight for the screen and you can actually calibrate your accelerometer and you can change
the units that some of those engine parameters will be displayed in, for example, English
or metric.
But the most important feature under settings is the Factory Reset.
If you've made a bunch of changes to the tuner itself and you want to get rid of all those
in one fell swoop, simply select "Factory Reset."
It will ask you to confirm and it will revert everything to default.
And then last up on our list is troubleshooting.
If you ever have any issues with the evolution tuner, Edge is pretty good with helping you
out there.
They actually have their contact information available including their address, email,
and phone number.
And if you do have to contact them, they might ask you to pull some product or vehicle info.
There are some basic information in there for both including things like your software
and hardware numbers, as well as the serial number for the Evolution tuner.
And again, if they need any information for the vehicle for tuning troubleshooting they
have a calibration code, as well as your VIN number available.
Now, the last function on Help is the Tech Support Tools.
We're not going to go over that currently.
If you do need to go in there, it will only be because of the guidance of the customer
service tech at Edge Tuners.
So as you can see tuning your truck is very straightforward.
It only takes a minute and hopefully, it helped you guys get a little better acquainted here
by going over all those features for you.
And that actually wraps up my review of the Edge Gas Evolution CTS2 tuner fitting your
'15 to '17 2.7-liter EcoBoost equipped F150.
I'm Travis, thanks for watching, and for all things F150, keep it right here at americantrucks.com.