Hey, guys, Adam here with americantrucks.com.
And today we're taking a closer look at dyno testing and installing the SCT BDX Tuner with
Preloaded Tunes available for the '15 to '18 3.5-liter EcoBoost F-150.
Now, before we jump into everything, guys, know that we're gonna be going over the preloaded
tunes included with the BDX device but know that this is a great option for guys who also
maybe want to work with their own local custom tuner because this can hold up to 10 custom
tunes.
For the sake of the dyno testing today we're looking at those preloaded tunes with that
modified 93 octane in there to maximize the octane performance.
Now, before we jump into those details of the tuner itself, we, of course, established
our baseline run with our '16 3.5 behind me, it's got 35s on, keep in mind, and it also
has 93 in the tank and is bone stock under the hood, so those are some of the variables
you want to keep in mind looking at this graph.
Established our baseline numbers here, walked away with 307 horsepower and about 338 pound-feet
of torque at the rear wheels, we then, of course, uploaded our 93 octane tune, that
modified preloaded tune, ran it under the same conditions with 35s to 93, walked away
with 315 horsepower and about 377 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels, good for peak
gains of 8 horsepower and 39 torque at the rear.
Now, peak gains alone look pretty good, that torgue, 39 torque, great number.
We want to look at the curve games though, that's really what you're gonna feel out on
the street.
Curve gains came in right around 3,500 RPMs.
We're looking at about 27 horsepower and a gain of 41 pound-feet of torque at the rear
tires, which, guys, is going to make such a big difference on the road, 41 torque, 27
horse, we're pushing about 377 torque at 3,500, now, that's gonna completely change that driving
experience at the low end.
We know these trucks can be a little sluggish, it can take a little time for the turbo to
spool but this is definitely gonna make that difference.
So, as you saw, guys, with just a very simple 93 octane tune you can get a lot out of the
BDX tuner.
But aside from that, you can hold up to 10 custom tune files for your specific vehicle
which you can get from a tuner of your choice.
Now, in addition to just tuning the vehicle, you're also gonna get features like the gauges
and data log readers.
So, what that basically means is you can track live engine vitals on the fly at any time
with this plugged into your OBD-II.
You can track things like boost, air intake temperature, coolant temperature, air/fuel
ratio, so on and so forth, voltage.
There's just an endless number of opportunities, you can track up to eight gauges at once on
this screen in both portrait and landscape mode.
You're also gonna be able to data log your vehicle's performance.
So if you're working with your custom tuner, you just got a new tune, you might want to
see how it's performing to see if it needs any revisions, you can do that right on the
device as well and upload it to the cloud.
Yes, you get cloud access with the BDX.
It's basically wireless just like iCloud, you can send your files to the cloud for your
tuner to access or vice versa.
You also get Wi-Fi access and wireless updating capabilities because SCT updates these guys
and you don't even need to plug it into a laptop.
And also, you're gonna be able to take advantage of a DTC code reader.
Now, DTC being diagnostic trouble codes, so, check engine light comes on, you can read
it and clear it right on the device.
Now, the price of this comes in right around 400 bucks, and the install, of course, gets
one out three wrenches on our difficulty meter, anybody can tackle this in the driveway at
home or really anywhere with just about 30 minutes or so.
I'm gonna show you the process of uploading that preloaded tuner, but the process is the
exact same for the custom tuner, you would just select a different file.
I'm gonna take you through the tuning process then walk you through those features I just
mentioned.
Let's get to it.
All right, guys, once you have your BDX device plugged into the OBD-II port, make sure the
key is in the on position but don't start your engine.
From here, what we're gonna do is jump right into tuning the vehicle using that preloaded
tune for our 3.5.
So we're gonna select program vehicle from the main menu.
Confirm your VIN.
And if your device needs updates, so, if it's the first time out of the box and you're just
turning it on, you want to hit continue on this to do any updates that need to be done
to this device before you get started, otherwise you might get a couple of error messages,
you want to be on the latest software.
So we've already taken care of that, so we're gonna hit skip.
Keep in mind that that will require Wi-Fi network access, so make sure you're connected
to Wi-Fi and it'll ask you for that once you hit continue.
Cloud sync.
So, of course, we're focusing on that preloaded tune on the BDX, but if you're using custom
tunes you may have loaded on the BDX device, you might have them on the cloud and you can
hit continue to sync them from the cloud to your device, but, again, using the preloaded,
we're gonna hit skip.
There's just a street use notice, hit continue on that.
Make sure the key is on, like I said, and it'll move forward.
All right, so, if you're using a custom tune, it'll be down here.
We're gonna focus on that 3.5 preloaded tune which is going to modify some of our parameters
to really maximize that performance.
So, from here, if you want to make any customizations or changes to the tune itself, you can do
so now.
We're gonna keep that the same but I want to show you guys what those changes would
be.
Here are some of those configurations.
Fuel octane is listed as stock, so what we are gonna do is change that 93 octane.
There's a speed limiter, Rev limiter, all that good stuff, what we are gonna change
is the octane.
Change that over to 93, select approve.
All right, from here we're gonna hit continue.
It's gonna load our stock tune to the device and save that.
So if we ever want to revert back to stock, it'll have that here and you can easily do
that following the same process.
From here it'll go right into writing our tune.
All right, so at this point, it's telling us to turn the key off, and then just wait,
back on.
All right, programming complete, you can hit done, it'll take you back to the main menu.
You can unplug and you're good to go.
Now, aside from program vehicle, we have a couple of other functions I want to go through
with the device.
Now, under that is gauges and data log.
So if you select that, make sure the key is on, hit continue, you'll be able to track
live engine vitals and data log your vehicle's performance.
So what you want to do first is select the proper configuration.
So it starts with a baseline almost template for the configuration.
So, we're using a 2016 EcoBoost.
So what we want to do is go down to find Ford Gas '08 and newer, so 2008 vehicles and newer.
Obviously, since we're using a '16, so we're gonna press continue on that and it'll upload
that configuration, download the diagnostics from the vehicle and show us that in real
time.
So, we have control module voltage, you can see boost and PSI, car's not on, so we're
not gonna have anything to read there.
But if I wanted to change control module voltage, we can select it, select the item, say we
want to track air intake temp, select that, hit approve.
And that'll take you and change that gauge.
Now, from here, if you want to monitor up to the maximum amount of gauges at the same
time, you'll select gauge layout here from the menu.
And you have a bunch of different options.
You can even rotate it to be landscape instead of portrait.
Now, if we want to change that to monitor up to eight at once, we have now eight gauges
and you can select those individually, you get abbreviated words, so air intake temperature,
things like that, boost is still top left.
So, as you can see, there's a lot you can really do with that.
Now, you can also start recording this data.
So if you're using a custom tuner, you have a new tune, you want to make revisions, you
can download, you can data log, download that data log, send it to your tuner, make revisions,
there's a lot of useful information that you can take advantage of here.
Now, go back to the main menu, you'll just hit stop data log.
Under that vehicle functions.
You can read and clear DTC codes or diagnostic trouble codes.
So, check engine light comes on, you can plug this in, read it, get a description, get the
code, once it's taken care of, you can clear it so the check engine light goes away.
So, that's a good function to have, you don't need a separate tuner for that, separate device,
don't need to go to an auto parts store.
Special function, something most people won't use, CAM re-learn, don't have to worry about
that, we're gonna go right back to the main menu.
Vehicle Info is gonna be things like your VIN number, your ECU Strategy code, all useful
information for you to have when you're requesting new custom tunes, your tuner will definitely
need that info, so, that's good to have right here on hand.
Under that, device info.
This is things like your app name, part number, serial number, firmware and software versions,
how many unlocks you have left, your paired status, things like that.
So, hit exit.
Finally, device updates.
Check for updates and Wi-Fi go hand-in-hand, those you can use to get wireless updates,
software updates, firmware updates from SCT.
You can also search the cloud for new tunes if your tuner puts that on the cloud, you
can download it here.
You can upload your data log to the cloud for your tuner to access.
You can upload your stock file to the cloud as well.
Other things would be very simple device changes.
You can change the brightness, orientation from portrait to landscape, you can change
the color from, say, light blue to dark blue, changes the white to black.
You can also go dark red, there's a bunch of different options, light red, we're gonna
stick to the light blue though.
Under that, you can change start-up function.
So this is, I think, the last important thing to talk about here.
If you boot up your device, you plug your device in, you can have it set that it automatically
defaults to the gauges and data log screen.
So, basically, if you have this plugged in at all times and have it mounted on a windshield
which you can do, you can basically have, every time you turn the car on, it goes, turns
on, immediately goes right to gauges.
So I think that's a pretty useful feature for guys who want to use that every day.
From there we can hit exit, take you right back to the main menu, and that's your device.
Well, guys, that's gonna wrap up my review and install for the SCT BDX Tuner for all
2015, '18 3.5 liter EcoBoost F-150.
So, you can get your tuner right here at americantrucks.com.