What's up, guys.
Travis from americantrucks.com and today I'm gonna show you guys how to get the most amount
of power out of your 2015 or newer 2.7-liter EcoBoost-powered F-150, using one of these
bad boys right here.
This is a preloaded tuner, and the one we're looking at today is the BDX Tuner from SCT.
This is actually their latest rendition in their preloaded tune lineup, and I'm happy
to say it is currently the most affordable option, at around the $400 price point.
Now, even though it's super affordable, guys, you're gonna make all kinds of crazy power
out of this thing.
We actually went ahead, we strapped our truck down on the dyno.
This is a bone stock truck, by the way, as far as performance goes.
Let's take a look at those stock numbers.
So, stock numbers, we ended up making 296 horsepower and 313 pound-feet of torque.
We then installed our preloaded tune with 93 octane in the tank.
We did not change anything else on our vehicle.
We left everything else stock.
We ended up making 330 horsepower and 386 pound-feet of torque.
That makes for pretty good peak gains of 34 horsepower and 73 pound-feet of torque.
But what's even more impressive, if you take a second look at those graphs, we have some
pretty crazy curve gains.
Our curve gains actually top out at 79 horsepower and a whopping 95 pound-feet of torque.
Guys, it goes without saying, if you want to get something shy of 100-pound feet of
torque, normally, you'd have to tear open the hood and do all kinds of crazy work to
the motor.
So this thing really speaks for itself.
But, there's all kinds of other cool features included.
You can actually install up to 10 custom tunes if you're working with a speed shop, and you
can also datalog your truck in real time, can monitor a bunch of gauges in real time
as well.
That's very useful for custom tuning and troubleshooting.
And other cool things you can do with this, if you ever get that annoying check engine
light because you have a problem with your vehicle, all you need to do is plug the tuner
in and it'll actually read and clear those diagnostic trouble codes.
So if that annoying dash light's on, you can finally turn it off.
Just keep in mind, if you don't fix the underlying problem, that light will probably come back.
Last thing to consider, guys, is how user friendly this device is.
I'm happy to say that this is actually completely wireless.
If you ever need to update the preloaded tune or the firmware, again, all you need to do
is connect to Wi-Fi.
And if you actually want to share your datalog files, or if you want to transmit any other
information to the cloud server, again, you can do so wirelessly through Wi-Fi, so you
don't have to sit in the cab with a cable and a laptop for extended periods of time.
Now, as far as tuning your truck and using the device, guys, it's very, very simple.
If you don't have any experience with anything like this, I promise you, you will be confident
with this.
I'm gonna actually give the install, if you will, can't really call it an install, but
as far as difficulty goes, I'm gonna give this a soft one out of three wrenches on our
patented difficulty meter.
And guys, tuning your truck and setting this up shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes.
So again, if you want to make crazy gains with your EcoBoost F-150, you don't want to
turn any wrenches, and you don't want to spend a ton of money, then the BDX tuner is gonna
be at the top of the shortlist.
And if you decide to go with this option over any other ones, you can actually come back
to this video in just a little bit.
I'm actually gonna show you guys how to get this thing set up.
I'm gonna show you how to update it.
I'm gonna show you how to tune your truck, and I'll walk you through all the other features
and functions, step by step.
All right, guys, so once you got the tuner, it's pretty straightforward.
All you gotta do is pull the device out of the box, as well as the provided data cable.
You're gonna plug the HDMI end into the tuner itself, and then the OBD2 port plugs into
the OBD2 port underneath the steering column.
All right, guys, once you have your tuner plugged in, you want to put your key into
the ignition.
You want to leave it in the on position.
Now, before we actually tune our vehicle, we're gonna make some updates to our device.
So, in order to do that,you want to navigate down to Device Settings.
And you'll be hitting the center button here.
As we navigate through our menus, that's gonna be our OK button, if you will.
Now again, if this is the first time using it, we'll need to check for those updates.
But before we do that, you need to connect to Wi-Fi.
It's pretty much like a smartphone, whether it's Android or iOS.
So you're gonna go into Wi-Fi, it's gonna wait a moment, and it's gonna actually scan
for all available local networks.
You're gonna select the Wi-Fi network of your choice, and it's gonna ask you for the login
credentials.
So we're not connected currently, so we're gonna click Connect, and now it's scanning
for available networks.
Now, you can see here, we have all of our available networks.
We're not actually gonna be connecting to any of these because these are locked down
for other purposes, but you would select your Wi-Fi connection, you hit the OK button, and
you would input the password if applicable, and you'll connect automatically.
Once you've done that, you're gonna click on Check For Updates.
Now, obviously, again, because we're not connected, we're not gonna actually do that, but all
you need to do is click on Check For Updates, and the device will automatically download
any applicable updates.
Once you've done that, you can exit out of Device Settings, and you can go back up to
Program Vehicle.
This is where you're actually gonna tune your truck.
Now again, if this is the first time using it, you want to make sure your VIN is correct
on there.
You can view your VIN through your front windshield there, and go ahead and click Confirm.
And again, Device Updates, we've already done that, so we're gonna skip that, but if you
needed to, you could click Continue and it will go through that automatic update process
from this tuning screen.
And the same thing applies to Cloud Sync.
Cloud Sync is only applicable if you're doing any datalogging.
We're gonna skip that for now.
Now, this is just a legal disclaimer, letting you know this device is not legal for sale
or use in California.
Sorry for those of you with carb certification requirements.
Let's go ahead and click Continue to begin programming.
And again, it's gonna ask you to make sure the key's in the on position.
Click Continue.
Now, at this point, the tuner is gonna bring you to the home page for all of your available
tunes.
You can see here we have our space for our custom tunes, which we don't have any at the
time.
However, we do have our preloaded tune for our 2.7L Eco, so we're gonna select our preloaded
tune.
Now, even though this is a preloaded tune, it's gonna ask for you to make certain changes
to that tune file, so we're gonna click Change.
You can see here these are all of the available options that you can actually change in the
tune file.
Now we're not interested in changing any of these other settings.
The only thing that we wanted to change is our fuel octane.
We've already changed ours to 93, but if you want to make performance gains with the preloaded
tune and you don't want to mess with anything else, you need to come in here and change
it from 87 to 91 or 93.
And it goes without saying, obviously, you need to have the correct fuel in the tank.
Once you've selected the correct fuel octane, you can click Approve, and it's gonna ask
that you to confirm all of the elections you've made are correct.
Click Continue one more time.
Now at this point, the tuner is gonna process all that data and all of your elections, and
it's going to create your preloaded tune file.
At this point, it's very important that you do not interrupt this process.
You don't want to unplug the device.
You also don't want to take the key out of the ignition.
That will interrupt to the tuning process.
Okay, so our tuner finalized our tune with those elections.
It unlocked the PCM, and it is now preparing the PCM for the tune file to be loaded.
Again, very important that you don't unplug anything or interrupt this process.
All right, so once our tune file has been successfully installed, the tuner will lock
the PCM, it's gonna clear any false diagnostic trouble codes, then it's gonna ask you to
cycle through the key on the ignition.
Right, so once you've cycled the ignition and it's cleared those diagnostic trouble
codes, it'll give you this screen letting you know programming is complete.
And that's really all there is to tuning your truck.
Now, if you guys ever want to untune your vehicle, pretty simple.
Simply go into Program Vehicle, confirm your VIN one more time, go ahead and skip your
Update and Cloud Sync processes, and select Return To Stock on the Street Use Notice page.
Keep in mind, when your truck is tuned, the device is locked to your vehicle, so you will
not be able to use this tuner on any other vehicle while you have a tune installed.
Now, if you guys want to stick around, I'm gonna show you all the other functions and
features of our tuner.
Next up are Gauges and Datalogging.
The tuner is pretty cool because it allows you to monitor all the parameters located
inside the PCM in real time.
In layman's terms, basically, you have a bunch of digital gauges, so you can monitor things
like your oil pressure, temperatures, timing, all sorts of good stuff.
Now, you have to set this up if it's your first time again, and since we're using our
EcoBoost truck, we're gonna select Ford Gas '08 or Newer.
Once you've selected your appropriate vehicle, hit the right arrow to select Continue, and
click OK.
So now our tuner is communicating with the PCM, and you can see here it's pulling some
basic information.
It's pulling our boost and psi from our turbos, and it's also displaying our voltage.
Voltage is useful if you're doing some work on the tuner while the vehicle is off, but
let's say you want to make some changes to this.
Well, you can actually make a couple of different changes here.
You can select different gauges, and you can also change the layout itself.
In order to change the gauges themselves, all you need to do is press any of the keys
on the menu here, and you can see how it's highlighting each of our individual gauges.
Let's go ahead and change our boost gauge.
So click Enter.
You can see here it brings us to the menu for that gauge.
It displays the item, and it also displays the unit of measurement.
And that's gonna change depending on what gauge you're using.
So, we're gonna change our gauge by clicking OK on the item.
Let's go ahead and monitor our coolant temperature.
As you can see here, now we have our unit in Fahrenheit.
You can change it to Celsius if you want to, but we're gonna leave it as so, we're gonna
hit Approve, and our new gauge is now built.
Now, it's displaying our coolant, again, in real time.
Now, if you want to change the layout of this screen, pretty simple, go ahead and hit the
right arrow, and you can actually Select Gauge Layout.
You can see here by default we have our two gauges.
There are a bunch of different options you can have, I believe to eight at one time.
And you can see here we have our new layout, and same process if you want to make any changes
here.
Simply navigate using the arrows.
Now, if you want to actually datalog and record all this information for later viewing, pretty
simple.
Simply hit the right arrow again, and you can see here we have our Start Record Data,
and we also have our Stop Datalog.
Once you hit Start Record Data, you can see we have our little recording symbol in the
middle there.
That's now recording all the information from the PCM, even information that's not being
displayed on here.
That's useful for custom tuning and troubleshooting.
Now, if you want to stop this, hit Stop Datalog, and it'll bring you back to the home screen
automatically, and it'll automatically save that file inside the tuner.
In order to retrieve that file, you'll need the USB cable provided in the kit, which will
plug it into your desktop.
Next up on our list here are Vehicle Functions.
Vehicle Functions is personally one of my favorites, because this allows you to read
and clear diagnostic trouble codes, or commonly known as that annoying check engine light.
If you have a check engine light and you want to figure out what it is, very simple.
Simply select Read DTC Codes.
You have to have your key on in the ignition, because the PCM has to be fully connected.
So go ahead and click Continue, and if you did actually have a diagnostic trouble code,
it'll display an alphanumeric code on this screen.
You can pop that into Google or whatever search engine you prefer, and it will generally give
you a nice little brief description of what the underlying issue is.
If you want to clear that diagnostic trouble code off of your dash, you can hit Clear DTC
Codes.
Again, make sure your key is in the on position, and it will clear that light off of your dash.
Just keep in mind, if you don't fix the underlying problem, chances are that light will return
at a later time.
Now, once it's cleared those diagnostic trouble codes, simply turn the key off, and hit Exit.
All right, next up on our list are Special Functions.
There are a few options in here that you might need to use occasionally, and there are some
options in here that, simply speaking, you should not touch.
So let's go ahead and get in there and I'll show you guys all the other features that
are available in here.
Now, it's gonna ask you to cycle through the ignition, depending on whether it's on or
off.
Now, these are all of your special functions.
Now, first up on our list is KAM reset.
KAM stands for keep alive memory.
That's all the information stored in the PCM when the truck is not running.
A KAM reset is gonna give you the same effect as if you were to unplug your battery terminals.
It's gonna do a hard reset on everything on the vehicle.
Crank Relearn, I'm not gonna get into that, guys.
If you're a certified mechanic, you probably know what that is.
And if you don't know what Crank Relearn is, well, it's definitely not something you should
be playing around with.
This is usually only an option that will be performed after you've had some engine work
done.
For lack of better phrasing, just ignore that, don't bother with it.
Now, you can also make changes to your tire pressure monitor system, and you can also
update your tire size, as well as if you've had new gears installed, so you can calibrate
your speedometer.
If you want to make changes to the TPMS alerts, simply hit OK.
Make sure the key is in the on position, click Continue, and you can see it has our stock
front tire PMS.
If you want to change that, it's pretty simple, brings it to this little numeric screen here,
and you can type in a new TPMS setting from 30 to 100.
Go ahead and click Done, and it'll automatically update for you.
Now, the functions are the same for tire size and axle ratio.
Go ahead and click OK, cycle through the ignition if it asks you to do so, and again, it's gonna
bring it to this page here with our stock tire size, current tire size.
We want to change that.
Let's say we threw 35s on here.
Simply input that new tire size from 23 inches to 40 inches, hit Done, and it will automatically
update that for you.
And you can do the same for the axle ratio.
You can see here it did that little processing for a moment.
And it gave us this notification that that change was successful.
So when you start driving your vehicle, your speedometer should automatically be calibrated.
There's nothing else further you'll need to do.
All right, so those were the primary features and functions of our tuner.
Now, there is some other basic information you can pull off of this device.
This is really convenient for troubleshooting or custom tuning.
Again, under Vehicle Information, you can pull up some basic stuff like your VIN number,
as well as your ECU strategy.
If you're working with a custom tuner, they might ask you for that stuff.
There's some other information in here that'll be helpful for building custom tune files.
You can also find some parameters about your vehicle, including your current axle ratio
and your tire size, as well as the TPMS, so you can see what settings you might need to
change through Vehicle Functions.
Same thing applies to Device Info.
We have the name of our tuner, we also have our serial number, our firmware version, and
we also have our preloaded tuning and custom tuning support, as well as our current tune
revision, and most importantly, how many unlocks we have left on our device and whether our
device is currently paired with our vehicle or not.
Now, you can also access some basic Device Settings, and you can also make some changes
to the device in here.
So again, a quick refresher, we have our Check For Updates, as well as our Cloud File Sync.
And if you do have any datalog files and you prefer to upload them wirelessly, you can
do so using the cloud here.
That way, you don't have to use the data cable.
Then again we have our Wi-Fi networks, and then we have our device settings.
So you can change the brightness of the screen for day and night driving.
And if you want to mount the device on your dash, you can change the orientation of the
screen, whether you want it in portrait or landscape.
You can also change the theme and color of the device, as well as power management mode,
when you want the device to turn on and off.
You can turn on and off the beeping, as well as the startup function and where you want
the device to turn on automatically.
But the most important function is our Factory Reset.
If you've made a bunch of changes to the truck and the device, a factory reset will completely
undo everything that you've done except for your custom or preloaded tunes.
Again, if you want to untune your vehicle, you do have to go to Program Vehicle.
But if you want to undo any other things that you've done, simply hit Factory Reset and
it'll bring you back to stock.
All right, guys.
So as you saw, tuning our truck only took a couple minutes, and getting this thing set
up is super easy.
And that will actually wrap up my review and install of the SCT BDX Tuner, fitting your
2015 or newer 2.7-liter EcoBoost-powered F-150.
I'm Travis, thanks for watching, and for all things F-150, keep it right here at americantrucks.com.