Anyone got a source for Ford OEM tune files?

[JDee]

Does anyone know a place to download Ford OEM tunes from? I am trying to get rid of the PP2 tune with the no lift shift feature and revert to the stock tune. I changed back to the stock throttle body, a local tuner said if I did that I could revert to stock tune. I am sure I had a FR3 tune file that was the OEM file on my computer, and after I did the reload with ProCal3 that file is gone, replaced by a GR3 one that I believe is the Power Pack 2 tune. Anybody know if there's a source for these files without getting dinged $130 an hour by the local stealer? Or does anyone have the OEM tune for a '16 Mustang GT PP1 car?

 

[JAJ]

Does anyone know a place to download Ford OEM tunes from? I am trying to get rid of the PP2 tune with the no lift shift feature and revert to the stock tune. I changed back to the stock throttle body, a local tuner said if I did that I could revert to stock tune. I am sure I had a FR3 tune file that was the OEM file on my computer, and after I did the reload with ProCal3 that file is gone, replaced by a GR3 one that I believe is the Power Pack 2 tune. Anybody know if there's a source for these files without getting dinged $130 an hour by the local stealer? Or does anyone have the OEM tune for a '16 Mustang GT PP1 car?

If you have the actual part number of the file you need, it's available for download here: https://www.motorcraftservice.com/diagnostic/Support?channelId=50&categoryId=288

If you don't have the part number for the file you need, go to this page: https://www.motorcraftservice.com/AsBuilt and download the as-built file for the VIN you're working on.

The As-built file is an XML document and you can read it with a text editor. You'll have to figure out which module number is which module, but there is a section of the XML file that has the full manifest of all of the original software for the vehicle that has that VIN. All of the part numbers for all of the programmable modules are in there. It's tedious, but once you have the file part number(s), go back to the first web page and download them.

 

[JDee]

Wow. There's like 70 or so module numbers in there. Maybe paying the stealer $130 an hour isn't so bad after all! Thanks for the education on that subject!

Just burns my azz that Ford Racing will not release a tune without that no lift shift, might be fine for draggers but it's just not helpful on a road course car at all. Having it in there is like bouncing the car off the rev limiter unless you virtually side step the clutch and I'm concerned that's going to eventually kill my OPG's/engine.

I'm also getting conflicting stories as to whether you can run stock throttle body/stock tune with the Ford Racing airbox from the PP2 kit. I regret ever going down this road, way more trouble than it's worth.

 

[JAJ]

Wow. There's like 70 or so module numbers in there. Maybe paying the stealer $130 an hour isn't so bad after all! Thanks for the education on that subject!

Just burns my azz that Ford Racing will not release a tune without that no lift shift, might be fine for draggers but it's just not helpful on a road course car at all. Having it in there is like bouncing the car off the rev limiter unless you virtually side step the clutch and I'm concerned that's going to eventually kill my OPG's/engine.

I'm also getting conflicting stories as to whether you can run stock throttle body/stock tune with the Ford Racing airbox from the PP2 kit. I regret ever going down this road, way more trouble than it's worth.

I just re-read my post - I re-read it a couple of times but I just couldn't find the part where I said it was easy

That said, in jest of course, it's not as hard as it looks. Focus on the module numbers, or better still, if you have one part number, or even part of one, you can find the rest.

By the way, if you pay the dealer, they can't do what you want. The IDS program will automatically search for the latest code for your VIN and it won't let you pick an earlier version. If you want to go backwards, you have to do it manually.

 

[JDee]

I just re-read my post - I re-read it a couple of times but I just couldn't find the part where I said it was easy

That said, in jest of course, it's not as hard as it looks. Focus on the module numbers, or better still, if you have one part number, or even part of one, you can find the rest.

By the way, if you pay the dealer, they can't do what you want. The IDS program will automatically search for the latest code for your VIN and it won't let you pick an earlier version. If you want to go backwards, you have to do it manually.

LOL! I just want rid of the damn no lift shift thing. Why Ford Racing would put that in there with no option to disable it is beyond me. Any OEM tune will probably do that, but may not be able to live with the PP2 airbox. It looks like I may even have to roll right back to the stock airbox and everything because I am getting mixed signals as to whether an OEM tune will be OK with the PP2 airbox or not. Going to talk to a tuner this morning about whether they can make the OEM throttle body work happily with the PP2 airbox, they said for sure they cannot work with the GT350 TB. Can't do anything more with it until the weekend now.

This was a bad experience and will probably be the last time I buy anything from Ford Racing. Clearly, Ford has missed that some of us enthusiasts are not kids anymore and cat like reflexes and movement are a thing of the past, needing to practically sidestep the clutch to avoid engine stutter is just ridiculous.

Thanks for all your help, appreciate it greatly.

 

[thelostotter]

When you connect to your car with the ProCal tool and software and open the tune file on your computer, do you get the “Restore” button? If so, that’s all you need to do. The stock tune is embedded in the file that procal saves to your hard drive.

The GT350 air box won’t work with the stock tune, but any email tuner can give you a tune that will work fine.

 

[JAJ]

LOL! I just want rid of the damn no lift shift thing. Why Ford Racing would put that in there with no option to disable it is beyond me. Any OEM tune will probably do that, but may not be able to live with the PP2 airbox. It looks like I may even have to roll right back to the stock airbox and everything because I am getting mixed signals as to whether an OEM tune will be OK with the PP2 airbox or not. Going to talk to a tuner this morning about whether they can make the OEM throttle body work happily with the PP2 airbox, they said for sure they cannot work with the GT350 TB. Can't do anything more with it until the weekend now.

This was a bad experience and will probably be the last time I buy anything from Ford Racing. Clearly, Ford has missed that some of us enthusiasts are not kids anymore and cat like reflexes and movement are a thing of the past, needing to practically sidestep the clutch to avoid engine stutter is just ridiculous.

Thanks for all your help, appreciate it greatly.

So, I looked at the various FP upgrades and I think I see where your problem is coming from. Level 2 and 3 packages from FP replace the air filter housing, air duct and throttle body, and the level 3 package replaces the intake manifold as well. The air duct and TB changes pretty much rule out using the original software.

If I was in your situation, I'd be looking for a tuner that uses the HP Tuners software. The HP Tuners workflow has the tech copying the software in the ECU, modifying it and putting it back. It may be possible to remove the no-shift lift function without changing anything else. If they can't do that, then they can produce a cal file that starts with the original software and makes it work with the new parts.

 

[JDee]

So, I looked at the various FP upgrades and I think I see where your problem is coming from. Level 2 and 3 packages from FP replace the air filter housing, air duct and throttle body, and the level 3 package replaces the intake manifold as well. The air duct and TB changes pretty much rule out using the original software.

If I was in your situation, I'd be looking for a tuner that uses the HP Tuners software. The HP Tuners workflow has the tech copying the software in the ECU, modifying it and putting it back. It may be possible to remove the no-shift lift function without changing anything else. If they can't do that, then they can produce a cal file that starts with the original software and makes it work with the new parts.

That is very interesting because that is the only real issue I have with it, other than it really didn't do much for performance. The shop I was talking to closed today so this is going to be backburnered for a while. Thanks for this info, gives me something to work with.

 

[Awk]

LOL! I just want rid of the damn no lift shift thing. Why Ford Racing would put that in there with no option to disable it is beyond me. Any OEM tune will probably do that, but may not be able to live with the PP2 airbox.

Hey, what's not working well with the no lift shifting from Ford? I'm always getting a bit jealous when I hear the local champion racer's auto 911 GT 3 do those amazingly fast shifts, so no lift shifting sounds like a fun thing to try.

 

[JDee]

<rant>
Go for it! Enjoy how the rear end steps out with a ton of wheelspin on a full throttle 4-5 shift at over 100 mph with 100 tread wear track tires on anything less than a perfect track. Revel in the engine stutter on shifts when the no lift shift goes active with any clutch motion at all, pray that you can do shifts in less than a thousand's of a second. Delight in the no decrease in lap times after spending way over a thousand bucks on a gizmo that does nothing good at all. Be amazed how quickly your transmission disintegrates from having maximum torque brutally applied on shifts repeatedly. There's more, but that alone is more than enough.
</rant>

Seriously, that no lift shift stuff is meant for drag racers that can count on a traction perfect track. It has no business being on a road course car. And Ford Racing won't turn it off and there's no ability for the user to turn it off, I asked. I'm in the process of removing the GT350 throttle body and getting the local Ford shop to roll it back to stock tune which I consider an upgrade to what I've got now. I shouldn't have to take it to the dealer to do this, when I put the PP2 tune on it said in the directions it would save a copy of the factory tune to your computer and how to roll it back. So I tried to do that, no joy, the tuner box said the tune file saved on my computer was the same as the one in the car's computer which is the stuttering PP2 tune. I looked and it was. So that also didn't work. I highly recommend you don't go that route, at least not with Ford's power pack tunes. Maybe mine's an outlier, I don't know, but it's bad.

You're likely hearing cars equipped with high dollar racing DCT transmissions, sort of the equivalent of the Hollinger that's in the Mustang GT4, though that trans is actually a paddle shifted sequential I am told. Just flick the paddles and a perfect shift every time. Most convential automatics these days in performance cars shift damn fast, they just can't stand the heat without major cooling added. I enjoy a manual, and I can still roll the ankle to downshift as good as ever, I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. Though if there was such a thing as a cheap track DCT I'd be seriously tempted.....

 

[JDee]

This got me thinking. I compared top end speeds on the back straight from videos shot with the stock tune/closed airbox and the PP2 open airbox/tune. Looking at the same place on the track where I am still full throttle but very nearly ready to lift for Turn 8 there is virtually no difference in top speed at all. It may even be worse because the closed airbox videos were shot in my first year back on track and my cornering speeds/lap times were not stellar. In terms of whether the PP2 thing is even making any useful extra power my admittedly not perfect video/data doesn't show it if it is.

I went to the Ford site to download my stock tune and this is what I got in the file that downloaded from my VIN

"<AS_BUILT_DATA><VEHICLE><VIN>VIN REMOVED FOR INTERNET SAFETY LOL!!!</VIN><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 612</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> PCM DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 613</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> BCE DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 614</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> CCC DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 615</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> SPDJB DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><MISC_DATA><TEARTAG></TEARTAG></MISC_DATA></VEHICLE></AS_BUILT_DATA>"

Used to be so much simpler with points, plugs, condensor, a timing light and carb jets.

 

[Awk]

<rant>
Go for it! Enjoy how the rear end steps out with a ton of wheelspin on a full throttle 4-5 shift at over 100 mph with 100 tread wear track tires on anything less than a perfect track. Revel in the engine stutter on shifts when the no lift shift goes active with any clutch motion at all, pray that you can do shifts in less than a thousand's of a second. Delight in the no decrease in lap times after spending way over a thousand bucks on a gizmo that does nothing good at all. Be amazed how quickly your transmission disintegrates from having maximum torque brutally applied on shifts repeatedly. There's more, but that alone is more than enough.
</rant>

Ai, that sounds pretty bad and dangerous.

The new mach1 has a no lift shift, which seems to be working good in at least one on-track video review, so wondering if Ford has managed to improve it then and the changes will trickle down to the Mustang GT tunes:

 

[JAJ]

This got me thinking. I compared top end speeds on the back straight from videos shot with the stock tune/closed airbox and the PP2 open airbox/tune. Looking at the same place on the track where I am still full throttle but very nearly ready to lift for Turn 8 there is virtually no difference in top speed at all. It may even be worse because the closed airbox videos were shot in my first year back on track and my cornering speeds/lap times were not stellar. In terms of whether the PP2 thing is even making any useful extra power my admittedly not perfect video/data doesn't show it if it is.

I went to the Ford site to download my stock tune and this is what I got in the file that downloaded from my VIN

"<AS_BUILT_DATA><VEHICLE><VIN>VIN REMOVED FOR INTERNET SAFETY LOL!!!</VIN><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 612</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> PCM DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 613</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> BCE DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 614</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> CCC DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><ERROR><ERRORCODE> 615</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG> SPDJB DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR><MISC_DATA><TEARTAG></TEARTAG></MISC_DATA></VEHICLE></AS_BUILT_DATA>"

Used to be so much simpler with points, plugs, condensor, a timing light and carb jets.

Try it again tomorrow. Looks like the server's down.

 

[TMSBOSS]

The new mach1 has a no lift shift, which seems to be working good in at least one on-track video review

Yes, It does seem to work. The shifts seem to be a bit slow. Could be the driver.
First video of a right hand drive mustang for me. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JDee]

Ai, that sounds pretty bad and dangerous.

The new mach1 has a no lift shift, which seems to be working good in at least one on-track video review, so wondering if Ford has managed to improve it then and the changes will trickle down to the Mustang GT tunes:

That video is a little confusing. The revs are dropping between upshifts and the shifts are slow, is he actually holding his foot to the floor? The revs don't drop with mine, it just stutters at the same revs until the clutch is back up at which time the power comes on instantly. It's kind of an on/off switch effect. That sounded like a guy making pretty much normal shifts, if he was holding his foot down.

In this case it won't get fixed because this wasn't a Ford OEM tune, it's a Ford Racing tune. The car is a 2016 and Ford OEM didn't have no lift shift then that I am aware of. This tune came with the Power Pack 2 kit, I've spoken to Ford Racing about it and they have no plans to do anything with it. Since my data shows it produced no useful results on the track I think I'm going to go back to the stock airbox/tune. I don't doubt the new tunes may be better, but this one's a dead duck.

 

[JDee]

Try it again tomorrow. Looks like the server's down.

So I did, and I got a file with data in it. Has a .ab extension and is only 22 Kb in size. Does that sound right?

The last two lines are:
AF</F188><F18C>I</F18C></NODEID><ERROR><ERRORCODE>614</ERRORCODE><ERRORMSG>CCC DATA NOT FOUND</ERRORMSG></ERROR></VEHICLE></AS_BUILT_DATA>

That doesn't look good, did I get a complete file?

 

[Awk]

That video is a little confusing. The revs are dropping between upshifts and the shifts are slow, is he actually holding his foot to the floor? The revs don't drop with mine, it just stutters at the same revs until the clutch is back up at which time the power comes on instantly. It's kind of an on/off switch effect. That sounded like a guy making pretty much normal shifts, if he was holding his foot down.

In this case it won't get fixed because this wasn't a Ford OEM tune, it's a Ford Racing tune. The car is a 2016 and Ford OEM didn't have no lift shift then that I am aware of. This tune came with the Power Pack 2 kit, I've spoken to Ford Racing about it and they have no plans to do anything with it. Since my data shows it produced no useful results on the track I think I'm going to go back to the stock airbox/tune. I don't doubt the new tunes may be better, but this one's a dead duck.

Yes, they drop, but I thought that was how the no lift shift logic was supposed to work. Ford Racing confirmed to you that the revs are not supposed to drop? So if you shift up from second gear at 7,000, the ecu will be holding it at 7,000 when you engage third gear? I can see how you would find that rather undesirable, but it seems strange they would implement it like that. If so I wonder if the reason it looks so much better in the video is related to the rev matching present on the 2020+ cars, including the mach1.

I also assumed the shifts in the video were a bit slow because he shifted a bit slow/relaxed, though it's hard to see for sure. His other shifts are rather relaxed too though.

Not sure of the relationship between Ford Racing (is that the same as Ford Performance?) and the rest, so perhaps I wrongly assumed they'd share stuff like this. I.e., if FP already had the software (I guess it's software) to do this, Ford "OEM" would base itself on that software when implementing the same feature for the mach1, and improvements would trickle back and forth between them.

 

[carver]

Hey JDee , just curious....does your tune rev match / auto blip , on down shifts ? I'm thinking no.

 

[JDee]

Hey JDee , just curious....does your tune rev match / auto blip , on down shifts ? I'm thinking no.

Nope, the good old right ankle despite being broken once still manages to do the blipping! LOL!

You coming down our way this spring/summer at all? I'm aiming for Shannonville on the 24th, have my trans cooler almost installed now just need to do the gauge and pump wiring, hope to have my tune issues resolved by then as well but that's kind of iffy right now.

 

[carver]

Nope, the good old right ankle despite being broken once still manages to do the blipping! LOL!

You coming down our way this spring/summer at all? I'm aiming for Shannonville on the 24th, have my trans cooler almost installed now just need to do the gauge and pump wiring, hope to have my tune issues resolved by then as well but that's kind of iffy right now.

Yup , but still don't have decent wheels or rubber at this point , I will make due with what I,ve got. Everything is such a PITA with covid i'm just going to hold off with camber plates, spacers, studs etc. till things somewhat get back to normal. I will just have run the Boss in stock mode for now.