Pro's an con's to ficm tuning?

e.nickkk · Oct 11, 2012

Greg how does one tune there ficm??:shrug::shrug:

Pizza pig · Oct 11, 2012

You need a remote programmer (loaner) or buy an ficm programer. You can also send your ficm to be flashed if you wish.

Sniper32 · Oct 11, 2012

bought the gryphon programer from PHP and have loved the tunes! Stock injectors and turbo...and i have noticed a great improvement in responsiveness and low-mid power. Again, I haven really noticed much of a mpg gain, maybe 1-2 mpg, but as has been said i dont drive a lifted diesel to get high mpgs. Atlas 80 is great for a DD, Herc is ok but is a lttle to smokey for a DD tune IMO.
All around I would reccommend PHPs tuning to anyone...but as pizza said it doesnt seem to work as well on larger injectors. My buddies truck has 175/75s and there was minimal to no change when he got the tune from PHP at their dyno day

Groovy Chick · Oct 11, 2012

Sniper32 said:
bought the gryphon programer from PHP and have loved the tunes! Stock injectors and turbo...and i have noticed a great improvement in responsiveness and low-mid power. Again, I haven really noticed much of a mpg gain, maybe 1-2 mpg, but as has been said i dont drive a lifted diesel to get high mpgs. Atlas 80 is great for a DD, Herc is ok but is a lttle to smokey for a DD tune IMO.
All around I would reccommend PHPs tuning to anyone...but as pizza said it doesnt seem to work as well on larger injectors. My buddies truck has 175/75s and there was minimal to no change when he got the tune from PHP at their dyno day

Thanks for the great post!

Hercules, BTW, wasn't really written for every day use. Bill kind of planned for it to be used for situations like at the race track, which is why it's smokey.

If you're looking for mpg gains, give the Atlas 40 a try.

jdc753 · Oct 11, 2012

SICKS LITER said:
i do power hungry ficm tuning in house at our shop, ive done about 15 trucks lately, no one has had a bad thing to say, everyone loves it, typically 3-4mpg improvement. huge improvement in torque and mid range response. engine uses a lot less boost to accelarate and cruise.

09stroker said:
I find that very hard to believe

I am one of the trucks Joe (sicks liter) tuned with PHP tunes. We tunes the truck at a recent dyno day and made a few pulls on stock, 40hp FICM and the big FICM tune. On the dyno we didn't see any changes and I ended up leaving it tuned with the big file and nevertheless road tested the 40hp tune. With the big file the truck does seem to have some more power down below 2,000rpm and a touch more smoke. The smoke difference is similar to driving the truck on a cool day vs a hot humid day. I haven't noticed EGTs being much hotter but also haven't towed since the flash.

Biggest gain has been mileage, my truck before would see 14mpg average for the tank which includes about 200 miles of consistent highway driving and the rest is a mix of short city highway runs and light to light driving during the week. Now for the same mix I am getting 17. The week after the tune I drove to jersey and back along with a couple quarter mile runs and city driving, averaged 19 for the trip.

Overall I am very happy with it, see how it goes with another couple thousand miles.

smokedout250 · Oct 11, 2012

Well I guess I need to put this on the want list! An possibly a 58v ficm!

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CCRICE · Oct 11, 2012

I don't see the need in buying a 58v ficm if the one you have isn't broken. Now if it were to crap the bed on you then I could see justifying a 58v.. JMO though.

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Jarrod B · Oct 11, 2012

I have 158k on my stock injectors. When I was on stock programing last month, it did take out some of the start up lag till it hit 1500 rpms. After that the gain was no more. And running that with my reloaded srl tune its even better. I've been told it helps on the down low part and that's where I only see the gain.

I am running the 58v ficm from Bullet Proof and a php tune for the ficm.

java · Oct 11, 2012

Ive tried Innovates FICM tunes and KEMs FICM tunes, 58v and 48v FICMs, with stock injectors and 190/100s and ive never seen a MPG increase that was worth bragging over. I did notice a bit better throttle response and low end power on stock injectors but with the 190s i didnt notice anything much other than it being more smokey.. 09stroker (my brother) has helped me install and test all of the mods on my truck so that is why he says that is hard to believe.

Jarrod B · Oct 11, 2012

java said:
Ive tried Innovates FICM tunes and KEMs FICM tunes, 58v and 48v FICMs, with stock injectors and 190/100s and ive never seen a MPG increase that was worth bragging over. I did notice a bit better throttle response and low end power on stock injectors but with the 190s i didnt notice anything much other than it being more smokey.. 09stroker (my brother) has helped me install and test all of the mods on my truck so that is why he says that is hard to believe.

That was one thing did notice as well. More smoke at spool up and no mpg gain.

smokedout250 · Oct 11, 2012

CCRICE said:
I don't see the need in buying a 58v ficm if the one you have isn't broken. Now if it were to crap the bed on you then I could see justifying a 58v.. JMO though.

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I won't change it unless its broke same with injectors and trans

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gjoski515 · Oct 11, 2012

I didn't notice much on my truck I have 175/100 in her, like The other guys are saying once you get into larger injectors it don't seem to do much, plus didn't notice much on the dyno either, but for the stock trucks with stock injectors it wakes them right up like night and day, I'm opinion great for stock trucks.