i'm not a mechanic,and this may be the stupidest question ever!!! but 1 question that i was always afraid of asking! do you have to buy your own tuner?they arent cheap from what i can see,and i cant afford to buy one. can you rent,or can someone with there own tuner hook me up!? does tweeking things void warranty? when you turn in,would the dealer even know it was re-tuned?
sorry for all the questions,
thank you guys!
oh yeah some info,
2007 mustang v6 with p/package.
made my own c.a.i,installed a little larger inlet pipe with a k/n type filter.i would imagine what i did messed with the fuel economy,and maybe? the performance?it feels stronger on the road,but a tune would help alot,from what i read at least.
thanx again,
There's no such thing as a stupid question ~ The only stupid ones are those unquestioned.
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do you have to buy your own tuner?they arent cheap from what i can see,and i cant afford to buy one.
They are expensive as hell. You could get a used one off ebaY for a good price.
As far as getting into "personalized tuning", yes, you need your own. Places like Discount Tire, Ford dealerships, and maybe some speed shops can do small stuff like retuning your speedo for new rims/gears, but probably not for a CAI or whatever.
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can you rent,or can someone with there own tuner hook me up!?
No, they lock onto a specific VIN number, and you can only use one someone else used as soon as they've returned their vehicle to stock.
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does tweeking things void warranty?
Yes... Well not the whole warranty. But if your engine misfire 50 times and destroys the block and you have a bad tune, you're pretty much screwed.
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when you turn in,would the dealer even know it was re-tuned?
Yes. The ECU remembers it.
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All show... So far. Exterior: Roush Front Fascia w/o chin spoiler, Black Billet Foglight Delete Grille, hidden smoked foglights, GTS Blackout Panel, smoked tail lights, WebElectric Sequential tail lights, MUSTANG 3rd brake light, 14" Shorty Antenna. Interior: Red piping, RVinyl Aluminum Dash Kit, CDC Aluminum Pedal Covers.
do you think that i may screw up my engine by putting in larger air inlet tubes to the t.b. and using a k/n type of filter? i figured more cooler air to the engine the better , right? it seems to be running fine,no codes,or check engine lights coming on
i pretty much have everything set up as the stock set up,again just larger pipe.
i have a 2010 v6 and I was looking into a CAI and the whole tune thing popped up!! It will void the warranty and apparently they can see at the dealer how many times you flashed your pcm. If you dont got much time left on your warranty then go for it. As for me I dont wanna risk it, I just had serious problems with my previous car that was the excuse I used to buy this one
oh and bamachips,tillman and brenspeed are great sites for custom tunes for your car from all the research ive gathered from the great minds in this forum!!
the CPU with the info is probably some sort of flash device or hard drive.
once you install something on a HD, even if you uninstall and delete all the files associated with it, the info is still on the disk somewhere. a professional can always find info on a hard drive unless some one has stuck a magnet to it, and you don't want to do that to your car O.o
thats my educated guess. someone correct me if i'm wrong plz
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2006 V6 Mustang Ext. Vis: Mineral Grey w/ Yellow Stripes, Tinted windows, Shorty Antenna, Brake light chrome outline, Custom installed Fog Lights (work in progress). Int. Custom Vis: Yellow/Black Carbon fiber kit, 7 color LED ambient lights, Shaker 500 with PIE module connected to a Belkin Ipod Charger cradle. Pref Mods: Bamachips 91 race+torque tune, C&L CAI, Custom dual exhaust w/ MAC stainless steel axle back mufflers, Front and rear GT sway bar, Shelby strut tower brace.
A lot of posts says it doesnt remember. Just return it to stock. Can you tell me how you know this?
Cuz I've read a lot of posts that say it does . Including some Ford dealer guys.
You don't need to worry. The computer registers a new tune the same way it registers losing all battery power ~ So you could say you just unplugged the battery.
But be warned... Ford will do a lot to try and prove you had a tune if something terrible with the car goes wrong and they don't want to fix it.
My $.02
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All show... So far. Exterior: Roush Front Fascia w/o chin spoiler, Black Billet Foglight Delete Grille, hidden smoked foglights, GTS Blackout Panel, smoked tail lights, WebElectric Sequential tail lights, MUSTANG 3rd brake light, 14" Shorty Antenna. Interior: Red piping, RVinyl Aluminum Dash Kit, CDC Aluminum Pedal Covers.
Ok a lot of question and I am gonna try to answer them best I can...those that I can remember.
Yes they are expensive and yes you need your own. A tuner is locked to the computer strategy code that is in the car. It becomes unlocked once the car is returned to stock tune. This is an option on the tuner. The tuner has 3 +1 slots for the tunes. 3 costum tune and the one stock. As far as I know you cannot delete the stock tune.
I would not change anything with the air flow aside from putting in a better drop in filter. The risk of the car running on a wrong a/f ratio is really not worth it. NEVER run a car that has a CAI without a proper tune. Doing so will damage the car. Unless the CAI says you can and even then I am weary of it.
Ford cannot void your warranty if the problem is not related to anything you done to the car. They may try, but know your rights. If the tune is bad and breaks your engine and they can prove it, then it will be voided. However, most of the people here have custom tunes and don't have problems. I am running my CAI and a tune for a year now. No issues. *knock on wood*
As far as I know, the PCM can only tell them that the car has been refreshed. What was done exactly cannot be determined. My 4 character alpha-numeric code that is on the PCM does not match the actual strategy code. This is because at some point the PCM was reflashed. It was like that from the dealer.
I am pretty sure that the PCM does not store all data like a real PC. It doesn't have the capability to do it. Also it uses Flash memory. Different from HDD.
Your exhaust system does matter. You do not need to tune the car and it cannot void the warranty. Unless again you did something so terribly wrong that it causes your car to break. I don't even know what you could possibly do for it to void the warranty.
And a word of advice. I know money is always an issue and the urge to do something to the car is strong but be mindful. Trying to save money by cutting corners on mods is not wise. Why risk a 15 thousand vehicle (a mustang at that) just to save a few hundred (if you are lucky). Now I am not saying that looking for best deals is bad. Or looking for cheaper ways to do something is stupid. But be mindful of it.
PS: I think I covered all your question if not ask here or IM me if you want.
PPS: Asking a stupid question is better than making a stupid mistake, though you might be punished the same for both.
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2006 Ford Mustang V6 Premium w/ Pony Package (Windveil Blue) - Auto Tran
Oh one more thing before I forget. If you are short on money. The one tune I'd recommend is getting a tuner without a CAI if you really want an upgrade but cannot afford the combo. A tuner will give you more performance upgrade and more flexibility than any CAI will do alone. However, if you can, buying a Tuner/CAI combo from bamachips or brenspeed is the best bang for the buck.
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2006 Ford Mustang V6 Premium w/ Pony Package (Windveil Blue) - Auto Tran
great,thank you all for the advice.
i noticed this morning ,for the first 30 seconds my car had a little rough idle. then it smoothed out like i never touched it [thank god!] gunned it on the highway,seemed to have better gain [maybe in my head?]but again,i really didnt change much,just used bigger air inlet hose. i cant see this damaging the engine.
tuner question, 
but 1 question that i was always afraid of asking! do you have to buy your own tuner?they arent cheap from what i can see,and i cant afford to buy one. can you rent,or can someone with there own tuner hook me up!? does tweeking things void warranty? when you turn in,would the dealer even know it was re-tuned?
It now makes a little whooshing noise. 
134 Hp 194 ft-lbs of torque 
