FICM vs ECM Tuning

[kghenson]

I have an 06 F350 Lariet CC Dually, SB that so far is bone stock. I am considering for now a FICM or ECM tuner. It was suggested I start by just doing the FICM.

My goal is fuel milage, I would like to keep it close to stock, I don't really want to make it louder so exhaust will stay stock for now an most everything I read says it gets plenty of air.

Doest it make sense to start with the IDP FICM tuner and from there go to the SCT with Eric's tunes next to improve fuel milage or am I lost in the woods.

Thanks for helping this newbie out in advance.

BTW the truck rocks, just want to make the juice last longer

[bwillis2003]

First of all, welcome man.

Second, I wouldnt pay that much for a FICM.

Third, you need to find out if yours is broken or not. If its not, then you just need your FICM tuned. If it is broken, I highly recommend ficmrepair.com. Ed is awesome. After he is done with it, Id tell him to ship it to PHP to get it tuned.

It needs to read atleast 46 volts to not be broken. Its a 48 volt unit. To do this, I would first of all recommend buying a Edge CTS Insight to monitor your temps. With this unit, you can prevent alot of things from going wrong by knowing what the numbers are.

As for tuning the FICM, I highly recommend Bill at Power Hungry Performance.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

[Dave]

The best option is a combination of the two.

Especially if you tow heavy.

At first I would recommend custom ECM tunes.

Then FICM.

[dieselburner21]

^^^ this, start with an SCT that can tune the trans then go from there. A combo of both will yield the best results

[kghenson]

Well thnks, Innovative suggested I start with FICM and I was wondering why that was....

As to FICM being broke, low voltage etc, there are no symptoms of any malfunctions, just looking for better economy....not going to bomb it yet, but the bug could bite someday

[strokedoutlaw]

i would get you a edge cts before anything! i would go with the people that came up with the ficm tuner, power hungry performance, you should take a look at ficmrepair.com before you go buying a new ficm

[2 stroker]

I think tunes are fine if you know your truck but first you need to know the health of the motor and that takes gauges like the Edge CTS-CS or ScangaugeII and add a coolant filter to remove the casting sand then do a coolant flush add a fuel pressure gauge 99% of most 6.0 are running on low fuel pressure under 45lbs at WOT kills injectors, need to install the blue spring then after you know your motor is healthy go for the tunes, just my 2 cents.
2 stroker

[2003kingranch]

what about a edge from php?

[strokedoutlaw]

ive heard that bill came from edge and have heard that he does really good tunes on their products, thats just what ive heard i have no experience with it though

[windrunner408]

To the OP, since you dont have anything yet; I highly recommend calling at talking to Bill @ PHP. He is VERY knowledgable and can help point you in the right direction. I am definitely not saying that Eric @ IDP is not as knowledgeable but I dont think it was him you talked to as I dont see why he would recommend a FICM tune over an ECM tune to start with. My recommendation is a custom ECM tune because it tunes the tranny as well and will help it live longer then go with the FICM tune to get every last drop of fuel that you can from the stock injectors. Hope this helps.