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Receiving unmarried AP from previous FiestaST owner. Can I reuse their flash tunes? Also, vin lock?

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#1
Apologize to the community in advance if these have been addressed but used the Search and couldn't find anything related to my questions so here goes:

Does anyone have history using a previously owned AP with flash tunes that were already on the AP? I'm not talking the Cobb Stage 1 tune but if someone had Dizzy, Stratified or Adapt-X flash tunes on the AP and were able to use them even though the AP had a previous owner.

Specifically, can I reuse the Adapt-X flash tunes the unmarried AP already has? I understand using custom tunes is a HUGE no and that even with some flash tunes that may be a bad idea as I wouldn't know what mods the seller had tuned the car to optimize. However my hope is, since Adapt-X requires all stock parts (except maybe an aftermarket FMIC which I will have on my car...soon) and learns using the car's existing knock sensors and adjusts accordingly, as long as I don't go WOT straight out the gate the new tune will "learn" and adjust based on knock. And eventually I'll have my own Adapt-X tune without having to buy my own.

I would ask monstertuned directly but I don't want to burn any bridges as I'm not sure I'd get a straight answer. The buy thread mentioned how these tunes *might* be VIN locked and I couldn't find anything on the forum about that so this might all be moot. (how can you even VIN lock something electronically when the whole idea of tuning is to circumvent stock ECU? but I know next to nothing about this stuff so I'm all ears.) Any clarity there would be appreciated too!

If there's any gray area I don't mind buying the flash tune full price from monstertune but I just wanted to check here if it is black and white and maybe I can save myself $300+ plus turnaround.


Thanks, everyone.
 


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FiestaSTdude

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#2
Im pretty sure I was the person who mentioned that the tunes might be vin locked (only work with a certain vin number). I thought I saw people on here talk about it in the past. I too am curious whether vin locked tunes are an actual thing or not.
 


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#3
Im pretty sure I was the person who mentioned that the tunes might be vin locked (only work with a certain vin number). I thought I saw people on here talk about it in the past. I too am curious whether vin locked tunes are an actual thing or not.
they definitely are, my used AP has a Cobb stage 3 tune which is VIN locked to the previous car.

I cant speak for what tunes are and are not, however.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #4
@FiestaSTdude yep I'm the buyer from that FS thread. if i could use the existing tunes that'd be next level dope since that's the exact tune combo i was already planning on getting but I'm saving money regardless so just want to see what's what.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #5
@rcnut14 how'd you know it was VIN locked? like was it wiped from the AP, still taking up tune slots but not accessible (like maybe grayed out?) or was it just hanging out and if you hooked it back up to the previous car you'd be good?

just curious because, if VIN lock is a thing with adapt-x, then I'll be buying the EXACT same combo and don't want to run into compatibility issues. i'm sure monstertuned can address that without issue but just curious. I've found the more i know about the car before i start changing things the less i have to mad scramble when my car's on the operating stand with its guts all over the place.
 


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Capri to ST

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#6
Im pretty sure I was the person who mentioned that the tunes might be vin locked (only work with a certain vin number). I thought I saw people on here talk about it in the past. I too am curious whether vin locked tunes are an actual thing or not.
Yes they are, I have the Ford warranty approved Mountune MP 215 tune, and my understanding is that it is definitely vin locked.
 


Mikey456

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#7
It makes me curious why people add value to selling used AP’s because of a tune. I rather just pay for the hardware and then buy whatever tune I want. Some people like tune “A” and some prefer tune “B”. The hardware price should remain the same. IMO
 


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#8
@rcnut14 how'd you know it was VIN locked? like was it wiped from the AP, still taking up tune slots but not accessible (like maybe grayed out?) or was it just hanging out and if you hooked it back up to the previous car you'd be good?

just curious because, if VIN lock is a thing with adapt-x, then I'll be buying the EXACT same combo and don't want to run into compatibility issues. i'm sure monstertuned can address that without issue but just curious. I've found the more i know about the car before i start changing things the less i have to mad scramble when my car's on the operating stand with its guts all over the place.
Again, don't know about the adapt-x, but on my AP when I go to "tunes", I have stage0, stage1 91-93, stage2 91-93, then stage3-91-93 greyed out and it says "locked to vin:######" next to it.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #9
@Mikey456 seems pretty straightforward to me that since they invested more into the product that's up for sale they would hope to get more return for it. if i was selling a house with a refurnished kitchen you planned on redoing as soon as you bought it, I'm not going to reduce the price.

now if that kitchen was VIN locked and no one could use it after buying the house it came with... I'd be wondering how someone fit a kitchen in a compact hatch.

edit: i agree that flash tunes add no value regardless if they're VIN locked other than getting an idea from the seller how that tune worked on the FiST. my seller was very upfront about it.
 


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#10
Would like an update when you receive the AP you bought.

For some input from me. I bought one with a few Dizzy tunes and I'm able to use them on my car. Of course they might not be optimized for my car. Adapt-X shouldn't have that issue though.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #11
so update:

AP came unmarried with a lot of tunes.
Cobb Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
Stratified E40 tune
Adapt X 87-93OCT and E30 Tune

Surprisingly all Cobb tunes WERE NOT VIN locked but the Adapt X and Stratified tunes were

But it let me put the Adapt X tunes on the AP so I figured why not? put the 87-93 OCT tune on, married the AP to the car, backed up the ECU and...installed the AdaptX tune on. it took the tune bc the shift light indicator doesn't tell me to shift at 800rpm anymore but I'm not sure if it's learning. Did a few pulls during my lunch break and seemed like it was getting more power on my way home but can't say if that's butt dyno or not.

Read it takes awhile for the Adapt X to increase power so we'll see over the next few days what's up.
 


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#12
Thanks for the update. The Cobb tunes should always carry over. There's also a function to reload them (maybe in case someone tweaked theirs?). Cool deal if the Adapt X carries over. Should be a good tune for that sort of thing. Running the Dizzy tunes on mine were quite easy to tell there was more power.

I assume the Adapt X would use the same OAR type of reading like the others, so monitor that and make sure it gets to -1.0. Once that is there, the tune should be happy, but maybe Adapt X handles it differently.
 


its_stock

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#13
Has anybody reached out to Dizzy or Stratified to see if they would be able to remove the vin lock or maybe update the tune for your car?
 


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