Banks Six Gun

[bankspower]

Originally Posted by AllWhite08

When i ordered the six gun i asked the salesman was it online updateable? He said no? I said why not? he said because we have tested it for nearly a year and we dont ship until we are certain its right. I kept replaying this as i was shipping it back to be reflashed. Isnt that life in general?

All of our tuners are internet updateable IF you have the iQ or PDA display. The six gun byitself can't as it has no way to interface with your computer at home. Updates can be found here: Banks Power - Downloads

[AIRDOG1138]

- water under the bridge -

[senix]

Shoot Colin Banks an e-mail is what i would do: cbanks@bankspower.com

Originally Posted by AIRDOG1138

Mr. Banks dude. (I think your name is Jim, right?)

It's been almost 3 weeks and I have yet to hear what's up.
So, ummm... what's up?

I think you know who I am and why I sent my SixGun back.
You know I love Banks but you guys have a serious issue with communication.
I have YET to receive one phone call, one e-mail, one reply of any sort regarding my Sixgun and I have posted here several times and called your tech guys 3 or 4 times now. And I still have no clue what's happening.

Do you think this is how you would like to be communicated with?

Come on guys.

[AllWhite08]

Originally Posted by bankspower

All of our tuners are internet updateable IF you have the iQ or PDA display. The six gun byitself can't as it has no way to interface with your computer at home. Updates can be found here: Banks Power - Downloads

im just telling you what your salesman said.
I would like to see what the iq is about but if you do not provide additonal updates or tuning options like offroad tunes then its irrelevant.

[Caribe_Pick_up]

Just to let you all know that after the updating (01-Sep-2009) more than two months have elapsed without a shutdown, definitively the problem was solved. The SixGun has been working perfectly.

[senix]

me took, have about 4K miles since the update. no issues.

[AIRDOG1138]

UPDATE --

I meet the Banks people at the SEMA show in Vegas last week. Other than FORD I'd say that Banks had the most impressive showcase. To call it a booth is a major under statement.

When I got home they had sent me an all new SiXGUn and all new cables as well as the new Banks IQ. I am going to install all of it tomorrow. I just had my thermostats (yes, there are 2 of them) replaced at the dealership and the CPU reflashed with the latest updates. So everything should be rocking and I'll report back, hopefully, with good news.

Gino

[senix]

hope it works well for you. why did you need your thermostats replaced? Did you have an overheat condition?

[AIRDOG1138]

OK. Here's the poop.

#1 - Why did I need the thermostats replaced? I have no idea. I am at 99,630 miles and the check engine light came on. When the fella's checked the reason for the light it said that my thermostat was stuck open. It was under warranty so I had the dealership replace them. BTW - this happened while the Banks stuff was off the truck and running stock. So it was not a Banks related issue in anyway. My mech friend summed it up this way. "Dude. It's $29.00 for 2 Thermostats. They go bad in 100,000 miles. What do you expect?"

#2 - I installed the new SixGun and crancked up the Big Blue Beast! Here's where things get weird. (sidenote: this should come as no surprise to those who have been following my journey) The engine fired right up but I noticed a very loud roar coming from under the hood. It sounded like I was going up a steep hill while towing a trailer. The RPM's seemed normal, so I couldn't figure out what was happening. It seemed to me that the radiator fan was running at 100 mile per hour. But the engine wasn't over heating. So I had no idea what was happening.

I took it into the dealership Monday and had the mechanics take a listen and they said the same thing. The fan was running at full speed. They ran the codes and the fan clutch had gone out. For good measure they also told me that my brake switch was also sending an error code. The fan clutch was under warranty so it got replaced and as I am somewhat friendly with the guys they replaced my brake switch as well at no cost to me other than the $17.98 (plus tax) for the part.

So, the thermostats, the fan clutch and the brake switch all decided to go bad in the same week and all with less than 400 miles to go while under warranty. I gotta tell ya, that's just good timing right there. It should be noted that all of these things happened while I was running stock. The loud engine roar had been intermittently happening for about the last 3 weeks but would go away quickly. So while it was concerning to me I paid it little attention.

The bottom line: The F350 is once again running like a top and the SixGun is performing perfectly. It's really awesome to have the power back. You don't appreciate it until it's gone and you try to pass a few people and can't seem to get the ponies to work for you. The BanksIQ is also amazing. I was worried that I would have a large learning curve after I got used to the Palm PDA - but the learning curve is right at ZERO. It's completely intuitive and I love all the options. I really like the huge display and the ability to alter the screen color a million shades to fit your tastes.

Huge thanks to Banks for really really taking care of me and staying patient through all my trials. For me at least it was well worth it.

Gino

[AIRDOG1138]

Update:

I have now been running the new SixGun for a little more than a week and everything is great. Actually, everything is better than great. I have taken two long drives (135 miles and 200+ miles) and checked my mileage after each. The first drive I was getting 19.1 mpg on the highway and the second I was getting 17.3 mpg. The second drive was into the Texas Hill Country and back so the terrain was very hilly the whole way. This explains the difference in mpg. I set the speed control on 65 mph for both trips. That is definitely better mph than I was getting before. When I recently had the dealership replace the few items that had gone bad they told me they had reflashed the cpu with a new update. So I don't know who to thank for this, Banks or Ford, so I'll thank them both.

Here's the other thing, and thing I am REALLY REALLY happy about. I have driven around 500 miles since I got the truck back from the dealership and installed the new SixGun (Yes. I installed it myself! :þ ) and it hasn't gone into regen yet. Before I took it in and then put the SixGun back in it I was hitting a regen every 60-70 miles. On my trip back from Florida while I was pulling my 5th wheel it was going into regen every 30-40 miles then entire way to Florida and back. It was hyper annoying! Now, as I said, I have gone over 500 miles without a regen, and this includes me just getting back from taking the 5th wheel 180 miles to Garner State Park in the heart of the Texas hill country. The Florida trip was all flat terrain the whole trip. This trip was all steep hills and long climbs. The truck was having to work pretty hard on some of the long climbs around Kerrville. But still not one regen.

Someone else in the this forum commented that their truck wasn't hitting regen very often since they had their SixGun software reflashed (or words to that affect) and now I am having the same wonderful experience too after getting mine back from Banks. I don't know what you guys did, but I am one happy guy. The MPG are up, regens are way down and the truck is running better than it ever has.

Thanks Banks!!!!

[senix]

last trip for me was about 500 miles between regens, empty hwy driving...it is great!

[mattebury]

Has anybody heard rumors if they are going to make the EconoMind for the 6.4? I'm more interested in that that making blistering power.

[dsgsr]

Please Forgive me if this has been asked before. Is it true you can't install the Banks 6 gun tuner without voiding the warranty? I understand that tuners can be traced!

Thanks,
David

[raceman520]

My understanding is that the six gun, when removed is not able to be traced. That info came direct from BANKS tech support.
I have a F-250, leveling kit, 35" BFG's, BANKS exhaust, Six gun with IQ, Just finished a 500 mile trim a few hours ago, ran 75mph, only got 15mpg. Is that normal for having the bigger tires, a lot of the trip had a 1% incline to it. Had to pull the Grapevine in Ca. I was running level 5. Any suggestions on how to get more mpg, was hoping to get at least 17 on this trip. Thanks

[senix]

lower your speed will improve mpg's