SCT Performance Programmer BDX Mustang 2015-2023

Bill: Today we're gonna show you how to add some horsepower and torque to your 1996 through 2018 Ford Mustang, with help from SCT Performance and their new BDX Programmer. Now, if you're a subscriber to our channel, you're obviously familiar with SCT and their high-end programs we've used for years on our Mustang builds we've done here. Now, this is the BDX. This is the latest in SCT's technology. We have Jana here from SCT, who's gonna tell us all about this and why you want this for your Mustang.

Jana: The new BDX, of course, is the newest, the latest and greatest. This is one of the neatest programmers we probably have ever put out to this point. The reason that I say this is it's taking your capabilities to a whole nother level. Beforehand, on all of the devices we've had prior to now, plug it in, get some information, go to the computer, do an update, blah, blah-

Bill: Sure. I mean, we did that with the X4 many, many times, yeah.

Jana: Exactly, so this is taking away that necessity. There's no computer needed, which for a lot of guys, especially your Mac users, which we haven't always been-

Bill: Which we are here, yeah.

Jana:... super user friendly, so apologies, but you can link into WiFi, do the update, stick it in the car, or actually you might even be in the car with WiFi, and just tune it from there.

Bill: Everything's done literally when you're programming the vehicle?

Jana: Correct.

Bill: No more go to program. I need-

Jana: Nope.

Bill:... an update, back to my computer.

Jana: Yep.

Bill: Update it. Everything can be done.

Jana: Exactly.

Bill: Built-in WiFi. Now, Can it receive tunes that way as well?

Jana: It can. We now have so it's called Cloud Tuning.

Bill: Okay.

Jana: Technically, you register your device. You give your custom tuning dealer to serial number off the back. They build this tune for you. They'll name it whatever, let you know what's going on, upload it to the cloud. Same basic concept: link it into your Wifi. Search for the update. It's going to say, "This custom tune's available for you," and downloads-

Bill: You're taking basically a big, time consuming part out of the whole process here-

Jana: Exactly, well-

Bill:... especially with custom tuning and-

Jana: That's right, no wires, no computers. None of that stuff needed. Everybody has WiFi. Even if they're just using like a hotspot off their cellphone, it-

Bill: Pretty much, yeah.

Jana:... works the same way. That is really neat. That's been super helpful for so many people already, to now have to mess around with that. That's one of the most awesome features. Of course, it's handheld. It does have the gages, so if people did wanna leave it up, because they wanna watch those parameters on the dash, we do have a mounting option for it, so they can do that too. It also has lots of room now for custom tunes. You actually can load up to 20 custom tunes on it.

Bill: Wow, okay. I remember the days of three was a big thing-

Jana: Exactly, so yes, tons of space and depending on the application, you'll have preloaded as well. As we were talking here a little earlier that, say you're at the track; you don't have WiFi. Well, anything that's already downloaded onto this, you can switch back and forth.

Bill: You can use it without it?

Jana: Correct.

Bill: It's not required. Excellent.

Jana: Correct.

Bill: Now, this you said, this will do, we're talking 1996 to current Mustang.

Jana: Correct.

Bill: What else will it work on in the Ford world anyway?

Jana: Well, we're in the process in trying to add everything that we can: the trucks, the cars, like the Fiesta and the Focus.

Bill: Okay, so Focus ST, Focus RS, stuff like that will do as well?

Jana: Correct.

Bill: Awesome. Let's get it hooked up to our 2015 Mustang GT, and Jana here is gonna show us how to use it. We're gonna use the BDX Tuner to tune our 2017 EcoBoost we built for the SEMA show a couple years ago. Now, just like any other tuner, the first step: plug it into the OBD-II port, and then plug it into the device to turn it on.

Jana: Plug it into the diagnostic port. Okay, so once you get it plugged into the diagnostic port, go ahead and plug it into the top of the programmer. Wait for it to power up. We're going to go right into program vehicle. We're going to do vehicle updates. You want to confirm that this is actually the vehicle that you're working on. It's plugged in, so it is. We'll confirm that. Now, it's going to ask for the device updates, and this is the part that makes this device really fun, is you can just link it into WiFi, and no need to run to the computer.

We can press continue. You are going to need the internet required, so we're going to go continue. It should bring up the networks that are available, and we are gonna select that one, and it's gonna ask for the passcode, so I'm gonna put that in. It'll tell you when it's been successful, so select okay. Now it's going to verify all of your files for the vehicle.

Okay, so now it's going to tell you that the device is up to date. Select okay, and we're ready to program the vehicle. Okay, so this is where if you had custom tunes, you would want to sync with the cloud, but since we're not going to do that, we're just going to skip. This is your disclaimer: you're going to have to select that and continue. We're going to turn the key to on. This is a push button. We'll hit it one time and continue.

Now, as we're about to program the vehicle, you can see that it's brought out the application that we're going to program, so, of course, we're going to select that. It says, "Your device is not paired," which is correct, because we have not programmed the vehicle yet, so we want to confirm. Asking for additional tune options. We can just go ahead and skip that. This is where it's asking for engine options, so we'll just continue there.

It's really important when it starts to process these files that you don't start the vehicle. You always want to leave it in the accessory mode unless it tells you otherwise, and B, make sure that it doesn't come unplugged. When you're doing the programming, from about start to finish, it takes anywhere from about 20 to 30 minutes, so the percentages seems to kind of crawl along. Sometimes that's normal, depending on the vehicle, so don't panic.

Again, like I'd mentioned, do not unplug this. Don't interrupt the download. Don't start the vehicle. Just let it do its thing. With the progression of the download and the speed that it actually starts to program your vehicle is going to have a lot to do with the speed of the WiFi, so if you're linked into something that's super quick, it's gonna happen really fast. If you're not, then it's gonna take a little longer. Again, it's nothing to panic about. Just let it move along at its rate, 'cause It's going to give you a countdown, basically, by the percentage that you see on the screen.

You can hear all the dinging in the background. That's normal as well. When we're going in and getting these programmed, we're actually going into the ECM and reprogramming all of those files that are in there, so it's going to cause lights to go off, and dingers to go off, and that's normal too. Don't panic of those things start to happen as well. Okay, now it's asking me to turn the key off, and now asking me to turn the key on.

Just like that, your programming is complete. The very last thing that you wanna do after you're done programming is, of course, make sure that it runs. Now it's tuned, and you can enjoy it.

Bill: The BDX Tuner definitely takes what you guys have done before and just takes it to the next level. I mean, the wireless is great, not having to deal with the cords and the laptop, and now the Mac guys can even use it as well, which is a very nice feature with this tuner here.

Jana: Yeah, they like us for that, for sure.

Bill: You guys said you also have the GTX-

Jana: We do.

Bill:... which can be the same idea, but even more advanced as well.

Jana: Correct.

Bill: Cool. Well, definitely for more information on this and the GTX Tuner, make sure you check out CJPonyParts.com.