I installed my tunes over a week ago, and started with the 93 Octane High Performance. After over 1500 miles, I decided to try the 87 Octane High Performance. I love the power upgrade with both tunes, but there is a very noticable difference in the 87 to 93 Octane programs. Unfortunately, I still get a hard downshift from second gear to first with the 93. I also have to use the O/D button regularly (always) on start-up, otherwise the truck shifts to overdrive at about 40mph. Then to get to 55 or 60 you either baby it, or it will downshift as you press the go pedal. I was hoping the 87 octane would be better, but not.

I use the truck as a daily driver, and I was hoping to pull better mileage out of the 93 Octane tune, but even with my foot out of it, I see no real advantage. Granted, it's been cold, but after about a half a tank of fuel with the 87 octane, the mileage settles down from the 19-20 numbers I see in the beginning to about 16 - which I could almost get stock. The 93 octane stays around 15 to 15.5mpg.

I still have both Tow Programs - 87 and 93 octane - which I have not tried. I hate to keep changing tunes for a daily driver, but without loading each one and trying it, I do not know what to expect. Should I try the tow tunes for daily driving? I probably am spoiled with the performance tunes, but the 93 octane feels too harsh on the drivetrain, unless I am babying it. Would I be better of trying each tune for a few thousand miles (2,000 to 3,000) instead of swiching at 1,500 or so? What are all of you Troyer-Tuned guys running daily? I have the AF1 (3.5") and Roush Off Road. Any input is appreciated.

 

I am running the 93 performance tune as a daily driver tune. It will indeed shift to overdrive @ 45 mph but only if I am giving it light to medium throttle. On brisk acceleration it will shift to overdrive at more of a highway speed. I have not experienced any of the harshness in either down or up shifting. My tunes were installed in early December and for the first 1000 miles I found it hard to "keep my foot out of it." But now it has been about 3500 miles and with both bad and cold weather I have modified my driving to mostly "brisk" with an occasional "WOT" accelration.

My mileage remains at 15 - 17 mpg which was about what I was getting before the tunes.

Hope this helps

Kenny

 

I ran the 93 performance tune in my old truck but also had the FTVB installed. I had a very very very harsh 1-2 shift due to the VB. As for my current rig I have had my tunes for a few weeks but since I had locked my xcal2 on my old truck and had to send it back to SCT I have not had a chance to install the tunes on the new truck. My xcal2 just arrived at my house according to UPS.com and I will be installed the 93 perf tune and my AF1 3.25 intake tomorrow morning and testing everything out... It's been a long time waiting and I am excited to see the results...

-Brian

 

Good for you Brian

I also want an intake and am considering the AF1 3.25 intake . I know the 3.5" would make more power but I am concerned about taking it back to the stock tune I if had warranty repairs. I understand that you should never run the AF1 3.5" with the stock tune.

Please let me know how your setup performs

Thanks

Kenny

 

The only AF1 intake that you can run with the stock tune is the 3.0 tube. It really is a piece of cake to install and un-install the AF1 intake and put the stock intake back in place if you had to go back to the dealer. I would go ahead and get the 3.5 tube....

-Brian

 

Thanks for the advice

Makes sense especially since I pass Troyer's twice a day.



Kenny

 

Your lucky, I wish I was that close so that I could have him datalog and fine tune everything for me personally on his dyno... Oh well...

-Brian

 

93 octane drag race tune .. been running it for over a year except when I tow large loads over 4000LBS (only happened 3 times in the last year).

 

I started out with the 87 performance tune, and about two months ago, I changed to the 93 performance tune and haven't turned back...the truck performs so much better with it...

 

GerRod,

I just want to compliment your truck. Every time I see a post from you and your sig I always go back to your gallery and check it out. Kinda wish I had got a Lariat 2WD instead of the FX4. If you ever come to Houston for a get together or go out to the track at Baytown let me know so I can check the truck out closer.

-Brian

 

Thanks for the compliments and I'll look you up next time I'm in Houston...

 

I ran the 87 Tune for all of I think 1/4 tank's worth of gas. Filled her up with 93 and loaded the 93 Performance Tune and haven't looked back since.

 

Hi.

92 Octane Max Perf tune here.

Ran it for a 5,000 mile road trip to FLA & back.

Down/up I-75 & the tuning was simply stunning - it made the hilly country just disappear & we were full loaded, cruising @ 80-ish a lot.

No harsh shifting. Perfectly progressive & firm, but never harsh. BTW, I believe Mike does not alter the shifting parameters between perf tune octane levels. May be different for tow tunes, though.

Didn't calculate mileage (don't really care as fuel in the US of A is cheaper that the Beaver pee/Yak pi$$ we pay for up here); paid $180 for each leg which to me seems pretty good. Sunoco, Shell, Citgo exclusively, 93-94 octane as availability dictated (92 perf tune can utilize higher octane numbers).

Around town I always defeat OD as a habit. In my old truck I installed an OD auto-defeat circuit that I haven't gotten around to installing in the new truck ... (simple one-shot 555 IC driving a momentary relay contact across the OD button wiring upon startup in the 'Run' position, for anyone interested).

Adaptive can take quite a while to settle the tuning in - switching tunes frequently will inhibit this somewhat.

I also have 87 Max Perf and a 92 'Bad Gas' tune for the corporate fuel I run @ home if required. But 92 perf is sooo freaking spectacular, I prolly won't be using 'em unless I really have to !

Cheers
Bubba

 

I almost always run the 93 Perf tune from my Xcal2.
I like the harder shifts and increased performance.

I am beginning to hear a little "whine" at full throttle shifts and hope that is the serpentine belt!

I also have 87 Perf and 93 Towing tunes.

 

Smokewagon,

As you can see from the posts here, nobody else has a "harsh" 2-1 downshift - the reality is that we do not increase the transmission pressure on any downshift.

What I suspect is that you are doing full-throttle 2-1 downshifts and simply aren't used to the additional power - doing that *will* give a downshift that is noticeably quicker and firmer simply due to the additional power now available in that type of situation - but we do not increase the transmission pressures on any downshifts, that is completely stock on your tune, and on everyone else's tune that we do on these trucks.

Additionally, a week (or so) isn’t NEAR long enough to make judgments on things like you are trying to do - not for the shifting, certainly not in fuel mileage, either - you have not given adaptive strategy any real time and that doesn’t happen by getting in the truck and driving it 1500 miles in one week and changing tunes in that same time - it doesn’t work like that. It requires drive cycles, time AND mileage, as well as repeatedly doing the same thing to allow the vehicle to adapt in certain areas. Putting a lot of miles on it in a very short time like that precludes adaptive strategy from being able to work on many areas, as the only way to put that many miles on a vehicle in that short a period of time is a LOT of higher speed cruising - that does NOT happen just driving around in a normal cycle of city & highway driving in a week or so of time, we all know that.

And yes, there is a significant difference between engine power in tuning for 87 octane versus tuning for 93 octane - that's obvious, as is the fact that there are significant power gains on both tunes - just as you mentioned. There is no difference in the shifting between performance tunes for different levels of octane, the only difference in engine power output.

Last - and this is just FYI - you are going about trying to calculate fuel mileage wrong as well - you *cannot* do that by the on-board display, or trying to calculate how many miles you drove before the fuel gauge hit a certain point, etc., etc. The ONLY way you can properly compare fuel mileage is fill the tank and do the math properly, manually - and not when the temperature is varying as widely as it has been over virtually all of the country over the past few weeks. Colder temperatures mean dramatic changes in fuel volume & density – this is why you can put more fuel in the tank when it’s colder.

Your real problem seems to be that you need to simply give it time and drive cycles, not just drive a lot of miles in a short time and change tunes quickly as has been done so far. You need to let adaptive strategy do it's thing, and you will probably want to adjust your driving a bit - you do NOT have stock tuning any more, so it's not going to do a lot of things like it does on it's stock tune.

Many things affect fuel mileage, even when calculated accurately - but there are only 2 basic ways your fuel mileage can drop using our tuning, and that is driving the vehicle harder, or using a lower energy fuel - but I think the primary factor is a combination of methodology and the temperature swings that is affecting what you are getting.

It's also interesting to note that at our last Dyno Day, which was weekend before last, in warmer weather (about 50 degrees) we had in the mid-Atlantic for several days in a row, 5 of those people call us raving about how not only their performance increased, but also how their fuel mileage increased - one went from 15.5 mpg coming here to 18.0 getting home, for example. And we are NOT trying to do anything to increase fuel mileage when we do performance tuning, it is simply a nice by-product of the increased spark advance on part-throttle. Any time you not see at least a small improvement in mileage in a proper comparison between stock and our tuning, especially on 87 octane, then it points to one of two things - how the vehicle is driven, and what it's fed (that is of course once again, doing the fuel mileage calculations correctly, by filling the tank and doing the math correctly), as the tuning doesn't magically drop the fuel mileage - the engine is not running richer in closed loop, it's not running less spark advance - and that precludes any drop in fuel mileage from the tuning. that leaves only how the vehicle is operated and what it's fed - along with the methods used to calculate fuel mileage.

In 20 years of tuning EFI vehicles, not a single one of our vehicles has EVER failed to increase it's fuel mileage from our tuning - not one. But then we do accurate comparisons, our methodology is very controlled.

This is all just general FYI discussion, please note - I'm just trying to share some information with you for your consideration and so you will realize certain things, and I hope this info helps a bit, and please feel free to give us a call if you would like to discuss any of this, ok?

Thanks & good luck!