Dear SteveE55,

No, your dealer can't do anything to "override" the programming from the Superchip. However, after changing fluid & filter, they can feel a little bit different but not a lot; what you're feeling may just be a factor of memory, and you just need to drive it again for a few hundred miles, it's hard to say without actually feeling what you are experiencing. You might want to just do a battery disconnect to force the computer to go into it's relearn cycle, and see if after a few hundred miles your shifts are back to wher they were. Or, you can just do a few WOT bursts, just long enough to do the 1-2 and the 2-3 upshifts at full-throttle a few times, and that is usually enough to do it.

Just as an aside, one thing to remember is that rarely do the dealers drain all your transmission fluid, as they do not normally drain the torque converter, so only the fluid in the pan gets changed. Some torque converters do not have a provision for draining their fluid, but most do. It's always a good idea to change all that fluid, and most peoople don't even know that this is the case. Just some food for thought next time you have your transmission serviced, in case you might not have known about draining the torque converter. And no, not changing the TQ fluid will not make it start shifting softer.

Drive it for a few hundred miles, and see what you think. If you still think at that point that it is shifting softer, remove the Superchip for a full week. Then put it back in, and see if it doesn't do the exact same thing it did before. It will, as it *has* to, unless something *else* has changed.

And please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to discuss this in greater detail.

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Online Superchip ordering system:https://www.f150online.com/scpp/index.html

 

Thanks Mike for one of your very informative replies. I think you may be right about just driving it for a while, and I'll try some WOT runs to circulate the new fluid real good. I did ask the service writer if they changed the fluid in the torque converter (they do), that is something people should check.

There is NO way I could remove my chip for a week though. I couldn't go back to that slushy Ford tranny for a day let alone a week!

Thanks again for the help, I always enjoy reading your replies to members questions at this site. Great Job!

Steve

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My Ride: 1997 F150XLT,Two Tone Moonlight Blue & Silver,3.55 LS,Class III Tow Package, 4.6L Auto, STD Cab Styleside, Alpine CD, Soundstream Rubicon, Kicker Solo-Baric Sub, Boston Pro Separates,Tinted Windows, Gibson Exhaust, K&N Filter, Superchipped, WMS Velocity Tube, Stull Billet Grille, Hella Micro DE Fog Lamps, Ford Bed Liner, Extang Black Max Soft Tonneau, Edelbrock IAS Shocks, Michelin LTX M/S 255/70 16" Tires

 

I have been running the Superchip in my '97 for about six months now, and love the performance gains, especially the improvement in the way the transmission shifts . Last week I took my truck to the dealer to have the trasmission seviced (fluid and filter change). After getting the truck back, I noticed the tranny not shifting with quite the firmness it used to. Not as bad as stock, but not the firm 1-2 shift I'd been used to, somewhere in between. My question is: can the dealer make adjustments to the shift programming which may override the Superchip programming? I don't know why they would, other than to make it feel like stock again. Are there adjustments in the shift programming from the factory that the dealer can make? Is it possible they used a cheap trans fluid which changed the feel? Any comments appreciated. What do you think.

Thanks,
Steve

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My Ride: 1997 F150XLT,Two Tone Moonlight Blue & Silver,3.55 LS,Class III Tow Package, 4.6L Auto, STD Cab Styleside, Alpine CD, Soundstream Rubicon, Kicker Solo-Baric Sub, Boston Pro Separates,Tinted Windows, Gibson Exhaust, K&N Filter, Superchipped, WMS Velocity Tube, Stull Billet Grille, Hella Micro DE Fog Lamps, Ford Bed Liner, Extang Black Max Soft Tonneau, Edelbrock IAS Shocks, Michelin LTX M/S 255/70 16" Tires

 

Hey Steve,

This isn't exactly on-topic but I notice you're from Everett. We are starting a Washington Chapter of F150online. So far there are 10 of us. Our first get together will be on April 30th at the Paradise parking lot at Mount Rainier at 1:00.

If you're interested in hooking up with us (not just for April 30th) - email me at Tcolegrove@excite.com.

Tom in Tacoma

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1998 F150 XLT S/C 4.6L Auto, 3.55LS, 4X2, Moonlight Blue, all the factory bells & whistles except for leather seats. Lund Deflector, Lund Premier Tonneau, K&N, Body-color painted Throttle Cover, blue wire-looms, Pentaliner S/R, Window tint, factory side-steps, Infiniti component speakers up front, Polk Audio speakers in back, Superchip, Flowmaster 'Delta-Flow' w/ 3" pipe, Clear turn signal lenses. Next up - billet grill. Tom in Tacoma (Washington not Toyota)
Go check out http://communities.msn.com/SS97FordsPics for the second best website for F150's

 

That's right Mike....*we* can't take the chips out once installed!! LOL!!

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2000 F-150 XLT, 4x2, 5.4L Supercab, Styleside, Black with silver two-tone, 3.55, class III towing package with heavy duty cooling package, 4 wheel disk ABS, overhead console, sliding rear window, keyless entry, dark graphite interior, in dash CD, Pendaliner bedliner, K&N air filter, rubberized undercoating, cabin filtration system, Bugflector II, 5W-30 Mobil 1, engine build 10/4/99, **Superchip now installed..WOW!!!!**

 

Dear SteveE55,

Ahh, so your dealer *did* drain the TQ fluid as well, excellent!

That could make a bit of difference in the shift feel, changing *all* the fluid like that, and now that I think about it, I observed the same thing when we re-did the 4R70W in our Mark 8. In that case, the original tranny fluid was badly burnt, as can happen on any MN12 platform vehicle (all Lincoln Mark 8's, & later Tbirds) that doesn't have a separate tranny fluid cooler installed. That particular vehicle will burn transmission fluid if driving mainly in city stop & go traffic. In that case, we had access to a really nice billet racing cooler at a great price, so we installed that and the 97 Tbird 4.6 pan, valve body, & updated solenoids while we were at it, and all that increased fluid capacity to about 19-20 quarts. And that did change the feel of the shifts a bit, now that I think about it. Giving it a few WOT bursts was all it took, and they felt fine for the shape the tranny is in. Glazed 1-2 clutch pak and the TQ itself needs to be replaced from being exposed to such high fluid temps, so given those problems, it actually is doing very well. We also installed a Transgo shift kit in it to hold off the total rebuild for another year or so, kind of as a "band-aid", if you will, due to the glazed clutch pack, and it's certainly done that very well. It still needs a good rebuild, but it's serviceable for speeds under 120 or so.

Let us know how it feels as you accumulate some miles!

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Online Superchip ordering system:https://www.f150online.com/scpp/index.html