Well after hearing all the hype about the XCal on here, and the great customer service I ordered one a while back....got it at the end of January and have used it in both Performance and Tow mode.

Overall I am pretty happy with it, I have seen no increases in milage but have seen better throttle response and it does get up to speed a bit better when passing on the highway.

The tow mode is great (when towing) as I tow heavy loads often and it really helps with holding the revs longer in each gear to stop all the up and down shifting the tranny used to do.

However I do have an issue, and its the customer service.

First of all part is my fault at the time I ordered it I had recently moved here and only knew of gas stations that had 91 octane gas...well now I have found MANY with 93.

So upon ordering I asked for a 91 octane tune tow and performance....now after getting the programmer heres the dealio........I call and ask if I can get a simple reprogram for 93 octane...IE a small timing advance, the programmer will only let you manually take OUT timing not add timing. The answer I got Monday from the woman on the phone was that Mike would have to get back to me on the COST...ok maybe I should be punished for my mistake, heck I dunno...the other problem is that I have not gotten an email nor a call from them to give me the PRICE for the small change even if I wanted and thought it was fair to pay for it.

I hate to come on here and sound like I am bit*h*ng but she could have called me back or emailed me the cost, or heck maybe even emailed me a new file to upload onto my programmer I dunno.


Maybe Mike can see my post here and help me get what I need.

Thanks

Scott Reeves

 

Although I know it can get frustrating when things don't go EXACTLY as you may have planned; it is considered unprofessional to really try to solve any problems with a vendor on the forum. It may make the vendor look bad and unprofessional for other readers, when it may or could have been something simple that could have been handled out of the forum and directly with you and them. I know from reading previous threads that issues don't get resolved while on the forum unless you just want to bash a vendor. But making negative comments affects the vendors possible sales and does not get your service or problem taken care of any faster. I would recommend you continue contacting the vendor and WAIT until you can get your problem resolved. You really don't want to jump to conclusions or be quick on the trigger. That is why some who have purchased tuners chose not to wait and wanted the flexibility that a non-custom unit may provide with no additional fees,work, or waiting times needed. A custom tune DOES provide the BEST results for our trucks BUT, i needed flexibility because I don't know where I will be after every 3 months and did not want to be confined with SPECIFIC octane levels and so forth and when I sell or trade in my truck; I would like to be able to sell the unit and not lose the entire purchase price. Again, I really hope you get your issues solved very soon and that all goes well. Good luck

 

You may not be out of luck

 

I would think there is a difference between 91 and 93 octane performance. If not, why would anyone advertise a 91 and 93 tune? Call and ask for Mike to contact you personally if he is not available. He is known for working with his customers on things like this. If you datalog, he gives you a free update anyway from what ive read...

These chips are new to a lot of people and not everyone understands the full extent of what MT is asking for. I'm sure this isnt the first time for this...

 

I will be datalogging if that is what Mike suggests, after I speak with him. And I did not come on here to bash at all just to get to talk with Mike as it seems that he is avaliable on here often and seems as though it may be hard for them to call or email back.


And yes I do feel that if I cna get 93 all the time that I would rather have the spark advance that 93 could allow over 91.

Kinda like having the timing advance from 89-91 octane tunes.

 

Mike and the rest of his crew have been thrashing to get the new dyno installed, up, and running properly for the past week....He has spent a minimum of 18-20 hours a day, yes a day, working on both the dyno in the new shop, and doing all the custom tuning that has buried his desk in the past week or so. Give him time and he will be by to address your issue, BUT,
you should have waited for someone from his office to call instead of posting what you did here..Please, next time give him time to get back to you..

 

You know all of the off the shelf tuners, Superchips Micro Tuner, Edge, etc, etc, are set up for 91-octane. Reason being, it has to work coast to coast, and TP’s custom tunes set up for 93-octane can utilize up to 95-octane because Mike sets it up that way. You shouldn’t be overly concerned about a setup for 91, because it’s still good to go using 93.

 

Then we all may as well just get our tuners setup for 89 octane and run 91.

 

While I certainly understand being upset that you haven't received an answer, I wouldn't get your panties in a huge wad yet...

What you've said above is missing the point of your original post -- in short, it probably isn't the end of the world but, it would be more advantageous for you to run the octane for the tune in question.

Another scenario along the same lines would be switching from a 93 tune to a 87 tune... odds are, you're still going to have a couple of gallons -- maybe even up to around 10 gallons -- of the 93 fuel left in the tank. It's not going to spell disaster to top it off with 87 while you have some 93 left in the tank. No one is running to the shop and draining their tanks by physically removing the residual fuel between tunes...

Hang tight and give them another call. As Marc indicated, I know they've been up to their eyeballs with getting the new shop going as well as working on current orders from the Group Purchase that is ongoing.

Octane, for what it's worth, is a measure of how much the fuel can be compressed before it ignites. You'll note that all of the pumps in the US will list a *MINIMUM* octane rating. That 91 might be as good as the 93 but, like you, I'd be a little reluctant to buy off on that theory too... it is a thought though.

For the time being, you're in good shape with no substantial worries from running a different octane that is very close in number -- I feel certain of that. Give them another call bud...

RP

 

(Snip)

 

If that were the case, Mike would offer a Premium fuel program instead of a 93/92 or 91 tune. That is the whole point of CUSTOM tuning.... A program custom tuned for 93 octane will/should make more than a program tuned for 91 octane. Datalog and send to Mike. He will work with you im sure...

 

Buys understand that my "panties are not in a wad" I just figured that I could get ahold of Mike here and get the isue resolved no matter the outcome, I am in no way bashing your treasured Troywer Performance at all so don't get all upset at me.

And I do understand the combustion engine very well and what timing/compression/static compression/and octane all do and how they work together.

I have put together a few autop engines mainly Mustangs (302's) with the EEC IV computers and have went from stock/nitrous/superchargeer/turbo setups and of courxe timing plays a role in everything. And when I took any of those street driven cars to the track and I ran better than street grade gas in them..lets call it Sunoco/VP/etc, I could add timing, via either directly at the distrubuter, or programmable ignition box, and gain HP and have beter ET's.

It actually more often that in todays time you get less than what the pump says in in the gas.

Your right, but I was replying back to another posters comments...my original post was actually about contacting Troyer and being contacted back that was my only concern, and real issue with my great product so far.

Mike if you get a chance to read this post either reply here, PM me, or call me my number is on file...Scott Reeves and I will do whatever you say needs/should be done to optimize my XCal and my Truck.

Thanks

 

All is well bud... Best of luck getting your issue resolved!

 

Hi Scott,

If you wish to speak to me, please feel free to give us a call at our number listed below & I'll be happy to speak with you when I am available. For future reference - posting here is not the way to get anything resolved. In fact, usually I do not even respond to these types of posts publicly - so just as a reminder, and as per the rules here on F-150 Online, any time you have something you want to get resolved, the way to do that is to please call us at our number listed below.

As most people know, we have an enviable reputation for our customer service. But we are not perfect - our 98%+ customer satisfaction rate is, I'm afraid, about the best it will ever be.

Just FYI - As the owner of a rather busy company, we have to have a policy of not allowing people come here & tell me to personally PM or email or call them - or perhaps I should say, telling them that they need to call us instead. I'd never get anything done if we did that, as that always gets out of hand with many people seeing that kind of post, and then in turn putting up the same kind of post if they think I responded to it by picking up the phone and calling someone who put up such a post - dozens & dozens of them, thinking that somehow I am going to type or call them all personally. Of course, that simply is not possible - there is no way for me to speak to everyone who sees my name, just like that does not happen at any other company of any real size or stature - despite the fact that I'd love to be able to! As much as I'd like to be able to do that and speak to everyone personally, the reality is that I'd never get anything done! So that is what we have a staff for, like most companies, & thanks for your understanding on this, I really appreciate it.

Thank you for your understanding on this, & I look forward to hearing from you!

 

Thanks Mike for making everything right, as I said before I am tottaly happy with my XCal and would buy again if I were getting another programmer.

Scott