I searched around a little without any luck, but I have a question. I'm hoping someone has done this or that Bill may be able to chime in (I know he's been a little under the weather lately).

I like to run an 87 octane tune, but don't necessary need the "tow" characteristics and low end grunt that the Edge lvl 2 tune provides. So, could I back the timing down 2 (.5 per octane) and run lvl 3 on 87 octane? I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work, but I'd like to make sure I'm not overlooking anything. I know Bill does some great custom tuning, but since my truck is basically stock I've been pretty satisfied with the standard Edge tunes so far.

Anyone have any experience with this? Or any reason's why it may be a bad idea?

 

i have always wonderd the same thing...but ill stick to level 2 on 87 because i love the low end power

 

I think this is a great question! (And one that might have a favorable answer.)

I used to drive a 94 Toyota 4-banger. From the day I got it (new), it "pinged" on acceleration (not badly, but I heard it). Finally, I complained to the dealership and they retarded the timing. No more ping (and, the truck could hardly move away from a stop sign). After about two days, I couldn't stand it anymore so I advanced the timing back to "factory spec". Result: good acceleration again and the ping returned.

I drove it this way for over 100,000 miles before I sold it. The slight ping never seemed to hurt it.

But, the point of this convoluted story is: I can't see how retarding the timing can hurt anything. The most it will do is hurt your low end torque.

All I can say is: "Try it!". Let us know what the beast feels like.

- Jack

 

Thanks Jack, I appreciate the input.

I guess my real question is, if I retard the timing by 2 on the Edge lvl 91 octane performance tune will it be a "safe" tune to run? I didn't spend $30k on my truck to experiment on it, so if anyone knows the answer I love some input.

Thanks

 

There's probably a lot more going on with Level 3 than just timing. As I said, a retarded timing won't really hurt anythng except your acceleration (and it may up your emissions, if that is a concern).

The shift points are different and there could be a few more "subtle" things too. Bill is really the one and ONLY expert on the Edge and he's the one who should really be giving you an opinion. Anything you get from the rest of us are just "semi-educated guesses".

My not-so-educated guess is: A custom tune with a trade-in on your Edge to a Gryphon is the real answer to give you what you want.

Bill, have you stopped making Corey baby you through your "illness" long enough to get in on this?

- Jack

 

So I decided to give lvl 3 a shot with the timing retarded by 2 running 87 octane and so far I'm impressed. No detonation that I can detect, great drivability, and it pulls much harder on the top end. Definitely a performance improvement over lvl 2 with 87 octane.

 

Great feedback! Thanks for sharing your results with us. I like the "top end" pull result a lot. I may have to give it a try - next time we go for a trip without our trailer. And, since our trailer is only about 3500 pounds, is lvl 2 such a good thing anyway?

I was worried that you might feel the truck was a slug moving away from a standing start with the retarded timing. I wonder though, if the "stock" lvl 3 WOT shift points are maybe set higher than those at lvl 2 to take advantage of the power at higher RPMs? (And, if that is the case, wouldn't we get the same result by raising the WOT points on lvl 2 and leaving the timing at stock)?

And what is the timing advance anyway? Is it just an "idle" advance like in the "good old days" when we had distributers and carburators?

Bill, are you though being "sick" yet so you can enter this discussion with a bit of "expertise"?

- Jack