I have a thread going in the CAI section of this forum where I stated my approval of the new intake I just installed. In that thread, I made mention that I felt a greater power increase with the CAI than I did with my EVO after I installed it.

Someone replied saying that there is no way a CAI could exceed a properly tuned chip.

All I know is that I do not feel any difference whatsoever between level 1 vrs level three and to be quite honest very little or no difference between stock and level three. In fact my 0-60 and 1/4 mile times are worse in level three than they are in level 2. ( I dont know if I ever compared level 3 to stock or level 1 or not as far as 0-60 or 1/4 times)

I seriously do NOT see/feel any differenece at all, other than the fact that I can correct for my tire size. As far as performance though...natta! I feel like I wasted my $400

I have been telling myself for the last year that there is a difference in performance...its just not something that can be discerned by the "naked eye"

I think I have been in denial though because I noticed an immediate difference when I re-geared to 4.56 and an immediate difference when I installed the CAI.

I didnt notice to much of a change with the custom exhaust other than it sounding much better and once again, nothing with the EVO.

Could I just have a bad unit? Have others experienced problems with their units?

Just for grins. I put it back to stock and drove it and then level three again. I seriously can not tell the difference.

 

I'm that 'someone'

Faulty? Unlikely, as you are succesfully flashing yer PCM apparently.

You may want to check if you haven't already, that you have the latest updates.

Keep in mind that some of these trucks had known problems going open-loop, or had suboptimal A/F's (too lean for best power). Your particular strategy might be one of them. Hence - a generic canned tune may not rectify same. Just a thought.

There are some folks here who have found some custom settings that have helped some ( search). I'm going to assume you have yours set up appropriately....

It's also possible that your truck has an issue of some sort preventing the tune from working effectively - a tuner will not 'fix' a pre-existing problem. This is, admittedly, a SWAG. lol

It would be best, if the Edge folks aren't able to assist, to wait for Bill to become available to discuss, & perhaps make the leap to custom tunes.

A solid perf tune ( high octane preferred) will ALWAYS outperform a CAI. The question is, how much is butt-dyno versus real gains? Depending on the truck's config, it's a 5,000+ lb pig - most folks have a hard time feeling a 20hp gain in a vehicle this heavy.

Oh - you know Level 1 is a trans-only tune, right?

 

if your are programming and instantly comparing 0-60 times this is not the way to do it. After loading a tune you need to drive the truck a few days in order to learn fuel trims, shift points ect...

In my experiance when I used the edge I found level 2 to provide the best overall acceleration. Level 3 was good for highway trips for power when passing cause the power is high in the RPM range.

 

Hmmmm ... trucks are usually peppier right after a reflash - yes, adaptive needs time to function, but basic shifting (shift points initially set in the tuning) work fine. Trims? - only in closed loop. At WOT & open loop), right after a flash, you should be noticing something versus stock. Even if it's only shift firmness that's changed, lol.

Plenty of folks notice this - adaptive actually begins to take the 'edge' off the tune over time - folks notice that too

 

When the OP says he's regeared the truck to 4.56, it's telling me he has some big "feet" on it. Trying to move our pigs with great big donuts is somewhat difficult at best. I don't doubt there'd be only a small gain in the feel of "power" with a custom tune if the effective gear ratio was too small.

And, there's another complication. If he's "overgeared" the truck, Ford's wonderful torque control is actually going to limit the power his engine will put out because it will sense a "light load", even at WOT acceleration.

So, all his mods may actually be working against what he's trying to accomplish.

- Jack

 

Two things, I installed the Edge prior to lifting my truck or adding the "big feet" hehe..

Actually, thats only partially true. I did upgrade to 33" Mastercraft Courser CT's with the Edge with stock gears 3.55

I didnt feel any power gain with the tuner then. That's why I said that I have been trying to convience myself since day one that it's just not something that the "naked eye" could discern. I didn't want to admit to myself that I may have just thrown my money away.

Since that time, I have re-geard to 4.56 to accomodate the 35's my truck now sits on, which from what I have found through exhaustive research puts me really close to stock (maybe a tad over) with those size tires.

I'm not saying your wrong in your advice, I'm just shedding light on what I was told in respect to gears and tires.

Someone else mentioned shift firmness. I guess I should of been more specific when I said I didn't notice any difference after installing my EVO. I did notice that the shift did get much firmer. In fact, that has been another area of concern for me. I have another thread going somewhere about that topic as well. In my opinion, it's shifting waay to hard. I was running the EVO @ -10, -10, -08 because it shift so hard. I recently had the trans rebuilt and am now programmed at level two with no changes made to the shift firmness. At WOT, it SLAMS into third gear extremely hard. my belt shrieks, the truck lurches, which is what it has been doing since day one (reason my trans went?) again to me..it feels unnaturally hard but everyone seems to think "that's ok'

So I guess I cant say there was no diff felt AT ALL with the EVO...just not with performance. Again, let's remember why I started this thread. I originally stated that my new CAI gave me a bigger performance leap than my EVO did and someone said "that can't be" which got me to thinking about the possibillity that something is wrong with my Edge because I DID and DO feel the CAI difference whereas with the EVO I did not.

Whew- too much typing haha

 

Some way, your truck and the tunes are not copacetic. You sould feel a kick of about 20 hp. The CAI, should be more sound than power, maybe 5 to 6 hp without a custom tune. The exhaust, cat back is just for sound, will do nothing for performance. You have to remove cats or add headers to get exhaust performance.

 

im sorry but you are wrong...Fuel trims ARE learned in open loop. Open loop is not a "fixed" value like some people believe....long term fuel trims are still applied to a point. Yes the shift points may be set, but the line pressure needs to be learned and adjusted properly in order to improve shift quality at the desired shift RPM.

 

To the OP.
Try doing an update on your edge.
No mention was made of when changing tunes that you changed the octane grade of gas.

 

Yep - you are correct. However, the context was specifically, immediate tuning enhancements being felt right after the flash process. Trims, line pressure, and all other adaptive functions are not relevant at that point in time.
Agree that adapative, over time will help in refining the 'user experience', smotthness & mileage, but at the same time tends to take away some of the 'freshness' .

Thanks bud. Cheers, eh?

 

I'm kind of in the same boat. My "butt dyno" must not even exist because even after I installed my Edge, I really didn't notice a difference except for transmission changes. I might have to go back to stock just to remind me of how it once was. Don't get me wrong, it has increased performance a good bit, but I just can't tell it while crusing the streets.