I have a Excal II that seems to de tune itself constantly. It now runs like crap with no DTC's to speek of. Force fed Performance did the tuning on the Dyno but it seems to have less power than before. I have tried reprogramming it but it doesn't seem to help. I bought the programmer from Mike Troyer and when it didn't seem to make a difference. I called F.F.P. to look at it and they said it wasn't programmed right and was so lean that I was about to burn a valve. Air/fuel below 10. They redid it on the dyno and the only difference I noticed was an increase in fuel economy, 19 on the HWY. My old Superchip programmer on a stock motor was better than that. The programmer seems to be a huge waste of money if the computer can over ride and de tune itself. Anyone else have these Issues?? I still to this day have no Idea how to use this tuner. IE data logging and is there a way to adjust things with the home computer? You would think there would be a data base with part numbers for add ons and tranny and gears that you could input to make it alot easier. My first programmer from troyer wouldn't even talk to my truck and had to wait for another one. At one time this truck ran like a raped ape but now seems to be held back by something. Any knowledge or Ideas would be very much appreciated.

 

Nice... well I called F.F.P. and they resent the original dyno tune and I reloaded it into the Excal. Truck seems to do alot better now. The original program was corrupt. Thanks for all the help I appreciate it.

 

I'm glad they could do something with it. In the 6 plus years, I have never heard of one de-tuning, that I can remember.

 

Yeah It was weird. I would run good for a day or two than no power. Now that they went over the program I have more options now. I still need to mess with timing and air/fuel to tweek it a bit. I set progressive timing and think I should just go global at -2 or -4 and leave a/f at -2% and see how it does. I need to datalog it soon. Its been so freaking hot here that now would probably would be worthless. What do you think?

 

Follow the advice of your tuner.

 

He's a hard cat to get ahold of. He sits on the dyno most of the day. FFP is one of 2 decent shops in northern California that I know of.

 

The detuning isn't so abnormal. The pcm adapts fuel trims, etc, as it is driven. It is possible to turn off the adaptive strategy so that it won't "learn".

 

I have no Idea about that one. My reloaded tunes seem to be decent for now. Take off power is a little sluggish but that may have something to do with all grip and no slip. It will gitty up after about 5mph. I am at -6 degrees on my first timing slot, I'm gonna try either way of that and see if i can get it to clear up.

 

Update, I screwed with the programming a couple of times and so far have come up with 2% richer at WOT and went +2 global timing and it feels like i have 50 HP over when my file read corrupt and I had to get the tune from FFP again. I am gonna tweek it some more and listen for DET then back it off a degree. I had some fun with it though. A G35 didn't have a prayer and a new chevy truck is probably still wondering what the hell happened today...lmao. All in all a good day.

 

Bill at F.F.P. looked back through the progam and spotted a couple of problems. He tweeked it and reloaded it in to the truck. The top end went crazy but still sluggish on the bottum end. He is gonna tweek it some more to see if he can get that to clear up. If not its back on the dyno. With the semi staightened out program I did a run on the freeway when one of those Dodge srt things pulled up feeling friskey. I tapped the OD off and put my foot to the fan belts. The truck jumped to 125 MPH and was still pulling before I had to let off so I wouldn't rear end someone in front of me. As I passed the Dodge thing in a convincing way He had a look of bewilderment with a hang loose hand sign..Funny ****. I guess the 2500 RPM and up problems are solved...lol Can't wait to get the bottum end squared away!!

 

DE tuning update. The truck has gone back to doing the de tuning thing. FFP said they are going to sent the program to SCT to see it they missed something. The adaptive learn keeps taking over the program and the truck returns to stock. The torque converter locks up way to soon amungst othere things. This is par for course. I have had a series of rip offs while others have 0 problems. One of these days I hope it will run like a rapped ape like its supposed to. FRUSTATED AS HELL!!!

 

Weird.....seems kinda odd that your truck is doing this.......

 

I called SCT to ask about these problems and my dyno tuners inability to get back to me or rectify the problem. They said something along the line that adaptive learn can be turned off. Force Fed Performance tunes 600-700 hp twin turbo corvets with ownersthat have deep pockets and live for the quarter mile. It appears I picked the wrong shop. I talked with the staff at SCT and they said they would contact Force fed performance and see if they will get back to them about this matter, cause they sure have no Idea how to get back to me. I will post any info I get with the de-tuneing issue and wether it gets corrected or not. This has been very frustrating. Truck runs different everytime I get in it. One day I bury the speedo at 140 and other times it drones and has the HP of a VW Bug. I wish I could just get a great tune like everyone else that works everytime you drive it.

 

Okay...I have some news on this deck of crap cards I got delt. SCT basically said to file a claim and complaint with the BBB and Ask the large base of knowledge on our site for some advise. SCT looked into their background and said that Force fed performance only knows Corvetes and Mustangs and said that they programmed my truck as if it were a Mustang and did a bunch of things wrong with adaptive learn. This would explain all the problems with detuning and lack of bottum end. Trucks need a total different program compaired to a 4000 lbs car.

So who or what shop would you recommend to do a custom tune based on mods? This trucks computer has been in a constant state of confusion for far to long. Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.

FYI... Force Fed Performance will not answer calls...email or take care of their customers in regards to their shotty *** work. Do not go there cause you will regret it!!!

 

Good SCT mail order tuners who know trucks are Troyer, VMP, and 5 Star.