Mr. Troyer if you're listening...

I've had to pull my chip and redo the entire install process a couple of times now. I got the chip about a month ago and am very, very satisfied, however, I have noticed that about 300 miles into using it (approx. 2-3 weeks) the gains and changes start to go away?!?!? The most prominent thing is the shifting... from a firm and crisp to stock - soft and slugish. Also getting to the crusing speeds (70 - 75 mph) it seems the Expy is trying harder to get there. Passing speeds as well. I was lucky to get the install the first time around... fired up right away... did the "brain-drain" too. All was fine and the gains were great!!! But the first time this started to happen, I thought I missed something so I pulled the unit and examined the connections and redid the whole nine yards. Now I think I better get some help, and fast! I am totally satisfied with the chip and feel that ALL things need to get attended to at one point or another... If I have to live with it I WILL!!! Hopefully I won't!!! I look forward to all of the help from you all.

p.s. If anyone out there is thinking of chipping and in the decision process of what kind... the SUPERCHIP is the way to go!!! This (I am sure) is most likely isolated and should be resolved soon. Just read all of the posts in here!

Thanks again,
Expy

 

Hi Expy,

Nice to hear from you again!

I understand exactly what you mean, we see these kinds of posts here once in a while.

What you are experiencing is actually just the perfectly normal result of the vehicle being driven conservatively for a good bit of it's running time. Ford's adaptive strategy will begin to make adjustments which can sometimes be noticeable, at about 350-500 miles after installing the Superchip and/or clearing the ECU.

To reverse this effect, you can either clear the ECU again, as people will do many times when taking their vehicle to the drag strip, or just give it a few good full-throttle bursts every so often, & that will help it to stay sharp. You really don't want to reset the ECU every coupla hundred miles (though you can if you want, I wouldn't personally), so just give it a few good full-throttle bursts now and then to help it stay sharp.

The funny thing is, there isn't really much of a power drop in these situations, literally just a coupla percent, but that combined with say, perhaps a little bit warmer weather on a given day can combine to make a difference that can certainly be felt.

Ford's adaptive strategy affects not only the engine tuning, but also shift firmness. It will attempt, to it's limited capability, to "optimize" itself for the manner in which the vehicle is being run most often. And here is where the key is, as most vehicles are daily drivers that are driven fairly conservatively back and forth to work 5+ days a week. So they go thru at least 10 or more "drive cycles" that are usually, for the most part, fairly conservative. So you get this effect, and though it's really not much of a change, some people are so attuned to their vehicles that any decrease is noticeable to them. Between the small power drop and the tranny shifting softer from those adaptive strategy adjustments, it can make you wonder if something is actually wrong. This very same thing has been commented on here a number of times over the years.

I really wouldn't worry about it, it's normal and easily reversible, for when you just gotta have every last pony pounding under the hood.

If you'd like to go over this in more detail, please feel free to give us a call.

Have fun,

 

First of all, welcome back from SEMA and you were definitely missed! Thank you for the valued assistance and insights as to what causes these types of occurrences. I can't say how satisfied I am with the SUPERCHIP and couldn't drive the X without it - more refuse to drive without it!!!

Thanks again.

p.s. Did you come accross the Xenarc HID kit for the F150/Expy from Osram Sylvania at SEMA? If so, how do you like the product? And, would Performance be offering (if you personally like the kit)?

Thanks again,
Christian

 

Hi Christian,

That's an excellent question, and I did want to see that, but unfortunately, we did not get to every booth there, as there was just too much to get everything covered in the time we had available. We had so many requests for performance stuff that those isles were where we spent most of our time, in the 10,000 & up building & isles, we didn't spend much time at all in the 6000 & below buildings & isles, etc.

It's not only SEMA but also the APEX show that goes on at the same time, which is in a different location, a couple of miles away. We never got to any part of the APEX show, and there were manufacturers we wanted to get together with at APEX, we just didn't have the time to get everything done, we never do at SEMA.

We got to about 70% of where we wanted to get to At SEMA, which was pretty good given the amount of time we had, but that just wasn't one of them.

If you'd like to give us & call & go over this a bit, we'd be happy to check it out with/for you, as we have wanted to put together a better lighting kit for these F-150's as soon as we reasonably can, they certainly are in need of it, and that kit was one of the ones we wanted to look at closely.

Sorry we didn't get to that setup at SEMA,

 

Mr. Troyer,

I will definitely make note to contact you very soon. I know your schedule will be impacted with the return from SEMA and the holidays forthcoming. I appreciate your time and offer to assist me with the Xenarc product... And with the shopping season upon us, I am looking forward to picking up a few little goodies via Performance - with your expert advice of course!!!

Thanks again and talk to you soon,
Christian