Question for Mike...
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Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 105
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From: McLean, VA USA
Sorry, sloppy fingers...
Mike, I have a 2001 SuperCrew with a rough idle in the 5.4. The dealer said no codes and couldn’t replicate. I found the below thread in Engines (re 4.6 w/ rough idle and the fix was a re-program of the PCM). I was wondering if a superchip would fix it.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...threadid=65365
I had e-mailed you when I bought the truck, and was about ready to get the chip wen the gas prices went up. I just couldn’t do the premium, and wasn’t sure the flip would be worth the gains with regular. With the engine idle problem to solve, I am starting to think again about the chip.
Performance of the truck isnt really an issue. although I know chipping would improve the performance.
Thanks,
Mike, I have a 2001 SuperCrew with a rough idle in the 5.4. The dealer said no codes and couldn’t replicate. I found the below thread in Engines (re 4.6 w/ rough idle and the fix was a re-program of the PCM). I was wondering if a superchip would fix it.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...threadid=65365
I had e-mailed you when I bought the truck, and was about ready to get the chip wen the gas prices went up. I just couldn’t do the premium, and wasn’t sure the flip would be worth the gains with regular. With the engine idle problem to solve, I am starting to think again about the chip.
Performance of the truck isnt really an issue. although I know chipping would improve the performance.
Thanks,
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi dtrosch,
I wouldn't assume that his idle problem is the same as yours, as his 550 rpm idle speed in gear was too low anyway, most of them idle about 600-650 rpm in gear, so that was may have just for his specific code revision in that 4.6 of his, we don't know.
Just to give you an idea, all of these Triton engines have a rough idle characteristic to a greater or lesser extent, the 5.4's are worse than the 4.6's, generally speaking.
Out of the hundreds of F-150 owners that I have spoken to personally about their rough idle who have been thru having their dealership load a later software revision, not a single one to date has ever told us that their rough idle got any better. A dealer reflash has not been the answer for anyone else that I've ever spoken with, though it would be nice if Ford could offer that, sure, and maybe we'll start seeing more of that, only time will tell. The track record sure has been abysmal to date. Oddly enough, the vast majority of these same people have reported that the Superchip did in fact smooth out their idle noticeably after installing it, and that is just a byproduct of the changes done to the fuel curves. Icing on the cake, as it were.
We couldn't guarantee that the Superchip is going to cure your rough idle, as it is neither designed nor sold as an idle quality enhancer, it's a performance part. It's true that there are literally hundreds of posts on these message boards from people who noticed improvement in their idle quality from the Superchip, but that may or may not happen for you, is the most accurate answer I can give you.
Unless you drive an extremely high number of miles every year and they're all or almost all in the city, the Superchip costs very little to operate on premium gas all the time, averages are about $2 -$3 a week assuming a 20 cent per gallon cost delta. The numbers run a peak of about $100 per 10,000 miles of driving, and that's nothing. In fact, the higher that gas prices go, the less the Superchip costs to use, as the cost delta between regular and premium doesn't change, it remains pretty constant. That means that this difference gets smaller and smaller in terms of a percentage the higher that gas prices go. When they hit $2.25 a gallon for premium, regular was still $2.05, and most people weren't spending $2 a week more for gas running the Superchip on premium compared to running on the factory program on 87 octane, because of the small gains in mpg. Haevy-footed driving or poor fuel quality can skew those numbers, to be sure, but those are some of the averages, just to give you an idea of what gets reported back to us.
The power gain on the 87 octane side is small, about 5 HP, but you still have all the other benefits too, removal of the delays & retards, better shifting, etc. so the vehicle is still noticeably more responsive and still accelerates a bit quicker. Only you can decide if the added cost of the Flip Chip is worth it to you to have an optimized program for each level of octane, to be sure.
I wouldn't assume that his idle problem is the same as yours, as his 550 rpm idle speed in gear was too low anyway, most of them idle about 600-650 rpm in gear, so that was may have just for his specific code revision in that 4.6 of his, we don't know.
Just to give you an idea, all of these Triton engines have a rough idle characteristic to a greater or lesser extent, the 5.4's are worse than the 4.6's, generally speaking.
Out of the hundreds of F-150 owners that I have spoken to personally about their rough idle who have been thru having their dealership load a later software revision, not a single one to date has ever told us that their rough idle got any better. A dealer reflash has not been the answer for anyone else that I've ever spoken with, though it would be nice if Ford could offer that, sure, and maybe we'll start seeing more of that, only time will tell. The track record sure has been abysmal to date. Oddly enough, the vast majority of these same people have reported that the Superchip did in fact smooth out their idle noticeably after installing it, and that is just a byproduct of the changes done to the fuel curves. Icing on the cake, as it were.
We couldn't guarantee that the Superchip is going to cure your rough idle, as it is neither designed nor sold as an idle quality enhancer, it's a performance part. It's true that there are literally hundreds of posts on these message boards from people who noticed improvement in their idle quality from the Superchip, but that may or may not happen for you, is the most accurate answer I can give you.
Unless you drive an extremely high number of miles every year and they're all or almost all in the city, the Superchip costs very little to operate on premium gas all the time, averages are about $2 -$3 a week assuming a 20 cent per gallon cost delta. The numbers run a peak of about $100 per 10,000 miles of driving, and that's nothing. In fact, the higher that gas prices go, the less the Superchip costs to use, as the cost delta between regular and premium doesn't change, it remains pretty constant. That means that this difference gets smaller and smaller in terms of a percentage the higher that gas prices go. When they hit $2.25 a gallon for premium, regular was still $2.05, and most people weren't spending $2 a week more for gas running the Superchip on premium compared to running on the factory program on 87 octane, because of the small gains in mpg. Haevy-footed driving or poor fuel quality can skew those numbers, to be sure, but those are some of the averages, just to give you an idea of what gets reported back to us.
The power gain on the 87 octane side is small, about 5 HP, but you still have all the other benefits too, removal of the delays & retards, better shifting, etc. so the vehicle is still noticeably more responsive and still accelerates a bit quicker. Only you can decide if the added cost of the Flip Chip is worth it to you to have an optimized program for each level of octane, to be sure.