I'm just wondering if somebody could clear up this for me. Why did it seem like a lot of lightnings had detonation problems etc as soon as the weather got cooler, but not before that?

Since detonation is due to excessive heat or extra pressure in the combustion chamber wouldn't the cooler winter weather actually help keeping your engine run cooler than during the summer? Or is it due to the denser air when it is cool so your truck runs leaner or something else?

Disclaimer: I'm still learning about engines so please correct me if anything I said is completely wrong

 

I believe the cooler air in Winter makes the computer bump the timing, which sets off an imbalance between fuel and timing. Although I'm unsure how this effects an aftermarket chipped PCM but I guess they cannot control this field?

 

Before you start laughing, scroll down to the "Weather Conditions" section:

http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Dan

 

"Hot weather requires a leaner mixture setting; cold weather requires a richer setting. Most people assume the opposite because they treat the mixture needle like a thermostat. It is wrong to assume that colder weather requires a leaner setting to keep heat in the engine and vice versa. Cold air is denser than hot air. The denser, colder air packs more oxygen into the engine, so going from hot weather to cold needs a commensurate increase of fuel to balance ratio of fuel-burning oxygen and the fuel itself. The opposite is true in hotter weather. Going from cold to hot weather requires a leaner mixture setting."

Good explanation!

 

I'm not sure the tuners can't control the temperature compensation but I doubt they have the time and money to run at all the various conditions required to tune that field.

 

So it is the second part then. The cold air is not enough to make up for the denser air.