Cooler weather brings on more power and some engine problems - SV's offer help
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Cooler weather brings on more power and some engine problems - SV's offer help
All,
We have all seen and heard of a few blown motors recently. I wanted to post a sticky thread that covers some tips, warnings and a heads up on what NOT to do as the weather cools.
I have sent an email to the Supporting Vendors asking for feedback and details of what their reburn fees are. Their responses are below. I started working on this about 4 days ago - Before the 2 most recent Kaboom threads.
As the weather cools we all know our trucks make more power. They LOVE the cool weather BUT only with a reasonable amount of boost and timing. As the intake air temps go down your trucks PCM permits MORE timing. As I understand it your tuner can command X degrees of timing and the PCM alters that based on the intake air temps and other sensors. So in the hotter weather the PCM is pulling OUT timing. As the weather cools it is adding that timing back. Add to that the additional boost that is created when the engine takes in cooler denser air and we have the makings of potential problems.
Dale - mentioned that Cooler weather brings out winter gas in some areas that causes problems due to additives etc.... Good Point...
My recommendation is to take a CLOSE look at your tune and your pulley size as the cooler weather approaches. I recommend NO more than a 4# pulley in this weather. Some tuners recommend a summer tune and a winter tune. You should make sure the program you are using is SAFE for this weather. Give your tuner a call – Tom, Jim and Johnny have offered free reburns for winter months below. Thanks Guys !!
Here are the responses I have received from Supporting Vendors so far – In the order received. I am going to close the thread BUT if you have constructive feedback you would like to add to this - drop me an email doug@svtlightnings.com and we’ll consider adding it.
I know this is review for some of you BUT Hopefully it will help some of the newbies.
Doug
Moderator
We have all seen and heard of a few blown motors recently. I wanted to post a sticky thread that covers some tips, warnings and a heads up on what NOT to do as the weather cools.
I have sent an email to the Supporting Vendors asking for feedback and details of what their reburn fees are. Their responses are below. I started working on this about 4 days ago - Before the 2 most recent Kaboom threads.
As the weather cools we all know our trucks make more power. They LOVE the cool weather BUT only with a reasonable amount of boost and timing. As the intake air temps go down your trucks PCM permits MORE timing. As I understand it your tuner can command X degrees of timing and the PCM alters that based on the intake air temps and other sensors. So in the hotter weather the PCM is pulling OUT timing. As the weather cools it is adding that timing back. Add to that the additional boost that is created when the engine takes in cooler denser air and we have the makings of potential problems.
Dale - mentioned that Cooler weather brings out winter gas in some areas that causes problems due to additives etc.... Good Point...
My recommendation is to take a CLOSE look at your tune and your pulley size as the cooler weather approaches. I recommend NO more than a 4# pulley in this weather. Some tuners recommend a summer tune and a winter tune. You should make sure the program you are using is SAFE for this weather. Give your tuner a call – Tom, Jim and Johnny have offered free reburns for winter months below. Thanks Guys !!
Here are the responses I have received from Supporting Vendors so far – In the order received. I am going to close the thread BUT if you have constructive feedback you would like to add to this - drop me an email doug@svtlightnings.com and we’ll consider adding it.
I know this is review for some of you BUT Hopefully it will help some of the newbies.
Doug
Moderator
My customers, I do not charge for reburns. As far as other tuners chips I only charge $75 for the first reburn and $25 after that. It is a great idea to either bump the boost down 2#s or talk with your tuner about your program. The air is denser and an increase in boost of about 1 to 2 lbs is not out of the question. The program will need to run a little less timing and some more fuel at the upper RPMs. Only the tuner of the chip can offer the info about each program.
Thank You,
Tom D'Ottavi
Outrageous Performance
www.outrageousperf.com
(609) 567-5774
Thank You,
Tom D'Ottavi
Outrageous Performance
www.outrageousperf.com
(609) 567-5774
Doug,
This is a good idea. Its nice of you to take the time out and work on this for all Lightning owners. When colder air comes it builds more cylinder pressure which increases a possibility of detonation and at high RPM's, pegging the 5.0 volts on the mass air meter. I believe everybody should have a warm/cold weather program but most choose street and race. As for pulleys in the cold air JDM does not recommend 8 or 10 pound pulleys even in the warmer months. The big things here is to know your vehicle. If you have it pushed to the limits say with a 6 pound pulley and an aggressive street tune you increase your chance of detonation greatly in the colder months. Even if you go down to the stock pulley I still recommend reducing timing. We will give free reburns to all our customers that have single chips for the winter months. For those of you with 6 pound pulleys I will put the timing back to stock. For those of you with 4 pound pulleys you will have 2 degrees extra through the midrange and stock timing at wide open throttle. With 2 pound pulleys, 4 degrees through the midrange and two extra degrees up top.
Jim@JDM
http://www.teamjdm.com/
(732) 780-0770
This is a good idea. Its nice of you to take the time out and work on this for all Lightning owners. When colder air comes it builds more cylinder pressure which increases a possibility of detonation and at high RPM's, pegging the 5.0 volts on the mass air meter. I believe everybody should have a warm/cold weather program but most choose street and race. As for pulleys in the cold air JDM does not recommend 8 or 10 pound pulleys even in the warmer months. The big things here is to know your vehicle. If you have it pushed to the limits say with a 6 pound pulley and an aggressive street tune you increase your chance of detonation greatly in the colder months. Even if you go down to the stock pulley I still recommend reducing timing. We will give free reburns to all our customers that have single chips for the winter months. For those of you with 6 pound pulleys I will put the timing back to stock. For those of you with 4 pound pulleys you will have 2 degrees extra through the midrange and stock timing at wide open throttle. With 2 pound pulleys, 4 degrees through the midrange and two extra degrees up top.
Jim@JDM
http://www.teamjdm.com/
(732) 780-0770
Doug,
Sorry I’m just now getting back to you.. we’ve been swamped...
My recommendation concerning this issue is for everyone with stock engines to keep their boost levels no higher than 12-14# during the winter months. whatever pulley configuration that may be..There are 2 items i feel are very important that ALL lightning/HD owners should have, are a fuel pressure gauge and boost gauge, So there's NO GUESSING!.. Another good item to have is the Diablo Hellion. relatively cheap! This way they can let their tuner know EXACTLY what their timing is along with some other important info. We @ JLP do sell the hellion and will offer a *Special Discount Price* for the next month ALL of November! We will also offer a special *FREE* reburning fee for the month of NOV. on all our JLP chips! All we ask for is the customer pay $15.00 S&H fee.....
No doubt the main reason these motors are breaking is because of the powder rods! No One! can give an Accurate SAFE Boost Level that these rods can take. We have seen *STOCK* Lightnings break rods and have seen numerous 20# + Trucks have NO issues! Our JLP HD truck with a *stock* engine has been running 23# of boost 12.3 @ 110 for a year now with NO Issues! Go Figure!.. I truly believe these rods are basically the wrong choice for the SC L/HD.. Ford will only examine a small % of these rods. if they find lets say 5% rods with flaws in them then that with the WHOLE picture in view isn't that big of a loss. However if part of that 5% that has flaws find its way into my engine or yours well to us its equal to 100% failure!....And most likely Ford will Void our warranty for some reason or another! : ( Yes in *some* cases Detonation has played a part in breaking a rod but not as many as some would think! No doubt if you have a truck with a somewhat imperfection in a rod, add high cylinder pressure (via.Boost).. Add some detonation and yes that rod with the imperfection most likely will say good-bye.... well i hope this helps a little.. and we @ JLP will be here either for re-burns or Helping in providing Our JLP Engines. to those who have went thru this disaster or to those who choose to take care of the problem before it arises..........
JL
http://www.johnnylightningperf.com
(717) 786-4670
Sorry I’m just now getting back to you.. we’ve been swamped...
My recommendation concerning this issue is for everyone with stock engines to keep their boost levels no higher than 12-14# during the winter months. whatever pulley configuration that may be..There are 2 items i feel are very important that ALL lightning/HD owners should have, are a fuel pressure gauge and boost gauge, So there's NO GUESSING!.. Another good item to have is the Diablo Hellion. relatively cheap! This way they can let their tuner know EXACTLY what their timing is along with some other important info. We @ JLP do sell the hellion and will offer a *Special Discount Price* for the next month ALL of November! We will also offer a special *FREE* reburning fee for the month of NOV. on all our JLP chips! All we ask for is the customer pay $15.00 S&H fee.....
No doubt the main reason these motors are breaking is because of the powder rods! No One! can give an Accurate SAFE Boost Level that these rods can take. We have seen *STOCK* Lightnings break rods and have seen numerous 20# + Trucks have NO issues! Our JLP HD truck with a *stock* engine has been running 23# of boost 12.3 @ 110 for a year now with NO Issues! Go Figure!.. I truly believe these rods are basically the wrong choice for the SC L/HD.. Ford will only examine a small % of these rods. if they find lets say 5% rods with flaws in them then that with the WHOLE picture in view isn't that big of a loss. However if part of that 5% that has flaws find its way into my engine or yours well to us its equal to 100% failure!....And most likely Ford will Void our warranty for some reason or another! : ( Yes in *some* cases Detonation has played a part in breaking a rod but not as many as some would think! No doubt if you have a truck with a somewhat imperfection in a rod, add high cylinder pressure (via.Boost).. Add some detonation and yes that rod with the imperfection most likely will say good-bye.... well i hope this helps a little.. and we @ JLP will be here either for re-burns or Helping in providing Our JLP Engines. to those who have went thru this disaster or to those who choose to take care of the problem before it arises..........
JL
http://www.johnnylightningperf.com
(717) 786-4670
Last edited by Silver_2000; Nov 3, 2003 at 07:16 PM.
