I need to send my chip back for some adjustments and was wondering if i have to park my truck for engine safety while i wait (see mods below). Also my truck seems to have picked up a little roughness in the idle within the last few weeks. I checked my plugs yesterday, all tips were perfect (only 2500mi on them) and only lightly greyed, and cleaned the iac a few days ago, although I don't think the little piece inside would not turn freely as i rotated it after cleaning, and fuel filter was replaced in January 4500 miles ago. Let me know what you think.

Thanx,
Bill

 

I've heard of some trucks running with a 4 lber. and no chip with no problems.

 

In your case being a 00 with a 90mm installed it will make the truck go real lean and you have a 4lb to go on top of it. I wouldnt do it unless you have the 80mm mass air you can put on and you can remove the breather cap then and only then i would drive it without the chip

 

I have a 2000L and ran a 4bler with a 90mm with no chip and it ran great. IMO you will be fine. These trucks don't need chips as soon as you add a pulley like everybody says. When you get at 6lbs then you will need a chip. I ran my setup for a year with an A/F of 12.4 which I think is just fine. Some people will think it is lean. I IMO when you hit 13.00 is when you will hit trouble.

 

I think it also may be a calibration issue with the 90 mm MAF and the chip as well. I had the same setup on my 2000 except I had a 2# pulley. I pulled the chip for warranty work and it seemed to drive ok. With that said, I'm not sure it was "safe", and I didn't drive it that way for very long. So if you need to send your chip in for a reburn and you aren't commuting 150 miles/day to work I think you'll be ok. Best thing is to overnight the thing and let them burn it and overnight it back to you.

 

He has a different mass air too Charles...that's a different story.

 

As mentioned above, with your mods you will run very lean. If you have to drive your L, just stay out of boost and you should be fine short term.

I had to pull my chip once and it was very clearly stated I was to stay out of boost.

Just tell your tuner to send you a new chip and you will send the one you have back to him.

Good Luck!

D-Day

 

Thanx for the help guys, I will keep driving it to a minimum and stay out of the boost while i wait for my chips return.

Bill

 

Hi Bill,

If you don't mind me chiming in here..........

Do NOT drive a '99 or '00 L with a 90mm Ford MAF on there and a pulley on the stock factory program - you *will* run lean (from the MAF), and you *will* run out of MAF voltage in the stock program at heavy throttle, too.

The stock program only gives you 4.78 volts of the total 5.0 volt MAF range - and while that sounds like a very small difference, the actual difference in CFM & additional load that having the full 5.0 volt range allows the PCM to continue responding properly to is significant.

Here's the kicker - all it takes to run out of MAF voltage in the stock program in any year Lightning is a 4 PSI pulley - with a 4 PSI pulley, this happens anywhere from as low as 3900 to as high as 4400 rpm in 3rd gear @ WOT for example, and can happen even sooner (in terms of both rpm and load via which gear) depending on atmospheric conditions & terrain.

If you have the stock 80mm MAF, as someone else suggested, please put that back on and *then* you could drive it *gently* and carefully with that pulley on there until you got the chip back - but *NO* heavy-throttle usage of any kind during this time. If you do not have that original 80mm MAF that you can swap out temporarily, then don't drive it at all - those 90mm Ford MAF's found on 2001 & newer Lightnings will lean out the A/F on the 1999 & 2000 Lightnings (and other FoMoCo vehicles) by as much as more than 2 full points (say, 12.0:1 to 14.0:1), and that's with a *stock* pulley!

Even though most of us know many of the '99 & '00 bolts are pig-rich A/F from the factory, some are 10.3:1 and some are 11.4:1 in those 2 model years- thus you could easily end up significantly leaner than 13.0:1 A/F.

Yes, some people seem to "get away with" doing things like that for a period of time, but that doesn't change the facts or lessen the risk in any way. Many times you won't get a SES light warning you of the lean condition at all, or not until you are either at or slightly beyond meltdown range - thus we can't depend on a SES (or check engine) light to warn us.

Certainly there is variance in all these L's, and if those variances stack up "in your favor" with a particular mod combination, yes, you could get lucky and have it last for a while - maybe even a good while, depending - but our advice is to *never* run a 90mm MAF on the stock program on a 1999 or 2000 Lightning (even with *stock* boost levels) due to the gross leanout - there is no way to know exactly how lean you will go without actually testing the A/F's - or how long you can run like that before hurting something - and it's not worth taking a risk. The combination of a 90mm Ford MAF & a 4 PSI pulley on a 99 or 00 L running on the stock factory program is a recipe for potential disaster.

The age-old question of why do you need a chip to run a pulley is answered right here - it's due to the limited MAF voltage allowed in the stock program on these Fords, that will cause you to run out of MAF voltage - no 2 ways about it, that *will* happen - and when you reach *that* point, the PCM can no longer properly respond to load. Then you're just begging for trouble. It doesn't matter if someone claims they did that or are doing that, all that says if they are taking a big chance, and that perhaps nobody has ever explained this to them.

If you're still not sure about this, please call whatever tuner you are dealing with and ask them to explain this to you in detail and give you advice.

I'm sorry, I really don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, so to speak - it's just important that you know the facts, what really happens & what risks you are taking by running that mechanical configuration on the stock program.

Remember, even on lighter throttle and in closed loop, the PCM only has so much effective "compensation range" for lack of a better term, meaning the % of fuel it can add to correct/combat a detected lean condition. The pulley by itself you could get away with **as long as you drive it easy and NEVER use heavy throttle** - very hard for us Lightning owners to do. But that 90mm MAF is a gross leanout, so the total combination is not "safe" to operate on the factory tune, we do not consider that an acceptable risk.

Best of luck whatever you decide,

 

Mike,

I LOVE when you answer questions. You leave very little doubt.

Thank you for taking the time to give the info.

VINNIE

 

Wow, Mike excellent post and thanks for taking the time to explain this to us all. I have a few questions reguarding some things you said, Im not looking to argue, Im looking to learn here.


I ran a 6lb overdrive pulley on my Lightning for over 12,000 Miles and 100's of 1/4 mile passes. My first few passes down the track, resulted in Pegging the Mass Air Meter. This was only happening in 1st gear right before the truck shifted. On either my 3rd or 4th pass down the track the problem went away. Like I said, since that night I put over 12,000 miles and 100 passes on the truck. The truck ran in every condition imaginable, 115 degree Dry Heat(Las vegas),100 Degree Humid Heat(Houston), -15 Degree Cold@1000ft Elevation(Canada) to even -25 Degree Cold@5000ft(Montanna) After the 1st time at the track I never ran into this problem again, Did the PCM relearn itself or what ? I know the mass air initally being pegged because I had a Scanner to monitor things. I also know that after that day at the track the Mass air was never was pegged again, verified again with scan tool. I also verified the A/F ratio on 3 different occasions, Stock was 10.9:1 and 6lb pulley was 12.3:1 on a wideband. Mike I dont mean to put you on the spot but you are the 1st tuner Ive seen to offer information in these type posts. I know several people who have posted in the Lightning Forums who run 4 or 6lb pulleys and no chips and had no problems. You have added Valuable information to this post and I hope you can add more by answering my questions.

Thanks

 

OK, i guess i will be parking it for the week as i no longer have my 80 mm MAF to put back on. Thank you for the thorough information Mike, it definately made my decision easier.

Thanx again,
Bill

 

No parade ringing here. And it has nothing to do with luck on the combination. You can for a fact run up to 4lbs without a chip and be plenty fine. It is all about scaring one person to sell a product. That is how I see it. Don't get me wrong I have a chip but I am running 6lbs. because I want more power. You just don't here people blowing engines not running a chip. I will never buy the you need a chip thing and that is not from a lack of experience either.

 

It's not the 4# so much as it's combination with the 90 mm MAF. They are having a combinatorial effect beings the PCM is programmed for the stock 80 mm MAF...

 

Would have never guessed that "combinatorial" was a real word, but:

com·bi·na·to·ri·al ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kmb-n-tôr-l, -tr-, km-bn-)
adj.
Relating to or involving combinations.
Relating to the arrangement and counting of mathematical elements in sets.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
combi·na·tori·al·ly adv.

fractal gets a gold star.