Which superchip programmer did ya go with? I am currently in the market for one. Was it the customizable one that mike offers?

 

I went with the Superchips Programmer #1715 and it did everything automatically. I installed it and just minutes later I could tell a big difference in everything, especially shifting. Then when I got a chance to get into some stop and go traffic where the temperature under the hood could build up, I was even happier, my sluggishness seemed to have disappeared (take in mind I did do the 93 octane performance option). I also have considered that I did put 33'' tires on my truck and I only have 3.55 gears.. But the Superchips programmer made a big difference in the power I would loose in high temperature conditions.

 

There might be a TSB to remove any fire-breathing gypsies that are hiding in the engine compartment. That should reduce any HIGH AMBIENT TEMPERATURES.

 

Larry,
I have the TSB number, what do I do with it? The Superchip programmer did not fix the problem...

 

You would have to have the Factory Ford chip in your vehicle and then Ford would have to load new software into it or they might even replace the factory chip. I don't know how ford implements the fix for the TSB. If you at least have the fixed factory chip then you could see if you still have power loss problems when the factory chip has factory settings.

 

Same problem as all of you. Huge loss of power followed by heat build up. I have E-Fans with a home fabricated heat shield around the FIPK. At Lake Havasu (115F) couldn't pull at all.
Replaced the DPFE sensor and the problem went away.

 

I have the K&N FIPK II on my '97 5.4L. It's a trade-off. Higher intake temps but better (and more) air flow. On hot stop and go days it's sluggish, but once the airflow picks up it's like night and day. Thought about building a shield between the filter and engine block but was told that the system was designed to operate without it.

I installed the Troyer Performance dual 16" electric fan kit ($385 delivered to my front door). I love it! Feels like my truck lost 1000 lbs. I have a Superchips chip but have taken that out to save a few bucks on San Diego gas (91 octane is $2.35/gal).

Desparado, wat is the DPFE? Where is it located? How much did it cost?

 

Differential Pressure Feedback. Located next to the throttle body with two screws. This is a 5 minute replacement. Didn't try to shop around. Should cost $50. I paid $80 at an unfriendly dealer. Move the intake air temp switch to the area between your filter and the air intake hole in the fender well. The electric fans create more turbulence and direct very hot air right at the sensor when it is mounted in the air flow duct. Good luck. It worked for me.

 

I think its the fan as well. I could especially hear my fan whining very loud, and it would drag really bad up to about 3k rpms or about 40 mph and it would feel normal as ever. I never heard any pinging, so unless you hear that, I doubt its detonation.

 

You probably won't see detonation because the computer will retard the timing when the air intake temp gets too high. This retarded timing will sap power and cause engine to run much hotter. There is also an anti-ping sensor which will reduce the timing dramatically when it senses a detonation or ping

 

That's a hard problem to solve, but in the higher temps here and when the humidity is high I loose power to. I talked to Mike Troyer about this and he suggestedusing a smaller gap on the plugs. I also purchased a Plasma booster, which is a ignition booster that increases the coil pack output.


Hope this helps,

Rick

 

As I remember back awhile ago, you could put in a resistor in place( or inline) of the intake air sensor, This way the computer wouldnt retard the timing so much. This also got around that 140 'f Air temprature thing as posted in the TSB. It has been about 3 years, but i know it is on this site somewhere. I ran into this problem on my old 2001 SuperCrew after I installed a FIPK. Those temps under the hood get up into the 200'F range. So the first thing that happens at a red light is the engine sucks that down and retards the timing, then after you get moving the air cools down under the hood and all is normal again. Can someone please find that post.

 

Out-of-the-box fix:
My 5.4L 2001 Expedition (closed back F150) was always sluggish in FL summer. Thought installing a K&N CAI would help. No joy. Finally got old enough to start throwing lean codes. Fixed the vacuum leaks. Still ran crappy once it got going or sat a long time. Turns out that if the Intake Air Temperature (IAT) exceeds 140 degrees, the PCM will retard the timing. Connected a scanner. IAT was 160 when the ambient temperature was 93; vehicle stationary with A/C on. First problem: K&N relocates the IAT sensor directly in-line with the cooling fan. Stock Ford has is immediately after the MAF(off to the side). Moved the sensor ahead of the heat shield with the filter. Temperature dropped significantly. But, when running/towing, it still reached 160 degrees (93 ambient). In the real world, the IAT, unless malfunctioning, shouldn't read much more than ambient + about 30 degrees F. Replaced IAT sensor; no change. In fact the intake tube temp was 40 degrees less than the PCM was reporting. Pulled up the impedance/temperature values for the sensor. Modeled the settings in excel. In order to "calibrate" my PCM to something close to ambient + 30 (which should stay below 140 in FL). It would require placing a 5K resistor (mil temp range) in line with the sensor. Now the PCM is reading 105 when the ambient is 95 and vehicle stationary. The "numbers" are not linear. So, the error induced by inserting the resistor decreases with lower temperatures. Hope this helps. I've attached the spreadsheet. No guarantee this technique will work for everyone or on vehicles of different year. But, for me, so far so good. This is also a vehicle with 250,000 miles on it.

 

This is also a 18 year old thread.

 

Exactly. That is what my post is about. I found the TSB. Being an engineer by trade, I was in the WTF camp. Ultimately, I installed the in-line resistor. And, my vehicle responds properly. The K&N FIPK has a serious design flaw by moving the IAT sensor just in-front of the water pump; dead in line with all the heat coming through the radiator. The stock intake has the sensor in line with the driver's side cylinder bank. The fan cowling covers the radiator at this point. In addition, the ambient temp sensor is in front of the radiator almost directly in front of the stock IAT sensor. But alas, even the stock system was in the NFG category in FL. With the sensor moved (I may yet put a new hole/grommet in the tube behind the MAF) and a calibration POT in-line with the sensor (see picture), is the first time this thing actually ran full power in July-Aug. Took me 14 years to finally get pissed off enough to engineer a fix (still a work in progress) POT is currently set to 5K. Still may optimize the impedance over time.