Back in the days of carbureted vehicles...here in NM the vehicles usually came with the "high altitude" setup. I was talking with a co-worker that I had just picked up my new/used 2003 SD V10 from Dallas...and he asked me if it had the "high altitude" setup. The truck was originally from OK.

My question(s): Do modern vehicles still have the "high altitude" setup? Or now with the sophisticated electronics my SD will learn to live with less air at my higher altitude of 6000ft?

Thanks,
biz

 

Modern fuel injected vehicles do not have a high altitude setup. They can adjust themselves to the thin stuff you guys call air.

 

Casey --

Thanks for the reply. That is what I was thinking myself...I'll pass my co-worker that info too.

biz

 

they are self adjusting. high altitude setup was just smaller main jets. in carbed cars

 

not so quick there fellows...

Ford does indeed have a high altitude PCM calibration in one or more of the codes.

The base codes are usually good for sea level to 5000 feet but trucks that require a lot of 7000-10,000 work can be reflased for the higher elevations. In each case the flash does not run well at sea level.

I am not sure if this is an issue any more in the 2005-2006 strategy but I know for a fact it was a problem with the 99-2004 PCMs.

 

Ok Fredvon4...that is good to hear. For a 2003 SD V10 that will see most of the time at 5500-6000ft...should I be concerned?

I will do "some" travel at the higher elevations...7500-12,000ft in our beautiful NM mountains and even into Colorado.

Again...should I be concerned? Or maybe I should ask one of the local dealerships if my SD needs a reflash?

Thanks!
biz

 

I would stick with the original flash unless you know a great dealer witha tech that knows his stuff... there are more terrible flashes then good ones. Years ago techs simply re-flashed for every customer with a flutter complaint. We found that there were a bunch of bad codes that did fix the probelm at the expense of seriously degraded power levels.

I used a 2001 truck and now this 05 version in sone pretty high altitudes and did feel the power drop off above 7000 but not enough to cause me to consider it a real problem.

My educated guess is that the Ford high altitude code is to accomodate the typical 85 octane fuel for those areas.

 

Good advice! I do not mind the power loss (actually the V10 has plenty to spare) IMO...I am just worried about a ping issue. I will leave the PCM as is...for now. Making sure to monitor the performance.

Thanks Fredvon4!

biz