Yeah lots of 9+% highway grades around here. It's why I am concerned with EGTS getting that high when ambient temps are in the 50s to low 60s.

 

I saw this one sign, but I didn't have time to grab the camera. It was in the Seattle area, the sign said 15% grade... and it wasn't a joke. I will not tow up or down this grade.

 

Gentlemen, thanks for the info on percent grade. I know I've googled it in the past, but maybe this time it'll stick. I do understand the effects of fighting gravity in a truck. But my experience is primarily limited to hauling some seriously laden flatbeds up the hill in Duluth on the city streets. Its not disimilar to San Fransisco.

 

Some of the grades are ridiculous is San Francisco. I guess if you can afford to live there it's not too much of a problem to replace a clutch every 75k.

 

Seattle is no slouch there.

 

So my FIPW is even higher with the Gearhead tunes than the DP. Can anyone running Gearhead tunes tell me what your FIPW is and what tune/setting you are on. I turned my DP back to stock before installing the Hydra but maybe the PCM didn't take the stock program, and I am doubled up on tunes?

 

That's not how the Ford PCM works. The chip overrides the tune in the PCM - so they don't "stack". If you had a chip before (not a programmer that takes 2 minutes to change tunes with engine off), then those tunes are gone the instant you pull the chip.

If you have a long FIPW, you may very well have some ICP leaking in your engine - but the FIPW should not go longer than a DP tune unless you bought a tune rated 80 HP or higher. Did you stick with 60-65 HP tunes or lower?

 

Call Gearhead and ask to speak to Matt specifically. You may have to wait for a call back. Explain to him that your FIPW is very high.

I have never experienced high FIPW with any of his tunes personally; HOWEVER, I have a friend that has seen a high FIPW on what he says are Gearhead tunes. It is possible that Matt did write them and one of the other guys there adjusted those parameters solely and improperly.

I do know some have had a few issues with one member of the crew at GH not following up or taking days to email a trial tune.

 

So it is not possible to have a tuner that tunes through the OBD port and have a chip stacked on top of that?

I won't have time to do any further testing for about two weeks but I want to get some exact numbers before calling. I know I saw FIPW over 5.2 with the tuner on the higher settings. I will get exact numbers on each tune when I have time to work on it again.

 

It would be like your PC running two instances of Windows at the same time. No, it's not possible.

 

Not to be a jerk; but in my geakier days i used to routinely run multiple instances of Windows or Linux or both on my PC. It's called running a virtual machine. It's not technically 100% two instances but it's pretty close.

To address a comment made earlier, something like an SCT tuner reflashes the ECM every time you change the tune. And it stays there when you unplug it. I don't know how this interacts with a chip though. If the chip 100% bypasses the programming on the ECM. Then it should be fine, if it still relies on some of it.... Probably less fine. Sounds like a question for somebody that's isn't me. Unless that's what you were getting at, Andym.
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With virtual machine, the computer takes on the behavior of the active OS. XP running virtually within Windows 7 walks and talks like XP. One could make a case that you're not seeing the behavior of two operating systems at the same time with each mouse click.


There is no stacking of tunes on the Ford PCM of this era. The tune on the PCM is working, or the tune on a chip is overriding it. Straight up.

 

I wondered who the smartass to bring up virtualization was going to be.

 

Thanks Rich, that answers my question. And clears up the mud.

 

Well the Excursion still isn't running as well as I would expect. I emailed Gearhead today about the excessive FIPW and will see what they say. I just replaced my uppipes, and intake with an S&B, rebuilt my turbo with a 360°bearing and a 7x7 wheel and can still only hit 25PSI of boost and that is with the wastegate capped off.