Fred, I made the mistake of buying a 98 Ram 1500 with an auto trany wich I traded in on my V10 in 01. That POS had one good feature. I could controll torqe converter lockup in 3rd and OD with the OD on/off button. I have really missed that feature and would love to be able to controll the lockup manually while towing.

The benifits such as: unlocking in third while pulling a hill rather than down shifting to second when it's just not needed. Or the same for second gear acceleration when the converter locks up too soon and starts lugging the motor.
I'm talking about steep hills while towing 6000 to 9000# here in the Pacific North West
that most flatlanders would call mountains. Running empty you just don't hardly notice the problem with the factory trany tune.
Please tell us where to get the manual controller!!
Thanks, Ed

 

Manufacturers don't just have performance and mileage in mind when designing intake systems, they also must deal with noise. Not a lot of people want to be able to hear their engine when they step on the gas. Aftermarket kits, such as an FIPK, make noticeable differences in the sound levels inside the car. I had a very noticeable increase in interior sound levels after I installed the FIPK on my crown vic. The crown vics intake system is extremely restrictive and K & N's website posts a dyno chart showing an increase of 15 hp and 20 ft-lbs., which is one of, if not the highest boost with the addition of an FIPK. With modern day standards, the intake system must be kept quiet to compete with each other manufacturer.

 

k/n help me a little but i also use roail puple oil mileage went up fron 218 miles per tank to 229 230 per tank

 

Ok torque Converter lock mod.... here is a link.

Caution, disclaimer, at your own risk, and other cover my *** statements. This is a very dangerous modification that I did just to get good dyno runs with.

Others use it on purpose on the road. I do NOT and here is why:

If you manually lock the torque converter, and have to stop right now, you are going to stop permanantly until $5000 or more is expended to replace your very broken trany.

If you are manually locked, and doing power burns, when the trans shifts up or down the shock and torque is more than the internals were designed to handle and things WILL break!

http://www.forgotton.net/mods/tclock/index.htm

Seriously be careful with this, and trust me, Ford will know, so kiss the trans warranty goodbye!

 

Fred, I am sure that the trany will shift now while the converter is locked. At least mine does. I think that while in Low Range it locks up on compresion as sometimes when I come to a stop it will kill the engine.
I am after a mod that will allow me to unlock the converter manually rather than lock it. I would like to interupt the signal to the converter when it is calling for a locked condition, at times. But let the ecm decide like stock at other times.

 

OK, I know this has thread has changed a bit, but I just checked my mileage again. It is back to the MPG it was, but the fuel gauge moes much faster now. I still only got to 80 miles when it was at 3/4 filled it up at 100 miles and only squeezed 8.8 gallons into it, and again that is till there is fuel in the filler tube. How does the gauge determine the fuel in the tank? Is it calculated, weighed, or is there a float? It just confuses me that the gauge changed this much but not the mileage. Ideas?

 

I don't exactly know how they work, but I do know they are somewhat fickle. If you park on an incline (for example if your driveway is tilted up) or your truck is tilted in any other direction than flat; the gauge is thrown off. It should however recover when you park somewhere flat.

 

It also could be an over oiled filter which causes the pcm to apply more volts to maintain a certain temp of the mass air wires which fools the pcm into thinking more air is moving thru engine than what actually is flowing in, the pcm then adjusts fuel with pulse width on the inj's causing a slight loss in mileage,or it could simply be more air, more fuel.

 

Over-oiled filter? What is the fix for that? They should be oiled correctly from the factory-right?

 

Wash it and apply a light coat of oil.A lot of people have had problems with too much oil,but your right, it should have come w/proper amount of oil,but you never know.To clean the the mass air wire i spray a little starting fluid to degrease it, plus it evaporates good.Wind,air pressure can effect mileage very easy also.I would not worry about it if it runs good, mileage is not it's strong point.