new guy question

[captain]

youll need to forgive me... not sure how this set up works, where the buttons are and what they do.
Any who....
recently bought a stock Marauder (03) then called the "DR." Dennis Reinhart for the world famous SCT flash device. Loved it. Woke the sleepy girl right up.
Now, the last car I had was a 2003 interceptor. fine automobile, you put your foot to the floor and would climb to 120+ no stalls no max red line nothing, just raw flawless power till it topped out then still no choking or cutting out.
But the Merc.... last nite kicked her down she jumped to 100mph then red lined and coughed out at 110 mph. Why?
Of course Dennis put an RPM limiter at 5800 but should'nt (the car) have had more in it??

[Cobra25]

Give Dennis a call, it's sounds like a slight tune adjustment.

[jgc61sr2002]

Welcome to the MM site.:D

[jdando]

Welcome!

Winona is not to far from the cities. Cruise up sometime.

jeremy

[Leadfoot281]

Welcome!

Winona? Heck, you're just 25 miles North of me. We ought to meet up sometime. My cars going away for winter starting Nov1.

BTW, Good luck with the tune.


John

[Local Boy]

Did you have the O/D off?...and what size gears you got?

You may have been in 3rd gear all the way...which would peg your limiter at @ the three digit (100) mark.

ALOHA

[ckadiddle]

I dunno...but I can tell you at the dragstrip with OD off and DR tune, the trans is just shifting into third gear about the time the finish line goes whizzing past me at 94-95 mph. My unmechanical opinion is that it's something other than rev limiter or speed limiter. I always run out of road before I run out of Marauder. :)

[Dragcity]

I always run out of road before I run out of Marauder. :)


I find this to be true even with 4.10 s, although my limit is set to 6500.....

I suspect the shift tables are a bit out-of-whack on the tune. I have been fiddling with mine and they can be tricky. I couldn't imagine trying to set shift points on a car I am not driving. I have averaged 3 changes in the tune per day for the past two weeks. I think I have it just right though.....

[captain]

Great positive feedback, thankyou.

OD was on, however... As I relive the moment I recall it did shift down to 3rd somewhere along the way. Not sure where.
I was busy watching the road,(its deer hunting season)
What do you drivers think kept it from jumping to 4th?
I wont approach the DR. till I know its not the car or driver.
Dennis has limited (patients) with dumb dumbs like me.
Yesterday I ran across some talk about transmission maintenance, Some drivers think we should be flushing the transmission with regularity, any thoughts?
Hey to leadfoot! Who do you use for repairs and maintenance issues? I am driving to White Bear Lincoln for all but the most basic issues. Love to find a local who understands, And is qualified. My Guy at SLFord said..
" I wont touch them if you put a chip in em" !!! QUOTE!
My response? you wont touch it for sure. Ever.
I heard LaCrosse offers some type of track for us to play on...
for like 5 bucks.
did you hear of something?

[Paul T. Casey]

I won't talk tune, etc. but YES, you should be doing the trans. maintainence regularly. I do the flush and fill about evry 20K miles as I think I drive it hard. I think the normal service interval calls for every 30K.

[Dragcity]

Aye, Aye Captain.

My guess is the tune has a pair of conflicting perameters.

You stated that your RPM are limited to 5800 RPM ?

Most tunes are set that the 70% to 100% throttle position will wind the engine out until it hits the MPH shift point as selected by the tuner.

Soooo, if 3->4 shift is not supposed to happen until, say 125 MPH, and the car is reving to 5800 RPM at say, 122 MPH; then no shifty into 4th. Get it?

The RPM limits the car from acheiving the required 125 MPH needed for 4th gear.

That's my guess, but you may just be learning your car.

I wish I could copy and paste the shift schedule graph. If you are really interested in seeing what it looks like, download the Extreme Tune software from the SCT site and I'll send you a .XTR file to play with.

What's the code on your door jamb?

[Leadfoot281]

Great positive feedback, thankyou.

OD was on, however... As I relive the moment I recall it did shift down to 3rd somewhere along the way. Not sure where.
I was busy watching the road,(its deer hunting season)
What do you drivers think kept it from jumping to 4th?
I wont approach the DR. till I know its not the car or driver.
Dennis has limited (patients) with dumb dumbs like me.
Yesterday I ran across some talk about transmission maintenance, Some drivers think we should be flushing the transmission with regularity, any thoughts?


Hey to leadfoot! Who do you use for repairs and maintenance issues? I am driving to White Bear Lincoln for all but the most basic issues. Love to find a local who understands, And is qualified. My Guy at SLFord said..
" I wont touch them if you put a chip in em" !!! QUOTE!
My response? you wont touch it for sure. Ever.
I heard LaCrosse offers some type of track for us to play on...
for like 5 bucks.
did you hear of something?

I turned 56k miles yesterday and have had only one repair done since 8-04. That was for a bad coil and I had Browns tire and battery do that. They've done all my oil changes, trans flushes, and tires too.

I wouldn't take a wheelbarrow to SL Ford. They haven't seen my Marauder since 8-04. If I did need service major service, I'd go to Dahl Ford in La Crosse.

The owner is in the local Ford club, owns a warehouse full of cool Fords including a Pantera and an '07 Ford GT. I doubt they would give anyone a hard time about mods. I've always had good experiance with them. I've never taken a modded car there before though..

Don't know about any tracks in La Crosse. The oval in West Salem is all I can think of.

BTW, Watch out for deer!

[captain]

To Dragcity... Your brain must hurt.
I think yes, the rev is limited and the shift wont make it. If that is the case then simply pulling back on the accelerator until MPH are reached would solve the climb..Yes? Not my first choice in solutions.
Or ask Dennis to give me a little more rpm. not certain he would/should do that.
Or ask Dennis to move the shift to 4th sooner? (my thought)
This vehicle should acheive 140 mph with ease.

Door code jam? me go look.
xtr file to play with?? I dont even know what that means. me + xtr = ?...
Walking to work?

[captain]

Hi John
couldnt agree more on slf. Lord knows I have tried to work with them over the years. I will look into who told me about the new track atraction in LaCrosse. It is my understanding that any one is welcome to race themselves or others for a small entrance fee and the infamous signed waiver of liability form. I would support such an effort. Where do you go with your car? Shows? Drive-ins? Grocery stores? Drag strips? My merc is my primary car. When I cant or wont drive it I am reduced to driving a 92 toyota 4x4 Pick up. Its easy to find, just follow the rusty bread crumbs it leaves behind!

[Dragcity]

To Dragcity... Your brain must hurt.

Yes, 'tis true, it does, all the time. In my best British accent (from Monty Python, "My Brain Hurts) That was a Gumby for you novices...

Cappy, look inside your Driver's door jamb, where the hinges live. There should be a white sticker with a bar code and a few letters and a number in larger print. Mine, for example reads "MAV2"

C'mon, are you not computer savvy? Don't pass out on me now....Trust me, this way is Soooooo much easier than the old days of changing parts and turning nuts and bolts, just a bit 'abstract'.

Now, I'm sure DR can take care of what you need, the thing I have found from all this tinkering is it is really difficult to do this struff via e-mail/telephone. It is best when these guys have the cars and can feel the effects of changes made. As that is usually not possible, the tuners do generic, safe stuff (in my opinion). This is in NO way a fault, but more a benefit to the owner. The last thing we, as owners, want is to have our cars break. And the really last thing the tuners want, is to break our cars.

Call DR if that is where you got your tuner. He is a super guy and will hook you up with a fix.

If you want to goof around, PM me and we can discuss making changes via the SCT software. I think SCT will still convert (or maybe DR can) a tune to an .XTR file.

Happy Maraudering...