Extremely Hard WOT Shift 1-2
 

Good morning from Colorado!

My Gryphon arrived yesterday afternoon with custom 87-tow and custom 91-perf. Very very excited. I have a 2004 FX4 SuperCrew with a SIDO Magnaflow cat-back, Volant CAI, 325-60-18 Nittos and a fresh full synthetic Mobile 1 Oil and Tranny Fluid flush.

I loaded Level 3 (91 perf) and at wide open throttle, I have a violent shift between 1 and 2. Really, really violent. Scary.

Has anyone had any issues like this before? 2-3 shifts fine, 3-4 shifts fine. Normal driving shifts great. Just when I floor it, the transmission slams into second gear.

Thanks for any help! I will probably give Bill a call later this afternoon. Cheers!

I think Bill is going to have to modify your 91 octane tune a bit. I would NOT do any WOT runs until he does.

mine sorta does the same...not really violent, but definitely rougher than the other shifts. tomorrow i will adjust the shift pressure setting and see what happens

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User profile missing phone number in case Bill needs to call you.

Profile updated. I know PHP is closed today, if you talk to Bill, could you have him call me? I'm currently running level 2 with a softer shift-firmness (-8) between 1 and 2. Still not perfect.

Ive also noticed level 2 with 87 octane is a quicker 0-60 time than level 3 (with 91) and seemingly give better gas mileage and power. I drive 80 miles a day so I've had a lot of time to tinker.

Thanks for any help, in advance.

milehigh, hows things in colorado? i cant wait to go up elk hunting next fall....

your not the 1st person ive heard claim better results from lvl2(87) over the lvl3(91+) tune.

i havent even tried out my lvl3 yet because i like the lvl2 so much, and ive had my gryph for abt a month or a little longer. I dont plan on using the lvl3 much at all either because as far as im concerned the benefits will be offset with the additional price of higher octance gas.

as for mileage, idk what ur getting but im getting 16.5+mpg rt now with 33's, trying to get up to 17. the best i ever got w my 5.4 was 19mpg, before i got bigger tires so i think my mileage is just right for my setup. i also drive 80miles a day so i thought id throw that in for comparison(but you are at a much higher elev. than me). on the lvl3 i think that some gas could actually be wasted. dumping to much into the injectors to fully utilize. but that's just a suspicion. Bill would be able to provide a btr explanation on what the lvl3 tune consists of.

that brings us to the tranny issues. You will see btr mileage from lvl2 over lvl3 because the lvl2 tow tune has lower shift points. ive been noticing that running lvl2 im almost always in 4th gear, thus getting higher IMPG's. this is more beneficial for mileage than a tune that lets you 'wrap-out' each gear further/longer,with higher shift points. the principal here is to get into higher gears(numerically) faster, and increase mileage.

as for your hard shifting, unfortunately idk what to say. if u have the shift firmness adjusted all the way down and your still having violent WOT shifts, let off or ease back a bit and let that baby shift. then get bk on it.

i do this sometimes to get into higher gear faster instead of letting the tranny 'hang' for longer. By the same token, there are times when my truck loses speed/power gng up long hills. i dont worry abt this...the alternative is a quicker downshift and less mpgs. this is why i like the canned lvl 2 tow tune so much. when i need it power is def. there, in the meantime im getting good economy.

hope this helps and keep us posted on the hard shifting issue. peace

Update for Hard Shifts
 

Haven't been running my truck hard. Waiting for a call back from PHP. I've played with the Shift-Firmness setting and, right now, I have it set for +4 (1-2) , +4 (2-3) , +4 (3-4) and the truck shifts perfect under normal driving conditions on my custom tow setting #2 AND custom performance setting #3. However, any aggressive throttle from gear 1 to gear 2, I can start to feel the hard shift condition so I haven't opened it up in over a month now...

Am I the only one experiencing this? I was wondering if it might have to do with the RPMs at which the transmission is set to shift. If the truck is still pulling hard at higher RPMs, would the transmission shift harder based on engine load? What if you let the truck shift at higher RPMs, when you can feel the power start to cut out, would this allow for a lighter shift based on engine load?

Are these even related?

I really want to get this figured out. I have a buddy with a tacoma talking trash.

Ok, I just left a post on the moderator forum.

Just tell your buddy that its better to not be able to accelerate than to not be able to stop. :hehe:

@Longshot , message delivered. He's pissed HAHAHA.

Thanks for the moderator msg delivery. I'd really like to get this figured out... driving me crazy...

MileHigh - It's possible you may NEVER get what you want here. The firmness settings are really for the WOT shifts. Cranking up the firmness causes the clutch bands to reingage more quickly at the end of the shift, resulting in less slippage.

You really shouldn't notice a part throttle shift much at all, other than to hear a change in engine speed and feel possibly a slight "lurch".

I think you should go the other way on firmness in the 1-2 upshift, possibly into negative territory, if it feels too harsh at WOT. If you like the way the others feel, leave them alone.

I doubt reducing the 1-2 upshift firmness is going to be that noticeable at part throttle, but at WOT, it should feel "tamer".

You really don't want a hard "lurch" during a shift anyway, because that lurch is telling you you're putting stress on the driveline. At the same time, you don't want a SLOWWW reduction in RPM as the bands begin to "grip", because that wears them out. It's a bit of a balancing act.

In driving a manual shift vehicle, I feel I've done it properly if the clutch is released quickly and the accelerator is depressed quickly at the same time so that I don't really feel it and, I've done all this so fast (gotten the shift lever out of the lower gear and into the next gear) that the engine RPM has only dropped to the new gear speed. That's the feeling I'd really like to have with an automatic.

- Jack

:cheesy smile:
:thumbsup:

Try out the level 2 tow tune for a bit to see what you think of those shifts and compare them to what you are experiencing now. You should be fine with the CAI since that tune runs richer. I could be that

Jack,

Thanks for the info. I have tried that as well. I found -8 to -10 between gears 1&2 (*edit* at WOT) gives a solid transmission shift with little to no "lurch". However, this also leaves me with a soft shift shudder under normal driving conditions. I hear bad things about shudders. Again, it's only for 1-2 shifts. 2-3/3-4 are great and always have been.

I wish I could post a hi-res video of what is happening...

This has no relevance to Timing does it?

-MileHigh

No, it shouldn't relate to timing I think.

I suspect this is something Bill can adjust for in a custom tune though. He not only adjusts the "firmness" setting that you can play with, but he also adjusts line pressures and the torque dive that occurs in a shift. I'd guess one of these needs changing. I'm sure he can put an updated tune file on the server for you when he gets time.

In the meantime, though, do what Longshot suggested. Simply load the custom tow tune you have, DO NOT make any custom option changes and try that one. You can use it with the higher octane gas, so that's not a problem.

If the truck shifts more to your liking, Bill would need to know this, and, if there's no improvement, that's important data too.

- Jack

New 91 Performance tune is ready for download.

Bill wants me to let you know that part of your problem may be that your PCM calibration is old, and there have been updates since then to remedy shifting issues such as shift flare.

You don't HAVE to update, but if you do, Bill will rewrite both custom files for $30. Let us know if you'd like to do this down the road. :)

I think I botched this one. I got Pegasus installed and talking to the server correctly. If I updated the Firmware, does that erase the custom tunes? When I plugged the Gryph back into my truck, it ran through a complete initialization, writing new files, etc, like the first day I got it. Under the Performance Settings menu, there is just Lvl 1/2/3 (I cant remember if these had a *custom* text in front of them) ... did I mess this up?

If you go back into the download custom files menu of Pegasus again you will be able to re-download your custom tunes. Just be sure to do a calibration update (not just a firmware update).

You MAY have reverted to "canned" tunes. It sounds like you used the Gryphon Update Manager, which is NOT what you should have used. If you did that and updated both firmware AND calibrations, then you're back to "canned".

All is not lost however.

1. Make sure your truck is at Lvl 0 (stock) and start Pegasus without connecting the Gryphon.
2. Click on [Updates]->[Pegasus Update Manager] to install Pegasus V2.01.0640 if you are running an older version, possibly V2.01.0616.
3. Once you are sure you are running the LATEST version of Pegasus, with it running, connect your Gryphon to the PC. The screen should flash red and then turn green.
4. Now, click on [Updates]->[Custom File Download] to download and install the custom tunes Bill has written for you. I think this should restore ALL the custom tunes.
5. Once this process finishes, simply disconnect the Gryphon and return it to your truck. You don't need to press any keys on the Gryphon before it is disconnected.

Let us know what happens.

- Jack

Followed the steps exactly. The Gryphon never went from Red to Green. But it downloaded 303993 bites of stuff. Then it gives me an error message
"Update Failed. Please contact your vendor for assistance."

Let me restart my comp and try again.

Jack~ Update successful, heading to truck for a joyride in the rain. Wish me luck! I'll update when I get back. How do I post pictures directly into a thread?

Preemptive One-Hundred Million thank-you's.

-milehigh

Before I get too excited, is there a visual/text indication that I have custom vs canned tunes loaded?

Good :2thumbs:

To attatch pictures, while you are typing your post there is a little paper clip. Click on that. After you have attatched the images you can click on it again and insert them. They will be small but it will be fine. Be sure that they are 640x480 pixels. Lookin' forward to 'em.

Excellent. Here's the love of my life.

How do you confirm customs have been loaded?

From the Main Menu, go into either the diagnostics or setup (cant remember at the moment :doh:), then tech support and version info. If it looks like "1.x.xxxx" then it is a canned tune and if it has "0.x.xxxx" then it is custom. :thumbs up yellow:

Nice looking truck. Longshot told you what to look for. I think it's called "Calibration" in the Version screen.

- Jack

I'm guessing I still have canned tunes...

here's a pic of the screen

Nice picture! You have custom tunes, not canned. Your model Gryphon is an older one, which is normally found on pre-04 trucks. Here's how you tell if they're custom tunes on that platform:

Any programmer with a Product Number that looks like --> Ex.xx.xx <-- is an older platform unit and the Power Programming Menu display cannot be changed. And, on those units, if the last 2 digits are "99" then it is always a custom file.

So, an older model Gryphon with a Product Number that looks like "Ex.xx.99" like yours does, has custom tunes.

I'd have to do a lot of research to find out, so you can just tell me. Did you buy your unit as an Edge from someone and have it converted to a Gryphon? It looks like you have an 04 truck.

- Jack

Yes I did, my neighbor sold his Yellow 04' SuperCrew and I picked up a Red one within a month. He sold me his Edge, but I already had a Volant CAI and Cat-Back Magnaflow SIDO exhaust. Very first thing I did was contact PHP, never looked back.

I've played around on f150forum/online.com and those guys are great, but the crew that hold loyalty to PowerHungry just cannot be beat. You guys are the best. I will start posting all my mods shortly (now that I know how to post images!)

Thanks again!
~milehigh