A Few Questions

[BigSur]

I was going to wait to submit these, but I'm bored this morning My Gryphon has been great so far. Here are a few things I've found myself wondering:

- When unplugging and/or plugging the unit back in to the ODGB port, does the ignition have to be on?....or can it be done with the ignition in the off position? Need to know this in case I remove for inspection and/or jump start a vehicle.

- When I load my Custom 87 performance tune (once received), do I have to skip Custom Options the first time I run it?....or no since I did this upon initial install? When I install the tune, I will want to ensure my TS is accurate right off the bat (I've tweaked it almost exact).

- Again when I load my custom tune, do I have to "Load Previous Settings" as soon as I open the Custom Options, i.e. will Bill's settings be lost if I don't do so or are Bill's settings loaded default in the tune....and I only need to load previous settings if I make changes?
THANKS IN ADVANCE

[Jackpine]

I think you have the monochrome style Gryphon, not the CS/CTS, right? If so. the ignition should ALWAYS be ON (engine off) when connecting the unit to the OBDII port so that it can initialize (boot) properly. Once it's gone through the boot sequence, you can either turn the ignition off or continue with programming.

If you ever disconnect the battery, it's equivalent to disconnecting the Gryphon, so, disconnect the Gryphon too. Then reconnect battery, ignition ON, reconnect Gryphon.

You can disconnect the Gryphon with the ignition in any state, but I'd personally have the ignition OFF.

When you receive your custom tune, I would load it without opening the custom options menu first and drive it that way for a week or so. If there IS a TS error, it won't matter much, but you DO want to see how the tune feels without introducing any confusing interactions. Then, if you determine the TS needs to be adjusted, or you want to "experiment, go ahead and "retune" it to the same tune but with the Custom Options step.

Once you have your custom tune, it's possible you may have "lost" your "previous settings" file. If you DO have one, and you "Load Previous Settings", they will replace anything Bill has programmed if different. So, the first time, I would NOT "reload", but would check and set BOTH the TS and GR. All the other settings (shift points, rev limit, etc.,) should be exactly what Bill programmed. Opening that menu though always loads the "placeholder" TS and GR values at first, even with custom tunes, the rest should be Bill's settings.

- Jack

[BigSur]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

I think you have the monochrome style Gryphon, not the CS/CTS, right? If so. the ignition should ALWAYS be ON (engine off) when connecting the unit to the OBDII port so that it can initialize (boot) properly. Once it's gone through the boot sequence, you can either turn the ignition off or continue with programming.

If you ever disconnect the battery, it's equivalent to disconnecting the Gryphon, so, disconnect the Gryphon too. Then reconnect battery, ignition ON, reconnect Gryphon.

You can disconnect the Gryphon with the ignition in any state, but I'd personally have the ignition OFF.

When you receive your custom tune, I would load it without opening the custom options menu first and drive it that way for a week or so. If there IS a TS error, it won't matter much, but you DO want to see how the tune feels without introducing any confusing interactions. Then, if you determine the TS needs to be adjusted, or you want to "experiment, go ahead and "retune" it to the same tune but with the Custom Options step.

Once you have your custom tune, it's possible you may have "lost" your "previous settings" file. If you DO have one, and you "Load Previous Settings", they will replace anything Bill has programmed if different. So, the first time, I would NOT "reload", but would check and set BOTH the TS and GR. All the other settings (shift points, rev limit, etc.,) should be exactly what Bill programmed. Opening that menu though always loads the "placeholder" TS and GR values at first, even with custom tunes, the rest should be Bill's settings.

- Jack

Thanks Jack. Yes, I have the monochrome style. So to clarify, the only values one should have to worry about losing by NOT loading "previous settings" are the TS and GR, correct. So those are the only placeholder variables?

I was actually worried that if I load a custom tune and don't select previous settings, that I would actually erase values entered by Bill (by placeholders going in). Sounds like that's not going to be an issue.

Also, your recommendation to drive a week. Is that to get a feel for the tune....or to allow the Gryphon to build files...b/c again, I really only want to make sure TS is correct.

Appreciated man!!!

[Jackpine]

The recommendation to drive for a week IS to get a "feel" for the tune. You've just paid good money for it, so you need to see how it runs before you start doing things to it that could actually diminish its effectiveness. In my case, I found the custom tunes to be more "refined" than the "canned" ones, which I liked. And, I had asked that my tunes be optimized for economy and found they seemed to improve my gas mileage by about 0.5 mpg over the canned ones.

Some people have complained they don't seem to have as much "power" as the canned ones. Bill has said he has to balance a performance increase with factors that could impact engine and transmission longevity. I'd like to think he's learned a few things in the past few years and has adjusted his tunes accordingly (he's largely responsible for the "canned" Edge tunes too), so, that might be what those people are feeling.

Once you have completed your first tune WITHOUT opening the Custom Options menu, the settings Bill has used for your tune for things like shift points, timing, etc become the "default" settings you will see when you open "Custom Options" in later tunings - except for TS and GR! TS and GR ALWAYS load "placeholder" values when this menu is opened. The GR is often correct, but the TS is usually the smallest TS that was offered on your model year truck. So, the FIRST time you open that menu, check and SET both TS and GR. Then, on all subsequent times you open that menu, "Load Previous Settings" AS THE FIRST STEP!

The "previous settings" file is actually changed when you open a menu item, not when you program the PCM. This means that if you open TS BEFORE "Loading Previous Settings", you will put a placeholder TS value into the previous settings file! This makes no sense, I know - but, I've confirmed this is the way things work with my own Gryphon.

The whole process is very confusing, to say the least. I can only guess that the TS (and possibly the GR) are things that a truck owner can easily and frequently change, whereas shift points and timing and so on stay relatively "fixed" during the life of a truck. Still, it's not the way I would have coded this process.

The new CS/CTS programmers seem (as far as I can tell so far) to have taken a more logical approach with custom options. But, they have more memory capacity and perhaps that's what makes this approach possible.

- Jack

[BigSur]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

The recommendation to drive for a week IS to get a "feel" for the tune. You've just paid good money for it, so you need to see how it runs before you start doing things to it that could actually diminish its effectiveness. In my case, I found the custom tunes to be more "refined" than the "canned" ones, which I liked. And, I had asked that my tunes be optimized for economy and found they seemed to improve my gas mileage by about 0.5 mpg over the canned ones.

Some people have complained they don't seem to have as much "power" as the canned ones. Bill has said he has to balance a performance increase with factors that could impact engine and transmission longevity. I'd like to think he's learned a few things in the past few years and has adjusted his tunes accordingly (he's largely responsible for the "canned" Edge tunes too), so, that might be what those people are feeling.

Once you have completed your first tune WITHOUT opening the Custom Options menu, the settings Bill has used for your tune for things like shift points, timing, etc become the "default" settings you will see when you open "Custom Options" in later tunings - except for TS and GR! TS and GR ALWAYS load "placeholder" values when this menu is opened. The GR is often correct, but the TS is usually the smallest TS that was offered on your model year truck. So, the FIRST time you open that menu, check and SET both TS and GR. Then, on all subsequent times you open that menu, "Load Previous Settings" AS THE FIRST STEP!

The "previous settings" file is actually changed when you open a menu item, not when you program the PCM. This means that if you open TS BEFORE "Loading Previous Settings", you will put a placeholder TS value into the previous settings file! This makes no sense, I know - but, I've confirmed this is the way things work with my own Gryphon.

The whole process is very confusing, to say the least. I can only guess that the TS (and possibly the GR) are things that a truck owner can easily and frequently change, whereas shift points and timing and so on stay relatively "fixed" during the life of a truck. Still, it's not the way I would have coded this process.

The new CS/CTS programmers seem (as far as I can tell so far) to have taken a more logical approach with custom options. But, they have more memory capacity and perhaps that's what makes this approach possible.

- Jack