Econ Tune
 

Does anyone have an economy or mpg tune? I've got a 87 perf tune and a 87 tow tune... I want to go ahead and round out my truck with some solid mpg's. I running 35s with stock gears...I wanted to see if anyone had an econ tune on a setup similar to that? What kind of mpg's you were getting, and what to expect overall ?

Thanks for ya time !

An economy tune would probably resemble your performance tune with lowered shifting and maybe some other minor stuff. What kind of mileage are you getting?

You may want to try and regear first.
The tires(35's") you are running don't help matters much. Lots of mass to get moving, to keep moving, and to get stopped.

Bill said something about this a while back. He stated there would be very little difference in the two tunes if your driving was mostly highway. I suspect you could achieve the effect of an economy tune by lowering your part throttle upshift and downshift and TC lock and unlock points.

Regardless, I doubt you'd get real "value" from an additional economy tune compared to your 87 performance tune.

I bet there's going to be renewed interest in this subject though, as gas prices inch up (like they're doing).

- Jack

Jack,

You're a little over my head on the upshift/downshift etc. Could you elaborate a little more on that. Also, I'm getting better mpg's 14-16.5 with my towing tune than with my performance tune 11-13/14. Don't get me wrong the performance tune is awesome for what its designed to do. Just wanted to see if there was something else I could do to squeeze out 18-20. Some of these guys with 35s are getting better than I do.... just seeing if its wishful thinking :giggle:.

But Jack, let me know if there is something I could do get a little more out of my performance or towing tune as it is now in the way of mpgs.

Any other suggestions are acceptable as well including ... stop complaining :cool:

He is referring to using the custom options menu to lower what MPH markers make the truck shift when your not at WOT. You can lower all of those points causing the truck to shift in a lower RPM (saving gas). The torque converter is pretty much the same. I bet your getting better mileage with the towing tune because you didn't regear after putting on 35s. The truck is needing more torque to turn them.
Next time you are going drive go into the custom options and lower all of the shift points (you can leave the 1-3 gear converter points alone, just lower the 4th gear). And make sure you leave about 10 minutes reprogram. The changes in shift points take a while to program, just in case you cut it close on getting to work.
..Oh and when you do that, lower both your up shift and down shift points so they match up. I'm not quite sure what'll happen if you dont but lets not find out. ;)

Longshot was correct with this. However, I'd lower ALL the part throttle shift points: 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4. As I recall, you can reduce 1-2 by -2, 2-3 by -3 and 3-4 by -5. Do the same thing with the downshifts, so that the truck is not so quick to downshift when you give it just a little gas when cruising. This will not effect your WOT shifts at all, so when you want "performance", you'll still have it.

Now, I did the same thing with my part throttle Torque Converter part throttle unlock/lock points. There are eight of these, two for each gear. I lowered each of them by the "max".

As Longshot said, this will cause the programming session to take a bit of time, so give yourself that time, and, MAKE SURE THE BATTERY VOLTAGE IS HEALTHY and that everything is nice and warm.

I discuss these options a bit in the Q&A on custom options - please read through it before you start anything.

- Jack

Yeah, just like jack said. I guess I didn't make myself clear enough. :doh: I meant to say lower all of the regular shift points but leave the 1-3 torque converter lock points alone since in regular driving you will rarely see it lock there. The main ones that will save on gas are regular gear shifts 3 and 4 and the 4th gear converter lockup point.
FYI: the 4th gear torque convter point can be lowered up to 10 mph. I think this makes it lock around 35-45 mph.

Geaux Tigers,
There is a real big BS factor with some people when they figure their mpg's. So don't always take their mpg's as the gospel truth.
Digital read outs are a big part of the problem. Its the way the information is sampled that causes it.
A calculator, pencil and logbook tell a better history than a gauge read out does.
With what Jack and Longshot have suggested will also help.
We drive BRICKS not prius's.

:hehe: :hehe: And, they're not drag racers either!

Could be worse! Could be like the Cape Canaveral shuttle transporter.

- Jack

I've posted this link on other forums, but this is the easiest and most accurate way to track/monitor MPG (if you have a PC and Excel):

Gas Mileage Calculator and Mileage Log for Excel

Shotgun, what MIGHT be instructive would be to add a "Cumulative MPG" column (total miles/total gallons) to see if it came any closer to the digital readings. It would also tend to eliminate variances due to wind, hills, driving speeds, etc.

To be really useful, I think I'd try to separate the towing periods from the non-towing periods (which you could do with a simple boolean switch - key off a "Y" in a "towing" column or something).

You have the data, so it would be an easy mod and enhancement to your current display - I'd have to start from scratch, since I always do mine by hand on the back of a gas receipt. :giggle:

- Jack

Good feedback!

The very bottom row lists cumlative totals and the AVG MPG (based on total miles/total gallons). I reset the truck computer MPG each time I fill up. The bottom row also lists the average truck computer reading (average for each tank). I thought about doing a weighted average based on miles travelled, but realized it was more of a pain than it was really worth...

I seriously considered the towing column/boolean switch, but I rarely get the chance to fill-up before and after the towing trip (when I'm fishing it's too damn early and when I'm done I'm too damn tired). Obviously this means that most of the time the tank is a part towing/part not calculation.

At least you're not using your palm pilot...:thumbs up yellow:

When I get my CTS, I will have to add a new column or two for the CTS AVG MPG and difference from actual. The CTS procurement request is currently at the War Department and is under consideration...:whistle1:

Shotgun,
My request is constantly getting denied at the congressional level. They're claiming lack of funding along with over spending!
How does that work?
LOL's

88,
After 25 years of marriage bliss (Dec 29th :woot:), I have only partially figured out the :Money: appropriations process.

Unfortunately every time I think I really have it figured out, I am rebuffed with a big fat denial. :cursin:

I do know that approvals usually involve trading (similar to Congressional funding bills). What I don't know is how to offer anything to the party that already has everything and controls all the extra funds anyway. :confused:

After serious contemplation, several studies, and third party evaluations, I decided there is only one course of action - BEG! :bow:

:smiley_roll1:

I think both of you need to convene the legislature to pass a law creating separate budget lines (or perhaps just use the wartime supplemental process to fund for critical emergencies like these). Don't forget, deficit spending is good for the economy right now. It needs all the stimulus you can give it!

And Shotgun, I didn't notice the cumulative mpg cell. Maybe because my old eyes were having trouble resolving the small image. Nevertheless, you kind of prompted me to get off my lazy backside and create a tracking table with similar features. I almost always start towing with a full tank, and I tend to fill up right after a towing period, so I WILL keep track of them separately. I liked your cost/mile column too. It would help some people answer the old question, "Would I be better off using high octane gas?"

I think you're using the dashboard avg mpg values (that you reset)? I don't know how many samples it needs to "stabilize" but Bill has said the Gryphon needs 100,000 samples, at one per second, which works out to close to four tankfuls in average driving. Resetting that display at each fillup sort of "skews" the numbers.

- Jack

LOL at the stimulus funding. Hell, I'm lucky if I can get my beer funded!

I did not know that about the message center MPG. I will leave it alone and see what happens.

If the chairman of the War Department agrees to the CTS procurement (oh please, please, please) I will do the same thing from day one (I will keep track of tune level too).

I suspect I will end up with the same tunes as you Jack - custom economy, custom 87 tow, and canned 93 performance (will probably never use this one).

Thanks for tip!

It helps to have separate revenue sources for the two parties. We do, which makes funding the needs of each party somewhat easier. The negotiations of course then concern themselves with "combined" spending. However, our form of government maintains separate motor pools, and each branch has to come up with the funds for O&M of each.

I just made a tiny change to my previous post, by the way. 100,000 samples is closer to four tankfuls than five. And, I KNOW (from monitoring the dash Avg MPG display and comparing it to the Gryphon's) that the dash display is more sensitive to change than the Gryphon, suggesting that it uses a smaller sample size. Still, resetting at each fillup may give misleading results. But, I dunno? :shrug:

- Jack

Jack- I went ahead and did what you guys suggested , but I'm having a problem with the truck going in to overdrive in 3rd gear. So, when I'm cruising in 2nd or 3rd gear (usually just 3rd gear) I go from roughly 1000 rpms to 1800+ rpms...and back and forth, until I either speed up to 50 mph + or slow down drastically.

Here's what I did in my Gryphon settings so you can address the problem directly:

Shifting
1-2 -2
2-3 -3
3-4 -5
4-3 -5
3-2 -3
2-1 -2

Std. Conv. ---> I put all the allowances to the maximum negative number for each of the gears (8; 2 for each gear).

Let me know which gear(s) I should change and by how much.


My guess: Change the gear converter for gears 1-3 back to 0 and just change gear 4. OR change 1-2 gears back to 0 and just change gears 3 & 4 to the maximum alllowance ... Thanks guys !

Tiger, well you can leave the shift points and lower the 3rd and 4th gear torque converter points and that will be about it. I'm not sure what your saying about the overdrive though. Is it not wanting to shift into 4th?

That's what it sounds like, doesn't it? And, I agree with you that he might as well try lowering the TC points, except I did it for ALL my gears. I lowered them by the max too.

Tigers - It DOES sound to me like the TC is probably not locking up for you when it should. Anyway, give it a try - I don't see how it can hurt anything and it's all vry easy to undo if it doesn't work right for you.

- Jack