Shift firmness and timing questions

[Chris74]

I upgraded to a Goodyear Gatorback, but still have belt slippage. It may not be quite as bad, but not a lot better. Any ideas why?

[SinCityFX4]

As Bill's post stated..it's kind of the nature of the beast with the setup....the slippage is usually above 5k at WOT anyways. Alot of people I have talked to have said the gatorback belt cured it and the same said it didn't so I am not gonna mess with it.

[Chris74]

I'm not gonna worry about it.....not that big a deal.
Maybe my truck makes more power than those others and it's too much for that Gatorback to harness

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by Chris74

I'm not gonna worry about it.....not that big a deal.
Maybe my truck makes more power than those others and it's too much for that Gatorback to harness

Right! A serpentine belt squeak is NOTHING to worry about. But, when I thought it was in the transmission, I couldn't help but try to keep it from happening!

- Jack

[banks]

i got a question reguarding the shift firmness, once i have adjusted it to what i want. do i scroll down to load previous settings and hit enter says loaded pervious settings. does this mean that changes that i made are loaded. or do i need to scroll up where it says done and reload my performance tune. its hard for to tell if changes have been made b/c im making little steps at a time and what to make sure im doing it the right way

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by banks

i got a question reguarding the shift firmness, once i have adjusted it to what i want. do i scroll down to load previous settings and hit enter says loaded pervious settings. does this mean that changes that i made are loaded. or do i need to scroll up where it says done and reload my performance tune. its hard for to tell if changes have been made b/c im making little steps at a time and what to make sure im doing it the right way

This "Load Previous Settings" feature seems to be hard to understand, and I'm right with those who are not sure of anything anymore. But, here's what I think, and this will give Bill yet another chance to try to get me to comprehend:

When you enter the "Custom Options" menu, the FIRST thing you want to do is "Load Previous Settings" - assuming you want things like your previous settings for tire size, firmness, etc., reloaded. THEN, you can go through the individual settings if you've decided to change anything to a new value. Make sure you hit <Enter> after setting anything new to return to the Menu, because if you "back" out using the <Menu> key, the new setting you just entered will not be saved. Finally, when you're finished, make sure you select "Done", to save everything and start the PCM programming process. If you back out before hitting Done, by hitting the <Menu> button again, your changes aren't saved, but I think it MAY start programming with possibly bad values for Gear Ratio (GR) and Tire Size (TS).

So, don't enter a new shift firmness and then Load Previous Settings, because if you do, your firmness value is set back to what you had before.

And I THINK, if you enter the "Custom Options" menu WITHOUT using "Load Previous Settings", you are liable to have bogus values inserted for GR and TS. This does not happen if you don't enter Custom Options though - if you bypass Custom Options, factory values for TS and GR are loaded from the VID block in the PCM or from the Custom Tune itself (if you've chosen a custom tune).

The "Previous Settings" file is NOT unique to a specific tune. It is a "master" file of setting preferences that accumulates as you revise values in the Custom Options menu. These settings can be and are applied to any new tune you choose if you "Reload Previous Settings". So, if you bump your timing 1 degree because you use 93 octane gas in a 91 octane tune, be careful. If you switch to an 87 octane tune and "Reload Previous Settings", your timing will be incorrectly increased by 1 degree over the 87 octane setting.

And now we'll see if I got it right?

- Jack

[Buckeyes903]

Originally Posted by orygunf150

The first few of many questions... running in level 3 I adjusted the shift firmness to 5 and noticed it shifted a little better. Lookes like it goes to 25, is there an issue with this? Has anyone here tried it? I have a 67 Mustang with a c4 and trans go shift kit, it will bark the tires in second gear no problem. I'm sure the f150 wont do that but I'm wondering what it shifts like at 25 and if it's advisable.
Secondly, the manual (which by the way is pretty vague) says you can bump up the timing for every octane number you go up. Does level 3 already advance the timing or can I bump it up a little since I run 92.

I have been running my shift firmness at 25 since I got the programmer and haven't noticed any problems, I think I read a lot of guys on F150online run theirs at 25 all the time.

[orygunf150]

Hey Buckeyes, thanks. How does it shift at +25?

[Buckeyes903]

The shifts feel 100 times better then they do at stock, it feels like the truck actually wants to move and that you are quick shifting a manual. It's awesome

[Dfishrmn]

Originally Posted by Buckeyes903

I have been running my shift firmness at 25 since I got the programmer and haven't noticed any problems, I think I read a lot of guys on F150online run theirs at 25 all the time.

I have read in other forums that the 3-4 shift should be set lower than the other shifts since that is the weakest link in our transmissions. I would think that would only apply if you are doing a lot of WOT runs. Maybe someone else here has more info on this.