Wheres The Power Gone; Hits The Press

[BA_Turbs]

I dropped my car in for a service today and asked about the "anti-overboost flash".  The guy there was staright out, he'd read or heard about how turbo owners weren't happy and said he could understand, but he also explained it to me.

The flash does not go on all cars.  It only goes on cars between a certain date, he wasn't sure what the dates were, but my August 03 was not affected.  He said the works order that is pre-printed out when my car is brought in for service would be marked if it was to get the reflash.

He also said the reflash was because some vehicles were operating beyond the usual 6 pound of boost that the motor was designed to operate at, therefor affecting all other driveline components, and hence the reason why Ford was going to have to fix it, to stop it damaging the rest of the car.  He also said that in severe cases it may cause damage to the engine as it was boosting beyond what the internals of the engine were designed to handle.  I don't know if this is a load of horse-shi* or not.

So basically, it seems that there were a small number of cars that came out of the factory with better than normal performance, and Ford is bringing them into line with other vehicles.

So it would seem logical that some people have suffered power loss, others may have benefitted from a flash.  Is it possible that the answer is so simple?  (ie an unofficial recall)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just picked the car up from service. Had a new radiator, new diff ordered, new driver's side window switch. Also the usual items that are done in a service.

And WOW does it go. Got me thinking about the whole "flash" thing on the way home. Told my brother as soon as I got home about home much better it felt. FIrst thing he said was "It always feels better after a service."

And he's right. It doesn't feel like a new car, it feels like a car that's been serviced.

For my 2c worth, I think a lot of what is happening is in people's minds....

[Cro]

1st question.... auto or manual?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Both.

Auto ran 197.5rwkw

Manual ran 208rwkw

Both stock standard, not even filter change.

[mickq]

I dropped my car in for a service today and asked about the "anti-overboost flash".  The guy there was staright out, he'd read or heard about how turbo owners weren't happy and said he could understand, but he also explained it to me.

The flash does not go on all cars.  It only goes on cars between a certain date, he wasn't sure what the dates were, but my August 03 was not affected.  He said the works order that is pre-printed out when my car is brought in for service would be marked if it was to get the reflash.

He also said the reflash was because some vehicles were operating beyond the usual 6 pound of boost that the motor was designed to operate at, therefor affecting all other driveline components, and hence the reason why Ford was going to have to fix it, to stop it damaging the rest of the car.  He also said that in severe cases it may cause damage to the engine as it was boosting beyond what the internals of the engine were designed to handle.  I don't know if this is a load of horse-shi* or not.

So basically, it seems that there were a small number of cars that came out of the factory with better than normal performance, and Ford is bringing them into line with other vehicles.

So it would seem logical that some people have suffered power loss, others may have benefitted from a flash.  Is it possible that the answer is so simple?  (ie an unofficial recall)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just picked the car up from service. Had a new radiator, new diff ordered, new driver's side window switch. Also the usual items that are done in a service.

And WOW does it go. Got me thinking about the whole "flash" thing on the way home. Told my brother as soon as I got home about home much better it felt. FIrst thing he said was "It always feels better after a service."

And he's right. It doesn't feel like a new car, it feels like a car that's been serviced.

For my 2c worth, I think a lot of what is happening is in people's minds....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I disagree.

if you want to get that "just serviced" feel from your engine, simply disconnect the battery long enough for it to wipe all the "learned" information, and start driving. Pretty quick it will get that just serviced feelings.

Dealers tend to clear everything when they service it. It includes service and error codes and information about driving habits that the ECU has picked up. It sets everything back to default, and then the car starts learning and self-adjusting and storing error codes again.

Eventually of course you will get back to simialr to what it was, and resetting it again will give you the just serviced feeling again.

I am not sure how long the non volatile memory in the XR6T's lasts when the battery is disconnected. Some cars I have done it on lose everything immediately they lose power. Some cars need to be disconnected overnight or similar. But most brands of cars will lose the info and reset given the appropriate duration of loss of power to the ECU.

[BA_Turbs]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I disagree.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who would have thought?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if you want to get that "just serviced" feel from your engine, simply disconnect the battery long enough for it to wipe all the "learned" information, and start driving. Pretty quick it will get that just serviced feelings.

Dealers tend to clear everything when they service it. It includes service and error codes and information about driving habits that the ECU has picked up. It sets everything back to default, and then the car starts learning and self-adjusting and storing error codes again.

Eventually of course you will get back to simialr to what it was, and resetting it again will give you the just serviced feeling again.

I am not sure how long the non volatile memory in the XR6T's lasts when the battery is disconnected. Some cars I have done it on lose everything immediately they lose power. Some cars need to be disconnected overnight or similar. But most brands of cars will lose the info and reset given the appropriate duration of loss of power to the ECU.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have no idea about the technical side. I know the car feels better after its been serviced. Anything I am saying in regards to this reflash issue is stricly based on my limited experience.

BA_Turbs

[WCE]

well after much anguish I took my car in today to ford due to a concern over the fact that twice on the weekend the car had started to idle very roughly causing me to turn the engine off. I mentioned some of the comments I have read here, the service guys were adamant that they reckon it's all crap (don't bite guys I know that's what they were going to say and that they have very little motive for telling punters the truth).

I just got the car back, the service notes mentioned two things:

(1) something about oil getting into the "throttle body" via a bad pc valve and that the valve had been replaced and oil had been removed? (I'm not a mechanic, just a beancounter). Apparently the car still didn't idle to their expectations (although outside of those two occassions I didn't know there was an issue with the normal idle)

(2) as a result of them believing the car still didnt idle to specs they reflashed the car with their latest program.

so what does this all mean? first impression are that the car idles at a higher rpm and at normal cruising speed feels more refined. after those first five minutes I put the car into manual mode and caned the sh*t out of it. guys there is no power loss in my vehicle, the only thing I really noticed is that when I back off the car responds quicker to this whereas before there was always some residual momentum or acceleration. I'm probably nuts but when I put the car into "auto" performance mode I also perceived that the car was holding onto gear longer than previously.

pretty simple comments, no dyno testing, slide rule etc etc. my gut feel is that the car is actually a better drive

travelling down south again, another 500k trip. will see how it goes and report again.