At 10:33 AM 2/19/97 -0700, you wrote:
*snip*
>>And I hate to pay extra for the 92 octane premium, so I posted this problem a
>>while back and got many helpful suggestions, none of which led to a fix
>>unfortunately. I even called both dealers in the area (one notoriously bad
>>and one a good 5-star) and both said that "all the magnum engines get an
>>appetite for octane as they age. There is nothing that we can do about it."
>Neither wanted me to come in to try to diagnose the problem. Suspecting
>an EGR problem, I spent a lot of time fooling with that area (both shop
>manual diagnostics and on road testing with manual EGR control via a
>vacuum pump) and came to the conclusion that it works, but I'm not sure
>if it works 100% right. It'll take some time for me to convince myself
>>to cough up the cash for a new EGR system to test my skepticism.
>
>The only mod I have is a K&N FIPK. I had the Jacobs Omni-Pak installed
>which seemed to cause a rough idle and seemed to make pinging worse
>(maybe my imagination), so I removed it. Note that this pinging problem
>with the factory SBEC makes me scared of buying the MP SBEC because
>others on this list have related heavy pinging with the MP SBEC with no
>>problem previously.
>
>So, maybe the dealers are right and we can expect to pay for some octane
>increases as these engines age.... But most likely it's just that they
>don't see a problem with owners paying extra for high grade gasoline
>when that works around a problem they would have to fix.
>
>Steven Connelly
>93 Dakota Xcab 4x4 V8 auto
Steven, have you ever tried to 'burp' your stock SBEC??? I find
that my truck runs better after a switch from computer-computer (I have
the stock and MP SBEC, and change them back and forth when I tow, or
when I'm low on $$$ :)
Try this:
Disconnect your positive battery cable, and let it stay off over
night (you won't hurt anything but the presets on your radio!). When you
re-connect the cable, drive the truck as you would normally... You
might find that the SBEC has gone back to 'brand new' truck mode, and
learns your truck all over again... With my MP SBEC, if I lead foot it
a lot (and that's often!), then drive on a long trip at a steady speed,
the truck STILL get crummy mileage... So I 'reteach' the computer by
powering it down overnight, then bring it back up, and driving how I
want to drive (I.E. steady speed for the trip).. When I do this my mileage
goes back up, and stays up where it should be on the trip... Now, my
performance is a little off (but not really noticeable).
Sam '95 SLT
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