larrylu Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 I know a lot of you are running the 4+ tune and I wonder what your experience is with mileage. I loaded the 4+ first and I loved it. After a week or so of testing it was very clear my mileage took a substantial hit. I tried the stage 3 next and found that the mileage was even better than stock. Rick seems at a loss to come up with a theory. If those of you who are running 4+ are doing so with no loss of mileage, I have to figure out what is going on in my case. Ideas or suggestions are most welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpd1151 Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 1st... me personally, I don't really ccare, nor pay much attention to the mileage. There are so many influencing factors to consider, that what one person, or group of driver's may experience, can be completely different from your own observations. My MPG is worse in the colder temps. Once it's warms up again here in Chi-Town, the MPG goes up also. Majority of my driving is around, <15miles in either direction. I also have a tendency of driving ummm, errrr, how shall I say.... "aggressively". The few times I do glance down at the MPG, usually shows somewhere 'tween 18/19. On those rare occasions I do jump on the Eway (which I try to avoid now due to the latest round of toll increases) my MPG is typically around the 23/24 mark. But again, so many variables to consider.... Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrming Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 When I switched from Stage 4+ back to stock for the winter, so my wife could run 87, so complained that the MPG dropped when I put the Flex back to stock... no idea how much it dropped, but it was enough for her to notice... Now that Spring is here I'm running the Stage 4+ again... MPG doesn't seem as good as it was last Fall though... ???? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Stock I was good for avg. 21.5 for my version of mixed and good for 28 or 29 for extended highway driving. With stage 4+ I was down to 18.5 for my mixed and 24.5 for my highway. Now I'm testing the stage 3 and I love it also. The shifting is even better than 4+ and my driving so far consists of short haul highway and a little mixed for which I would have expected maybe 23 and I find myself getting over 25. I guess I wonder if I should do a reinstall of 4+ just to make sure everything was done properly. Not too shabby if I have to stay with 3, I just want to be sure before I give up the extra zip that 4+ provides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojomofo21 Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Stage 4+ = 18mpg Stage 2 = 21mpg Stock = 25-28 mpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted April 17, 2012 Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 Ahh, let me throw out a few points I have learned over the years of watching mileage fairly closely. First, my experience is that I have experienced improved gas mileage with all the tunes, and I have run Stage 3, 4, and 4+. Not a big increase but an increase. I have also discovered that if I drive aggressively the mileage gains go away very rapidly, so I try very hard to not get too aggressive if I'm trying to keep the mileage up. I have experienced normal mileage in 23-26 mpg range with the Stage 4+ tune. But here in my area they do change fuel blends in winter and then again in late spring. I have been told that the winter blend fuel has more ethanol. So typically I see a decrease with the "winter" fuel of anywhere from 3-5 mpg. Then when "summer" fuel blend arrives I will see the mileage increase. I have been following mileage very closely since the late 90's and this has occurred on all the vehicles I have tracked, not just the SHO. So maybe part of the drop you are experiencing could be from a change of fuel blends? As Mike, I am not too concerned about mileage and I have only tracked it to see what info I can gather, and also when I trade or sell a vehicle I also include a print-out of the fuel usage. I include every station that I have gotten fuel, date, amount (both gallons and price), and also octane. I just figure it may be something that the next owner may be interested to see. Unlike Jojomofo, I had never experienced stock mileage in the 25+ range, but then again, I added the Livernois tune when my car was only 5 months old and had less then 9000 miles on the odometer. Hope this provides a little insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 Thank's for the thoughtful reply. I'm not a hyper-miler by far but when I'm not driving aggressively, which is most of the time, I have a light foot and I love to keep track my mileage. There are beaucoup variables, I agree, but if only one variable is suddenly changed and all others remain the same, I'm reasonably comfortable assigning cause with the sole recent change. I'm now swapping tunes and watching amazing changes to mileage. So far....mileage category by category, on my car,stage 3 is doing prox 6 mpg better than 4+ and 2 mpg better than stock. If others are doing better with 4+ than me, then I have to figure out why. If on the other hand 4+ is routinely consistently several mpg lower than stock, I'll run 3 on the street, and load 4+ before I go to the strip. I'm in love with 3 by the way in case you can't tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted April 17, 2012 Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 I really like the Stage 3 tune myself, but since I have not experienced any reduction in mileage running 4+, I have left it in, and now I've had it through the winter, although a mild winter here in Pennsylvania, I will watch mileage this summer. If I see any change I will update. I believe we will soon be moving into our summer fuel blend...I believe (although I don't know or have proof) this occurs around May 1-15th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 Rick says he thinks I should get better than stock with 4+ so he is re-sending me 4+ in case the file got corrupted or who knows what. Your experience with 4+ is encouraging and hopefully I can leave 4+ as my everyday tune. If it comes in even close to stock for mileage with the the way it makes my car run it would be my number one choice without a doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livernois Motorsports Posted April 17, 2012 Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 I received this email from a customer a few days ago. He drove here and has us load the 4+ in his Flex. When he got home, he emailed saying: I averaged 18.4 mpg before the tune and after the download got 19.2 mpg on the way back. Shifts are firmer and boost stays on past 5000 rpm where as before after 5000 rpm it definetly seemed to dial back. Best thing I noticed was how smooth the power delivery is. Stock tune with the Airaid filter seemed to have a flat spot below 4000 rpm now that is definitely gone, Very good bang for the buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 Thanks to Rick and all who chipped in with advice and comments. I just loaded 4+ again and now all I have to do is do a little easy driving for a couple of days to get a feel for the mileage. I know it will be running strong. I'm not worried about that. I just hope that it will deliver mileage close to Stage 3. If it does it will be my primary tune for the road. If not I'll use Stage 3 for daily driving and load 4+ for the strip. Thanks again to all who added opinions. What a great resource this forum is!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showgun Posted April 17, 2012 Report Share Posted April 17, 2012 I received this email from a customer a few days ago. He drove here and has us load the 4+ in his Flex. When he got home, he emailed saying: I averaged 18.4 mpg before the tune and after the download got 19.2 mpg on the way back. Shifts are firmer and boost stays on past 5000 rpm where as before after 5000 rpm it definetly seemed to dial back. Best thing I noticed was how smooth the power delivery is. Stock tune with the Airaid filter seemed to have a flat spot below 4000 rpm now that is definitely gone, Very good bang for the buck. To my mind, that would be the fairest and most accurate way to check gas mileage for different tunes: Long distance & Steady speed (preferably using cruise control) and not relying on the computed mileage. One thing I have noticed is that refilling the SHO to the top is hard and a long process. Gas spills easily out the overflow making the task even more difficult. The longer the distance the better since any error in refilling averages out better over such long distances. I don't like to rely on the computed mileage either. For the utmost in accuracy I always calculate miles driven divided by gallons taken on. In my experience this is way more accurate. For what it's worth and IMHO. I haven't done many long distance mileage checks yet in my SHO but I'm reasonably sure that my mileage is not worse than with the stock tune and I strongly suspect that it is better with the 4+. Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 Rick says he thinks I should get better than stock with 4+ so he is re-sending me 4+ in case the file got corrupted or who knows what. Your experience with 4+ is encouraging and hopefully I can leave 4+ as my everyday tune. If it comes in even close to stock for mileage with the the way it makes my car run it would be my number one choice without a doubt. Hi Guy, I've just had my Livernois tune for 4 weeks but I ran the stage2 for a week & 1/2. To started with my combind avg drop from 20-22mpg stock to 17-19 stage2 but the 2nd tank (93 oct) it came up to 19-21 avg. The 2nd wk I had my tune, Rick send me the new update. So I loaded the update stage3 (got 21-23mpg) 3 days before a road trip to Fla. The old lady & I have gone to Fla. the 1st or 2nd wk. Apr. for last 2 yrs. The sock hwy (last yr) was 25-27 in the hill of Ga , 28-29 on the flats of Fla. This yr. w/stage3 going down 25-26.5mpg (3 days down) comb 23mpg the last night loaded stage4+ hwy 23.5-25mph (on the way back). The comb. for mon.& tue.of this wk.(the 2nd tank w/stage4+) had been 22-24. I think the car learn with time on mileage. But I went from Alt to Jax beach on 1 tank none stop that was real good. And because the car is my over 50yr mid life races toy and old lady's road trip luxsury ride. I like it so far but I may load the sock for road trip hwy mpg (OH that sock mpg was with AIRAID CAI) THAT MAY BE MY SOCK MILEAGE GAIN?!:loco: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 Thanks for sharing Shomsn04. I'm in the middle of collecting and comparing. Way to soon to draw any conclusions. I'll check back in a few more days/miles and report my results. So far it looks promising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I received this email from a customer a few days ago. He drove here and has us load the 4+ in his Flex. When he got home, he emailed saying: I averaged 18.4 mpg before the tune and after the download got 19.2 mpg on the way back. Shifts are firmer and boost stays on past 5000 rpm where as before after 5000 rpm it definetly seemed to dial back. Best thing I noticed was how smooth the power delivery is. Stock tune with the Airaid filter seemed to have a flat spot below 4000 rpm now that is definitely gone, Very good bang for the buck. hi Rick, I have a question about track mode button that I've w/PP in my car. dose the stage4 trackion managent deactvate my track mod button funtion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livernois Motorsports Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 hi Rick' date=' I have a question about track mode button that I've w/PP in my car. dose the stage4 trackion managent deactvate my track mod button funtion?[/quote'] All of the factory functionality still works with our tunes. This is not something we modify. Thank you, Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcoBrick Bob Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 My experience with Livernois 4+ and with Torrie's tunes are that they definitely improve my mileage. I got better mileage with 8% smaller tires and tunes vs stock tires and stock ECM. Only reason for losing mileage is the fun of getting it on with the tuned EB!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 So far so good. I don't have my extended highway comparison yet but both the city and the mixed comparisons are much much better than my first Stage 4+ install. I don't know if it was the file or my install but the second time was the charm. Now I'm getting comparable mileage to Stage 3 and better than stock. So glad I tried again. Thanks to Rick for the replacement file and thanks to all who took time to share Stage 4+ experience. Larry Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 All of the factory functionality still works with our tunes. This is not something we modify. Thank you, Rick Thanks Rick I just try a hi performace take-off with the stage4 got some wheel spin out the fwr but that could be because I have new allseason Falken PT-722 there, they have twice the UTOG rate (440) than the GOODYEAR F1 (220) so the trackion on the Falken may be a little less sticky than the Goodyear F1's (still on the back) but last twice as long. Alfter you said that the button has it stock funtion I try a Hi Performace start with the track mod on. got no wheel spin seem just as fast, I'm comfused. I'll have to go the track to see which is best thank you anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showgun Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Thanks Rick I just try a hi performace take-off with the stage4 got some wheel spin out the fwr but that could be because I have new allseason Falken PT-722 there' date=' they have twice the UTOG rate (440) than the GOODYEAR F1 (220) so the trackion on the Falken may be a little less sticky than the Goodyear F1's (still on the back) but last twice as long. Alfter you said that the button has it stock funtion I try a Hi Performace start with the track mod on. got no wheel spin seem just as fast, I'm comfused. I'll have to go the track to see which is best thank you anyway.[/quote'] 'Trac' mode will distribute power as well as cut power in a spin situation, as needed so no spin/limited spin is designed into the system (and best). Different tires front and rear will affect traction front and rear too. Not the best setup. As you say the traction on the harder Falkens will be less than the softer GoodYears on the back. More importantly braking characteristics will be different front to back also due to the different hardness and treads. Take care please. You want to go quicker and faster safely but may not have the best tires for that. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 'Trac' mode will distribute power as well as cut power in a spin situation, as needed so no spin/limited spin is designed into the system (and best).Different tires front and rear will affect traction front and rear too. Not the best setup. As you say the traction on the harder Falkens will be less than the softer GoodYears on the back. More importantly braking characteristics will be different front to back also due to the different hardness and treads. Take care please. You want to go quicker and faster safely but may not have the best tires for that. C. Ha Showgun, The mix tires were not the part of the plan but I bump the curb backing out parting lot space and the electronic steering correct the steering until I say wear on the right fwd (the one I hit) . The plan was to replace the soft F1 with all-season 40-60K miles tire and for the track or autocross go with Hankook V-12 & new lite rally rims. You will only get about 20k out of the F1's I've 23k so they did good. I'll be replaceing the rear next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showgun Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Ha Showgun' date=' The mix tires were not the part of the plan but I bump the curb backing out parting lot space and the electronic steering correct the steering until I say wear on the right fwd (the one I hit) . The plan was to replace the soft F1 with all-season 40-60K miles tire and for the track or autocross go with Hankook V-12 & new lite rally rims. You will only get about 20k out of the F1's I've 23k so they did good. I'll be replaceing the rear next week.[/quote'] Sounds like you know what to expect and are right on it, Shoman04 -- Good to know. Just trying to look after our 'SHO brothers and sisters' here at EcoBoost Taurus SHO & MKS Forum. Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted April 22, 2012 Report Share Posted April 22, 2012 :eyebrows: Sounds like you know what to expect and are right on it, Shoman04 -- Good to know. Just trying to look after our 'SHO brothers and sisters' here at EcoBoost Taurus SHO & MKS Forum. Cheers, Colin. Ha Showgun I AM MAD AT RICK!!! (about gas milage) I was the expessway minding my on beeswaxes and SRT8 came by my like I was standing still (ME 65MPH Him 75-80) . So I had to go catch-up with him. We were get off one EXPRESSWAY west and on to 2nd EXPESSWAY NORTH, I ran him down on the ramp and he open it up coming off the ramp. So I when to stage3 on him slit to the left lane and passed him and a big truck split us and he got suck in the right lane. (4 lane wide plus HOV lane) So I got in fwr of the slow forks he get out from slow truck and in the fast lane and he"s coming (85-90MPH) at about 4 cars behind me (I'm at 65mph waiting on him) I go to stage3 his nose is at my door I go stage4+ ,(we are at about 90mph) and left him like he was standing still. I was vendecated. I slow down to get off at my exit. But I'm MAD at Rick becauce MY gas mileage was 22.2MPG before (Combine) and 21.7MPG after LOL :RpS_flapper::croc: My old 1972 Challenger (back in the day) in that same 3mi of horse play it would have gone from a 1/2 tank to less than 1/8 tank and not as fast. I got 14mpg with my foot out of it 7mpg with it on it. LOVE YOU RICK!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAGE4+ IS GRRRRRREAT(as Tony the tiger would say) HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! PS THAT SRT8 is thing I just got my butt kick BY A TAUSUS:faint::RpS_flapper: I can't tell my forum:typing::(LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showgun Posted April 22, 2012 Report Share Posted April 22, 2012 LOLs Showman -- then I'm guessing we're all 'mad' at Rick. Rick , you are one bad dude..... (tell the crew they're bad asses):thumb::clap2::car: C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted April 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Whoa!!!! Kind of feels like I got on the wrong forum at the end of this thread. For what it's worth I've been running my new replacement Stage 4+ for about 5 or 6 days now and I can say for sure that my mileage is at least back to stock and if anything maybe a bit better than stock. My mixed was 22mpg and my highway test was 30.6. Just for comparison my original install of the first Stage4+ file yielded a mixed of 18.5 mpg and the highway was 24.5 mpg. I don't know what went wrong on my first Stage 4+ install but at $4.30 per gal. for 93 and when I'm talking about my daily driver, that was a hit big enough for me to notice. The good news is that Ricks strategy of replacing the file and re loading it worked like a charm. Now I've got my great mileage and improved performance too. Thanks to Rick, bpd1151, scrming, jojomofo21, mjhpadi, shogun, and ecobrick Bob for the thoughtful replies. Larry Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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