The Ghost

Why were you intrested in spending the money for this instead of the X-cal or X-cal2? I use the X-cal and have the adjustment program on my PC. I can do everything but datalog. Including adjusting my auto in every gear at every RPM. I even get to play with converter lock-up. This suits me fine and was cheaper than the X2. You certainly could have gotten an X-cal or X-cal2 from a number of great tuners and just asked that they include a CAI tune in the program to be installed later. You could have had an 87 and a 93 tune installed also. And as to the Spanish oak proccesor "learning your driving" Double boot the thing. Flash it, drive it for a day or so, Flash it again. It also "learns" that is what you want. It does correct the engine tune to optimize your most frequent driving style, but it will keep the tranny settings if you changed them. I wanted a very aggresive downshift at zero throttle (compression braking) kept losing it until I discovered the double flash thing. I currently have my auto set up that it sounds like I'm yanking the gears in a standard going up and coming back down.

wmtheflash

The Ghost, I'll have to convert the SCT Strategy Flash to XCal2 first. I'm sure SCT SF doesn't support all of the features you mentioned, even though the device is same, the software is fairly simple.

I didn't know the vehicle adjusted the tune itself, however, I've heard about the tranny going "soft" again. I'm not sure if that's the tune being corrected or the fact that you've essentially rebooted the computer and it has to relearn your driving habits and will readjust the tranny. Instead of reflashing the computer, has anyone tried unhooking the battery instead? Just curious.

The Strategy Flash only allows you to increase shift pressure at WOT. Has transmission changed at WOT or just under less aggressive driving?

I knew the tranny was adaptive, but I didn't know the vehicle was that smart. I just assumed if I flashed it with a 93 Octane tune, then it would stick. Has anyone else had this problem? I think I'm going to ask the company in an e-mail. I'll post the results here when I get a chance.

One of the main reasons I bought it was because of all of the preloaded tunes. You can try it out on a maximum of five vehicles before it has to be unlocked, I plan on trying it on two relatives' Mustangs and my friend's Cobra. To do what I needed it to do it would need multiple octane tunes for a V6 SN95, SN95 GT, and a SVT Cobra. If my friends like the improvement, then they're getting their own.

I own two Fords, my sister has a Ford, my uncle owns a Ford, my brother owns a Ford, my grandparents have a Mercury and a Ford, and my parents have five Fords. (Geez, I should probably start selling these things. lol) Anyway, chances are good that I'm going to use the code reader on one of those twelve vehicles. Having an LCD screen helps!

Plus, I figured the factory would be a little more conversative than a dealer, the only horror stories I read about Mustangs and tunes came when a shop made a mistake.

The Ghost

Yes, it is "smart" if you want to call it that. What it does is constantly monitor your driving style and adjust parameters to give the optimal emmisions and then economy, while trying to keep it performing at it's best the way you drive it 90% of the time. But the auto can be overriden so to speak. Again by double booting it. I don't know if the reset function will do the same or not, but it only takes like two minutes to boot the thing. I understand about the multi-car function and that makes sense to me.

Racefiend

Ghost:

How did you get the throttle to close when litting off of the gas pedal (or should we call it a servo pedal lol) for those downshifts? Did the default tune do this for you or did you adjust other parameters? And by software, do you mean you bought what they call the "racer package"? The one that pretty much gives you what the tuners use?

TIA

richmod

Just wondering how it went - has the tune "stuck" or is the throttle lag/soft shift back?

wmtheflash

Ok, here's the follow up...

I tried the bit about the gas pedal. It just doesn't work for me. I noticed absolutely no difference. If you want to get rid of throttle lag, you need a tuner.

Yes, the tune "stuck" the lag never returned. No need to flash multiple times or anything.

When you adjust shift firmness it's for wide open throttle. When you really push the car it shifts HARD! When you're stuck in traffic or going easy you don't feel much of a difference in shift feel.

I did discover that older Mustangs respond differently. The SCT Strategy Flash let's you tune a lot of Mustangs from various years. I tried it on my brother's '03 V6. I didn't notice much of a power difference because I used the 87 octane tune (93 tune would have done wonders, I'm sure), but throttle response did improve. Here's the interesting part: I increased the shift line pressure thinking it would the same way on both of our cars.

Driving impressions with my brothers 2003 V6 auto Mustang:

Wrong! It changed the shift feel at ALL throttle positions, not just wide open throttle. Weird! I increased the line pressure by 25%...the maximum. It was fun when you were accelerating, but there is nothing more annoying than hard downshifts when you're coming to a stop, especially in heavy traffic! I bet 10% would have been a perfect compromise.

I also added a CAI to my 2006 Mustang GT later in the month:

It's a Steeda CAI, which really improved throttle response, gave me more power and a better sound. My only commet has to do with tightening the gaskets. Do yourself a favor and use a socket wrench. I could here air suck past the filter, it almosted sounded like my tires were going flat. lol I didn't even have to tighten it hard with the socket and the noise went away. Goodbye annoying whistling noise, hello engine noise. The SCT Strategy flash worked perfectly, I have NEVER tripped the checked engine light with my Steeda CAI.

Here's the final word:

Pro:

- Versatility: You can select three octane levels, multiple cars, and even different CAI's. Have a Steeda CAI? You have three octane tunes. If you have a stock intake, then you have three octane tunes. Maybe you want to swtich to another CAI...well, guess what? There are three octane tunes for that two. Lots of combinations lots of choice.

- It's easy to use. Oh, and I didn't remove the fuses on my 2006 or my brother's 2003 and there were no problems. However, your mileage my vary!

Verdict: The Strategy Flash is more versatile than what I thought.

- Shift firmness: For a 2005+ you're going to feel it at wide open throttle. For 1999+ you'll feel it at all throttle positions.

Verdict: I like it. Upshifts hard, downshifts like normal. Easy going in the city and works great at wide open throttle. If you want it to upshift hard at all throttle positions, then a different modification is in order. Otherwise, it works.

- Throttle lag. It didn't return and with a CAI response got even better.

Verdict: I didn't have to retune the car after tuning it once.

Cons:

- Gas mileage didn't improve much with just the tune. I think you get used to the power and start using it. Either way, I took it on a long car trip without the tune and compared my results on the same route with the tune. I think I got about 0.5 mpg's lower. Essentially, gas mileage remained about the same for me...I'm getting about 24 or 25 mpg highway.

- Gas mileage dropped with the CAI and the tune. That's me giving it more gas, though. If you have more power, then you'll likely use it. Good news, though, it didn't drop that much, maybe 1 mpg? Driving more conservatively will probably yield a different result. I swear that my city mileage dropped more than my highway, but I CANNOT confirm it.

Verdict: You'd save a lot more money at the pump if you drove it slower and didn't accelarate as hard.

As a final note, I haven't tried the 87 octane tune on my 2006, yet. I can only speak for the 93 octane tune.

richmod

Thanks so much for taking the time to summarize that. Very helpful.

yazanm

i know this discussion is too old but i need help
I just bought a '05 GT with an automatic and it has a JLT CIA and SCT Strategy Flash .
it used to work fine for the first week then problem showed after adjusting the tuning ..
now it is running on (93) octane tune and since i am newbie and don’t know anything about tuning i think i messed up something with the tuner . the car drives good except when the gear changes from 3rd to forth it delays to high rpm and suddenly jump into gear then the O/D light start blinking and will not go off until i shut off and restart the engine .
i will write down what tuning options i have and which is installed and i wish if any one you guys knows about SCT SF strategy flash device can advice me the correct settings of the tune for normal day driving ..

-Fuel Octane: 93
-Fuel Eco: Normal
-Fuel Injectors: Stock
-Rear O2: Off
-CMCV Delete: Stock
-Air Intake: JLT CIA
-Traction Control: Normal
-Spark :0-2000 (o degrees)
:2000-4000 (0 degrees)
:4000-8000 (0 degrees)
-WOT AIR/FUEL : 8% richer -- can you please explain what is the use of this ? .
Rev limit: Drive - 6800 Rpm
Rev Limit: N - 6800 Rpm
Idle Speed: - 800 Rpm
i think the problem is within these settings :
WOT shift 1 to 2 = 7 mph
2 to 3 = 7 mph
3 to 4 = 0 mph
4 to 5 = 0 mph
Shift Press:1 to 2 = 5%
2 to 3 = 5%
3 to 4 = 0
4 to 5 = 0

Please people help i am really lost .

alkemist

You should of purchased a custom tune instead of changing the setting on your own if you had no idea what you were doing.. Do you still have your stock tune?

yazanm

i did return the stock tune but nothing changed , and now i have P0733 code ( wrong ration for third gear) i wonder if it a tune issue or transmission problem .