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Performance Chip


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Good day, everyone.  Brand new owner of a 2015 Connect XLT, and a total novice when it comes to automotive mechanics.  I searched around the forums here for a bit and didn't see much discussion on performance chips for the Transit Connect.  Several years ago, I owned a restored 1980s BMW that benefitted tremendously from a Dinan chip upgrade (in both MPG and horsepower).  Wasn't sure if something like this is a total no-go or if it actually would work as advertised and to our benefit:

 

https://www.performancechiptuning.com/stage-1-performance-chip-module-obd2-for-ford/

 

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Looks like hokum & snake oil.  You are simply not going to get more power from the 2.5 liter, inline 4 cylinder engine.  From my experience, https://www.sctflash.com/ , works really well with other Ford vehicles like trucks & Mustangs.  A lot of "custom tuners" use SCT products for loading their custom tunes.  Gryphon, Edge, & Hypertech products are also popular.  For diesel, most people like Banks Power.  Superchips is also highly recommended.  But i don't see anything which is specific to Transit Connect.  Nor have I heard of anyone being able to get more power with a Transit Connect.   

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If there is a meaningful improvement in both horsepower and fuel economy just by changing a $5 computer chip, shame, shame on the idiot engineers who designed your car!!  With all the extra money they spent on induction and exhaust systems to get the power and economy the car came with, how in the world did they miss out on the "tremendous" improvement they could have had with just a $5 chip??  -  Actually, once the tuning on the chip is designed by the engineers, it's probably closer to a $2 chip!  There's really nothing left to gain there, which is probably why sales of such things dried up and you can't find them anymore

 

Really?  Even J C Whitney doesn't sell one?  I remember the days when spending $20 each on ten different gadgets which each gave you a 10% gain in power and fuel economy would have you with a car which had double the power and twice the fuel economy!!  If J C Whitney doesn't sell them anymore, they must not exist  ?

 

Don

Edited by Beta Don
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Seems reasonable, assUming someone actually took the time to tweak the performance characteristics AND got it right. The manufacturer is going for a setup that will give reasonable performance while meeting all the guvmint mandates for emissions and mileage. Not necessarily a priority for the performance tuner. The ODB-II port IS a two way connection that's used to update the firmware on the ECM, so having a dongle able to reprogram on the fly is possible. Only caveat I can think of is that would give you a 24/7 power drain from an active socket, but probably no worse than the average car radio or electronic odometer. 

 

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Not very familiar with the chip mods for non turbo motors.  Know there are production line differences and some motors or better than others, IMO the chip tuners are trying to better optimize for more specific circumstances and possibly fuel.  With everything at optimum there is probably some power gains that can be made.  Probably would come at the expense of fuel economy and possibly emissions.  

 

However the lightning fast acceleration of my TC leaves me wanting nothing so haven't looked into more power!  :-)   

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8 hours ago, Beta Don said:

 

 

which each gave you a 10% gain in power and fuel economy would have you with a car which had double the power and twice the fuel economy!! 

?

 

 

 

With the right vehicle, you can expect gains in horsepower, torque, and fuel economy.  Just not all of them together.  With the larger engines, bolt on modifications and writing a new tune can significantly increase performance.  Most vehicles are tuned to deliver better fuel economy and cleaner emissions, which usually decreases the performance.  When you get more performance, the fuel economy goes down and your measured emissions will not be as clean.  Obviously, since you are burning more fuel to make more power, your fuel usage will rise and more pollutants exit at the tailpipe. 

 

I recall loading a fuel economy tune on my truck.  It made less power, throttle response was decreased, and the fuel savings was not worth mentioning since I found my foot pressing on the unresponsive accelerator a lot more.  It did work, though.  Shift into drive, take my foot off the brake, and gently feather the throttle to get moving.  Drive a little slower, ease off throttle earlier, and allow for more coasting distance to the next red light.  27 gallon gas tank.  I got close to an extra mile per gallon.  With a truck that gets 10 - 12 miles per gallon, I could actually say that the gain was about 6% - 8%.  Optimistically $6 - $8 savings on every $100 spent on fuel.

 

Today, I drive with a "performance tune".  Better throttle response.  Firmer shifting.  Recalibrated shift points.  I found that my fuel usage was heavily dependent on road conditions such as stop & go traffic, and my heavy foot.  A nice long road trip, where I can travel on the freeway for a couple of hours....and the fuel economy is surprisingly 18 - 20 MPG.  My daily city driving gets about 10 - 12, sometimes 14 mpg.  When a large engine is just sitting and idling, nothing good happens.

 

But I was also only getting 16 - 17 mpg with my Transit Connect.

Edited by Fifty150
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  • 1 month later...
On 11/19/2018 at 5:47 PM, Beta Don said:

If there is a meaningful improvement in both horsepower and fuel economy just by changing a $5 computer chip, shame, shame on the idiot engineers who designed your car!!  With all the extra money they spent on induction and exhaust systems to get the power and economy the car came with, how in the world did they miss out on the "tremendous" improvement they could have had with just a $5 chip??  -  Actually, once the tuning on the chip is designed by the engineers, it's probably closer to a $2 chip!  There's really nothing left to gain there, which is probably why sales of such things dried up and you can't find them anymore

 

Really?  Even J C Whitney doesn't sell one?  I remember the days when spending $20 each on ten different gadgets which each gave you a 10% gain in power and fuel economy would have you with a car which had double the power and twice the fuel economy!!  If J C Whitney doesn't sell them anymore, they must not exist  ?

 

Don

 

From what I understand because of environmental regulations all vehicles are tuned to burn on the lean side by default. Ergo, all vehicles have potential of more power and efficiency by not burning lean. Of course it would make emissions worse and probably shorten the life of the catalytic converter....

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No mater what you do you cannot change the physics,  If you have x number of cubic inches at x RPM  you get a certain range of HP and torque.  The only way to make a big HP improvement of Hp at the same RPM is to supercharge or turbocharge the engine.

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There is no replacement for displacement.  

 

Go to a performance shop with a dynamometer.  Ask them to dyno tune your Transit Connect.  When they get done laughing, and you still have a straight look on your face, with 10 $100 bills clutched in your fist......and they're done explaining to you that you will see no significant gains.......and they take your money anyway......you may be able to squeeze another 3 HP & 1 ft lb of torque.  In the real world, without free wheelspin under the dyno, with the weight of your van and the grip of your Continental tires, you wouldn't even shave a 1/10th of a second off the 1/4 mile time.  This 2.5L inline 4 cylinder motor leaves very little on the table.  Tuners just aren't going to be able to adjust the fuel trim enough to make much of a difference.  You'll know in your mind, that you have custom tuning, and that your Transit Connect is superior by 3 HP.  But you will not be racing the minivan, or towing like a superduty truck.  

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It would be against my better judgement.  I would not want to be the guinea pig, or white lab rat.  

 

I already know that $100 would be wasted.  That's a given.  Transit Connect 2.5L inline 4 cylinder just doesn't have much there.  No hope in changing the shift points for more aggressive shift pattern.  

 

Common sense would tell most of us, that real performance gains on any car, can't be purchased for as little as $100.

 

My primary concern is that something like that would actually do damage to your car.  How would you like to plug that in, and smell smoke?  Or all the lights on your dash illuminate, and your car doesn't start?  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a "scan guage II" in my TC. I purchased it years ago when I had a 1 ton van and gas was $4.00/gallon and used it to get the best mileage possible. It's programmable to monitor various real-time engine functions. I have mine programed to monitor voltage, mph, Ave. mpg, & current mpg.  My point in bringing the scan guage up is it's my "engine chip. I agree that with my 2.5 liter engine and transmission, a chip isn't going to give that engine "turbo-like" performance. I don't think the engne and tranny has the additional guts that would be required. What I'm more interested in is mpg. And the scan guage does a good job of giving me real-time info. I'm very happy with the low cost of operation the TC.

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I think the real solution is to put the engine, transmission and computer from a Focus ST.  Now that would make a difference.  Could be done for about the price of a nice used TC though.  Was down at APR last week - they are a VW/Audi tuner - and looked at a VW 2.0 turbo that could be had for about $15K (Im talking about the engine+turbo+intercooler).  It made lots of HP  :-)

 

As for the TC I love mine but do occasionally wish for more.  Don't know why Ford doesn't make a go fast version.  A TC with the engine and brakes from the ST along with a bit of firming on the suspension would make a nice sport van.  

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2 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

I think the real solution is to put the engine, transmission and computer from a Focus ST.  Now that would make a difference.  Could be done for about the price of a nice used TC though.  Was down at APR last week - they are a VW/Audi tuner - and looked at a VW 2.0 turbo that could be had for about $15K (Im talking about the engine+turbo+intercooler).  It made lots of HP ?

 

As for the TC I love mine but do occasionally wish for more.  Don't know why Ford doesn't make a go fast version.  A TC with the engine and brakes from the ST along with a bit of firming on the suspension would make a nice sport van.  

 

 

You have vision.  

 

When are you starting your build?

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On 12/31/2018 at 7:33 AM, G B L said:

No mater what you do you cannot change the physics,  If you have x number of cubic inches at x RPM  you get a certain range of HP and torque.  The only way to make a big HP improvement of Hp at the same RPM is to supercharge or turbocharge the engine.

 

 

I agree. You need to spend some real cash to improve the hp of your car.

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4 hours ago, Booner said:

I have a "scan guage II" in my TC.

  

 

A decade ago, ScanGauge II was all the rage.  A lot of us shelled out some big bucks.  It was like having an in-dash code reader.  And gave us all the data that setting up a couple of mechanical gauges could not.  

 

In today's world, with current technology, you can have so much more, for so much less.  An OBDII  BlueTooth device is about $5 - $10.  A lot of good apps are free.  

 

I still love the ScanGauge II in the dash of my F-150.  I play with it all the time.  Still kind of upset that it cost so much.  I would buy another one right now, if the price went down.  But in the Transit Connect, I'm using a tablet computer to do the same thing........and it cost a lot less to do so.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have an alternate suggestion. Why not start with Forscan? If you want to performance tweak your Transit Connect you can do A LOT with just good ole Forscan, at least so I am told. I use Forscan but no tweaking! Besides it's free! At least with Forscan you won't suffer from buyer's regret like you would if the chip you bought turned out to be snake oil.

Edited by clb3092
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I just downloaded ForScan.  Looks like a pretty good program.  But it's not exactly free.  There are free demo versions.  You have to pay for something that actually works.

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Edited by Fifty150
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Version 2.3.19 beta for Windows is THE version you would use to make configuration changes or in depth diagnostics and maintenance functions. You simply request an extended license to do configuration changes. The adapter needed to communicate with your vehicle is about $80 so that part is not free.

 

The Forscan Lite app for a phone is slightly more powerful than Torque Pro in that it can read and clear DTCs. The app is not free 

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With the Torque app, I was able to use a $7 OBD II reader w/ bluetooth.  One of those that you buy on Amazon.  FORScan will not work with that reader.  With FORScan, you actually need a more expensive unit.  So for the penny pinchers like me, FORScan will cost a little bit more out of pocket.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm in the mountains now,

My 2.5L LWB stays In select shift,

MPG's are good,

Power Is adequate,

I get up these hills just fine,

 

Got news for ya, This Little revamped Ford Ranger 4 banger with this twin cam setup rev's fine.

Plenty of power at 4K rpm...

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