Growing up doesn't have to suck

[Tonyrodz]

I made some sort of progress so I guess I should use it to update my thread. A few weeks ago I had it tuned by Futral Motorsports mainly just to disable AFM and the rear O2 sensors. Included in the package were a few other small tweaks such as trans line pressure, reduction of Torque Management and removed speed limiter. It wasn't a full-on power tune where they tweak the fuel and timing tables, datalog, tweak, etc. which costs $400+. This was just a $150 tune to kill AFM and allow me to run long tube headers with catless Y-pipe. I'll worry about a full tune when I have something worth tuning, something other than the current 182K-mile 5.3.

Since having AFM disabled, the low-RPM rattle in V4 mode is gone and my fuel mileage is averaging .5 MPG lower than before. At $2.40 per gallon, my original 16.2 MPG calculates to 14.8 cents per mile. Without AFM, a mile now costs me 15.3 cents. That's an increase of half a cent per mile and ten cents per average 20-gallon fill-up (I don't run the tank bone dry between fill-ups).

I can afford the extra $1.00 a month to possibly prevent me from having to spend thousands of dollars to repair or replace the engine. Also, if disabling AFM reduces the ~1 quart per month oil consumption even a fraction of a quart, then the savings in the oil costs alone would make up for the drop in MPG in multiples.


Pertinent pic for mildly dramatic effect:

View attachment 188440

I see you had the tow/haul ass button on.

 

[iamdub]

I see you had the tow/haul ass button on.

I did. I was seeing if the shifting would be even more pronounced. All this was when I first took it out after Jenn got home with it. She took it to get tuned while running her errands that day so it was my first time playing with it.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I did. I was seeing if the shifting would be even more pronounced. All this was when I first took it out after Jenn got home with it. She took it to get tuned while running her errands that day so it was my first time playing with it.

Any noticeable difference with the button on?

 

[iamdub]

Any noticeable difference with the button on?

I didn't notice anything at that time, but I just so happened to be pulling my little trailer (5x8 expanded metal) last night and I put it in Tow/Haul mode just cuz. The trailer weighs about 300lbs and I had a 4L60E on it, which I believe is under 200lbs. When slowly accelerating, I noticed that it holds the gears for WAY longer than it used to. I checked twice to make sure I didn't inadvertently put it in "1". They may have tweaked it to be more of a performance mode, which is still pertinent to the Tow/Haul function. I think I like it. I may do some back-to-back light-, mid-, and full-throttle runs for comparison.

 

[swathdiver]

Tow/Haul needs 75% of towing capacity before it really provides any benefit. It's designed/programmed to hold the shifts longer.

 

[iamdub]

Tow/Haul needs 75% of towing capacity before it really provides any benefit. It's designed/programmed to hold the shifts longer.

Yeah, I definitely didn't need it on for that almost non-existent load. I just wanted to see if it was any different since the tune (outside of WOT pulls) and I never thought to try it until yesterday. I know Tow/Haul holds the shifts longer in it's stock form and I think it shortens the shift time as well. But, it was holding them yesterday like it was stuck in gear. I was pulling away from my house, accelerating as if I was trying to keep an egg from rolling off the hood, and it the RPMs kept climbing as if it was in "1". Of course, it upshifted right before I was letting off to come to the stop sign.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I didn't notice anything at that time, but I just so happened to be pulling my little trailer (5x8 expanded metal) last night and I put it in Tow/Haul mode just cuz. The trailer weighs about 300lbs and I had a 4L60E on it, which I believe is under 200lbs. When slowly accelerating, I noticed that it holds the gears for WAY longer than it used to. I checked twice to make sure I didn't inadvertently put it in "1". They may have tweaked it to be more of a performance mode, which is still pertinent to the Tow/Haul function. I think I like it. I may do some back-to-back light-, mid-, and full-throttle runs for comparison.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[iamdub]

Let us know how it goes.

Fo sho! I have to update this thread with... something. lol

 

[swathdiver]

Fo sho! I have to update this thread with... something. lol

An engagement announcement!

 

[iamdub]

An engagement announcement!

Yes- an announcement of my engagement to commence the swapping of the 5.3 with a 6.0.

..or 6.2? I've been eyeballing LH9s but I meant to ask you- are there any 6.2s that didn't come with AFM?