Timing advance

blacksrt4 said:

Hey guys,

Just bought a 2003 Dakota Quad Cab with the 4X2.

Have been a bit dissapointed with the performance of this motor.

I have a scan gauge which reads a few different things and noticed the following which seemed odd.

1. Timing advance at WOT is around 13-14 degrees at around 3000-4000rpm and slowly climbs to 21-22 near redline (no knock detected). I haven't encountered too many motors with such low timing advance, aside from heavily boosted motors.

2. TPS voltage reads 3.6 WOT (seems a bit low). With throttle closed, I am getting 0.50. I checked and the throttle is opening all the way. I have loosened my tps sensor and retightened it. This has not given me a closed tps voltage of 0.56 and a WOT voltage of 3.66. Is this low?

Questions,
1. do any of these values seem low?
2. Does a battery disconnect usually help reset the pcm parameters on this truck?

Also, worth noting, a dodge dealer flashed an updated file onto the PCM (as there is a sticker in my engine bay stating so). I read that there were concerns about engine knock a few years back... is the reflash meant to lower timing advance and reduce knock?

Click to expand...

FastQC4.7 said:

A 4.7 "Death Flash" does not exist because they were not prone to the intake valley oil leak that the 3.9/5.2/5.9 engines were.

However the stock timing advance on the standard output 4.7 engines is stupid weak. I ran up to 30* on my 4.7 above 4,600 rpm. Stock my 4.7 Ram would retard to -15*BTDC on a WOT stab at idle, slowly climb back to 0*, then start a slow creep up to 18* @ 2,600 only to fall back too 15* @ 3,600, then a slow climb to 28* total at the 5,600 rpm fuel shut-off.

Adjusting the TPS to increase form 13% to about 18% at idle makes it read closer to 80% at WOT rather than 73% that I saw stock. The part-throttle and WOT shift points all increased to a much nicer RPM, also delaying the TCC lockup slightly.

As for timing Superchips 91 program will add a large amount of timing and make the truck run much more responsively.

Click to expand...

PDR1878 said:

Interesting information.

I think maybe I need a programmer..

Click to expand...

PDR1878 said:

Interesting information.

I think maybe I need a programmer..

Click to expand...

FastQC4.7 said:

The response to the additional timing was much more noticeable when we programmed his 03. We had installed my 06 engine in it that already had HO cams, 2008 intake, JBA shorty headers from day one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pySofWYQeG0

Click to expand...