Good post and detail. Hopefully it gets figured out. Ever since Kaizen's post it was obvious it wasn't a matter of overboost but instead something else going on, possibly extremely protective ECU tuning from Ford...
Discussion about the possibility of ecu inconsistency until the RS ecu has learned
As a disclaimer, Ford could be inhibiting the cars performance for the first XXXX amount of miles to help the engine break in, which would be completely understandable, but that's something they need to tell their customers if they are actually doing that.
On Friday, my car went 13.9 at the track using the factory launch control and cutting a 1.9 sixty foot. The sixty foot could be a little better on street tires, but a 1.9 is decent for the first time out getting used to the car and experimenting with potential launching techniques outside of the factory launch control. The 99mph is what is really disconcerting, that indicates how far down on power the car was. This car with its weight and 350hp should trap with around another 10mph, even if my mother was launching it.
The second time down the track I noticed my car was only making 17 or 18 psi in all gears including 3rd and 4th. I couldn't video it with my phone and forgot my GoPro headrest mount, but I was able to have a passenger video it after I left the track and it was still doing the same thing on the highway. When I would row through the gears, at other times when I would stab it in a single gear the car would see 22 or 23psi on the factory gauge. Below is a 3rd or 4th gear pull on the highway and a pull on my dyno, the fluctuations (at least on the factory gauge) are pretty wild, once I install my other gauges I will verify whether that is the gauge or the system.
Focus RS poor boost levels:
Focus RS boost fluctuations:
Before "that guy" starts whining about reaction times, I was there to get used to the launch control and test that as well as race the clock, not the person in the right lane.
![]()
Because of this, I decided to dyno it. The car was dynoed in 2wd mode because I haven't purchased a 4wd Dynojet yet. Before "that guy" comes in talking about hero numbers, that wasn't at all the purpose, these were diagnostic numbers. I'll write something up on how to do that later when I have more time. The highest run the car made was 305whp and the lowest was 257whp and these 2 runs were within a few minutes of each other. That was the truly disheartening thing to see, I believe Kaizen saw a similar inconsistency. There is no reason a car should have a 48whp swing like that unless it is intentional, be certain it was not heat soak as this isn't my first rodeo. Boost was all over the place on the factory gauge in some of the runs and in the lower power run below, boost was exactly like it was at the track, 17 or 18 peak psi which would correlate with the awful mph.
![]()
After that I started playing with manual control of boost to get some consistency. I believe Ford is manipulating boost control near redline as well, I believe it bleeds pressure off when you shift with the variable cam, but that's speculation and I won't know until I can log. They are also manipulating timing to control power as well and I think that is why the car would make +/- 20whp after I got boost consistent with a manual controller. I'm hoping this is related to some sort of engine break in nonsense and not poor design or overly sensitive knock sensors, but it's speculation until I can log and get more mileage on the car. The car has 93 octane in it. I may try a higher octane to see if the runs become consistent from that.
FYI the car goes into limp mode when you overboost it even by a pound or two of pressure. The car has to be shut off and then turned back on to eliminate this. The annoying thing about that is Ford won't allow you shut the car off if you are doing over 5mph (although I have not tried a long press of the button, I think that'd be a happy medium for safety) so you have to completely stop the car. Hopefully Cobb eliminates this completely or allows you a long press to cycle the car while you are rolling down the road and might want to cycle the key for various circumstances such as triggering limp mode.
Anyway, hopefully this is temporary or an anomaly, if not I'll be selling mine and getting another GTR for a beater.
[edit 6-30-16]
The car finally made repeatable power. Idkwtf is different but I made 4 runs in a row tonight, in a span of 5 minutes. The car was already warmed up and at NOT for coolant and oil temperature. I had a fan on the engine and a fan on the intercooler as always and the car didn't sweat.
The car had slight erratic boost, but nothing like it did before and it was holding boost until redline. The car has ~535 miles on it now.
Below are the 3rd gear runs, run number 32 (4th gear) not pictured made 301whp and I forget the torque.
![]()
Focus RS dyno 6-30-16:
On Friday, my car went 13.9 at the track using the factory launch control and cutting a 1.9 sixty foot. The sixty foot could be a little better on street tires, but a 1.9 is decent for the first time out getting used to the car and experimenting with potential launching techniques outside of the factory launch control. The 99mph is what is really disconcerting, that indicates how far down on power the car was. This car with its weight and 350hp should trap with around another 10mph, even if my mother was launching it.
The second time down the track I noticed my car was only making 17 or 18 psi in all gears including 3rd and 4th. I couldn't video it with my phone and forgot my GoPro headrest mount, but I was able to have a passenger video it after I left the track and it was still doing the same thing on the highway. When I would row through the gears, at other times when I would stab it in a single gear the car would see 22 or 23psi on the factory gauge. Below is a 3rd or 4th gear pull on the highway and a pull on my dyno, the fluctuations (at least on the factory gauge) are pretty wild, once I install my other gauges I will verify whether that is the gauge or the system.
Focus RS poor boost levels:
Focus RS boost fluctuations:
Before "that guy" starts whining about reaction times, I was there to get used to the launch control and test that as well as race the clock, not the person in the right lane.
Because of this, I decided to dyno it. The car was dynoed in 2wd mode because I haven't purchased a 4wd Dynojet yet. Before "that guy" comes in talking about hero numbers, that wasn't at all the purpose, these were diagnostic numbers. I'll write something up on how to do that later when I have more time. The highest run the car made was 305whp and the lowest was 257whp and these 2 runs were within a few minutes of each other. That was the truly disheartening thing to see, I believe Kaizen saw a similar inconsistency. There is no reason a car should have a 48whp swing like that unless it is intentional, be certain it was not heat soak as this isn't my first rodeo. Boost was all over the place on the factory gauge in some of the runs and in the lower power run below, boost was exactly like it was at the track, 17 or 18 peak psi which would correlate with the awful mph.
After that I started playing with manual control of boost to get some consistency. I believe Ford is manipulating boost control near redline as well, I believe it bleeds pressure off when you shift with the variable cam, but that's speculation and I won't know until I can log. They are also manipulating timing to control power as well and I think that is why the car would make +/- 20whp after I got boost consistent with a manual controller. I'm hoping this is related to some sort of engine break in nonsense and not poor design or overly sensitive knock sensors, but it's speculation until I can log and get more mileage on the car. The car has 93 octane in it. I may try a higher octane to see if the runs become consistent from that.
FYI the car goes into limp mode when you overboost it even by a pound or two of pressure. The car has to be shut off and then turned back on to eliminate this. The annoying thing about that is Ford won't allow you shut the car off if you are doing over 5mph (although I have not tried a long press of the button, I think that'd be a happy medium for safety) so you have to completely stop the car. Hopefully Cobb eliminates this completely or allows you a long press to cycle the car while you are rolling down the road and might want to cycle the key for various circumstances such as triggering limp mode.
Anyway, hopefully this is temporary or an anomaly, if not I'll be selling mine and getting another GTR for a beater.
[edit 6-30-16]
The car finally made repeatable power. Idkwtf is different but I made 4 runs in a row tonight, in a span of 5 minutes. The car was already warmed up and at NOT for coolant and oil temperature. I had a fan on the engine and a fan on the intercooler as always and the car didn't sweat.
The car had slight erratic boost, but nothing like it did before and it was holding boost until redline. The car has ~535 miles on it now.
Below are the 3rd gear runs, run number 32 (4th gear) not pictured made 301whp and I forget the torque.
Focus RS dyno 6-30-16:
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My factory gauge has never hit the third line on the stock gauge. I have an autometer analog gauge referenced from the line off the compressor side before the solenoid as well and the needle shakes so much under full boost its hard to get an accurate read and i havent found any boost leaksAs a disclaimer, Ford could be inhibiting the cars performance for the first XXXX amount of miles to help the engine break in, which would be completely understandable, but that's something they need to tell their customers if they are actually doing that.
On Friday, my car went 13.9 at the track using the factory launch control and cutting a 1.9 sixty foot. The sixty foot could be a little better on street tires, but a 1.9 is decent for the first time out getting used to the car and experimenting with potential launching techniques outside of the factory launch control. The 99mph is what is really disconcerting, that indicates how far down on power the car was. This car with its weight and 350hp should trap with around another 10mph, even if my mother was launching it.
The second time down the track I noticed my car was only making 17 or 18 psi in all gears including 3rd and 4th. I couldn't video it with my phone and forgot my GoPro headrest mount, but I was able to have a passenger video it after I left the track and it was still doing the same thing on the highway. When I would row through the gears, at other times when I would stab it in a single gear the car would see 22 or 23psi on the factory gauge. Below is a 3rd or 4th gear pull on the highway and a pull on my dyno, the fluctuations (at least on the factory gauge) are pretty wild, once I install my other gauges I will verify whether that is the gauge or the system.
Focus RS poor boost levels:
Focus RS boost fluctuations:
Before "that guy" starts whining about reaction times, I was there to get used to the launch control and test that as well as race the clock, not the person in the right lane.
![]()
Because of this, I decided to dyno it. The car was dynoed in 2wd mode because I haven't purchased a 4wd Dynojet yet. Before "that guy" comes in talking about hero numbers, that wasn't at all the purpose, these were diagnostic numbers. I'll write something up on how to do that later when I have more time. The highest run the car made was 305whp and the lowest was 257whp and these 2 runs were within a few minutes of each other. That was the truly disheartening thing to see, I believe Kaizen saw a similar inconsistency. There is no reason a car should have a 48whp swing like that unless it is intentional, be certain it was not heat soak as this isn't my first rodeo. Boost was all over the place on the factory gauge in some of the runs and in the lower power run below, boost was exactly like it was at the track, 17 or 18 peak psi which would correlate with the awful mph.
![]()
After that I started playing with manual control of boost to get some consistency. I believe Ford is manipulating boost control near redline as well, I believe it bleeds pressure off when you shift with the variable cam, but that's speculation and I won't know until I can log. They are also manipulating timing to control power as well and I think that is why the car would make +/- 20whp after I got boost consistent with a manual controller. I'm hoping this is related to some sort of engine break in nonsense and not poor design or overly sensitive knock sensors, but it's speculation until I can log and get more mileage on the car. The car has 93 octane in it. I may try a higher octane to see if the runs become consistent from that.
FYI the car goes into limp mode when you overboost it even by a pound or two of pressure. The car has to be shut off and then turned back on to eliminate this. The annoying thing about that is Ford won't allow you shut the car off if you are doing over 5mph (although I have not tried a long press of the button, I think that'd be a happy medium for safety) so you have to completely stop the car. Hopefully Cobb eliminates this completely or allows you a long press to cycle the car while you are rolling down the road and might want to cycle the key for various circumstances such as triggering limp mode.
Anyway, hopefully this is temporary or an anomaly, if not I'll be selling mine and getting another GTR for a beater.
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