Thoughts on Sport Mode ...

[CareerFiremanGuy]

I've had my ST for a few days now and noticed that acceleration feels decidedly better in "Normal" mode than in "Sport."

Sport Mode seems to be holding it back, in Normal Mode it lets loose and hauls.

I'm still on dealer's fuel, so I'll put in 93 when I'm down to half a tank. Not sure that will make a difference though.

 

[bigcat1185]

That seems to be the opposite of most owners opinions.

 

[zdubyadubya]

It could just be in comparison to what you are used to or accustomed to. You don't actually have more power available in sport, the throttle is just more sensitive and less throttle input at the pedal equals more throttle signal output to the ECU when in Sport mode. Watch your RPMs too. For a given mph, how many revs are you doing and what gear is it in in Normal vs. Sport. You should definitely be higher in the revs and maybe a couple gears lower for sport mode--this puts you more "on boost" and contributes to speed of pickup when you press the go pedal. Until you know for sure that those things are not what they should be, I'm inclined to think it may just be a seat of the pants feeling that needs to re find its calibration.

Also, how many miles on the vehicle? The ECU has high RPM protection for the first 500 and that could be influencing things.

 

[CareerFiremanGuy]

Okay bigcat, I get that.

Maybe it's because I only have 150 miles on the odo and the fuel the dealer put in is very likely 87 octane.

I'll report back when I have more miles on it and have a full tank of 93.

Thanks.

 

[CareerFiremanGuy]

Heh zdubyadubya, you mean there's high rpm protection for the first 500 miles?

I only have ~150 miles on the car. Oops!

 

[CareerFiremanGuy]

... Also, how many miles on the vehicle? The ECU has high RPM protection for the first 500 and that could be influencing things.

I know Chevy publicizes a 500 mile ecu protection for their Vette, but I haven't found anything similar on the Explorer in internet searches or in the owner's manual.

Do you have a link to it? Thanks.