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New focus, up shifting question.

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#23 ·
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#24 ·
BetaDnB said:
"there's definitly a software helper going on." What's your point? Plugging something into the accelerator pedal isn't going to fix an "issue" that's programmed into the computer.
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It just changes the signal that the computer interprets. If you figure out how the computer interprets the signal, you could change the signal itself.

Same way we tune... We figured out that the ECU interprets signals from the MAS and we change what it does with it...

Doesn't matter whether you change the signal or the computer, the point is, something changes.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Thanks for your help everyone, rev hang is definitely the culprit lol. I got everything smoothed out now, just sucks having to wait for some shifts because the engine likes to take off on it's own.


leavingmarks said:
My focus is the first manual I've ever driven so I guess it feels normal to me. So the software sets the RPMs closer to where it would shift smoothly in that gear? Whereas in a car without this feature no "smoothing" occurs?
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Essentially, yes. For a couple seconds after you put in the clutch , it'll "hang" the RPM's at the engagement point of the next highest gear. In the older cars I've driven, it's always dropped immediately back to idle instead.
 
#28 ·
awj03130 said:
It just changes the signal that the computer interprets. If you figure out how the computer interprets the signal, you could change the signal itself.

Same way we tune... We figured out that the ECU interprets signals from the MAS and we change what it does with it...

Doesn't matter whether you change the signal or the computer, the point is, something changes.
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When shifting, you normally take your foot off of the accel pedal so the pedal position is 0% from the perspective of the PCM.
For obvious reasons, this device cannot alter the pedal position signal to the PCM when the accel pedal is fully up.

What it does do is change the pedal physical position to voltage curve.
For example, the pedal position is 33% but it is reported to the PCM as 50%.
It makes the engine feel more powerful under part throttle conditions (some cars do this when in sport mode).
 
#29 ·
My 99 ford contour does the same thing. When I push the clutch in, RPMs (somewhat slowly) drop to the correct RPM for the next higher gear. If I shift at higher RPMs, the engine slows down quicker to the RPM for the next higher gear. That's good - because if I'm shifting at a higher RPM, obviously I don't want to wait for the RPMs to fall to the correct RPM.
I also recall on the Contour msg board that people claimed it was an emissions feature, but not sure I buy that claim.

On the Focus (and contour), I wish RPMs dropped quicker to the lower RPM - I feel like I'm waiting a long time, and don't keep up with traffic due to this...moderately annoying.

It seems to work though - never replaced the clutch on my 99 contour and friends mentioned how perfectly I shifted it <sniffle, sniffle, will miss her when she's gone>.
 
#30 ·
block said:
My 99 ford contour does the same thing. When I push the clutch in, RPMs (somewhat slowly) drop to the correct RPM for the next higher gear. If I shift at higher RPMs, the engine slows down quicker to the RPM for the next higher gear. That's good - because if I'm shifting at a higher RPM, obviously I don't want to wait for the RPMs to fall to the correct RPM.
I also recall on the Contour msg board that people claimed it was an emissions feature, but not sure I buy that claim.

On the Focus (and contour), I wish RPMs dropped quicker to the lower RPM - I feel like I'm waiting a long time, and don't keep up with traffic due to this...moderately annoying.

It seems to work though - never replaced the clutch on my 99 contour and friends mentioned how perfectly I shifted it <sniffle, sniffle, will miss her when she's gone>.
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I wish I had a like button for this forum on tapatalk... It drives me nuts that I slow down by 10mph some times to reach the next shift point...
 
#31 ·
I noticed something screwy like that too...when I shift, I now make an effort to slightly ease up on the throttle before I start pushing the clutch in (or at least I do so more than my prior car - 99 contour). Otherwise, the engine revs a few hundred RPMs higher ("races") when I push the clutch in...just a timing thing (right versus left foot) that's different than my Contour I guess.

Eminaga said:
Every time I press in the clutch while in gear the car rev's up by 250-500 rpm. It gets annoying as hell but you can only mostly notice it on takeoff. If you hold the clutch and brake at the stop it idles normally but as soon as you take your foot off the brake the rpms shoot up by about 500 rpm. I guess its there to help us take off easier? Not sure. Hopefully someone can figure out a way to disable it with a tune.
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#32 ·
YES!!! I'M GLAD I FOUND THIS THREAD, I HATE THIS FEATURE!!!!

This is the first manual vehicle I've owned, and I've only driven a couple before hand in test drives so I guess I didn't realize what was going on when I first test drove the Focus. I HATE this. Like everyone says... accelerating, let off the gas, step on the clutch, RPMs go up ~200, then drop so #%!@'ing SLOW to where the car THINKS it should be in the next gear which is typically ~200 RPM off, THEN drop to idle (assuming you don't go for the next shift and just keep the clutch in). On downshift, it is slightly helpful.

Another thing I HATE about this car which is probably related somehow is that when I'm back to applying gas after just shifting, the same amount of pressure on the gas pedal will give me different throttle response in different gears. It's super sensitive in some gears and I need to get on it in other gears.

I've been going back and forth with Tom on this for months now and he is saying SCT has not cracked the code. Apparently it is a setting called "dashpot". I've read on ST forums that there are tuners that have found out how to disable this. Tom has adjusted something which changed this behavior in that the RPMs DID drop to idle and NOT hang at the next anticipated RPM, but they still rose on clutch engagement which ultimately still made shifting suck, so honestly I prefer stock until it can be completely removed. The first to second shift was always jerky with this tune change. I just really hate having to wait for the car to drop RPM before I can get into the next gear. This makes getting a short shift a complete waste of money.

The kicker is when I'm accelerating hard, it drops EVEN SLOWER when I'm in higher RPMs/gears. What the hell?? If I'm accelerating hard, why wouldn't it drop faster?? Someone else brought this up.
 
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#33 ·
I'm getting better at it...as for the RPMs going up, I am pretty sure it's simply because we are pushing the gas harder than needed to maintain constant speed - we are accelerating. If you engage the clutch w/o decreasing the gas/throttle (more than you'd expect), then the engine will slightly race. I think my Contour (V6), being slightly more powerful and perhaps geared lower, did not require me to push the throttle as far to accelerate is why I didn't have this issue.

Make an effort to consciously reduce throttle enough so that the RPMs do not go up...which will also help RPMs get down to the next anticipated gear.

Lastly, just like my Contour, the higher the RPMs when shifting, the quicker the RPMs will fall. I surmise more aggressive drivers don't even notice the delay due to this characteristic.
 
#34 ·
block said:
I'm getting better at it...as for the RPMs going up, I am pretty sure it's simply because we are pushing the gas harder than needed to maintain constant speed - we are accelerating. If you engage the clutch w/o decreasing the gas/throttle (more than you'd expect), then the engine will slightly race. I think my Contour (V6), being slightly more powerful and perhaps geared lower, did not require me to push the throttle as far to accelerate is why I didn't have this issue.
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This definitely is not the case for most of us. We are off the gas before stepping on the clutch and RPM's still go up. You need to be off the gas for a good 2 full seconds before you don't see a RPM increase. And that kinda prevents fast, smooth shifts.

block said:
Lastly, just like my Contour, the higher the RPMs when shifting, the quicker the RPMs will fall. I surmise more aggressive drivers don't even notice the delay due to this characteristic.
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I find my RPMs drop slower when I'm higher in the band for some reason. Makes no sense. I would have thought it would be like you describe.
 
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