WAM

Well, I'm certainly impressed, but I'm not sure I got what I needed.

I use my truck only for towing, with a 4000 lb camper on board. I was hoping for lower EGT's, as I've been hitting 1400 up steep grades.

So Bob W. set me up with the 4.4 towing & mileage software. Loaded it today and ran a couple tests. I did an uphill acceleration run, stock software, with the camper but no trailer and measured 500 rpm interval times from 1500 to 3000 rpm. I won't give all the numbers, because individually they're meaningless. But basically each 500 rpm interval was in the neighborhood of 3 seconds. Then I loaded 4.4 level 3 as recommended and reran the test. The truck covered the same ground in roughly half the elapsed time each interval. From 9 seconds total to 4.5 seconds total. Killer power increase, especially for just level 3.

But surprisingly to me, my max boost dropped from 34 stock to 32 level 3. And my EGT's increased from 1200 to 1300 by the ends of the run.

When I reran the hill in 5th to max my EGT's, stock was 1300 and level 3 hit 1500 early on and I pulled my foot out -- It was headed higher.

I guess my only hope now is the higher power available will allow me to climb steep hills at partial throttle, because the EGT's won't let me go pedal to metal. We'll see.

-- Bill

ps. In case you care: The truck is a 2006 with only a fresh air mod into the stock airbox, a cool tube, turbo air guide and the muffler removed. With the camper it weighs 11,000 lbs, plus I tow either a 7000 or 10,000 lb trailer.

EDIT -- You know? I'm not actually sure what software is in the Smarty. Bob said he'd load it with beta 4.4 before he shipped, but the opening "credits" say 4.06D. Either the beta doesn't have an updated title, or maybe he FORGOT. Haven't been able to get him yet.

Sixpack73

sounds like you have the wild tq mgmt version and not the 4.4 beta. I can't recall exactly what mine said (from memory) but it showed B4.4 or something like that when it booted up.

shoot bob a pm and i'm sure he'll straighten it out

WAM

Yeah, I'll get ahold of him next week. On the one hand, the Smarty comes up 4.06. But I see there is a label on the case saying "beta". Dunno

-- Bill

95ram

The smarty will say BETA44

WAM

You're right. Actually it says both. Lower left says 4.06D and lower right says BTA44. By the time I get my head up from connecting to OBD II, the message is gone, or almost gone, and I didn't get a chance to read the whole thing. Too bad...I was hoping that might be my problem. -- Bill

jrussell

A boost fooler might cool it down a little. They're pretty cheap...it's worth a try.

Rob C

Smartys are supposed to boost fool so there is no need to buy one.

jrussell

That's what they say, but mine won't go over 34-35psi of boost. With a boost fooler it hits 43psi, so it definitely makes a difference.

WAM

Well, one thing about betas -- they're subject to change. We'll see what Bob has to say, but I'll bet he recommends to hang in until the production version is available. But I am curious why many have said 4.4 increased their boost to mid 40's, while it cut boost on my stocker. -- Bill

Rob C

Everyone also has said that the beta helps with gas mileage, yet my over head is dropping faster than the titanic. Before anyone says it, yes I know the overhead is always wrong, but with Smarty S-06A Ver. 4.06D, Data: 3.08B set to sw#7 the overhead reads 18.5 to 19.5 in town, but hand calcs to 17 to 17.5. With beta 4.4 loaded on sw#5 the overhead has already dropped from 19.2 to 17.0 and I have only put about 75 miles on it, so I will hand calc it once I hit 3/4 tank and then I think I will bump it to sw#7 and run some more.

Luvnacumns

Your goon a need a turbo!! I run mine on regualar software #9 and mp-8 on 40% with the Aurora 5K and went up a huge climb yesterday and was pouring the coal to it along with blackout out the whole two lanes!! and never went over 1400!! Stayed right at that point I was waiting for it to go over but didn't!!

95ram

Beta made my wish-o-meter realy optomistic. It read something like 21.4 and hand calculated was 16.3. Also the beta does hae boost fooling built into it. I'm able to hit 40psi.

soulezoo

Got the 4.4 beta last Friday and ran around all weekend on sw9 for fun. Lots o' smoke when you want it for sure. It is a lot more driveable than 4.3. 4.3 is more FUN though! Remember this is the "towing and mileage" version. First impression is I like it a lot for overall driving. Yesterday I filled up, changed to sw3, driving like granny to see what mileage I get. I can say the overhead, (for all that is worth) so far shows a 4 mpg gain for my commute. I will wait to hand calculate at the end of the tankfull and report then. I do have a 135 mile per day commute-- 1/3 windy mountain road, 2/3 freeway. Elevation change from 4000 to sea level... yeah, every dern day. I have noticed a significant change in relative EGT. Anywhere from 100-200 from what I was used to in similar throttle situations.

dodgezilla04

so i went camping this weekend with 4.4. the mileage when towing my trailer i got 1mpg better with 4.4 on level 3. max boost was 50psi, max egts were 1200*. But, I have alot of injector rattle. I have none when on the wild programs on level 8 & 9. 4.4 had plenty of power, smoke was greatly reduced, it felt like it need more throttle to change speed. It is a good program.
I removed it because of the injector noise and put wild for aftermarket turbo, stock inj.
I have just gotten spoiled running around on level 8
Thanks for sending it bob, marco's done it again.

soulezoo

FWIW for the six-gun + smarty folks, while I did most of the driving with banks on 1 (stock setting) to eval smarty on its own, I did turn it up a few times for WOT fun and just to see. Using beta 4.3, I could never tell a difference with the banks at all, didn't matter what level I used. I suspect that I was over taxing the fuel system (all stock) and draining the rail or something. With Beta 4.4, any level on the banks produces smoke and levels 5-6 will show a difference in power around the 2000-2100 rpm level, a little more kick in the pants, if you will. Again-- lots of smoke. One note, addressing boost, with quad boost fooler in place, and with boost elbow shut off, I still see only 25 lbs max boost in any given situation. Don't know why. The turbo does spool really fast with the smarty though. Much (!) faster than with banks alone or stock. So far, I have to say Smarty/Marco has done a really good job with this version; I am still playing with it to see what owrks best for me, but for overall use, it is terrific.