MikeBrei

I just received a Van aaken smartbox V-5 today and I got it hooked up and it seems to work good. I know their out of bussiness but I figured I couldn't go wrong with it for $180 shipped and its new.

I wanted to know if anyone else has one because when I come to a stop the engine sounds like it has a big cam in it now. I hooked up the toggle switch and I tried it on all 3 positions and it seems to do it on all 3 settings.

I used a Superchips Max MicroTuner for about a month and it never did this. I also noticed with the Superchips it puffed out a lot more smoke when I stepped on it.

I don't have my fuel pressure gauge hooked up yet so I'm not sure of the PSI's as of now . I'm not sure if its a fuel issue or what but it does it when I'm slowing down but when I come to a complete stop it idles fine.

I also took notice the exhaust sounds a lot louder on the 3rd seeting which is a nice bonus.

MikeBrei

I took it for a ride tonight and it sputters when there isn't any load on it and I'm going about 35.

PaulDaisy

I don't know what the big cam sounds like, mine did not change tone at idle when I installed VA-R.

MikeBrei

The cam sound was the first thing that came to mind. I should have said that it seems to pulse a little when it the RPM's are lowering and when it gets to idle its fine. It also bucked today on my way home when I was in a slight incline and it was in 3rd gear at 1500 RPM's.

I realy like how loud it sounds and I was up 22 MPG's by the time I got home today and I am usually getting around 17.5. The tranny seems to find the shift points better and it doesn't downshift so much.

PaulDaisy

If your mpg improvement is from the overhead computer you can safely ignore it. My hand calculated improvement for mixed city driving was 0.5 mpg, which is statistically insignificant.

MikeBrei

I know what you mean about the overhead being off. I am going to fill it up and hand calculate when I fill it again because the last time I did it, it was about 2 MPG's off.

I still have that pulsing in the engine when I come to a stop though. I will keep using it and maybe the computor will settle in after a few more starts.

moparmikej

I assume you remembered to remove the superchip program before the VA was installed?
Mike

MikeBrei

I haven't had the superchips installed for a couple of weeks now.

It's starting to idle ruff now too. I didn't have any problems before I hooked this up so I think I'm going to unhook it and see if everything goes back to normal.

Sea:\>Drive

I would as I never had a problem like that with my VA box when I had it installed.

PaulDaisy

Do you have stock injectors or have you been playing with them as well?

MikeBrei

I have only done the things that are in my signature. I didn't drive my truck today but I doubt it will make a difference.

PaulDaisy

I was going to suggest the out-of-balance injectors, but never mind. Takeout the VA and see if it is its fault. If it is, might be your truck does not like it, or it is a bad unit somehow.