Driving with track Key ...Will it damage the engine?

[REAL 1]

Guys: Drove the new LS with the Track key enabled and love the responsiveness and lopey idle.

Question...will it hurt or adversely affect the engine just driving it around town as opposed to the track? :-\

Thanks.

 

[VoodooBoss]

You should be fine. In theory the lopey idle has unburnt fuel which in the long term could damage the cats.

 

[REAL 1]

Voodoo: Thanks.

Boy, I'm really going to loose sleep about those cats!

 

[seca954]

I've got 10,000 miles with Track Key and no issues.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Don't go heavy throttle under 3000 RPM or you will get some detonation. Above 3K, let 'er rip.

 

[F.D. Sako]

Don't go heavy throttle under 3000 RPM or you will get some detonation. Above 3K, let 'er rip.

Whaa?


I've only driven with the track key ever since I got it, which is around 32k miles, both on and off track.
I just recently switched over to the regular key, because I had a long trip and wanted to get decent mpg. I had forgotten how smooth the ride is with the reg. key, compared to the track key. Now I'm back to using the reg. key; I think I'm getting old

 

[Fiddler49]

I use the silver key for my daily commute and long trips, track key for the track and when I'm feeling frisky. ;D

After track time I've found partially burnt gasoline in my tailpipes, but nothing otherwise.

 

[302 Hi Pro]

Until recently, I drove with the Silver Key 90 percent of the time, and used TracKey only for track duty and the occasional romp in the country side.

However, after installing the Kooks Super Street headers, I use TK 90% of the time and the Boss runs well with TK using 93 Octane fuel. I've come to really like the engine breaking feature of TK.

When I think about TK and all the pros and cons, I sleep at night knowing that Ford Performance brought us TK, (through their vendor), and at the end of the day, who knows better how to Tune our U code engine? I have trust in Ford Performance.

With that said, I have thought about having Sean at AED provide me with a tune, but I'm on the fence. I understand he is very good with tuning and provides excellent customer service.

302 HP
Dave

 

[superhero]

When I think about TK and all the pros and cons, I sleep at night knowing that Ford Performance brought us TK, (through their vendor), and at the end of the day, who knows better how to Tune our U code engine? I have trust in Ford Performance.

With that said, I have thought about having Sean at AED provide me with a tune, but I'm on the fence. I understand he is very good with tuning and provides excellent customer service.

302 HP

Im somewhat confused by by your statement. If you state that Ford knows better and you trust Ford 100% Than why even think about AED.
To me: TK is cool if your worried about your warranty. Other than that its a waste to me. Im also very upset that FORD undermined all the Boss owners by offering it to GT owners. That was not suppose to happen when the Boss was being advertised.

Go AED and dont look back if want some extra ponies and to be honest....run better! All you need is a 93 octane tune and to drive the car smart.

 

[Calif boss302]

I drove with both the silver and red key for the first 1500 miles of ownership. Downloaded the AED tune about 2 months ago and will not go back. The car drives so much better with the AED tune. My AED does not have the lopey idle and the engine braking is not as dramatic as the red key, but the car runs so much better at all RPMs. It has a distinct growl that it didn't have with the red key. Shaun is the best with Customer Service. I bought the car with the tune on the programmer from the original owner. He walked me through the process and was familiar with the car from the previous owner.

Until recently, I drove with the Silver Key 90 percent of the time, and used TracKey only for track duty and the occasional romp in the country side.

However, after installing the Kooks Super Street headers, I use TK 90% of the time and the Boss runs well with TK using 93 Octane fuel. I've come to really like the engine breaking feature of TK.

When I think about TK and all the pros and cons, I sleep at night knowing that Ford Performance brought us TK, (through their vendor), and at the end of the day, who knows better how to Tune our U code engine? I have trust in Ford Performance.

With that said, I have thought about having Sean at AED provide me with a tune, but I'm on the fence. I understand he is very good with tuning and provides excellent customer service.


302 HP
Dave

 

[Calif boss302]

The AED Tune is between the Silver Key and the Track Key and it's very drivable and smooth. I've been on the AED tune now for 2 months and have no intention of going back and I am old at 52 8)

I've only driven with the track key ever since I got it, which is around 32k miles, both on and off track.
I just recently switched over to the regular key, because I had a long trip and wanted to get decent mpg. I had forgotten how smooth the ride is with the reg. key, compared to the track key. Now I'm back to using the reg. key; I think I'm getting old

 

[Fiddler49]

...However, after installing the Kooks Super Street headers, I use TK 90% of the time and the Boss runs well with TK using 93 Octane fuel. I've come to really like the engine breaking feature of TK...

They really make the Track Key come alive don't they? Especially with the side pipe plates removed... 8)

 

[302 Hi Pro]

They really make the Track Key come alive don't they? Especially with the side pipe plates removed... 8)

Hi Fiddler49:

Yes they do indeed! Especially with the side plates removed and with a set o Kooks Boss 302 Side Pipes installed. One can really feel and improvement in response and power.

Dave
302 HP

 

[302 Hi Pro]

The AED Tune is between the Silver Key and the Track Key and it's very drivable and smooth. I've been on the AED tune now for 2 months and have no intention of going back and I am old at 52 8)

This is interesting, I've not read a review like this before comparing SilverKey, TK, AED Tune. I did see that Sean offers a Lopy Idle option on their website, did you not see any value with this option? Interested why you didn't select your tunes with this feature.

Also, which AED tune did you decide to run on your Boss?

Thanks,
Dave
302 HP

 

[302 Hi Pro]

When I think about TK and all the pros and cons, I sleep at night knowing that Ford Performance brought us TK, (through their vendor), and at the end of the day, who knows better how to Tune our U code engine? I have trust in Ford Performance.

With that said, I have thought about having Sean at AED provide me with a tune, but I'm on the fence. I understand he is very good with tuning and provides excellent customer service.

302 HP

Im somewhat confused by by your statement. If you state that Ford knows better and you triust Ford 100% Than why even think about AED.
To me: TK is cool if your worried about your warranty. Other than that its a waste to me. Im also very upset that FORD undermined all the Boss owners by offering it to GT owners. That was not suppose to happen when the Boss was being advertised.

Go AED and dont look back if want some extra ponies and to be honest....run better! All you need is a 93 octane tune and to drive the car smart.

Hi SuperHero:

Don't be somewhat confused, think about my statement in trusting Ford OEM Tunes in reference to the title of this thread. (e.g. ~ Damage the Engine?) I totally trust that running TracKey will not damage our engines, and yes I do want to maintain my PowerTrain Warranty.

"Than why even think about AED?" [You ask]. I have begun to think specifically about Sean's tuning abilities because of the positive customer feedback. It's ok to Trust more than one source for Tuning.

Insofar as TK, I don't believe its a waste, I believe it continues to be a unique OEM option for Mustang owners. TK may not increase total HP of our Boss U Code engines, but it does increase HP through some of the mid to upper power range bands, in particular through the 5,500 thru 6,800 RPM bands.

Sorry to learn of your disappointment in Ford offering the TK option to later model year Mustangs, but I view this as a good thing in terms of continued support for TK by Ford.

Last, how would you describe the differences between TK and your 93 Octane AED Tune? Do you have Dyno logs of the HP improvements through out the power bands? It would be interesting to see the differences.

Thanks so much for your questions and sharing your opinion.

All the Best,
Dave
302 HP

 

[Calif boss302]

My AED tune was written for the previous Owner (car came from Oklahoma and I'm in CA). It does NOT have the Lopey Idle and it was tuned for 91 Octane gas which is the highest Octane I can get from the pump here in the SF Bay Area (same as OK) without mixing with race gas.

For me the "Lopey Idle" seems a bit of a gimmick since it adds no value to the performance and could damage the Cats with unburned fuel. Since I'm in CA I need to pass smog every two years so I need my Cats in tact. It sounds cool and all, but it doesn't add anything for me.

We all know how the Silver Key runs. Cars has little to no growl on deceleration and little engine braking. Car accelerates very smooth and linear and is easy to drive around town.
The TK has that lopey idle, nice growl and serious engine braking, so much so that for me the around town driving made it less fun.

The AED Tune (at least mine) has a very nice growl to it, especially when you let off the gas. I've gotten several comments "that thing sounds mean". What you don't get is the more pronounced engine braking like with the TK. You get the growl without the car pulling back as much as the TK if that makes sense. The car is just way easier to drive around town and when you stomp on it you get TK performance. I'm pretty happy with it, so much so that I'm planning a trip to AED to have Sean Data Log and update as needed. He's about 3 hrs away from me.

I was a bit hesitant to load it as the stock program gets wiped from the car (both silver and TK) and stored in the programmer. Then the AED gets uploaded. Funny you see the speedo and tact swing to the right then all the lights on the dash come on and you are good to go.

I pondered on it for about 6 months having he tune in hand when I bought the car and calling Sean who walked me through it. Best thing is it took all of 6 minutes to download and it will take another 6 min to reverse if I want to.

This is interesting, I've not read a review like this before comparing SilverKey, TK, AED Tune. I did see that Sean offers a Lopy Idle option on their website, did you not see any value with this option? Interested why you didn't select your tunes with this feature.

Also, which AED tune did you decide to run on your Boss?

Thanks,
Dave
302 HP