spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Well I finished installing the switch and wiring for the famous Power Mod and I'm not impressed. I don't feel much of a difference. I know that the pig tail is inserted and making a good connection and I know that it's getting a sufficient ground as I tested the set up with my power probe. I was hoping for something more but I think I was hoping for too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datdookie Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 power mod? what power mod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 It's a auto trans deal. It's supposed to make the auto trans feel more spirited but it doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zues Marine Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 picture of grounded pin, info of car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Zeus who are you asking? My car 99 LGT and its a phase 2 tcu with the white and grey plugs. On the white plug there only one open pin and its the second one from the left between the white/red and blue/white wires. I know it's working cuz on the freeway I could feel the toqure converter unlocked then I turned the switch off and it locked. I've owned cars before with a PWR button ( Supra)and they've never felt different except the higher rev when shifting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacygtfour Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Just did this mod on my Outback today and it mad a pretty big difference, the car is much more responsive and fun to drive while not a replacement for a 5spd it dose keep me from wanting to blow my brains out because my car wont down shift while I'm trying to pass another car on the freeway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang70Fastback Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Yeah, I'm betting you didn't do it right. Not trying to sound like an ass, but honestly it is a VERY noticeable difference. As in there is NO way you wouldn't feel much of a difference unless it actually isn't working... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Well I guess I'm just used to driving a 700+whp Supra and I expected more from this mod in my LGT. When I drive my LGT I tend to work the throttle to get the trans to do what I want, like downshift. Before I did the mod if I where to go wot from a dig it would shift at 6500rpm in every gear. So what am I not feeling with this mod? Or what do you guys notice? Here's what my car does without the PM. If I'm going 30 mph and I go 1/2 throttle it will downshift into 2nd quick, same when I'm going 40 or 50+, it downshifts like it should and also goes to the 6500 rpm shift point. Maybe the 99 is different from the earlier ones. I know my LGT is faster then my friends 97 LGT, we raced from a dig and at 30mph last summer and by 50mph I had a 3/4 lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 How could one not do this mod right? It's very simple. Get a switch and pig tail. Install the PT into the white connector and the other side of the switch to a chassis ground. Like I said I used my power probe and check for ground at the pin. It worked juts as it should. What are you guys noticing with the PM on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorkchopSandwiches Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Judging by what you said about flipping power mode off on the freeway and feeling the torque converter lock up, it sounds like you probably did it right. Â I don't have any experience with power mode on a legacy, but I've had and driven lots of cars with sport/power mode auto transmissions and never felt that much of a difference. Just a bit quicker to downshift and gears are held longer. People on here talk about it like it's night and day on these cars so I'm curious if it's that different from the other a/t's i've driven in sport mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Porkchops, that's exactly what I'm saying. I've driven other cars with a power button and they don't make that big of a difference. Like you said higher shift points and downshifts. But mine did that w/o the PM. So from this mod failing ill skip doing the 50/50 mod, I don't think I'll even notice a difference. I'm just used to switching my AEM map knob on my Supra from base boost to full boost and having a 150whp increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Another thing I just check out the FSM on here for my 99 and it showed a 3 plug tcu with all black plugs and I have a 2 plug with them being grey and white. I'm 100% sure what I hooked up to is tcu because it says it right on the box. Oh well I guess. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang70Fastback Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I have driven other cars with a sport mode and they are less noticeable changes than they are with this car IMHO. I dunno, to me it makes a huge difference. However, if, as you seem to imply, you drive your car hard ALL the time, you are NOT going to notice any difference at all, because when you drive like that the TCU goes into "power mode" automatically. It's not so much holding gears up to the red line that is as noticeable as it is the fact that it won't downshift right away when you are coasting, but again if you drive it hard all the time you're probably activating power mode anyway.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 The power mode shift program only kicks in when you floor the pedal. If you ask demand power, it will downshift & get to redline if you want it to. That is why it's called "power mode".  You sound like you did it right but it also sounds like you have to get used to it like I had to. The transmission shifts hard & quick, which made me think that something could be wrong. The 50/50 mod is worth the time. One of my neighbors has his TCU with that mod & it makes a hell of a difference in deep snow or mud. Porkchops: I've owned 4 Volvos with the sport mode function & those are good, aggressive transmissions but compared to them, our transmissions are a tad sloppy. The power mode on our cars makes them shift hard & aggressively, just like the Volvo Aisin transmissions on sport mode. The difference is literally night & day. Definitely what EJ22s need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang70Fastback Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 The power mode shift program only kicks in when you floor the pedal.  This isn't true. At least that's not how my car acts. Every auto car does what you just described, which is an auto-kickdown feature that is activated when you completely floor the pedal. I have taken the car down hilly back roads before, and all it takes is one minute of aggressive driving (you do NOT need to have the pedal completely floored) and the TCM seems to realize that you are driving more aggressively and completely changes the shift logic to Power Mode. I know this because more than once (before I knew about this mod), I ended up thinking something was wrong with the transmission because I would let off the gas for some reason and the transmission would hold the gear and not up-shift right away so as to keep the RPMs up. It would take around 10-20 seconds of normal driving for the shift logic to return to normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Phase 2 ECU is different. Power mode is technically not even there.... It doesn't operate the same way. My 96 GT 4EAT with the ""power mode" responded like everyone else is saying it should. No converter lockup, and more responsive downshifts while using the throttle to control them, and lower gears are held a bit longer before it up shifts. For shits and giggles I tried it on my 99 OBL (phase 2 4EAT), and it did nothing. I'm not sure of the torque converter, but that's because I wasn't looking as I instantly noticed there was no response difference with the power mode on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zues Marine Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 +1 for not-as-effective on phase 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang70Fastback Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 That might be the reason. Not sure what my 98 is, but probably Phase 1 then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zues Marine Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 98.5 i believe is the cutoff for phase 1 stuff as a general rule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorkchopSandwiches Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Porkchops: I've owned 4 Volvos with the sport mode function & those are good, aggressive transmissions but compared to them, our transmissions are a tad sloppy. The power mode on our cars makes them shift hard & aggressively, just like the Volvo Aisin transmissions on sport mode. The difference is literally night & day. Definitely what EJ22s need. Shoot, I really wanna try it now. I just don't want to half-ass it though so I might wait until I'm home for the summer and have tools to put in a nice switch.  Btw, what the heck does a pigtail connector look like. I googled and it showed me a million types of connector and none of them looked like something small enough to fit in that hole. Would I be fine just using a solid wire and no connector like the guy in the youtube tutorial? my face when I turn on power mode: http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/files/2009/05/fast-and-furious.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zues Marine Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 you could just ground the wire for a bit... get a feel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 That might be the reason. Not sure what my 98 is, but probably Phase 1 then. 98.5 i believe is the cutoff for phase 1 stuff as a general rule ALL 98's had the Phase 1 4EAT's. I'm not sure what the cutoffs are for 99, but I believe all 25D's had the phase 2 and all 22E's had a phase 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Well that makes more since that the phase 2 it isn't as noticeable. I don't drive my car hard all of the time but in the year I've owned my 99 LGT I've learned to counteract the weird things this transmission does. Things like staying in a higher gear when it should downshift but working the throttle I've fixed that issue. I wish I would've does this mod to my old 96 L because then I could've made the comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 Update: Driving around the past few days with the Power Mode on I actually think it's does nothing. The only thing I notice is while driving on the freeway I can unlock and lock the converter. So by being able to do this I know it's hooked up right. I talked my friends son into me installing a switch on his 98 LGT with the phase 1 tcu and I'll see if it I notice anything on his car. So by Sunday I'll report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyposeur Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Dude, it made a huge difference on my phase 1. I can take a video if I have to. It's not voodoo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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