Superchips Flashpaq 3875 ... an '05 TJ/LJ Rubi Review

**ziaholic** · 05-14-2009, 07:26 PM

So I picked up my new Flashpaq at the parts store today, and the manager plugged it into his PC for a (quite long) download/update while we talked about trails, and tires, and brakes, etc. While we were talking I was reading the "addendum" paperwork that was stuffed into the box, next to the users manual.

The addendum had me scared, but I was assured that I had 30 days to make sure I was happy with it and could bring it back for any reason. So I swiped the Discover card and headed back to work to daydream about it for the next 4 hours.

Here's what scared me in the addendum (dated 3/27/09)... as it relates to support for '05-'06 TJ/LJ Rubi's ...

- max diff gear selectable is 4.56
- tire size selection for 26" tires are every half inch, but then it jumps from 29 to 33 to 35 ... with nothing in between ... puzzling.

Of course the JK options are nearly endless ... from RockKrawling mode and quarter-inch increments in the tires from 22" to 42", and 4-hi lockers, and gear ranges from 2.0 to 10.0 in 0.01 increments ... I could go on, but I'm not reviewing the JK features, I'm sure that there's already a review thread over there. (sigh)

Stay tuned ... I'm downloading the update app right now ... maybe the latest update is newer than this paper "addendum". Fingers Crossed.

I'm gonna' register it, update it (and/or verify that his update worked), and then go plug it in. I'll post up my results in a few ...

**ziaholic** · 05-14-2009, 07:29 PM

... harumph ... it's making me install MS .NET software first ... more bloatware! Yay!

Sandhara · 05-14-2009, 07:31 PM

any updates?

**ziaholic** · 05-14-2009, 07:58 PM

The tire-size selections were slim, as I feared. ... and the max diff ratio I can select is 4.56.

It wouldn't let me access the locker settings (not that I expected it to)

It's currently downloading my "stock" settings, so I can access the "advanced tune" menus ... I'm not sure what I'll find in there ...

I'll contact their support line and see if/when these tire/gear options will be updated ... and if the answer is no/never, then I'm not so sure I'm gonna' keep it.

Stay tuned ... I'll do a GPS speed check on the way to work tomorrow to see if I'm "close enough".

**ziaholic** · 05-14-2009, 08:05 PM

Turn Off, Turn On, ... and now it's downloading "stock file 2" ... at least this one seems to be smaller/faster than the last one.

Maybe there's an advanced tune menu in here somewhere ...

This isn't something you wanna' start if you've got somewhere you need to be soon ...

**ziaholic** · 05-14-2009, 08:13 PM

The "Advanced Tune" menu had the same settings for tires/gears ... and it also had a few "performance options" ... there was an 87 octane setting (the one I picked), a 91 octane setting, and a towing setting.

It's now dumping updated files 1 and 2 back onto the computer.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's commute!

Stay tuned! (no pun intended)

**Unlimited04** · 05-14-2009, 09:09 PM

wow. sounds like a waste of money for the TJ/LJ at this point, but worth it for a JK. good luck.

Sccafire · 05-14-2009, 11:12 PM

Yes, Thanks for the information. I am going to 5.13 gears. Looks like the programmer is not for me.

NorCalCon · 05-15-2009, 12:55 AM

I had my hopes up too.

the_sandman_454 · 05-15-2009, 09:07 AM

How did the commute go on the new tuning? Any interesting quirks?

Have you had an opportunity to contact their support with regard to correcting the limited tire/gear selections?

**digitalcox** · 05-15-2009, 09:28 AM

I saw this advertised in the latest Quadratec. I just wanted to post to see any results as well on a TJ for curiosity.

**ziaholic** · 05-15-2009, 09:48 AM

Well, as expected, my speedo is still a little off, because I couldn't select my 4.88's. When it read 45, I was really doing 42 (per my Garmin) ... so that's about 7% off ... but again, that was expected.

I'm not sure about the overall performance ... I may have imagined it, or expected too much, but it almost felt as if it lost a little "pep". Again, I could be imagining things, but it most definitely didn't dramatically improve anything.

I shot Superchips an email last night, and got this reply this morning:

Quote:

The 4.56 is the largest we have the ability to reprogram the computer to

As far as the Speedo I am told that vehicle Speedo is gear driven and you would have to change the gear in the transmission

I replied back with another couple questions for them ... regarding when/if they will be able to go bigger, and to see if it's related to a shortcoming in the TJ's computer, or in the capabilities of their software. ... and then I educated him on the details of the NV241 transfer case and its tone ring ...

The thing that led me down this path in the first place was the ability to tweak the tires/gears, and to be able to check my OBDII codes. If the tweaks aren't there for me, and AutoZone can check my codes (and I can't remember the last code it even threw!), then this will probably end up back in the box, on the shelf, waiting for a lucky JK owner to pick it up.

The story is not completely over, but I'm beginning to think I know the ending already.

Stay tuned.

elephantrider · 05-15-2009, 09:52 AM

well thats disappointing. was hoping that it would have a bit more
features as my smarty does for my cummins.

thanks for the review and keep us posted on any changes / feedback
you get from superchips.

IOUnlimited · 05-15-2009, 09:56 AM

Really good thread. Thank you.

Pillswoj · 05-15-2009, 10:43 AM

A couple of comments,

For the speedo adjust, they can only program the options that jeep put into the rubis computer, so what you see is what you get there will not be an update that will give you more options. If you do some math though there is probably a tire / gear combination that will give you the speedo correction that you are looking for eg 33" and 4.56 should be really close to 35" and 4.88.

For the power, the 87 Octane really doesn't do much, I noticed a bit better throttle responce on my 99 but nothing dramatic. The 91 Octane was a very noticable increase in power and I get better mileage with it as well, I have to do more investigation to see if the fuel savings are enough to pay for the extra that the 91 costs.

Do not try and run the 91 program without using 91 octane fuel it will ping badly.

Jeff