blownhtm

I have an 02 Escalade with a Kenne Bell supercharger on it. I bought it new from them and it worked well for a week or two. It started to ping off and on and now it does most of the time. Kenne Bell checked the programming and said its fine. I checked for vacuum leaks, found none. It still builds 6lbs of boost. The timing must be backed way off to help it not to ping because it isn't making any HP. I run only Chevron premium, and I sometimes ad NOS octane booster as recomended by Kenne Bell. The extra octane does'nt make a difference, it will still ping. I checked the catalitic converters to make sure they were OK. Motor runs clean, idles fine. Cadillac won't even look at it. I believe it has a sensor that is giving a false reading. I don't know what sensor could cause a condition that would make it ping. It also does'nt want to down shift all the time when you stand on it. Kenne bell claims 500HP. In its current condition it is no faster than stock. Can any one suggest where I might start to try to solve this problem? I drove down to Kenne Bell and wanted them just to drive it, and they would'nt even do that.

whitt1

The octane booster will not make enough difference to cure your knock maybe 1 full point at best.I would find a machanic that can tune your Escalade using LS1 Edit or similar programming on a wideband equipped dyno.That way he can make changes to the fuel and timing curves using reliable information.If you live in a hot weather environment you might also consider water injection to control your knock.

parish8

iTrader: (6)

6psi is probably too much for a escalade motor. 6psi is about all you can run on the lower compresion 6.0.

i see a couple of options, alkey/water injection or drop the boost down to 4-5psi. the alkey/water injection isn't too expensive, something like $400 and everything i hear about says that it works prety well.

blownhtm

Bell says that it will run 6lbs? I can't find anybody with an all-wheel drive dyno to get it tuned on. I was told if you remove the front drive shaft that it will not go anywhere. It did run 6lbs of boost when it was first installed and it was really quick and it down shifted fine. Anybody know who has a all-wheel dyno in southern california or better yet in Vegas.

speedhoe04

2 things....1 is the escalade can handle 8lbs of boost not just 6.

2nd....use only super gas 93....either BP Amoco...Sunoco....or Mobil 1

The rest are inferior gas.

Try this out and see what happens.

parish8

iTrader: (6)

6lb's in vegas on a 10-1 motor isn't going to work well at all, dont matter where you get it tuned. it may work ok in some parts of the country.

you could try a top end engine cleaner, might help a little.

BigTex

iTrader: (16)

You can remove the driveshaft, but it is not "reccommend" by GM to do so. If you are working off a non-intercooled kit, I think you are going to have issues from now on. If they have an intercooler option, thats what you need. Otherwise, you should sell the KB, and either buy a Magnacharger Radix or even look into one of the new turbo kits. Even though your motor isn't setup for boost, it should handle 8psi of intercooled stuff with tuning.

Several of us have owned Whipple chargers, and have experienced the frustrations of ping / knock, low timing, and poor power levels. unfortunately, I doubt that even with a great tune that you'll see much more power. Water / Alky injection is just a band aid solution to a poorly designed S/C kit.

************
Now for some help: Do you have any data logging tools like autotap, EFI live, or similar? Logging what your PCM sees is really the first step. Once you know whats going on, like amount of knock retard, timing values, air/fuel readings, etc.., you can make decisions on what needs to be done to correct the issue. For instance - I had lots of knock retard on my 99 truck (as did parish8 and others) that no amount of tuning could really get rid of. By modifying the knock sensors not to report as much knock, the PCM kept high timing and power levels really increased.

parish8

iTrader: (6)

"Water / Alky injection is just a band aid solution to a poorly designed S/C kit. "

i agree with everything you said above except the water/alkey thing. i used to think that but have dont alot of reading on the subject and it really seems to work well. isn't that quote from maximum boost?

if he is hearing pinging then it certainly isn't false, a atap log would be nice to see.

F8L Z71

Have you tried all the basis in tuning like changing fuel filter and such??

*bumb maybe but remember KISS*

BigTex

iTrader: (16)

I think that the injection does work. But he shouldn't need it for 6psi. Even though the LQ9 has .6 point higher compression, it has a more favorable quench with the flat top pistons. OOsilverado has a procharger on his LQ9 making 10 psi I think, but its intercooled.

Audible pinging can be cured with tuning, but its likely caused by high intake air temps. I can let me truck get hot under hood temps and it will ping under load, but once fresh air enters and IATs drop, it will quit it pinging and regains its peppy throttle response. That SC compressor can get very hot without doing any WOT runs. I'm sure his temps are up there.

No matter, I'm tires of seeing these S/C companies selling high dollar kits that aren't intercooled and leaving the buyer hanging. Look at your experience with the whipple: I remember all your posts on LS1.com about it not making the power it should and dropped your ET down to the mid 15s. I had the same thing happen too. What a poor design trying to solve fueling by sticking injectors in front of a dry intake system. With the pric of their kits, they should have done it much better. I can't count the number of guys who have emailed me asking for help tuning a whipple or trying to figure out whats wrong. Now turn to the radix or procharger, you don't see any of those posts from these owners. With them, all the posts are on how much more boost, or I much more injector do I need. {steps down from soapbox}