'06 LS8 Trans. Re-Flash

01continental

Well-Known LVC Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
203
Reaction score
1
Location
Charlotte
This is about my '06 LS8 w/52k miles. I discussed getting a trans. re-flash at the dealer a few times on this forum. My trans. just felt a little off on shifting and there was a little lag at kick-down. Well, I finally did it. The cost was $95 at the local Ford dealer, up from $85 quoted 6 months ago. The service adviser said there would be little or no change, he was wrong. There is a HUGE difference in the regular shifting. Not a shift kit but the way it should be from the factory NEW. The major difference is in the full kick-down mode. It grabs QUICK, TIGHT and WIDE OPEN. I passed a car and the acceleration was the best since I owned the car, it was unbelievable. My wife took it out and said the shifts most definitely improved. Before this I had the trans. filter/fluid changed and another fluid only change (as I noted in a few earlier posts). Of course I can not guarantee anybody but, if your trans feels a little off and you have completed the above maintenance it may be worth a try. You really can not loose for the price, plus, you may pick-up an update or two. I believe there were a couple of updates since 2006 because of my results.
I just thought I would let everybody know.
 
Did you try simply unplugging the battery and letting it relearn your driving style?? And yes I knew that there are new updates.

I wonder if the vehicles other computer have updates as well.
 
Yes, I tried a couple of re-learn techniques including unhooking the battery. That is a good question about the other computers. I should have asked, because it would have been cheaper since the tech. was already in there, but I did not. Service advisers won't be able to tell you. Mine said there would be no changes. I can say that my LS is an early production unit because of the build date.
 
The vehicle computers I could see having no updates since they're only used on the ls and thunderbird I would assume.

But as far as I know our transmission is still used in some fords so if course it has updates. Thankfully that means parts are plentiful as well.
 
I almost forgot. The SST manual shift is much cleaner when upshifting when starting from 1st gear. Sometimes it was sloppy when upshifting before the re-flash.
 
You could also get a tuner. I noticed a great improvement from stock to ILLS tune in the trans, and an improvement from ILLS tune to torrie's tune in the trans. It felt great after torrie's tune, loved the change.
 
I wonder what the differences are (for transmission) between the dealer reflash vs Torrie's tune.

01continental, do you have a number or something on the invoice that indicates which reflash you got?
 
A tuner will improve shifting to the point of even feeling like there has been a shift kit added but the re-flash is for the financially challenged, like myself currently. I had a tuner on my '01 Conti. I just used the default program and it was like a shift kit. The only problem was, it costed $200 used and that tuner is half the price of an LS tuner.
 

Members online

No members online now.
Back
Top