Does how you drive affect the power put out by the LS6?

[fifimonster]

This may be a question for Hib Halverson. Another corvette board is debating whether or not the PCM goes into a "party mode" when the LS6 engine is driven hard for a while.

In other words, if you drive the car really hard for a period of time before doing something like a 1/4 mile run or a dyno pull, the car will put out more power for the run or dyno pull. see: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=413835

Is there anything anyone knows or could find out from GM about the computer programming for the LS6 to substantiate this?

I also heard this about the old Mustang 5.0 engines in the mid to late 80's.

 

[c4c5specialist]

Hi there,
NO, this is not the case. They are talking about a couple of different functions of the PCM, and they are NOT all interacting.
This is taken from the service manual. The first is the Torque Management, which is programmed into every c5, made.
Torque Management is a function of the PCM that reduces engine power under certain conditions. Torque Management is performed for the following reasons:

To prevent overstress of the powertrain components
To reduce engine power during certain throttle actuator control (TAC) system faults
To limit the engine power when the brakes are applied more than approximately 40 percent
To prevent damage to the vehicle during certain abusive maneuvers
The PCM monitors the following sensors and engine parameters to calculate engine output torque:

Air/Fuel ratio
Mass Air Flow (MAF)
Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP)
Intake Air Temperature (IAT)
Spark Advance
Engine Speed
Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT)
A/C Clutch Status
The PCM monitors the torque converter status, the transmission gear ratio, and the extended brake switch input in order to determine if torque reduction is required. The PCM retards the spark as appropriate to reduce engine torque output if torque reduction is required. The PCM also shuts off the fuel to certain injectors to reduce the engine power in the case of an abusive maneuver.

The following are instances when engine power reduction is likely to be experienced:

During transmission upshifts and downshifts
Heavy acceleration from a standing start
The brakes are applied with moderate to heavy throttle (with the traction system active).
When the driver is performing harsh or abusive maneuvers, such as shifting into gear at high throttle angles or shifting the transmission from reverse to drive to create a rocking motion.
The driver is unlikely to notice the torque management actions in the first two instances. The engine power output will be moderate at full throttle in the other two cases.

The PCM calculates the amount of spark retard necessary to reduce the engine power by the desired amount. The PCM disables the fuel injectors for cylinders 1, 4, 6, and 7 in the case of an abusive maneuver.

So, now, with that, you can see, that if the driving technique changes, so does the way the PCM acts, especially if the PCM deems the driving, 'abusive'.
On automatic equipped cars, there is also transmission adaptive function, which is another story entirely.
I hope that this answers your question.
Allthebest, c4c5