aFe Scorcher?

New owner of a '17 Hatchback EX here, been reading the forums for a couple weeks now and looking at the possibility of a FlashPro then stumbled upon this page while looking at drop-in air filters.

http://afepower.com/afe-power-77-46601-scorcher-gt-module

Looks like there's BMW and Ford Eco-boost versions among others. Anyone know how they work and any benefit/drawback vs. FlashPro? I'm not going to be going crazy with mods, just would like an added "boost" for kicks.

lebshiff21 said:

New owner of a '17 Hatchback EX here, been reading the forums for a couple weeks now and looking at the possibility of a FlashPro then stumbled upon this page while looking at drop-in air filters.

http://afepower.com/afe-power-77-46601-scorcher-gt-module

Looks like there's BMW and Ford Eco-boost versions among others. Anyone know how they work and any benefit/drawback vs. FlashPro? I'm not going to be going crazy with mods, just would like an added "boost" for kicks.

Click to expand...

Looks like a piggyback as opposed to a reflash. Instead of reprogramming anything it needs to stay plugged in because it actively fools sensors. Less desirable than a custom reflash tuned with Flashpro or Ktuner IMHO.

The flash pro is what? $200 more, and actually works. Check out MCM's test of one of these types of units.

For that price, I'd stay away from that thing. Tricking the sensors is never the proper way to tune your car. Let the sensors work the way they are designed and reprogram the parameters with a proper tuner.

AFE is a great american brand, i will not reject it or compare it with ebay performance chip until trying it out.


the gt module looks like a hks evc with boost preset...

lebshiff21 said:

New owner of a '17 Hatchback EX here, been reading the forums for a couple weeks now and looking at the possibility of a FlashPro then stumbled upon this page while looking at drop-in air filters.

http://afepower.com/afe-power-77-46601-scorcher-gt-module

Looks like there's BMW and Ford Eco-boost versions among others. Anyone know how they work and any benefit/drawback vs. FlashPro? I'm not going to be going crazy with mods, just would like an added "boost" for kicks.

Click to expand...

Garbage piggyback, only a hack would recommend a unit like that. I can tell you the ECU is going to fightback against anything a piggyback tries to do. Seen it countless times over the years. We don't touch them as a rule for a reason.

Browncoat3000 said:

The flash pro is what? $200 more, and actually works. Check out MCM's test of one of these types of units.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but to compare anything made by aFe Power to a $25.00 hoax bought on eBay from a no-name guy whose feedback they probably didn't even check before they bought the thing is like saying you shouldn't buy that Bugatti Veyron because everybody knows Ford Pintos explode when rear-ended - and they're both cars, right? So Veyrons obviously suck.

I don't know much about the electronics in modern cars so I can't speak to whether it's a bad idea to use a piggyback unit - maybe it is. But I do have a little first-hand experience with a piggyback that works (and with aFe Power), which it doesn't sound like anybody else here does: I put an APEXi SMART Accel throttle controller, which seems to be a more lightweight version of the aFe Scorcher, in my 2019 Accord 2.0T and it definitely works. I bought it through Pro Import Tuners, who I don't *think* sell any useless junk, and all it seems to do is modify the signal from the gas pedal to make the vehicle more responsive (or less so, depending on what setting you use; you can also use the APEXi unit to tame an overly sensitive pedal in case you're always accidentally laying rubber away from stoplights, as I used to do all the time in my 2008 Tundra). The effect is subtle at any setting, but it's definitely there. Every once in a while I'll come to a stoplight and turn off the throttle controller just to remind myself what the stock pedal response is like, and when I start up I'll say, "Oh my [bleep]ing god..." out loud because I can't believe how far I have to press the pedal to get the car to respond in any meaningful way. A (valid, working) throttle controller just takes care of that Mushy Pedal Syndrome, making turbo lag a little less pronounced and the pedal response more like that of an old drive-by-cable system...which I personally appreciate, having grown up with the cars of the '60s and '70s that didn't need devices like these because they were responsive by design.

Also, people in this thread advocate flashing your ECU instead, but flashing your ECU has two significant potential disadvantage that these piggyback units don't: if you flash your ECU, Honda will know (because ECUs have to be unlocked in order to be flashed, and they phone home to notify Honda when they're unlocked), and flashing your ECU will void your warranty. So if your engine blows up down the road - for *any* reason - Honda can say it's your problem because you flashed your ECU (and Honda knows it). Neither is true of piggybacks.

I *hope* the unit doesn't actually do any harm, but I know for sure that it does have a working effect, and I imagine the aFe unit will just have more of one. That's how I wound up here - I discovered that aFe had put one of these out, I know aFe makes quality stuff and cares about their reputation (I have an aFe/Takeda intake in my Accord), and I thought it might be an upgrade to go from the APEXi to the aFe unit, so I searched it. I'm pretty sure my little APEXi unit doesn't make anywhere near the horsepower gains that the aFe unit claims...