Platinum Edge Juice Computer Programmer

An early snowstorm had dusted the mountains behind Ogden, Utah, home of Edge Products. We had come to cover its annual Weekend on the Edge Drags and Dyno Day, a power party with live music, a barbecue, show-n-shine specialty vehicles on display, and all three of the Edge dynamometers open for testing. It was a bit noisy, as you might imagine.

We were covering our ears as a big propane-injected Dodge Ram pushed past 800 hp when Aaron Stewart, one of the company's army of technicians, motioned us aside. "Want to take a spin with the new Platinum Juice with Attitude?" Five minutes later, we were behind the wheel of an '06 Power Stroke F-350.

We glanced in the mirror to see if the 24-foot gooseneck horse trailer was still with us because, frankly, we couldn't tell. In level 2 "Tow Mode," the new Platinum Edge Juice with Attitude for the 6.0L Power Stroke was producing an extra 60 hp and an additional 120 lb-ft of torque. The TorqShift automatic in the tow/haul mode seemed quite happy to hold the steep grade at about 3,000 rpm. Coming down the backside of the hill, we tapped the brake pedal a couple of times, and the rpm jumped to 3,600 and kept our speed in check (you gotta love that 4,000 rpm redline). We were, once again, impressed with how well the trailer braking system on the '06 Super Duty performed. There were no horses in the back, so our exploratory panic stops went unnoticed by anyone except Aaron. He just smiled.

We stopped for coffee and turned the key off to get out, but the engine kept running! Aaron explained that one of the new features of the Platinum for the '06 Power Stroke was the turbo timer that prolongs turbo life by allowing the truck to continue running after shut-off until a predetermined exhaust gas temperature or length of time is reached. Cool! No more sitting for a minute or more at a rest stop or in your driveway tapping your fingers, watching the pyrometer slowly drop to a safe level. You can set the EGT you want the system to monitor, pull out the key, lock the door, and walk away, or you can override the feature by simply tapping the brake after you turn the key off.

Other great features of the Platinum Juice with Attitude include defueling during shifts, during transmission slip, torque converter clutch lock-up, and the ability to adjust shift firmness and torque converter lockup points. We flipped back and forth between normal and advanced modes, and the difference was quite remarkable. You can even tell the transmission under which conditions you want a firm shift, like between First and Second.

The digital screen also shows corrected speed by taking into account changes in tire size and axle ratio. There are selectable audio alerts for EGT, speed, boost, and engine and transmission temperatures. The Platinum offers automatic defueling to prevent excessive EGT, turbo boost, and transmission slip.