Well, I bit the bullet. After 5 months and about $8,000, I finally have the CRD back, but the mileage was DISMAL. It was difficult to start when cold, got about 21mpg HIGHWAY driving back up from South Florida to Savannah. Ok, I was towing the old engine on a tiny trailer, but PLEASE. 21mpg? The trailer is an open 30"x48" little thing that sits about equal in height to the bumper.
Driving around up here, it wasn't any better, about 19mpg, and still hard to start when cold. Like about 4-5 seconds of cranking time. The auto-start would have to attempt twice usually before it would catch.
It smoked on take-off, even at part throttle, so I knew that something was rotten in there. I thought it might be the Edge, so I pulled that, and it is still available. It worked great for me on the old engine, on this one... Not so much. But it wasn't the Edge's fault. The problems didn't change.
I swapped in the other TCM that I got with the new engine, b/c I noticed that the part number was older. I *think* I may have gotten an unmolested one. The power seemed better, but still smoking and hard starting... So I knew the mileage wasn't any better. The EVIC wouldn't read any higher than 23mpg, 24 for brief periods.
I called and talked to the guys at GDE, explained the problems I was having, and asked what they thought. Even before I purchased, they were helpful and tried to offer solutions. Nice guys. I thought that the injector coding might have been a factor, they said that it only affected a small percentage of the functionality. Yea, but between operating and operating WELL could be a small percentage difference.
So I took a chance. I just got the spare ECU back today, so I'm able to compare it to the F37 if anyone wants to visit Savannah and drive both for a bit.
First impressions - The boost does seem to be more available, but the overall power actually feels a little less to me compared with the Edge or even stock with the mis-programmed injector codes. I'm inclined to think that the codes mean more than anyone is giving them credit for. It started RIGHT UP when I asked it to, within a half-second. And it was stone-cold, I didn't drive it yesterday at all.
Mileage... Look at the picture:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32328851&l=f41d6ff84e&id=23705433
If only that would remain true!
I'll update this as things progress. I'm taking a trip to Atlanta next weekend, so that will be a nice long drive at highway speeds. Hopefully the numbers will be close to that picture.
Maybe there will be less starter and Optima problems now 
