Tuners again!

[Royalwapiti]

I put a Lime Swap tuned PC in my 2006 4.2L extended TB. I had the shift firmness set to 1, shift management set to 25% based on me taking a trip once a year hauling my ATV.


I am back from my trip. I drove 3200 miles to and from Flagstaff, AZ from Iowa. I pulled an aluminum utility trailer with an ATV on it. (1500 lbs max)

I got 11.4 mpg on the way out with the Lime-Swap PC. I used all premium gas with no alcohol if available. I put my old oem PC back in for the trip home. I averaged 13.4mpg. Plus I was carrying about 500 pounds more weight, (I brought an elk home with me and a passenger).

Things I learned, No noticable change in power. I hate shift management, The problem with shift management at 25% is it easily downshifts by itself, but it never wants to up shift once you get over the hill. So it sits at the higher rpm until you kick the gas pedal to up shift. I hate shift firmness of 1. I don't need to feel the jerk every time it shifts. Holy cow, I can't imagine driving with Shift firmness of 2, it would throw you out the windshield every time it shifted.

I plan to send my oem PC to Jeremy and have him set it up for me based on my experiences with the loaner PC.

I will be putting a 2008 fan clutch in it and don't want the 2006 ECM telling me I have a problem. So that is number 1, remove fan codes.

Jeremy mentioned the second oxygen sensor, that way the cat converter can be removed later with no issues.

What other things can be done with the PC? What other codes do people normally remove or tinker? Security VAT? Is there a list?

Is torque management the same as Shift management?

Thanks. These attitudes I have are my observations from driving the vehicle with the settings I chose. They do not reflect anything badly on Jeremy, he has been a big help in getting me answers and the help i needed.



As a side note, I had a near disaster on my way home. I have made this trip 4 times, so after the 1st, I had a local tranny shop put tranny cooler on. Worked great until I hit Gallup, NM. I crossed into New Mexico and noticed some smoke behind me. I let off gas and coasted. Slipped it into neutral and coasted a half mile. Before I stopped, the tranny had no forward effort. Pure slippage. Cost $251 for a service truck to bring me 5 quarts of tranny fluid and a clamp. Luckily it ran fine after refilling tranny fluid. I got dinged $100 for the trip out, $17 a quart for ($8 synthetic tranny fluid), $32 mileage, and $13 for a parts stocking fee, whatever the hell that is.....I was so relieved i didn't have to spend anymore time in Gallup than needed. I had visions of my tranny be toast. It got me another 1000 miles home. Now I need to go back to the tranny shop and politely ask them to flare the ends of the cooler lines and put the right clamps on.



.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

A couple of observations I've made over the years.... fuel economy is generally better driving west to east. The prevailing winds are westerly so driving easterly you generally have a tail wind. Secondly elevations are generally higher in the west, Flagstaff being over 7000 ft. The Continental Divide is in New Mexico so on the average you're driving "down hill" heading east.
BTW earlier this summer a couple elk jumped the fence and had a field day eating the wife's day lilies. Our cabin is 65 mi. s.e. of Flagstaff. She was not a happy camper!
Not saying your observations are wrong.

 

[Playsinsnow]

We need more of these firsthand tune experiences. Higher mpgs heading west with more weight? No chance you drove a little harder to your destination and took it "easier" heading home? No speed/drive time variances?

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Delete secondary air code cause its unneeded item anyway.

Torque management and shift is not the same.

 

[limequat]

I suspect his fuel economy numbers are correct +/- the small noise factors.

I tune for power and throttle response and likely set his power enrichment too low for towing.
For those that are not familiar, the PCM emulates a carb by "opening the secondaries" when you're getting on it. This function is disabled in many stock tunes and it's the first thing I do when looking for power. I've found 35% throttle to be a reasonable divide between normal driving and spirited driving. Unfortunately the load of the trailer likely required greater than 35% throttle all the time.
I'll be setting the limit to 50% or greater for the next round of tuning. Would be interesting to see similar data without the trailer.

 

[C-ya]

Jeremy, check my PM please. I need to get my shifts softened as well. Not sure what "level" mine is considered, but I'm about over it. Everything else is great! Mileage is increased, power is better, no DOD is great, just need to get those shifts softened up a bit.

 

[BlazingTrails]

Wait you're saying you want more power AND better mileage? While pulling a trailer?

Also I would assume the loaner pcm does not have all of your options tuned into it, like your original pcm will. And the loaner did not have the cps zeroed in either. Be patient and give people a chance before you put them on blast publicly. IMO

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

So the tuned PCM did not have a Case Relearn done....not optimized for your truck?

 

[limequat]

The loaner was tuned and he had the CASE done. Should have been good to go.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Curious to see what your retune does. Hopefully he can get repeatable trip data and compare all versions and stock. Be great info to have!

 

[Royalwapiti]

Wait you're saying you want more power AND better mileage? While pulling a trailer?

Also I would assume the loaner pcm does not have all of your options tuned into it, like your original pcm will. And the loaner did not have the cps zeroed in either. Be patient and give people a chance before you put them on blast publicly. IMO

I did not say I wanted more power and better mileage while pulling a trailer, where did my post say anything like that? You guys read too much into these posts. Don't Assume. It was case relearned at my dealer. I am not blasting anyone. I complimented Jeremy in my post.

I just explained the differences between the Lime PCM and my oem, I like the shifting of the OEM. This post was about asking for other things that i should get programmed in, like eliminating the fan codes.

I only pull a trailer like that once a year and I probably wont pull it again until next September 2015 so i am not tuning it for the trailer pulling. I want better mileage. I have had the TB since new and it has 88,000 miles, I only put 10,000 miles a year on it and 3,000 of it is this trip. The rest is commuting driving in the winter by my wife or a trip to local Home Depot with the trailer.

A couple of observations I've made over the years.... fuel economy is generally better driving west to east. The prevailing winds are westerly so driving easterly you generally have a tail wind. Secondly elevations are generally higher in the west, Flagstaff being over 7000 ft. The Continental Divide is in New Mexico so on the average you're driving "down hill" heading east.
BTW earlier this summer a couple elk jumped the fence and had a field day eating the wife's day lilies. Our cabin is 65 mi. s.e. of Flagstaff. She was not a happy camper!
Not saying your observations are wrong.

I think the discrepancy in mileage is more due to the tranny sitting at 3000 rpm more often than not because I had to kick it down (up) to up shift. Two eleven hour days of driving are too long for me to sit there and babysit the shifting. I loved the trip home with oem shifting management. But you may be right about the winds and Divide.

By the way, I was in Happy Jack and Clints Wells area. Love it there, looked at a few cabins at Stoneman lake while there.

We need more of these firsthand tune experiences. Higher mpgs heading west with more weight? No chance you drove a little harder to your destination and took it "easier" heading home? No speed/drive time variances?

No, I was plenty early and in no rush to get there, if anything I rushed more going east to get home to see Mama! My speeds averaged higher on the way home.

Delete secondary air code cause its unneeded item anyway.

Thanks


Thanks Jeremy, my oem PCM will be in the mail tomorrow with a note.

 

[Royalwapiti]

Curious to see what your retune does. Hopefully he can get repeatable trip data and compare all versions and stock. Be great info to have!

I doubt I make this trip with the TB again. It can take years to draw an Arizona elk tag. I got lucky and was blessed with hunting (guiding my kids), my oldest kid got a tag in 2012, my youngest hit in 2013 and I hit (after nine years of trying) in 2014. The 4.2 pretty much sucks on the highway with our hunting gear. Looking at pickup or larger SUV.

 

[Playsinsnow]

The 4.2 pretty much sucks on the highway with our hunting gear. Looking at pickup or larger SUV.

Do you have 3.42 gears or 3.73? A gear swap might help.

 

[Royalwapiti]

3.42.

 

[cynicalmj]

As one who has made the round trip drive from St. Louis to LA and several points in between many times in several vehicles over several years. I can verify that my gas mileage was always better headed east for the reasons stated above, mostly the prevailing wind. And every vehicle felt more powerful as well. ...and I always drive fast...

Same effect going to Colorado/Utah, btw.

Not an argument, just sayin'