Tuner like “5 Star Tune “

[Rwake901]

I have a 2019 3500 Silverado 6.0 gas. Has anyone used a tuner like a “5 star tune “ ? I was wondering if or how they work before I purchase one and which brand I should buy? Thanks

[Jarlaxle]

philh wrote:

Jarlaxle wrote:
I saw a Charger that got a tuner on it (Diablosport Predator) before its first oil change.

The car is still running, 15 years and almost 400,000 miles later. The engine and transmission are internally untouched. I recall it turned 200,000 miles at over 100MPH and 300,000 miles enroute to a HPDE.

There was a guy years ago that did mobile tuning for the Dodge cars. He was leaving a wake of grenaded motors in his wake. As more and more people ended up with destroyed engines, people who dared issue negative comments were threatened with lawsuits, and IRC, there were a couple that got filed. His reputation eventually caught up with him and he went away.
.
As I said earlier, I won't use a tuner on a truck that is pulling a trailer. OEM's spend millions and millions making sure they calibrate for ALL atmospheric conditions. Tuners typically override built in safety margins.

No, they don't. They just understand that people have different priorities. The biggest changes on the Charger were tuning for 89-octane fuel, making the cylinder-shutoff more aggressive, and tightening up the sloppy shifting. If anything, that will HELP the transmission.

[dodge_guy]

philh wrote:

Jarlaxle wrote:
I saw a Charger that got a tuner on it (Diablosport Predator) before its first oil change.

The car is still running, 15 years and almost 400,000 miles later. The engine and transmission are internally untouched. I recall it turned 200,000 miles at over 100MPH and 300,000 miles enroute to a HPDE.

There was a guy years ago that did mobile tuning for the Dodge cars. He was leaving a wake of grenaded motors in his wake. As more and more people ended up with destroyed engines, people who dared issue negative comments were threatened with lawsuits, and IRC, there were a couple that got filed. His reputation eventually caught up with him and he went away.
.
As I said earlier, I won't use a tuner on a truck that is pulling a trailer. OEM's spend millions and millions making sure they calibrate for ALL atmospheric conditions. Tuners typically override built in safety margins.

The manuf dial the programming back a lot. I know it for a fact. They tune for various drivers and conditions. What one driver does may be completely different from the next. A good tuner (like 5star) puts in alot of time in R&D to get it right, they have a very good reputation for this reason. My F53 drives so much better because of the shift programming alone. And the throttle lag from the intrusive drive by wire is pretty much gone!

[philh]

Jarlaxle wrote:
I saw a Charger that got a tuner on it (Diablosport Predator) before its first oil change.

The car is still running, 15 years and almost 400,000 miles later. The engine and transmission are internally untouched. I recall it turned 200,000 miles at over 100MPH and 300,000 miles enroute to a HPDE.

There was a guy years ago that did mobile tuning for the Dodge cars. He was leaving a wake of grenaded motors in his wake. As more and more people ended up with destroyed engines, people who dared issue negative comments were threatened with lawsuits, and IRC, there were a couple that got filed. His reputation eventually caught up with him and he went away.
.
As I said earlier, I won't use a tuner on a truck that is pulling a trailer. OEM's spend millions and millions making sure they calibrate for ALL atmospheric conditions. Tuners typically override built in safety margins.

[Jarlaxle]

I saw a Charger that got a tuner on it (Diablosport Predator) before its first oil change.

The car is still running, 15 years and almost 400,000 miles later. The engine and transmission are internally untouched. I recall it turned 200,000 miles at over 100MPH and 300,000 miles enroute to a HPDE.

[ls1mike]

dodge guy wrote:

jerem0621 wrote:
I’ve got a blown 2.0 Ecoboost sitting in my garage that my son “tuned”. Broke the piston.

My advice for what it’s worth is don’t tune it unless you are willing to do an out of warranty engine replacement.

Jeremiah

The eco boost engine does not like to be tuned when done improperly!

Yep he did something wrong, too much boost, not enough fuel. I have an 11 second WS6 and a cammed daily driver Caprice PPV that are both tuned. You have to do it right. Can't base it off what one person did without any data. He blew up a 2.0 turbo. I would like to see what he did.

[dodge_guy]

jerem0621 wrote:
I’ve got a blown 2.0 Ecoboost sitting in my garage that my son “tuned”. Broke the piston.

My advice for what it’s worth is don’t tune it unless you are willing to do an out of warranty engine replacement.

Jeremiah

The eco boost engine does not like to be tuned when done improperly!

[jerem0621]

I’ve got a blown 2.0 Ecoboost sitting in my garage that my son “tuned”. Broke the piston.

My advice for what it’s worth is don’t tune it unless you are willing to do an out of warranty engine replacement.

Jeremiah

[dodge_guy]

Just a quick update with m my 2012 with the 5 star tune. I have gone from a fuel mileage average last year of 5.3. So far on this trip I have averaged 6.2. This is with a generator running for 3 hours one day, off the next but going through the mountains. This brings up another plus……no longer am I down to 40mph going up a grade WV and VA. I64 East. Yes I slow down but the slowest I was at was 50mph. So far I’m loving it and it’s everything I’ve expected it to be.

[mich800]

mkirsch wrote:

Devo the dog wrote:

mkirsch wrote:
Tuners won't do anything for engine output on a normally aspirated gas engine. That's already been maximized by the manufacturer.

All tuners do is give your subconscious a lead foot so you stomp on the pedal harder, say, "YEAH! I HAAAAAAVE THE POWERRRRRR!" to yourself, then find out three days later that nothing really changed and there's a hole in your wallet where several hundred dollars used to be.

Not true for regular vehicles.

Performance can be measured and the tunes increase HP and torque.

You get marginal increases at WIDE OPEN THROTTLE.

How often do you drive at WOT? Unless you're drag racing, almost never.

That is not true. And the manufacturers increase HP and torque all the time with programming year to year. Do you truly believe every tune that leaves the factory has every ounce of safe performance programmed.

[ronbiel]

ls1mike wrote:
I have a 2017 6.0 3500HD, so basically your truck. I tried Diablew, he deals with the Diablo tuner. He can do a custom tune for you. You do some data logging and he adjust the truck based off it's specific parameters. It really woke my truck up, firmed up the shifts, removed some torque management and yes a tune like this or a dyno tune will add HP and torque. I am a fan of the Dyno tune 11 sec WS6 and a 12 second 14 Caprice they are dyno tuned, but the Diablew tune worked similar to a dyno tune and I am really happy with it.

The 6.0/6L90E tune from the factory is poo, it is really mild. I tend to believe his claims of 20 to 40 RWHP depending on the tune you get. It certainly holds the gears differently and makes use of all the power.

DiabLew

Sounds like the custom tune is the way to go. I have a diablosport that I got from 4wheelonline. The canned tunes are great but I want to improve more the power and drivability of my truck.

[S_Davis]

ls1mike wrote:

Rwake901 wrote:

ls1mike wrote:
I have a 2017 6.0 3500HD, so basically your truck. I tried Diablew, he deals with the Diablo tuner. He can do a custom tune for you. You do some data logging and he adjust the truck based off it's specific parameters. It really woke my truck up, firmed up the shifts, removed some torque management and yes a tune like this or a dyno tune will add HP and torque. I am a fan of the Dyno tune 11 sec WS6 and a 12 second 14 Caprice they are dyno tuned, but the Diablew tune worked similar to a dyno tune and I am really happy with it.

The 6.0/6L90E tune from the factory is poo, it is really mild. I tend to believe his claims of 20 to 40 RWHP depending on the tune you get. It certainly holds the gears differently and makes use of all the power.

DiabLew

This sounds like what I’m looking for but I also need to consider that the drive train is under warranty for 3 more years and I don’t want to do anything to void that. Can this tune be added and removed easily so as not to void the warranty?

You can go back to stock easily.

Make sure it doesn’t leave a trace on the ECM, on the diesel trucks they can tell if the truck has had a tune down loaded into the ECM even if removed and reprogrammed to stock.

Stacey

[ls1mike]

Rwake901 wrote:

ls1mike wrote:
I have a 2017 6.0 3500HD, so basically your truck. I tried Diablew, he deals with the Diablo tuner. He can do a custom tune for you. You do some data logging and he adjust the truck based off it's specific parameters. It really woke my truck up, firmed up the shifts, removed some torque management and yes a tune like this or a dyno tune will add HP and torque. I am a fan of the Dyno tune 11 sec WS6 and a 12 second 14 Caprice they are dyno tuned, but the Diablew tune worked similar to a dyno tune and I am really happy with it.

The 6.0/6L90E tune from the factory is poo, it is really mild. I tend to believe his claims of 20 to 40 RWHP depending on the tune you get. It certainly holds the gears differently and makes use of all the power.

DiabLew

This sounds like what I’m looking for but I also need to consider that the drive train is under warranty for 3 more years and I don’t want to do anything to void that. Can this tune be added and removed easily so as not to void the warranty?

You can go back to stock easily.

[dodge_guy]

ShinerBock wrote:

dodge guy wrote:

ls1mike wrote:
I have a 2017 6.0 3500HD, so basically your truck. I tried Diablew, he deals with the Diablo tuner. He can do a custom tune for you. You do some data logging and he adjust the truck based off it's specific parameters. It really woke my truck up, firmed up the shifts, removed some torque management and yes a tune like this or a dyno tune will add HP and torque. I am a fan of the Dyno tune 11 sec WS6 and a 12 second 14 Caprice they are dyno tuned, but the Diablew tune worked similar to a dyno tune and I am really happy with it.

The 6.0/6L90E tune from the factory is poo, it is really mild. I tend to believe his claims of 20 to 40 RWHP depending on the tune you get. It certainly holds the gears differently and makes use of all the power.

DiabLew

Yes a lot of people have no idea what is left on the table during factory programming to make the bean counters happy. Like I said earlier, it’s not about the HP and TQ it about the TQ mgt/reduced throttle lag and much improved shift strategy.
My old V-10 Excursion had he 4R100 and it sucked when towing even with the 4.30 gears. Once I tuned it from 5 star it woke it up to the point it no longer acted like it didn’t know how to shift. It knew which gear it wanted and when. It was one of the best things I did to the X.

It has more to do with keeping the EPA happy rather than the corporate bean counters. Things like throttle lag, shift strategy, and cam/timing profile are done to meet emissions and CAFE requirements. A tuner removes these barriers and is no different than removing the emissions barriers on a diesel. Tuning a gaser will increase its emissions just like it does on a diesel(if that is a concern) except for the fact that the added emissions are seen on a diesel and not on a gaser.

Most N/A gasers will only pick up slight 5-15 hp gains on regular octane and will probably pick up 20-30 hp on higher octanes since you can advance the timing even more. In comparison, a turbocharged engine can pick up 30-50 hp on a regular octane and 60-90 hp on premium fuel tunes. Diesel's range from 50-200 hp increases on tune-only mods especially if the emissions equipment is removed.

If you want to see big gains in a gasser, a better cam and headers would likely give some good gains with a tune.

I agree completely. On my current 2012 class A it is drive by wire. I could watch the throttle input and throttle opening on my gauges (dash command). throttle input would be 100% and actual throttle opening was 70%. now with the tune Im getting 85% throttle opening (they wont open it fully, because the potential is there for the throttle blade to stick open, and they say there is no increase in power beyond the 85% throttle opening. believe me, the difference is noticeable. I could control the throttle on my 02 because it was cable operated. while the tune only gave me approx. 10 more HP, Iwas after the improved shift strategy.

[ShinerBock]

dodge guy wrote:

ls1mike wrote:
I have a 2017 6.0 3500HD, so basically your truck. I tried Diablew, he deals with the Diablo tuner. He can do a custom tune for you. You do some data logging and he adjust the truck based off it's specific parameters. It really woke my truck up, firmed up the shifts, removed some torque management and yes a tune like this or a dyno tune will add HP and torque. I am a fan of the Dyno tune 11 sec WS6 and a 12 second 14 Caprice they are dyno tuned, but the Diablew tune worked similar to a dyno tune and I am really happy with it.

The 6.0/6L90E tune from the factory is poo, it is really mild. I tend to believe his claims of 20 to 40 RWHP depending on the tune you get. It certainly holds the gears differently and makes use of all the power.

DiabLew

Yes a lot of people have no idea what is left on the table during factory programming to make the bean counters happy. Like I said earlier, it’s not about the HP and TQ it about the TQ mgt/reduced throttle lag and much improved shift strategy.
My old V-10 Excursion had he 4R100 and it sucked when towing even with the 4.30 gears. Once I tuned it from 5 star it woke it up to the point it no longer acted like it didn’t know how to shift. It knew which gear it wanted and when. It was one of the best things I did to the X.

It has more to do with keeping the EPA happy rather than the corporate bean counters. Things like throttle lag, shift strategy, and cam/timing profile are done to meet emissions and CAFE requirements. A tuner removes these barriers and is no different than removing the emissions barriers on a diesel. Tuning a gaser will increase its emissions just like it does on a diesel(if that is a concern) except for the fact that the added emissions are seen on a diesel and not on a gaser.

Most N/A gasers will only pick up slight 5-15 hp gains on regular octane and will probably pick up 20-30 hp on higher octanes since you can advance the timing even more. In comparison, a turbocharged engine can pick up 30-50 hp on a regular octane and 60-90 hp on premium fuel tunes. Diesel's range from 50-200 hp increases on tune-only mods especially if the emissions equipment is removed.

If you want to see big gains in a gasser, a better cam and headers would likely give some good gains with a tune.