ECM Tuning
 

Ok, let's start something here. We all, or most of us, know about all the custom ECM tuning products available. PDI, Bully Dog, PP, Area Diesel, etc. I guess it is a hit or miss thing on whether they deliver what they promise. I have always wondered why they charge so much. Now the ones like PP and Area Diesel that offer add on control boxes, those parts do cost. But those that offer just a custom tuning of the ECM, why is the price so high. I did a custom tune, complete with paying for my tuner box, for my '06 Jeep Liberty Diesel that deleted EGR, increased power/torque, and balanced injectors for around $450. Yet the big truck folks want anywhere from $2000 to $3000 to do the same thing.

This leads me to another option. I just had my DDEC IV Series 60 tuned by Trent "Diesel Doctor". Actually I got it done by his sister at Walcott, since she does it there while Trent does it at Effingham. Got in there and balanced the injectors, upped the HP, upped the torque, removed the EPA Low NOx settings, streamlined the power curve. All for a whopping $300. And all future tweaks and changes are for free.

Will see how much the improvements make, but first results are interesting. To get a true picture, I am going to have to run this for a month and track fuelings to see how this plays out.

I started the day, before the tune, and fueled in Crawfordsville, IN. I ran to Walcott, on flat I-74, a 10 mph cross/tail wind, at around 62 mph. Nice, leisurely run. Averaged 7.5 mpg on the display. Then we did the tune at Walcott and I reset the mpg display. When I left there, I had a 20 mph crosswind, and running west, the rolling hills of Iowa, some which require a full power pull. And I bumped up the speed to between 65 and 70 mph. Results? When I got to just shy of Des Moines, I almost the same 7.5 mpg running that hard as I did running flat ground, slower, with a tail wind, same load, same fuel. If the run had been under the same conditions as earlier in the day, I would bet the mpg would have been over 8 mpg easily. The engine ran much more smoothly, and the response was considerably better. On the harder pulls, the EGT's never got over 750F. Minor changes on the accelerator netted better performance than before. This was a real pleasure to drive.

I would recommend anyone interested in something like this give Trent a call or stop in where he or his sister does the tunes. You can reach him at 217-994-1831. He is not going to try to turn an engine into a Pike Peak race truck blowing 1000 hp. He is tuning for maximum performance and economy. My 500hp 12.7 Series 60 got bumped up to 550 hp, and the torque got bumped up from 1650 to 1850. Nice performance bump without risking damage. They will tune CAT, Cummins, Detroit, Volvo, Mack and Maxxforce engines. What they can do for each, you need to check with them.

As a side note.... for those that have company trucks. A neat feature that most do not know is in the ECM is called "Driver Reward". It is a feature in a lot of ECM's. Just have to check to see if yours has it. Basically, if you reach certain criteria, you can go over the speed limiter. Trent can go in there and set the criteria to, say, 1 mpg. If you are getting 1 mpg or better, you can them go over the speed limiter if the driver reward feature is turned on, which Trent can also do. So there is your speed limiter override solution, without messing with the speed limiter. Have fun!

Thanks Copperhead. I've heard the Diesel Doctor on the CB lots of times. A few years back he used to offer the speed limiter override and turn up the HP for $100. I wish I knew if the Ontario DOT checks for the driver reward feature. I'd love to turn up my truck. I talked to him once and he said he could tell me what my computer's access code is. I'm probably going to buy the Cummins Insite Program and then pay him to give me the code.

I think to answer you though, some of these other companies write different programming to the computer. They don't just change a few settings. They take a modern program with EGR and DPF and reprogram it to a pre-EGR program. It's like turning a 2009 engine into a 2001.

Yeah, I am not sure what he does on the removal of emissions stuff programming side of things. I already have a pre-egr rebuilt engine in my 2013 Columbia. So it it was just a matter of tweaking it for more efficiency. But those other folks wanted anywhere from $2000 to $3000 to do the same thing, whereas DD took $300. Guess those other guys have to pay for all the truck stop rag advertising and such.

Keep us posted. BTW How about your warranty? Wouldn't that void it?

Not sure and didn't take a look. I didn't worry about warranty on my ISX when I disabled the EGR on it. I had it in at Cummins a couple of times for minor warranty work. They knew I had bypassed the EGR. They didn't seem too worried and didn't deny warranty.

On this Detroit, I am not sure that a Detroit shop would be able to really tell anything was different. The tune basically just removed the EPA '98 Low NOx settings from the ECM. Now the same engines were able to run before and were warranty covered before the EPA stepped in. All we did over and above that was bump up things up a little... HP up 50, Torque up 200 lb. Hardly an engine busting setting. But getting the EPA settings out will make the major difference anyway. Injectors were dialed way back from what they should be, turbo lag was increased from where it should be, etc. We put all the parameters back to where the engine was originally designed before the government stuck their paws into it.

Now, a guy I have been chatting with on the phone just had his '06 EGR Detroit done by Diesel Doctor. Got the EGR eliminated, and the same low NOx setting removed and a power bump. His mpg, so far, has improved well over 1 mpg. Kinda feel envious. Mine only improved a little over 1/2 mpg. Either way. Tune will pay for itself in less than a month.

Current mpg on display is 8.00 (which is pretty close to pump to pump actual mpg). Fuel fill mpg, calculated pump to pump, since ECM tune......... 7.34 8.27 7.63 6.95 8.45 7.00

Yep. I think I recovered my cost for the tune. Can't wait till summer months and summer fuel to see what the numbers are!

what were the numbers before the flash?

December average 6.7 January average 6.5 February average 6.6. Average for entire month of March after doing the tune on the 11th of the month, is 7.2. So half the month at the old averages and half the month at the new averages after the tune has jumped the average for the month at least .5 mpg. So, my guess is that the tune netted better than .5 mpg or more. At least it was all done while still in winter weather so there would be a good sampling of before and after mpg. With cost of the tune, $300, that .5 mpg or better improvement has already paid for the tune. Now we'll see how the month of April plays out for an entire month with the new tune. Since routes, lanes, customers pretty consistent from month to month, I am pretty confident that the numbers I am getting are realistic.

Barf,

There are also other programming options, depending on who does it and what they know. You can for example Delete the EGR programming and simply tell the computer to lock the EGR valve in the closed position. This is, of course, not an option to be used where it is not street legal and where this gets checked by DOT.

There are other potions however, which are legal in all areas that I am aware of, for optimizing the engine and increasing fuel mileage. If you go to Home you can get several options for prices similar to the above. Also, its a growing company and they service pretty much anywhere that can receive mail. :)

I have not seen or heard of any DOT doing a check on whether the EGR is working or not. With all they have on their plate to do in inspecting trucks for all the other FMCSA stuff, they are not going to be amiable to checking EGR's. I would actually contend, that most DOT LEO's wouldn't know where the EGR is on an engine let alone whether it is working or not. I have never had any DOT ever ask about or even seem interested in the emissions stuff. I deleted the EGR on my previous ISX, and the only one who ever asked about it was a shop who wanted to know how well I liked it.