just out of curiosity, kory. being that i dont have the actual tune info in front of me, how much access is there to trans defuel and keeping the trans happy a tuned ecm? how much control do you have over the fueling to keep emissions from backing up with soot? how much ghost coding happens with these? how in depth can you get with fueling tables and timing tables as well as pilot injection and timing plus any more can you get to really make these run like factory.... but better?
my biggest hang up with EVER tuning this truck is not warranty (its part of it but not all of it) but that i would want to tune it myself to have additional power, keep emissions equipment and make it as smooth as stock or better (if that makes sense). im that picky a$$hole that wants it perfect. my 02 had years worth of time in it tweaking here, tweaking there to get it right after every change.
btw, thread isnt about my truck. Just using it as an example i guess for info.
Legit questions!
I made a huge post on a facebook group yesterday (LML DURAMAX BRETHREN) about a lot of this stuff... Here are a few tips and what I have learned....
The trucks shift AWESOME from the factory. So if you need to adjust for defuel - start over on the tune... the torque tables are messed up or the torque limits/fuel limits are maxed out. If you keep the fuel and torque within the top reference torque calculated - itll stay shifting happy!
So there is literally over 80hp on the table STRAIT from the factory... and good news - staying within the factory reference maps (Basically by this I mean if you keep the desired torque and mm3) to the top of the pulse reference and then the top of the torque reference.. then you stay within parameters they actually calculated at GM. What is the benefit of this? GM actually calibrated those maps to meet target AFR (referenced as lambda in the ECU). So you can have it so that your pulse table actually runs to the top along with boost. LESS IS MORE in OEM tuning. So as long as you do not touch the pulse table - you will be staying within target lambda. If you are hitting target lambda from the factory - then you know your EGTs, SOOT, etc. from the factory will all be happy. The L5P uses VERY LITTLE egr as well.. So really no need for those tables.
So lets say you want to add more fuel above that. The turbocharger has more room in it to do so... and it will take a little more boost if you add more fuel than what the tables reference from the OEM. For ALL of my tuning now - I use the banks Idash with a innovative wideband plugged into it. I find the factory refresh rate to just be a little slow.. So this is my preference. Plenty of tables to do it in HPT and also hook up a wideband their as well.. I just like the calculated PIDs of the idash unit. I know they catch hell, but its what we use and it works.
Timing - this is where you have a nice bit of room on the table. OEM runs very low timing for most atmospheric conditions. The timing tables from OEM look jacked because this is the primary way they meet noX emissions, etc. Nox will not affect your soot, etc, its simply into the air. So if you are doing some testing and not planning on really worrying about that to a big egree, play with timing and you will see some big torque gains and can also lower EGTs even further. If you increase duration (On time/pulsewidth).. then you are increasing the amount of time the injector is on.. So the injector is on for more travel of the crank (Referenced CAD - Crank Angle Degrees). JoshH has built a very nice calculator that can get you in a nice area for timing... Start at like 50% BTDC. Anything much over like 40 CAD - you are getting into no mans land of safety, although myself and many on this group run as much as 60* of total on time for huge tunes on stock injectors. Not recommended, but its cheap fun for a while. Emissions wont live with it.
If you want to watch the nox output, the idash also has PPM (parts Per Million). You can observe what stock is and then try to get your tune to not go over stock. Its a fun game to play! LOL!
Pilot, post, etc. You really do not need to mess with it for what we are saying above. The truck does awesome stock and until you start really adding some on-time, etc... Its just fine.
Hope this helps a little. There is much more in-depth convos about all this, but that is my simple quick break-down.
EDIT: If you start with the right base file matching your vehicle and use the same ecu that came out of it - you should not have any ghost codes or anything like that. Most of these codes come from immobilizer issues, injector calibration issues, or other random things that happen when you swap ECUs and do not copy that data from ECU "A" to ECU "B". I do my best to never have to just disable a code, but to calibrate it to its happy place so it doesnt code. Not always the case, but thats the goal.
