DIY ECU Tuners?

5217 Views 24 Replies 14 Participants Last post by bimmernut318, Feb 17, 2010

kannibul

Discussion Starter · Jan 13, 2010

I melted my head a bit in the sticky thread after reading about 1/2 way through it all, trying to find out which ECU Tune is "the best" in terms of performance gains vs cost vs functionality.

So, what's out there for the Frontier?

I also know best is a opinionated term to use...for myself I'm looking for even gains while maintaining or gaining current MPG. Granted, my truck is also new (2010 SE V6 4WD Auto w/ 300 or so miles on it), so it'll be after 1200 miles before I look at ECU tunes, or around March....That said, I also have a Dynomax catback on the way, and plan to get a Stillen intake for it.

1 - 20 of 25 Posts

Irongrave

· #2 · Jan 13, 2010

well plug and play have 3 options, superchips bully dog and hypertech all basicly the same

you also have the Uprev system, that requires time on a dyno to get fully tuned. its the best for gains but also the most expensive by a couple times. Because its the cost of the program and the dyno time providing there is a shop local to you that can tune the uprev system.

Triple S

· #3 · Jan 13, 2010

Superchips Cortex here.

I'm happy with my unit, easy to use that's for sure.

I have a PRO-4X with the 6-speed, the main reason I got it was to override the wide-open throttle restriction. From what I have read here, it seems those of us with manuals get more of a kick out of this mod.

I bought the Cortex because at the time I was shopping there was a lot of talk about these type of units and the Cortex seemed to be getting a lot of posative replies.

I have not used my unit to alter the minimum octane rating to 91 or 93, I have used the regular 87 octane tune and disabled the WOT Restriction.

Ghostcustoms

· #4 · Jan 13, 2010

I have Uprev and rather have a hand held, Need to move to Texas so Uprev will take care of me...

kannibul

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 13, 2010

Thanks guys, looks like Superchips is probably where I'll end up. Bullydog is a name I've not heard of, and same of Hypertech. Sadly, sometimes a name sells things...

I've looked at all three websites and superchips seems to get a lot of accolades here, so why buck the system, ya know?

colin123

· #6 · Jan 13, 2010

kannibul said:
Thanks guys, looks like Superchips is probably where I'll end up. Bullydog is a name I've not heard of, and same of Hypertech. Sadly, sometimes a name sells things...

I've looked at all three websites and superchips seems to get a lot of accolades here, so why buck the system, ya know?

bully dog is really big in the diesel world and i think thats one reason that it doesn't seem as popular since most people just associate them with diesels but its still a very good system. fontana has a special going on some systems including the bully dog with the display screen that you mount and are able to monitor everything going on with your truck right in front of you as you drive. check this out http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f96/fontana-nissan-power-programmers-stock-54788/ and drop scott at pm cause i think he's running a nice deal on these tuners right now. just something else to think about

AmosM823

· #7 · Jan 13, 2010

Just bought the Bully Dog GT from Scott over at Fontana Nissan yesterday. I'll let everyone know how it goes after I get it.

Newman

· #8 · Jan 14, 2010

I have the bully dog GT. Love it.

rcr_kx250f

· #9 · Jan 15, 2010

All the hand held tuners use uprev's development and copy a generic map from a truck that has been tuned. It's a badly kept secret that the bully dog power pup was recalled after the titan map caused quite a few transmission to blow up. just food for thought. and honestly, uprev tunning isn't that expensive. EIP in San Jose quoted me $650 including dyno time.

vslasor

· #10 · Jan 18, 2010 (Edited)

I'm a certified tuner and I'm looking for a end user tunable programmer.? where can I find this uprev system you speak of?

Never mind I found it...

bimmernut318

· #11 · Jan 23, 2010

I got the BD Gt about 2 weeks ago, didnt do much with it except remove WOT restriction, set 87 octane tune and then within an hour on the road to go home for the weekend. Didnt romp on it at all except on ramps into traffic, I can say that my mileage increased and that made me smile, last trip I got just around 14 and this trip averaged 17, looks good in my book! I since have upped the idle and did the timing advance. Got on it a few times since and noticed a good amount of difference. Havent reset the economy and still sitting at 17mpg.

Frontier279

· #12 · Feb 4, 2010

bimmernut318 said:
I got the BD Gt about 2 weeks ago, didnt do much with it except remove WOT restriction, set 87 octane tune and then within an hour on the road to go home for the weekend. Didnt romp on it at all except on ramps into traffic, I can say that my mileage increased and that made me smile, last trip I got just around 14 and this trip averaged 17, looks good in my book! I since have upped the idle and did the timing advance. Got on it a few times since and noticed a good amount of difference. Havent reset the economy and still sitting at 17mpg.

Nice! This is what I'm looking for! Better MPG! and no WOT restriction. I was planing on buying a bucket to save on gas, but thought I'd might as well try this route 1st before spending money on another ride.

So I don't have much knowledge on how these tuners work... So far from what I understand these units have preset tuning parameters correct? and these can be set at the push of a button?
You said you upped the idle and advanced the timing so did you do this by just setting your Bully Dog? It's that easy?? and can you go back and fourth with it? Say for example I plan on using it to save money on gas right... so I set it to 87 and then I go wheeling for a day can I set it to 91 for that day and then put it back to 87 the next.??? so on and so fourth?

dubie2003

· #13 · Feb 4, 2010

Frontier279 said:
So I don't have much knowledge on how these tuners work... So far from what I understand these units have preset tuning parameters correct? and these can be set at the push of a button?
You said you upped the idle and advanced the timing so did you do this by just setting your Bully Dog? It's that easy?? and can you go back and fourth with it? Say for example I plan on using it to save money on gas right... so I set it to 87 and then I go wheeling for a day can I set it to 91 for that day and then put it back to 87 the next.??? so on and so fourth?

Handheld tuners are nice but they defiently have their limitations. All made so far have built in maps/parameters for fuel maps and timing and etc... They are set on the conservative side and are more of a generic thing, not exactly vehicle specific.

These tuners do thou allow you to advance/retard timing but on a broad sprectrum not at specific areas on your rpm curve.

You can also bump your idle to help smooth it out.

These programmers also have different octane maps. Most include an 87 and a 91 or 93 and you can switch between them all by using the programmer. The only catch is that you are susposed to be running that octane of fuel to make sure you don't get detonation.

So, you can switch it to the 91oct setting when you go out but it would probably be best to actually be running 91 or better.

Side Note: I am not sure how hot your truck gets while offroad but it may be better to run 91oct gas and have it tuned for 89 to help prevent any detonation. You can even advance it a degree or two to help get more power and to avoid detonation.

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Frontier279

· #14 · Feb 5, 2010 (Edited)

dubie2003 said:
Handheld tuners are nice but they defiently have their limitations. All made so far have built in maps/parameters for fuel maps and timing and etc... They are set on the conservative side and are more of a generic thing, not exactly vehicle specific.

These tuners do thou allow you to advance/retard timing but on a broad sprectrum not at specific areas on your rpm curve.

You can also bump your idle to help smooth it out.

These programmers also have different octane maps. Most include an 87 and a 91 or 93 and you can switch between them all by using the programmer. The only catch is that you are susposed to be running that octane of fuel to make sure you don't get detonation.

So, you can switch it to the 91oct setting when you go out but it would probably be best to actually be running 91 or better.

Side Note: I am not sure how hot your truck gets while offroad but it may be better to run 91oct gas and have it tuned for 89 to help prevent any detonation. You can even advance it a degree or two to help get more power and to avoid detonation.

Holly crap... I'm you lost me at detonation... What is it? lol. So, a higher octane fuel at a lower octane-tune map is safer than actually matching the map to the fuel? i.e. 91 fuel to 91 map.
Everything else is understood good sir...

Also... I'm looking for better MPG so could I run 91 fuel on the 87 map?

dubie2003

· #15 · Feb 5, 2010

Frontier279 said:
Holly crap... I'm you lost me at detonation... What is it? lol. So, a higher octane fuel at a lower octane-tune map is safer than actually matching the map to the fuel? i.e. 91 fuel to 91 map.
Everything else is understood good sir...

Also... I'm looking for better MPG so could I run 91 fuel on the 87 map?

Detonation is caused by too much heat, compression ratio and fuel octane.

If you are wheeling in the desert, it will probably be hot outside and your coolant temps will be up. This will cause your truck to retard its timing to try and keep it from detonating. If it can't retard it enough, you will just get pinging/knocking. This is why I mentioned it may be better on those extreme days to run a higher octane with a lower map with a few degrees of advance.

In the end it is all a crap shoot. You can try it at 91map and 91oct and see what it does. Then see if it feels better in another map but running 91oct and then try the reverse, 87oct and a 91map. There are a lot of variations and you just need to try and find the one that works best for you.

You may want to also follow some of the handheld programmer threads and see what other owners are doing to help the mpg.

colin123

· #16 · Feb 5, 2010

you shouldnt have to worry too too much about detonation because as our ecu sees knocking it starts to retard timing and if this does not cure it the truck will put itself in limp mode and restrict you to a curtain max throttle position (10% i think) and rpm (2500 rpm i think) and run itself extremely rich, being a computer it will do all this very quickly so that the motor does not get damaged. you should be plenty safe running the labeled octane with each tune because while these are performance tuners they are still themselves on the conservative side because the tuners don't want to have to buy someone a motor because they took their vehicle out with their tuner and used the performance. i'd say at most if you want to be safe instead of wasting money on higher octane fuels everytime you head out for some fun just keep a bottle or two of octane booster with you and if you land yourself in limp mode pour it in cruise around slow for a bit letting it mix and then have yourself some more fun. at a couple bucks a can if you never end up having to use them then your saving some cash in the long run. there should be nothing to worry about

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bimmernut318

· #17 · Feb 7, 2010

Hope this is useful info, I have the GT

Basically when you get the tuner you have to update it before you plug it in to you truck, you can update it through bully dogs site, just download the the updater software and it should do the rest, it is a usb device and gets recognized as that. I called bully dog tech to get mine as it wasnt playing friendly with 64 bit vista or windows 7, he emailed me the new update. When you plug it in to your truck it will guide you through the vehicle setup and read your vehicle and save save the factory map to the included micro sd card, once that is done it will go through and update your ecu's map, it asks questions, about what map you want to use (87 or 91) and about WOT. Once that is done, it will write that to your ecu, they say to allow up to an hour as a cya but the whole process took maybe 15 minutes. Idle and timing can be set on the fly so it doesnt do that while updating your ecu, in fact you can change idle and timing while driving.

Going between maps or back to stock requires you to rewrite back to the vehicle so you have to stop, turn your truck off and go through the initial process of programming again, not that big of a deal, just park it for a bit and do it, they do warn against making these changes when you dont have access to a computer if something happens and you need support, again just a cya but maybe a little common sense as well.

I did not use the driving coach feature but it still does kinda coach you while your driving, I personally have gotten about a 3 mpg increase, just driving it a little easier, and there is a good increase in performance, WOT removal helped a lot, I am running the 87 tune, I do a lot of traveling so the MPG increase is a welcome thing here.

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barmato

· #18 · Feb 7, 2010

I'm looking for a handheld tuner as well and although I've heard the Bullydog GT looks nicer than the Cortex I think the features are about the same. Given that the Cortex is cheaper I'll probably go with that.

BTW, does anybody know the difference between the Cortex and Flashpaq? I checked out the superchip website and it looks like they have the same features.

bimmernut318

· #19 · Feb 11, 2010 (Edited)

Frontier279 said:
Nice! This is what I'm looking for! Better MPG! and no WOT restriction. I was planing on buying a bucket to save on gas, but thought I'd might as well try this route 1st before spending money on another ride.

I just did a 600+ mile trip and reset the MPG on the BD and managed to average 18MPG on the trip and that included and the driving around town for 4-5 days while I was there, dropped to 17 but bumped itself back up to 18 by the time I got back. That was still using the 87 tune, I am about empty again so I think I may fill it with 91 and give that tune a go.

This is pretty good considering I was down to the high 14's before

jtack

· #20 · Feb 16, 2010

4 MPG is a dam good increase!

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