TUNE TIME

[Leon Bacon]

Not that anybody caes, but I just dropped my car off, having a Kleeman stage 1 ECU tune, a transmission control tune, new tires (will be the 4th set of rears in 22K miles, second set up front), oil and new K&Ns. Funktion Auto (in Washington DC area) do it. Was reassuring to see the shop and all the high end cars he has for sale and works on (I know he sends the ECU and TCU units out for flash). We'll see if the G-Tech concurs with reported gains.

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[Sincity]

What is a "transmission control" tune?

[Leon Bacon]

Its an update to the transmission control unit, gives it close to the same programming as SL65 Black. As it was told to me, quicker shifting, better kick down, greatly reduces tendency of transmission to get confused. We'll see.

[jsc1234]

i got this done also. my car now shifts faster and also redlines at higher rpm

[Maverick1975]

Dont the C63 and SL63 BS have totally different gearboxes though?? I mean one is a five speed and the other is a seven speed.

[enochroot]

Same programming as the SL65 BS transmission? those are some strong words.

[Leon Bacon]

I just wrote the check. Should pick the car up tomorrow night, will let you know if I can feel any difference in the transmission. Wouldn't be the first time I got fleeced, but he seemed so straight, even had a psuedo German accent.

[deeoh]

Originally Posted by jsc1234

i got this done also. my car now shifts faster and also redlines at higher rpm

Interesting! Who did the TCU flash? Was it here local? More info please.

[Mort]

AFAIK the TCU cannot be flashed. It is buried inside the transmission and no one has been able to access it past the encoding.

There are some transmission tables and parameters in the ECU that can be changed or so I have been led to believe. Shift speeds up and down can probably be modified along with some adaptive factors and possibly shift times and converter lockup speeds. I am not sure exactly what can be changed or who has the ability to change what factors.

It is mostly just the BS way some tuners have in talking about tuning the TCU when in fact it has yet to be done outside of MB and their partners. Actually tuning the TCU will probably just lead to a bunch of transmission failures.

Hope you enjoy your new tune and it is possible that it will shift more positively and at better speeds. Your throttle response should improve as well which is always a big plus.

[jsc1234]

Originally Posted by deeoh

Interesting! Who did the TCU flash? Was it here local? More info please.

Originally Posted by Mort

AFAIK the TCU cannot be flashed. It is buried inside the transmission and no one has been able to access it past the encoding.

There are some transmission tables and parameters in the ECU that can be changed or so I have been led to believe. Shift speeds up and down can probably be modified along with some adaptive factors and possibly shift times and converter lockup speeds. I am not sure exactly what can be changed or who has the ability to change what factors.

It is mostly just the BS way some tuners have in talking about tuning the TCU when in fact it has yet to be done outside of MB and their partners. Actually tuning the TCU will probably just lead to a bunch of transmission failures.

Hope you enjoy your new tune and it is possible that it will shift more positively and at better speeds. Your throttle response should improve as well which is always a big plus.

this is what was done. i got my tune from powerchip and he showed me these shifting parameters and adjusted it. there is also an option where you can choose where you want the most power higher or lower rpms

[Leon Bacon]

Had the car back for few days. Definately feels stronger, hold shifts ~ 200-300 rpm longer. New tires at same time, need to break them in. G-tech tells me I'm slower than before, must be *%$&ing something up. Oh, and no TCU flash, he refunded my $$. Need headers!

[Leon Bacon]

Next phase on Wednesday. Kleeman K2 tune (short pipes). We'll see what a difference it makes.

[Sincity]

Originally Posted by Leon Bacon

Next phase on Wednesday. Kleeman K2 tune (short pipes). We'll see what a difference it makes.

The 20 or so horses are hard to tell but the new sound is something you can appreciate.

[Leon Bacon]

20? Was hoping for something more like 35-40.

[Even Money]

Originally Posted by Leon Bacon

20? Was hoping for something more like 35-40.

You should skip the K2 and get LT headers/tune. Otherwise, your tune alone is fine, the K2 isn't a significant upgrade.

[Leon Bacon]

Trying to keep the mod under the radar, excessive noise may hurt the OPSEC aspect as well as increase the vulnerability to law enforcement.

[dodger63]

Originally Posted by Leon Bacon

Next phase on Wednesday. Kleeman K2 tune (short pipes). We'll see what a difference it makes.

You can spend your money better!

[CELLryuu]

Originally Posted by Leon Bacon

20? Was hoping for something more like 35-40.

actually ive never seen what the manifold only increase is but people on this forum have passed the smog tests with this set up which is important to some of us.

but, the kleemann manifold will give you a little boost but long tube headers will give you alot more. and the price on long tubes have come down a bit in the last year.

[Sincity]

Originally Posted by CELLryuu

actually ive never seen what the manifold only increase is but people on this forum have passed the smog tests with this set up which is important to some of us.

That is my case. Now that XXXXX has moved to Vegas (MBH LTs, 300 cell primary cats as well as the stock secondaries with Renntech tune), I'm waiting for him to smog his veh. NV doesn't use the sniffer on OBDII cars and take it straight from the OBDII port. AFAIK, I have never seen a smog tech check underneath a OBDII vehicle in NV.

[dodger63]

With the money you'll spend on the man. And install you could get yourself a nice set of forgestars and have the sane performance gains!

[BAD430BENZ]

Originally Posted by dodger63

With the money you'll spend on the man. And install you could get yourself a nice set of forgestars and have the sane performance gains!

+63

either do it right the first time or don't do it at all . you will just be wasting your $$$ . if you like performance out of a vehicle , don't settle for what you can get now , when you can save a little more , and get something a hell of a lot better .

[Leon Bacon]

Nothing is ever easy. Picked up car (Kleeman Stage 2, Kleeman headers). Sounds great. Driving during the day (after about 100 miles) CEL, rough running, poor acceleration. CEL came on shortly after buying gas, 93 but had 10% ethanol. Thoughts on ethanol causing the problem. Also, given they disconnect the battery when the pull the ECU, should I have lost my pre-set radio stations, because they were still programmed. Finally, do I just move on to a different tune and try to get my $ back. Frustrated.

[Bramage]

I am curious on the TCU tune. Did you questions it, and then were told "Oh, we cant do that", after they had accepted money to do the TCU? I would think that if they quoted you a price, it would have been done, unless of course they can't, and that begs the question: How do they sell a service they ca't perform? I hope everything works out for you. Not a great story so far.

[BerBer63]

Find out what the CEL code is....maybe gas cap, purge valve, cam sensor and has nothing to do with your tune. Or it's the tune.

[Leon Bacon]

Saga continues. Car been in the shop for over a week. Replaced one O2 sensor, cleaned mass air flow sensors, no CEL or codes but still hesitates at ~ 3000 rpm. ECU sent back to Kleeman for stock re-flash, car running well with stock tune. ECU now headed back to Kleeman for the updated tune flash. Kleeman didn't think it was the tune but built an updated file based on the troubleshooting. If this doesn't work then back to stock and refund $ for the tune. So much for simple.