Originally Posted by tyler_e63s

I recently made the trip to Houston Texas to have my vehicle tuned by Eurocharged!

I have a 2014 E63S AMG with 65,000 miles after my road trip (60,000 miles before) Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4s.

2 months before the road trip I did factory spark plugs with factory gap at 58,000 miles and followed Kenny's video on indexing and all plugs are perfectly straight on with proper torque. I also checked compression and everything was fine and also got my borescope in each cylinder and found no scoring. I removed the camshaft front cover plates and resealed them, and I also replaced all cam solenoids and cam sensors and bought sacrificial harnesses for each sensor with a dab of dielectric grease. I replaced the oil filter housing gasket as well. I also removed the intercooler and intake manifold and replaced the gaskets and cleaned all carbon off of the intake runners and valves with only fluids ( carb cleaner, brake cleaner, and intake cleaner ) because I was worried that sand blasting could potentially damage seals and seats. I removed the entire front end of the vehicle and flushed and bled all coolant and cleaned my heat exchangers and replaced all turbo coolant lines and put in a new thermostat housing. I then let the vehicle sit for a day for any fluids to dry before reinstalling. Everything was torqued to spec and reassembled, <--- this was done 2 months before taking the road trip and I have had no issues, as a matter of fact, my idle was much smoother afterwards! A full brake service with Brembo pads, and rotors and fluid flush. I then changed the engine oil with the proper 0W-40. I also did a transmission flush with all parts/gaskets/and fluids from my local dealer along with a filling pump and adapter from FCP euro. I made sure to follow FCP's YouTube video to a "T". All of this was done to give the vehicle a fair chance... lol ( ALL PARTS/ GASKETS/ FLUIDS/ SENSORS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED FROM MY LOCAL MERCEDES BENZ DEALERSHIP )

I then began my road trip and arrived in Beaumont TX after 18.5 hrs of driving straight in 1 day with stops for food naps and gas. I woke up the next morning and drove into Houston to the Eurocharged/ Spool Performance facility and had a stage 2 with pops and bangs put on, however I came back the following day after spending the night in Austin to have the pops removed (bad for engine health, and it sounded like a full auto 50 cal going down the highway, just on a side note the vehicle did feel slightly slower without the pops and bangs, maybe this is because of the decrease amount of fuel being pumped into the motor/exhaust when the gas pedal is released)

I then drove back to Austin and noticed my transmission was progressively getting worse ( clutches slipping from a dead stop and at cruising speeds ), after being told that their tuner factors in all torque limitations for the stock trans and I do not need a trans tune, I then had to go back a 3rd time to Houston ( 3 hour trip just from Austin to Houston ) to have a TCU tune done and pay for labor again on top of the 2 previous visits. This solved any and all issues with the slipping trans. $5,000+ later (labor & tunes LOL)

I then drove up to Fort Worth to spend a few days in the area and test the vehicle as it was raining in Houston the previous few days, and once there I reset all adaptations and scanned every inch of the vehicle using my Autel for any and all codes and there were 0.

Now keep in mind the quoted numbers on a stage 1 are around: 667 Hp & 760 Tq on a bone stock car if I recall correctly.

I opted for stage 2 with my de-catted downpipes along with my BlackBoost intake. ( I have hardwired my coolant pump always on, and I have also unplugged my Oil Pump solenoid [5 months with now no issue] )

In theory the vehicle should be putting out around 680-700 Hp & 780-800 Tq ,best guess that I had, and what they had. ( They were unable to confirm those numbers on their dyno because they were booked )

Here is where it all gets interesting...

The car felt absolutely amazing! Insanely fast and instant feedback! There was a massive noticeable difference in power. ( we all know that adding 10-50 Hp on a car with 577 Hp will be very hard to feel and 100+ Hp would be felt [ this will be my 3rd AMG, past 2 were CL55 AMG's so I am familiar with higher output cars and modifications ], so it would be safe to assume the numbers they claimed were pretty accurate )

During the next few days I started to get used to the way the car now handles, yet every time I put my foot to the floor I would just about sh*t myself due to the increased power/performance!

Things started changing as soon as I arrived back to my home city in Greenville SC...

I noticed that the car day by day was getting considerably slower, and before you say it - It is not just me getting used to the vehicles power. My fiancé came with me on the road trip and I have not seen her since we arrived back in SC due to work. She took a ride with me today and also noticed a significant power difference since arriving in SC.

I understand that the vehicle will adapt (TCU) however it still shifts solid and is much quicker on the shift points and has not become sluggish by any means ( bonus points for it not shuddering forward at a stop light when I release the brake anymore ) however the motor is the issue. During the entire time in FT Worth TX the outside temps were easily 95-99 all day and dropped to around 80 in the evening and the vehicle had no issue combating these temps and the power was there every. single. time. ( I run 50/ 50 distilled water and mb blue coolant/antifreeze with vp racing cool down additive in the intercooler system and the same mixture in the engine coolant )

Greenville SC is slightly cooler at 92-98 all day and drops to 60-70 in the evening. ( more dramatic temp swings here along with more rainfall )

I first thought that the power loss that I am experiencing was from elevation change, however that is not the case. Generally speaking for every 1,000 ft in elevation you climb you have a 3 percent drop in air density.

Here are some side by side comparisons from Fort Worth where I spent the majority of my trip testing compared to Greenville SC:

• Elevation: FT Worth- 541 ft / Greenville- 984 ft (443 ft difference, Greenville higher)
• Current humidity: FT Worth- 42% / Greenville- 41% (1% difference, FTW higher)
• Current corrected Baro pressure: FT Worth- 29.84 inHg / Greenville- 29.78 inHg (.06 difference, FTW higher)
• Air density w/ water vapor: FT Worth- 88.54% / Greenville- 89.12% (.58% difference, Greenville higher)
• Air density altitude: FT Worth- 4107.69 ft / Greenville- 3890.17 ft (217.52 ft difference, FTW higher)

So all of that being said, there is not even a very big difference in air pressure or air density, hell even elevation. Now, if i went from 500 ft in FTW to Colorado at a mile in elevation, yes, there would be a massive difference! Not over 400 ft! I just cannot agree that I could be experiencing 100+ hp drops because of 400 ft difference with the same air density and same baro pressure!

I have checked the engine and trans for codes and found none. I have checked all of my charge pipes and found no boost leaks. I have checked my exhaust and found no leaks. I have checked my intakes and have no leaks. I ran all of the 91 Octane out that I got in TN on the way home and put 93 Octane in to no avail. The vehicle now feels as fast and it did when it was stock all except for the more positive gear shifts. I could barely gap a bolt on 2020 mustang gt this morning lol! my 0-60 times are definitely slower in Greenville and the vehicle now struggles to reach 160 mph. During the road trip the vehicle had zero issues or hesitation reaching 160+ and I had my fiancé with my and all of her bags and stock exhaust in the trunk as well as misc. random things ( total extra weight would have been around 300lb )

I did take a few draggy times in Fort Worth however they were in-valid so i deleted them. I will take some 0-60/ quarter mile/ 60-130 tomorrow and post and update on this thread and compare it to stock. I will also do some data logging on my boost pressures and check my LTFT and STFT at idle to see if there is anything afoot.

I will also try to hook up my vacuum tester to the boost solenoid and test it as well as my wastegates.

The vehicle currently has no misfires or weird idle, however I will be ordering 1 step cooler plugs as a precaution.

I keep up with all maintenance as I am very **** about my vehicles.

Listen, I do realize that once you drive a vehicle you get used to its output, and I will not deny that part of this issue may be myself just getting used to the issue at hand, however when I go to pass a vehicle or floor the vehicle from 40 mph or from a dead stop, I am able to tell that the car has the same feeling as it did when it was stock. ( I will record draggy times to prove this and upload copies of my receipts from EC Houston ) I live in an area with lots of winding roads and straight aways and I love pushing the vehicle and figuring out its limits, so I am able to feel a considerable decrease in performance since when it was tuned.

It was quite a disappointing experience taking a road trip like that to spend $5,000+ on tunes as I am not made of money, and multiple 3 hr trips back and forth from Austin to Houston plus all the money involved with a road trip, just to get back to my home state and the vehicle starts degrading...

What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone else experienced this sort of issue over an extended period of time? I do not want to have to reset the vehicle adaptations every single week to get the same high output feeling.

My thoughts are to completely ditch Eurocharged ECU tune and keep the TCU tune, and buy once cry once and get in touch with AMS and stop wasting my time and money with off the shelf tunes!

Thank you for your time and the read! Feel free to PM me if need be!