TRD/ Magnuson 4.0 Supercharger Tips, Tricks, and Mods

Not necessarily true. On my truck the Bullydog tune gets AFRs down into the 11s as soon as you give it throttle. No pinging and a lot of black on the tailpipe. That includes the 2.85 pulley and the brass bushing removed. I wasn't thrilled with the install process - it took a half a day, calls to Bullydog, and some chat support - but once it got on it's working fine.

 

Because he has gone thru all those combinations with an AFR gauge and Boost gauge hooked up.

Some trucks seem to work okay with the bully dog.
But for every person that says it works fine there has been someone else with issues.

Search for the Magnuson Group Buy thread. Lots of info in there.

 

Oh also the bully dog IS a reflash and passes itself off as the TRD flash. Once installed it can never be fully removed.

 

Seems to very from truck to truck and year to year. Definitely not consistent on it's performance and outcome.

 

OVtune says he can but you have to send the ecu in to him.

 

Haven't been following the OVtune info so I wouldn't know.

 

Every time I say the Bully Dog tuner sucks, I’m fully aware that the pitchforks are headed in my direction.

I have had a wideband and boost gauges the entire time. Bully Dog tune was super lean on my truck.

Went to 18 AFR at WOT. Took it to the dealer, they tried to reflash it w/ TRD tune but the BD tune disquises itself as the TRD flash, so the Toyota tools won’t even try due to the spoofed calibration ID.

Somehow after they attempted to flash it, it did run a little better. Didn’t go to 18:1 at WOT anymore, but it would still go above 15:1 AFR at part throttle. Strike 1 BD tune.

I was able to generate 5lbs of boost and still be at around stoich. It wasn’t until I stomped the throttle to WOT that it would begin to richen the mixture to around 11:1. 5lb of boost at stoich is too lean. Needs to begin enrichment as the MAF flow increases due to boost. Strike 2 BD tune. This ain’t baseball, 2 strikes, you’re out.

At that point I didn’t plan on further mods, so I decided the TRD flash would be the next thing to try. TRD flash behaved as I expected. Started enrichment much sooner and without having to be at WOT.

Exactly. Watching the gauges and not seeing what I should have been seeing.

@oni06 has it. There are several guys that have said the BD tune worked as desired. Of the people who I saw posting that the BD worked fine, some had gauges to verify it, some did not.

This.

Toyota calls it a “Calibration ID”. The Bully Dog flash uses the same calibration ID as the TRD flash. Despite the CID being the same, the tunes themselves ARE different.

Magnuson and Bully Dog were not willing to discuss the differences, but after having personally run two seperate ECUs (one w/ BD, one w/ TRD) I am confident that whatever Magnuson/BD are stuffing in your ECU is NOT the TRD flash.

Yep, that’s how it’s supposed to work. But on my truck it had to basically be WOT before the ECU would consider switching to open loop. The TRD flashed ECU would go into open loop much sooner than the ECU that had the BD flash.

Sounds like yours is working properly.

 

I remember reading in that thread a while back and he said he was able to do that.

Back when I went through all of the ECU swapping, I was just getting normally aspirated ECUs off of eBay for $100-$150. Bought three, one was water damaged and the other two were perfect.

 

Thanks for the detailed answer! I guess I will run it and keep my fingers crossed.

Worst case I can just find a used ECU with same part # and have it flashed correct? Is that how you ended up with TRD flash?

 

Yep, may as well give it a go. Like @oni06 said. Some people have no issues with the BD like @jberry813 . Odds are you’ll be fine.

Yes, eBay ECUs.

 

Running stock ECU gives you options.
1. Run UCON...it is a piggyback unit that intercepts ecu input signals and makes the engine run like it's supposed to and sends false (happy) signals back to the ecu to keep it satisfied.
It will adapt to future mods such as larger fuel injectors, pulley, 7th injector upgrades, etc.
2. Keep current tune if it's working well for you. It's burned into the ecu so "fingers crossed" isn't necessary. It will always be what you expect as long as you don't mod outside of the tune window.
3. Go OV Tune. A few options available. Self tune or preprogrammed tune. Research....
4. Find Toyota dealer willing to flash stock ECU to TRD tune. Keep in mind, once you flash the ecu you can't go back unless OV Tune has the capability?

 

To #4, OVTune tuned my trd reflashed ecu.

 

How is it working for you?

 

Don’t forget #5: Stand Alone

I’m sticking with my current setup. ECU is the stock normally aspirated flash and the UCON handles the dirty work. It’s been that way for a good while now with no issues.

Intake, long tubes, y-pipe, full exhaust, no cats, 7th injector, 2.55” pulley. No CELs and passes OBD2 inspection. Hauls ass and runs like a champ.

 

Mark me down as one of the guys who hates the bd tune. Above 4k in boost my engine knocks more than it manages to ignite properly. It's god awful. OV tune can't come soon enough.

 

Thanks for chiming in. I knew I wasn’t the only one that stepped in the Bully Dog poo.

 

I’m liking it so far, gained some power and the truck runs very good

 

Are you running a stock fuel pump?

 

I don't know if that is a serious question or not but no he isn't running a stock fuel pump.