ECU TSB Update

Well this is my fuel mileage after a weekend of testing...

 

Sorry! My worst tank was during break in at about 17.5. My general average before the upgrade was a steady 19.4mpg?

 

Yeah, I'm just waiting for my friend to come back from a trip out of state. He has a Tactrix lying around that he's not using. LOL!

 

Haha! Sounds like a possible long term borrow?

The way this is tune is settling in for me, it would have to be a major upgrade for me to touch it though.

 

This is where I have been at 19 or so with 265/75/16 falkens. I too have noticed at least a 1mpg gain just nipping around town. I see others have def. reported lower but in the few days I have had it it’s more for me. I need to put some real miles on it to really see. That is a huge improvement for you. Crazy!

 

It is nuts. My expectation is that I will see something around 20 or 21 for DD commutes and grocery runs with great numbers like that for trips. It looks better than our other trip machines: volvo v70 MT that would get about 27 or less on long trips (average was 22) and the wife's Forester that got 28.5 once on a long road trip (average about 19.5).

 

I have an appointment at the dealer to hopefully get mine updated. They gave me the "there are no known recalls or bulletins for the manual" blah blah, but I asked them to just connect it to the scanner and check for an update which, it seems, they are possibly willing to do. We'll see.

 

That's all stop and go city driving. 1st to 3rd gears never even got to cruising speeds if I hit 30 I'd be stopping and accelerating again.

 

It would actually be a permanent borrow. LOL!

 

Exactly....the disparity between the tevhstream message and the TSB just makes the human element not trust their tools...or us, for that matter.

Yes, it does. The shop foreman at the good dealership stated that he didn't believe there was a fix, but if the TechStream indicates there is an update avalialable, he will do it, irrespective of any TSB.

These guys were good at sorting through the chaff.

 

A bit off-topic...but here goes.
I ordered the Carista to kill the damned chimes...it arrives today. The Carista app states that customizations are not available for the 2018 Taco, but that appears absolutely contrary to what y'all are saying. Does Carista let you do customizations despite saying initially that this functionality is not available for this truck?

I'm assuming so

 

Yes. It is an error they say that they will fix but haven't. You can customize the settings with Carista. The only one that can't be shut off with a OBD connection is the key in chime. TS can't do it either from what I found.

 

So I got to do some more testing yesterday. I drove up and down Donner pass on I-80 (NV/CA). From my place to Donner Lake is about 52 miles one way, with elevation ranging from 4500' to 7000'. There was a noticeable improvement in maintaining speed. The last trip I had up this way, it was necessary to use 4th a couple times on the steeper bits. This time I was able to actually accelerate a bit in 5th in those sections. Nice. I saw an average of 21.2 mpg averaging 65-70 mph. Better than it was and I hope it will improve as it relearns.

I've also noticed that shifting is more where it should be as far as smoothness. Throttle is more responsive, so I'm not having to be overly methodical after a shift to keep it from jerkin around.

I did have 2-3 occasions when it bucked a bit while accelerating, but it was less often than I was used to seeing. Maybe that will iron out over time too? Hope so.

Overall, I'm very happy with the new firmware and recommend it. I went from B12 to 13, so it's likely not as dramatic of a change from B10/11.

 

Cool...I figured it was an erroneouse message.
Yeah, the crappy dealership said they could only alter the key-in chime interval. Retarded...

 

Yes. You can do the same with Carista. Slow, normal, and fast. Obvious setting there.

The speaker is on the back of the instrument cluster. A few folks have removed it (permanent mod). You'll also lose the turn signal sound doing that.

A semi-reversible mod is to remove the contact from the ignition barrel. It looks easy, but I hear something prime (fuel pump) when I put my key in. I don't think I want to lose that, esp as the truck ages.

 

Yes but will it work on a '18? The '18 has a different ecu than the 16-17.

 

Good point! I missed that in @GGWOODY 's profile. But! When we updated @WaTaco2018 's ECU, the known version of TS that we were using would not connect. I pulled out my old bluetooth OBD adapter and we went through the customization choices using Carista.

It is all good for 2018s.

Since I got your ear, do you have any ideas about killing the key in chime within TS? I searched all the systems and customizations as best that I could and didn't find anything helpful other then the known speed of the chime.

 

I was searching for the same thing. I think it’s crazy I can turn off my seatbelt chime but not the key in chime. I would love to get rid of this but not willing to make physical changes to the truck. Might just use some gorilla tape

 

I looked a couple of months ago and I believe it's not an option on the techstream.

 

THIS!! The speed bumps at work make my truck jerk like crazy. Going in for my 15k here in the next few weeks and will press hard for them to do this (as well as a few others.) Makes me feel like I don't know how to drive my own truck! LOL