POLL: OVTune Reviews (3rd gen)

Is this tune reversible?

 

I'm always backing into my driveway.

 

Yes, works well in forward and reverse... and, yes, you can reflash back to the stock tune file.

 

Hello all!

• Order number: 2811
• Date purchased/date installed: Ordered 5/10 and installed 5/30/18
• Version / transmission of the calibration you're running currently: 1.04 91 on 04B03
• Star rating you give it: Five Stars!!!
• Any mods that would impact (tires, gears, exhaust, etc.,): Dual Cab Long Bed, Nitto Ridge Grapplers 285/70/17, 4.88 Gears, Decked system, CVT Utility trailer (2k lbs).
• Overall feedback of the following:
• Shifting: With the 4.88 gearing and TSB, the truck felt good as is. The TCU takes it a step further and further improves the shift points.
• Throttle: As mentioned by many others, truck feels lighter off the line and has a nice linear accelleration.
• Power: Installed 1.04 91 first and then flashed to 1.04 87 and didn't notice much difference. Maybe cause I'm regeared, it drives nice regardless.
• Other: My DCLB on 17x9 F5 on 33's got up to nearly 6900 lbs and felt like a pig. The Regear helped but the OV tune made is so much better as everyone stated. What impressed me the most is that I pulled my trailer over 500 miles a few weekends ago thorugh numerous mountain passes from Portland to Washington and I was able to keep my speed between 60-70 mph without feeling like a stalled semi going up the mountain.
• Note: After putting on about 1k miles, I feel that the linear accellerations drops off from 4th-5th gear, so I asked Matt for 1.03 to compare. I just got the files tonight and hope to install it tomorrow to see which I prefer.

 

• Order number: 2777
  
• Date purchased/date installed: 5/7/18 -- 5/30/18
  
• Version / transmission of the calibration you're running currently: 104 87/ AT
  
• Star rating you give it: 5
  
• Any mods that would impact (tires, gears, exhaust, etc.,): Sliders (155lbs), Stock everything else.
  
• Overall feedback of:
• Shifting: Much improved. Shifts when needed. Overdrive gears are able to provide acceleration and maintain speed up moderate hills.
  
• Throttle: More predictable, somewhat more responsive, but not instantaneous.
  
• Power: Slightly better, especially noticeable in the overdrive gears at lower rpms being able to maintain speeds.
  
• etc.: The driving experience is much improved over stock. I was really impressed with the increase in MPG's. Saw a minimum increase of 3 to 4 mpg when going over 70mph when going at least 30 miles. When driving around town I get about 1 to 2 mpg over stock as long as I drive a few miles. I notice that I get better milage when I don't worry about mpg's, as long as I try not to go WOT. I still see room for minor improvements in response timing, but this is already much quicker than stock. I don't question this purchase at all, and I definitely have better things to spend money on. While it's hard to prove, based on milage numbers before the tune and after the tune, I am convinced that I have already saved $100 on gas. This is mostly because I drove 2,300 miles on the interstate and saw my mpg's per tank jump up to 21-22 when I would have been lucky to get 17 mpg's in the past. Just an FYI milage on short trips of less than a mile still suck horribly, no change there.
  
• Miles on tune: 3700.

 

• Order #2639
• Bought 03.26.2018 / Install 06.01.2018
• OV 1.04 91 / 04B03 AT
• BFG K02 265/75-16, Leer XQ Cap, RCI Steel Rock Sliders, RCI Aluminum underarmor, Borla car-back exhaust, URD Y-pipe mk2, TRD Pro air filter and intake accelerator
• Shifting has been transformed 100% on the truck in both upper shifting and downshifting. Their are a few quirks which I’ll talk about later.
• Throttle is a’ton better than OEM stock but not quite 100% linear. I still feel a slight un-smoothness upon acceleration in 1 & 2 gears. I guess that might just be the nature of the beast with Electronic Throttle Control.
• Power is great with the OV 91 tune especially now with the recent addition of the URD Y-pipe mk2 and after you hit 3000rpm it goes through the gears quickly. Rarely do I find the need for the ECT button but it’s great when you need it.
• Mat at OV has done a wonderful transforming our gen3 Tacoma’s into something that is now fun to to drive. Bravo @OVTune !!
• I just got back from a 1000 mile trip from northern IL to upper-Wisconsin and back for a week of family vacation and after adjusting my tire size I averaged 24.35mpg...amazing Mat! About 60% on the drive mile we’re highway speeds between 70 to 80mph. Rest was 2 lane country roads between 40 thru 60mph.
• My two things I would like to see refine would be some throttle acceleration smoothing out in 1st and 2nd gear if possible. Second and more important is at highway speeds between 70 and 80 mph the truck wants to stay in 5 gear in D too much. Even when I back off the throttle it does not shift into 6th gear but stays in 5th. Sometimes it even shifts into 4th on small inclines with very minimal throttle input at those speeds. Gear hunting was still present on this trip. I would like to see the truck transmission be able to shift it 6th gear and stay there more so. Reason I say this now I’m wondering at how the truck will react as we head out west next month and climb over Monarch Pass (Continental Divide)
• Cruise control is worthless but that’s a OEM Toyota problem
• I have ~2300 miles on the tune
• I gave the tune a 4 rating but it’s really like a 4.5 rating for me...thank you Mat for all you have done to make our Tacoma’s fun to drive!

 

What's up everybody! I was asked to move this review on over to this thread, so here it is! Let us know what you think and what testing you'd like to see us do with the OVTune now on the truck.

Got the chance to work with the great team at OVTune and we got the latest tune (1.04) installed on the truck. We are extremely impressed with the effects it has on the truck and it definitely smooths out the entire driving experience over the stock Toyota tune. Check it out if you get the chance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPzaIP4hMkA&t=22s

We will be doing lots of reviews/testing in the future with build 1.05 here soon and all future updates to come, so stay tuned!

 

You should update to the new Toyota tune that was just released. It's better than the OV tune 1.04 but hoping Matt will improve on the 1.05.

 

04B13 OEM is better in some ways (like smoothness), but the absence of additional midrange torque available on 1.04A M/T 91 is noticeable. C'mon 1.05!

 

Update to my original post @OVTune since we just got home from a 11day - 3400 mile road/vacation trip last Monday. We traveled from east northern IL to Crested Butte, CO for 7 days then down to Cerrillos, NM for a couple nights. Still running the OV tune 1.04 - 91 octane plus no new mod’s to the Tacoma since original post.

Through the Midwest till the Denver front range and from Santa Fe back home the truck drove like in always has in my first write-up. As before and even more so now cruise control was completely and utterly useless during our travels. Also didn’t have to use ECT until we hit the mountains. Even at 75 to 80 mph this transmission will not stay in 6th gear mainly because of the gutless/torqueless motor. Even at the slightest grade and/or headwind it would always downshift the 5th gear...but I still averaged between 21 to 22 miles per gallon over 3400 miles...just imagine if I could use 6th more!

Once we started crawling up the mountains via 285 towards Kenosha Pass, CO I started using the ECT mode plus the “so called” sport mode I had plenty of climbing power between the OV tune and my exhaust system. A little later in the drive the real test was climbing up and over Monarch Pass on the Continental Divide. Once again I had plenty of power climbing and passed many a vehicle in the passing lanes going upwards. 3rd gear was the sweet gear for passing and used & held 4th while stuck behind the slower vehicles. Got to the cabin in Crested Butte, CO alittle bit later.

The Tacoma ran fine when heading out to destination hikes from Crested Butte (8885ft) up most climbs. But when it came to the serious 4wheel drive adventures I really felt just how gutless/torqueless this POS 3.5L Toyota motor. Mat can only work his engine/transmission tuning magic so far on a very poor OEM motor & transmission from Toyota.

Another thing I noticed when at CB’s altitude and higher is if I manually downshifted into 3rd or 2nd gear and foot off the accelerator I would hear a slight backfire out of the Borla tailpipe tip and then then hear it again when I rolled on the throttle...there’s a lot of variables the could explain the the excess fuel in the exhaust but it was not a very big concern. Once our week was up in Crested Butte, CO the little backfires our the exhaust was gone.

The rest of our trip down to Cerrillos, NM and then back to home the Tacoma was back to it’s normal engine & transmission mode in the 1.04 91octane tune.

I still rate this tune at a 4.5 out of 5...
Thanks Mat!

 

Use with caution. I tried to load the OVTune as instructed but flash was unsuccessful (emailed Matt, Matt & I are troubleshooting). But my truck would not start and needed to tow to dealership to reflash ECU..

 

This alarms me! I was contemplating getting the OVTune kit. However, I have been on the fence because I know the Computer Gremlin sometime rears his ugly little head!

 

@OVTune

The risk of this flash is very very low. If you have a low battery voltage or a disruption in your connection it can fail. In fact I used to use an old computer to flash mine and it would routinely fail 10+ times, but I just left the truck ON and retried without closing anything down. It always eventually flashed successfully. Now, I have a new (though very cheap) Windows laptop I use, I always turn off all electrical load, and never have it fail.

I'm sorry you've had this problem and hope you get it worked out. Once you do, I'm sure you'll be excited about the results and Mat is known to take good care of folks.

 

I have a 2017 4dr 4x4 Tacoma sport automatic. I am interested in the OV tune. Where can I purchase it and price.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-toyota-tacoma-v6-ecu-tuning-alpha-release.495735/unread

 

https://www.ovtuned.com/products/toyota-tacoma-2grfks-calibration

 

This scares me, but I feel like some of this isn't necessarily related to the tune--but who knows I might have the same issues.

 

I've seen this stuff happen before with handheld tuners in the past on occasion, usually it's something dumb like they left the door open during the upload, accidentally pressed the brake pedal etc.

 

Out of at least 5-600 customers to-date I've only heard of 2-3 people maybe who have had an issue like this. Generally it's because of battery voltage - if you're battery is weak / needs replacing OR door is open with lights on, radio on, chargers plugged in, head unit on, etc., it can draw power. Following the instructions to a T will limit this. And if the flash for some reason fails, rule of thumb is just retry without turning your truck off - I've probably flashed the truck 50 times by now.

 

Got my truck up and running again. The dealer replaced the ECU and all wiring harnesses after they found two loose pins in the wiring harness. It was unfortunate coincidence that uploading the OVTune caused a short circuit & cooked my ECU. The loose pins likely caused a surge damaging the ECU. After a new ECU and wiring harness, I was able to flash the OVTune without an issue.

The tune does provide noticeable throttle response and what feels like slight increase in torque in low and mid RPM's. I have a manual so can't speak about transmission flash. Overall pleased with the OVTune. Matt was prompt at replying to my emails and helpful.