OTT Tune

It’s all about what you want out of a vehicle. I purchased new 2015 BMW X5 M sport twin scroll turbo and within one month I installed a tune to increase HP by 120 and tq by 80. I still own this X5 10 years later with the tune. It drives fast, powerful in all speeds, and very torquey. It’s all about more power and smoother power delivery. I have the hybrid TRD OFF-ROAD with 326 HP and 465 TQ. I will always welcome more power if it can be had safely and reliably. These turbo engines are built for it.

 

Completely understand your points there and agree in principle. Does the tune affect the factory warranty?

 

Is there anywhere that states the estimated hp/tq number increase between the hybrid and non-hybrid? I was holding off on my decision to go hybrid or not based if a non hybrid after a tune is quite comparable to a hybrid engine and/or how far off the numbers between the two tune to tune.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...or-tuning-ott-tune-for-4th-gen-tacoma.851779/

 

Yes it absolutely will if you have any engine issues and potentially transmission or other powertrain issues. If Toyota can make the stretch that your tune broke something, they will.

 

Vehicle manufacturers have the right to deny a warranty claim if they are aware of a tune.

However, they don't go looking for a tune unless they have a reason or policy to do it. The ECU won't show a tune through normal scanners. There's an involved process to deep scan and ECU with with a manufacturer specific software system. Typically this is a step they don't perform unless they suspect something, as it adds cost and time to the repair.
Additionally, the dealership has some say in requesting a scan for tune. They usually won't.

I had a tuned up GTI, the DSG transmission failed. VW replaced the transmission under warranty, no questions asked, but I was also prepared to accept that they could decline me. They didn't ask or look.

People will claim that a tune is "invisible", that is true for the typical scanner. But OEMs can see how many times your ECU has been reprogrammed. Even returning back to stock, the counter will keep track. This is a value in the ECU that can't be reset or changed, even by the OEM. The counter will be at zero or one for the stock tune. Any counts above the stock tune lets the OEM know it's been modified.

 

The Denso ecu’s in these platforms have no flash counter, fwiw.

 

say if toyota was going to do a reprogram of the ECM for whatever reason wouldn't it show an unrecognized program in the ECM?

 

This guy knows what’s up.
For 10 years I’ve serviced my X5 with a tune and I’ve had zero issues.

 

With our Calibration and flashing methods, it will not lock out a dealer from performing a critical TSB update or recall.

Should there be a factory update, if applied it will overwrite our calibration. We can however reapply the calibration (with all the factory updates) if desired. No charge.

 

Thanks for the info! I got mine tuned today by PNW Tuning. I went with the "Base" throttle and stage 1. So far it's a nice improvement. I'm looking forward to putting some more miles on it next week.

 

@Gmak621 hows boost in 1-2nd compared to stock? More early boost or still not much till 3rd gear in normalish driving?

 

1st will still be limited (but more than) stock. 2nd will be raised but still slightly less than 3rd-8th.

We're working on a patch that will address this for future updates, but we're still in development on that.

 

When you buy the tuning pack, can you mix and match the throttle curve with the engine tune? Say, if I wanted to keep the stock throttle curve but flash the Stage 1 tune?

The stock throttle feels reasonably linear to me -- can OTT confirm? Manual transmission here (not sure if the auto/manual has different throttle curve).

 

Stock throttle is pretty linear, yes.

And yes, you can retain the OE throttle mapping entirely within the Stage 1 calibration; that's a standard option.

 

If this resolved the indecisive shudder on the hybrid in the 37-47mph range without a negative mpg effect, is pretty much be sold. Never realized how much driving was in that range until I had this. No clue whether it's fighting a gear change choice or a ice vs hybrid choice. Haven't been able to tease it out and dealer claims unable to replicate even though the tech did a drive along and confirmed they felt it.
I do not believe it has anything to do with the TSB that some panic about.

 

Hey I was looking to do the same with PNW tuning. What are the biggest things you noticed immediately after tuning?

 

I need to put more miles on my truck before I can give you a fair review, but right off the bat it's more responsive and seems to use the turbo more frequently. Paul at PNW Tuning was a very nice guy and I'd highly recommend using him for your tuning.

 

This sounds like drivetrain protection.

I own a non-toyota truck with an impressive amount of power, but the tune keeps all that power at bay until around 40 mph, and it appears to be because the OEM is trying to protect the drivetrain, at least through warranty.

We now have a tune that gives all the beans in lower gears, but can the drivetrain take it?

 

The hybrid models (with more torque) do not have this load limiting and allow "all the sauce" from the get-go. Note the hybrid models also use the same drivetrain.

It's there to keep the hybrid vehicles feeling 'more powerful' IMO to justify the increase in cost.