Did ECM Tuning Save Your Relationship? (Attn: 6MT)

Bingo! Exactly the experience I was looking for, thank you!!

I was also at Oshkosh this year, and also got about 21-22 MPG - but, I am still all stock, so your numbers are impressive. Do you fly?

 

Yes.
Well, that and making sure the accumulator wasn't in the equation.

YMMV

 

Accumulator is still in. Delete disc and LV fluid on standby. Clutch feel is a different issue all together, but I will also say that isn’t the worst - the ergonomics, however, are terrible. Unless I don’t have shoes on or I am kicking my knee way out to the side so it doesn’t hit the bottom of the steering wheel, the bulk of pedal modulation is coming from my ankle instead of my thigh, and for that, I do not have 27 years of muscle memory built up, unfortunately. I avoid driving with passengers because it’s embarrassing…

 

My truck runs much better with 93 octane. I’ve been called an idiot by members of this board for saying that but I don’t care. With 87 octane, my engine has considerable audible knock at 1500-2000 rpm. This goes away completely with 93 octane. Some people who have the ability to measure these things say that ignition timing changes dramatically with higher octane, due to the feedback from the knock sensor. It’s not cheap but might be worth trying for 1-2 tanks to see if you get the same effect.

 

What are you talking about? There is absolutely ZERO benefit to high octane fuel in a high compression engine. I read it on the internet. /s

I ran 93 for the first few months and also 91 rec gas for a spell. Definitely ran better. MPG improvement was little to nothing, but it ran better. Hard to say for sure as this was going on in the break-in window. But unfortunately paying a dollar or more extra per gallon got kind of painful without any real MPG increase, so I have landed in the middle and use 89.

 

I am going to fight you on this a bit. I will agree that having peak torque at 4600rpm is a negative for a truck when you want to be doing truck stuff. But for general driving, it makes a manual better. It keeps a manual driver more involved when you need to be aware of where the truck is landing in the RPM band. Yes, that equals more work and I would suspect you see that as a negative. But this engine makes its power in the mid RPM range and it likes to rev. By my definition of enjoying a manual, that is a positive. Even though it comes at a net negative for doing truck stuff.

A tune will change throttle and fuel maps. It will make a small % more power but it cannot change where the power is made in the RPM range. To do that you need to change physical components like displacement, bore and stroke, camshafts, etc.

 

You buy Toyota for reliability & off road. If you want power, you buy American trucks. Power and reliability don't go together.

 

Just rev it up to 4000 before shifting. This will ensure that the next gear is in its proper RPM range. No tune needed.

 

Just..wow. That Toyota Koolaid be hitting hard today apparently.

 

No, I have been permanently disqualified from any aviation related activities due to non-correctable lack of depth perception. Mine is neurological in nature.

I was just there to enjoy the airshow and take pictures. I had never been before and I had a blast.

 

We got to see the F22 near me 5 years ago for Norad anniversary, very rare to see them in my area. It's insane compared to the older jets. Super hard to get photos of. These are great.

 

Amazing how long this thread has gone with lots of speculation about how much HP and torque a tune can, or cannot, bring to a stock 2nd or 3rd gen Taco.

OTT tune has had published dyno results shared here in TW forums for coming up on nearly two years now. Very clear that yes, it's possible to squeeze +6 HP & +11 lb-ft out of a bone-stock 3rd-gen Taco with a tune alone, AND tweak the torque curve as well. For 2nd gens the dyno results are even more radical at +10 HP and +16 lb-ft of torque on a stock N/A engine.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-ott-by-overland-tailor.759590/#post-27076556

See also:
https://overlandtailor.com/dyno-data-by-platform

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On my 2014 4.0L 6MT TRD-OR bone-stock Taco, I went from the factory ECU tune to the OTT tune & immediately noticed more torque considerably lower in the RPM band. Part of this is accomplished with ignition timing changes (I think,) and partly it's accomplished by opening the ACIS valve (flap) a bit lower down in the RPM band.

In my case I run 87-octane gas, so maybe I only get +5 or 6 HP instead of +10, but subjectively it pulls a little harder in every gear. Of particular note on the OTT torque curve for 2nd gens -- the first major bump is about +27 ft-lbs above stock at around 2,500 rpm. Stock is 200 Ft-lbs at 2.5Kish rpm, OTT is ~227 Ft-lbs. That is about 13-14% higher torque down low in the rev band, which is immediately noticeable. (Hence the name "Overland Torque Tune.")

Aside from the dyno-documented torque/power results, the tune was worth it for 6MT rev-hang-reduction alone.

Separately from 6MT tacos, from what I hear the OTT tune on the 3rd gen automatics is basically required if you want to have a drivable truck. Apparently the stock auto trans shift points on the 3rd gen are notoriously flighty and unreliable, and the OTT tune reportedly fixes that serious issue completely.

NB, I am not affiliated w/ OTT in any way. Just another satisfied customer.

 

This was my experience as well.

 

Sorry to hear you've been grounded. I've wanted to fly my whole life but things just never came together..so I can kind of relate. Neat stuff though.

 

I think most who say they gained mileage are victims of the observer-expectancy bias. Get the tune, drive economically, boom, the tune got me great mpg. They drive like grandpa in order to watch the tune give great mpg.

My mpg on stock and multiple aftermarket tunes is 100% identical when cruising down the highway on cruise control.

 

I’ve been saying the same thing about people claiming they can feel the 5hp gain these tunes claim.

5hp on a chassis dyno is statistical noise. Saying you can feel a 5hp difference in your truck is like saying that your truck is slower today because you got a Big Mac for lunch instead of a Cobb salad.

 

Pretty much agreed. I initially liked the tunes because it got rid of the padded throttle. After a while I realized the throttle was exactly that, simply more sensitive and harder to control with the tune. There was still no torque at all down low, despite every tune adverting huge increases to torque. I’ve found that the stock tune is my favorite and I just learned to use the pedal more. I’m still not impressed by performance but it gets the job done. Helps a lot to keep the rpm up high and not lug it, ever.

 

Yep, this is my biggest gripe about this truck. The lack of low end torque is a big downer, but I can deal with that.. I'd be completely happy operating a vehicle with poor performance specs, so long as they were consistently poor. The inconsistencies are what drive me nuts. The thing is, you as a driver are giving the motor ONE input--the accelerator pedal position, and along with dozens of other inputs from all kinds of sensors, the ECU controls perhaps a dozen or so different outputs--throttle position, AFR, EGR, ACIS, spark timing, valve timing, etc. to produce the output that the engineers decided upon. The problem is that too often, the response is not what I wanted, or even expected. I chose to drive an MT so I could have complete control, not so I could be constant fighting a seemingly cantankerous ECU.

I think most of us MT guys miss the good 'ole days when you gave the motor ONE input--the accelerator pedal, and it precisely and predictably controlled ONE output--the actual throttle position. Sure, an ECU controlled other stuff--AFR, EGR, spark timing, etc., but you still had absolute control over the most important part, the throttle. Also, those cars involved much simpler systems whose response was easier to become intimately familiar with therefore easier to predict.

It seems this motor is very knock prone and that a lot is going on behind the scenes to mitigate this, especially at lower RPMs. I'm not sure, but I speculate with a large degree of confidence, that a lot of the "inconsistencies" in throttle response I complain about are a direct result of those mitigations. When I drive the truck with a lighter foot and higher RPMs, it actually behaves itself. This is just so opposite of how I've always driven that I can't bring myself to completely change my driving behavior; call me stubborn if you will, but driving a truck with a very light foot and 3k+ rpm is just silly. My mantra has always been to use the highest gear that will produce the desired wheel torque, burying my foot as far into the throttle as I can without lugging the motor--very often this is WOT. It's absolutely wonderful for efficiency and I've not ever experienced any long term issues. I do wish that the truck would actually let you lug the motor a bit as to give you some feedback. On older vehicles, if I got a bit too far into the skinny pedal, the motor would "complain" and I could quickly make a correction--and even learn to avoid doing this altogether. The Tacoma does a really good job at masking this though..

I've found that driving with 89 octane makes a little bit of a difference, but 93 octane makes a night/day difference.

 

Yeah it's like I said a couple pages back, rev it out to 3K and drive it like a 4500lb Miata.

It's an 8 second car - that's not slow, it's just not fast.
If you want something fast, get a truck with turbos.

 

I went down the rabbit hole of tune, manifold spacer, and ADM along with resonator delete on the TRD CAI and enjoy how my MT drives.