3rd Gen Tacoma 2.7L ECU Tuning

Any driveability issues you all are experiencing with the motor?

 

Subbed

 

Sorting the throttle-by-wire lag would be a good start.

 

^^^^^^ T H I S x 199992472934829384234

 

I've had the truck now for almost a year and currently at 14.5K. The only issue I find is not with the motor but with the automatic transmission shift logic. This 6 speed AT was just maybe not meant to be driven aggressively. At times, when you floor the pedal, it will not down shift but wait for RPM's to climb instead of shifting down. It could also be a combination of the drive by wire and mostly noticeable when turning into a street and there would be lag in down shift when accelerating. When you use the ECT button, the shifting is a lot better but still have issues as sometimes it feels it hunts for which gear to be in.

On to the motor, the 2.7 is great. I have the 4.0L and driven both AT and manual with the 3.5L and the 2.7. On take off is almost similar to the 3.5 but you'll feel that it is 4 cyl as it gets higher in the rpm range. I also have bigger tires. I feel this motor would probably do best with stock size 245/75R16 tires or even smaller paired with lighter alloys instead of the heavy (28lb) steel wheels for better driveablity.

Slow speed off road, feels just the same as the other two motors.

 

I feel like the idle is not as smooth as it should be. I feel a hiccup under 2200 rpm especially around 1600 rpm if going a steady speed then barely backing off and accelerating. Regional service tech looked it over and said it was operating as designed. Disclaimer: I am picky about my cars. Not sure if this is really normal.

 

Similar intermittent rough idle with mine since new. These 4 bangers sure buck around on the motor mounts a lot. Both of the 4 banger Tacos I test drove when I bought mine were the same.

 

Good to know. I was wondering if they were tuned lean for mpg's and/or emissions.

 

I agree with your appraisal, the 2.7 is a grossly underrated engine. The engine itself is a real gem, the rest of the driveline is a little questionable.

For me the problem is sort of a combination of the shift logic and the gearing. 6th is essentially useless for a lot of purposes because it's such an ungodly deep overdrive. It leaves gaps so it's really no better than a 5 speed.
People always get it confused, more gears does not = more hunting, hunting happens when you have a GAP in the gearing. More gears should theoretically lead to fewer gaps, unless you just throw one of your ratios out the window on a retardedly long double-overdrive that, were the truck (and your nads) capable of redlining in 6th you'd be going 200+ MPH.

I was making the climb to overland expo west and the engine was definitely running out of oomph at 7,000 feet, but the worst part of it was the gearing- you could accelerate or you could lose speed, but not maintain it. The one pass I attempted to go up at about 75, was a mistake. 4th could not maintain that speed, and 3rd would accelerate but you were almost at redline. You really just have to back off because of the gearing at that point.

Wheels wise, I highly recommend the SCS F5, as far as price vs weight goes it is hard (or maybe impossible) to beat. A Volk TE37 is only about 3-4 pounds lighter for a massive increase in cost. Other good price/weight ratio wheels would be FN Five Stars and Countersteers.
Tires are tougher. Definitely avoid E-ranges. If you want to get the best weight available you'll be looking at HT's or summer tires, but because those are not an AT tire you end up giving up some off road ability. Maybe that's not a big deal to you, if so check out HT's and the summer truck tires... I gotta admit some of the street tires they make look pretty damn cool!

You don't necessarily have to stick to 245/75/R16, going smaller is kinda hard because there is a distinct drop from the stock dirty 30's. I think every common size in the next diameter step down is about 1.5" shorter actually.
I run Falken AT3W's in 265/70R16 and I would say they are about the heaviest tire I would comfortably run on a 2.7 without seeing adverse effects like MPG drop and slower takeoff. (42 Pound tire, 19 pound wheel, ~61 pound rotating mass total.)
A good alternative is the Cooper Discoverer AT3.

Interesting, I have an AT and my truck has been smooth as butter for ~15K and still going. Never had a grumble from it, though idle can occasionally be a bit jiggly it speaks more to the duro of the motor mounts than any inherent rough idle.

Now I'm thinking about aftermarket motor mounts too!

Sorry to derail the thread, just dropping some of my 2TR wisdom I've accumulated.

 

Mine is a 5 speed manual so that may amplify the idle I feel. I can see the shifter stopped at idle moving some.

 

the best I can do right now is put on the list of things to add to our DIY software. I am sorry, we have too many platforms we are supporting right now

 

That's moving in the right direction
Can you provide a link or list here what capabilities are in the DIY software
I'm adding a turbo, so I'm interested in fuel management mostly

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ovtune-tacoma-4-0l-sc-na-ecu-tune-software-oem-ecu.549347/

 

I like the idea of the streamline tool to parse the ROMs quickly
I see in the pics the table for "Fuel m/g ratio", I assume that's where I would make changes if upgrading to higher flowing injectors [these]? A simple box to define injector cc would be SWEET.
I'm excited

 

That tool is just to add support faster, not for public use.
working on adding injector controls for the 4.0. once we have it, 2.7 is no problem

 

Yeah, my idle sounds smooth as well, I just experience a lot of motor jiggle that I can feel in the truck sometimes.

 

Oh man, I like the sound of a nice 2TR turbo setup... properly tuned to still run on 87 with a low boost map and a nicely sized intercooler.

 

Any update for the 3rd gen 2.7l OVTune?

 

I just want the gas pedal to do what I ask of it when I ask, not think for a second and then say ok we can do that

 

Nice