POLL: OVTune Reviews (3rd gen)

Care to elaborate on the questions one should ask beyond make year and model? Suspension upgrades? Exhaust?

 

Sorry I didn't know that, either I missed it, or it was a edit. I have no idea how to use that one.

 

Well, My ECU is 04B04. If 3 different trucks with the same 04B04 ECU run the same tune, they will all behave differently. It may also be the individual owner feeling things differently. You just have to play around with it. However, Mat (Ovtune) has said, Cold Air Intakes, different Exhaust Systems, Tire size and weight all play a role in how the tune works. If you run into issues, there are a lot of helpful folks on this thread. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2016-toyota-tacoma-ovtune-1-05-tune-development-thread

Good luck.

 

The link is dead

 

Search for “2016 Toyota Tacoma Ovtune 1-05 tune development”

 

So I’m a little late to the VF party. I’ve watched OVTune videos the last several years but going on the website it’s now VF by OVTune. Have not purchased anything yet, but I’m trying to understand what exactly I would need to purchase. Do i need to purchase both the software/cable kit & Tacoma time pack, or is that tacoma tune pack included with the software/cable kit?

 

it's not included. you want the tune pack if you're interested to flash OV tunes. some may not want those files but just use vF for their own customizations. but if you want the tune files you will need all 3: vF, cable, and tune pack.

 

#6998
July 30th purchased and August 6th installed
2.0 Premium 33 THX
5 Star Rating
265/75R16 Load E Tires, Flowmaster Exhaust, Method Wheels, Softopper, TRD CAI

(If you want to skip my back story go to third paragraph)

I purchased a 2017 OR 4x4 Double Cab Long Box back in December of last year. I knew off the bat that something was no right with the drive train however it was never so bad that I felt like getting a new truck or trading in. I was able to get to work, go on weekend day trips, and hit up local SoCal 4x4 trails without breaking down and without getting stuck. Day after day driving 60 miles to work and back in highway and street combined conditions I got a really good feel for the truck. I knew how much pressure to downshift and when to let off. Despite knowing my vehicle I wanted a bit more. I then tried the iDrive. This unit basically makes the throttle more sensitive or less depending on the setting. That was no good for me and I returned it. Next the Shift Sense Pro was purchased. I used that unit about a week and preferred stock. Now with the the stock tuning I would be getting an average of 21MPG each week which is good for me! I would be happy at 18MPG. The SSP brought me down to 16MPG and I never could get the truck to shit out of 5th gear. The lack of 6th gear wasn't horrible. I mean the 1st Gen my exgf had was a 5 speed and it was awesome! That being said since we do have 6th I would like to use it. So bye bye SSP. Next performance upgrade is the Ovtune.
I cost me about $1100 to get into the Ovtune. I was not thrilled about this number but from what I had been reading for a long time it was worth it. Oh ya I forgot about the gear change project. Pump the brakes. For a while I also owned a set of 4.88 Revolution Gears for my Taco. The longer I had those gears the less I wanted to get them installed. First, it was hard for me to find a shop to do the install. This truck is my dd and I had to be able to get to work. Second, the cost for install was anywhere from $500 to $2500!! For install alone. I either thought they were ripping me off or were gonna do a hack gear install job. Thirdly, I was worried that if I took a perfectly running truck and had it torn apart I would end with leaks or worse from a bad install. So I sold the gears and looked to OVtune.
Ok now enter Ovtune lol. So I bought the laptop, the vFTuner, the OBDII connector/cable, and the 3.5L tune pack. I still had some reservations that it would be like the SSP or the iDrive but I took the chance on it anyhow because I wanted more response and better performance out of my truck. I took about a week from the time I ordered off the web to actually get my truck flashed which I think is fantastic. Very fast service. I also always received a thorough email response to any questions I had. Thanks Rafael. While I was looking through and watching TW threads about Ov I came across a guy who was very unhappy with his 2.0 tune on his truck. Look I get it some people will just not be happy but it turns out that flashing/updating the ECU with the Toyota TSB for "power loss at high altitude" yields better performance. Before I flashed my truck with Ov I wanted to get the TSB done. I called the tech at my local Toyota, they got me in same day, and out two hours later. I do have to say that wow! TSB 0062-18 does something magical because after that was done I was much happier with the way the truck performed.
Now finally at the tune. I did what was suggested I flashed the truck, turned it off, started it to verify it ran, turned it off, reset both values and I let it idle for 10min. As soon as that was over I took the truck for a spin. Right away I noticed that the RPM's did not surge like they did with the stock tune. It always seemed like I would give it gas to get going and then the RPM would drop and then go back up again with no throttle input. The biggest difference I can tell is the feeling of linear shifting and linear available power. The truck now responds how I tell it to. If it is flat it will shift up to conserve gas, if I am going up hill it downshifts and holds that gear until I tell it we are over the hill and it can let off. The power is there when I need it! If I go to merge into traffic boom I have the power I need to join the masses. Below 50MPH my truck stays in gears 1-5 and does not even bother with 6th because it would do not good. Ontop of the power being there when I need it the gear is there when I need it too. It is almost to the point that I am seamlessly driving the Tacoma. I almost do not even have to pay attention to how much pressure I am giving or taking from the skinning pedal. If I need to pass someone then I press the pedal and away we go but we go smoothly! No more jerking and shaking and hoping the truck will cooperate. What a new truck this is!! I could not have believed that reprogramming a computer could change how a vehicle drives to the extent the Ovtunes does. My Tacoma is really a pleasure to drive now and I can not wait to get it in the dirt. Actually I will be doing that this weekend.

 

Nice write up. Glad your happy and that everything worked out. The tune can be a bit picky for certain ecu #'s. Don't wanna say you got lucky but, glad your happy with what you got.

 

Order#7001
Waiting on emails
I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!

 

All said and done the 2.0 tune has turned out to be absolutely fantastic. Took a couple weeks to finally figure out all of the pieces and get responses back on the emails, but what difference. I’ve only driven roughly 10 miles with it, but the improvements to the shift points and toggling to performance mode with ETC has been a dramatic change. 3rd gear is a little short, but overall the truck has power when I’d expect it to, no hunting for gears - it seems to be in the right gear at the right time, gas mileage is improving, overall a major improvement in drivability in all areas. Great stuff @OVTune!

 

Order #7164
Waiting for shipment!
Super Stoked!!!!

And just an FYI, i had several questions so I sent an email to the provided support email provided on the VF Ovtune site, and Rafael sent back an email within hours with very detailed answers to all of my questions. Awesome customer service. Can't wait to see how this tune improves my overall experience with my truck. I tow an 08 triton vt16 with a merc 60 A LOT to the surrounding lakes in my state, so I'm really excited to see how things go with that.

 

Interesting that you're running the 33 THX tune with the 265/75R16.

I was on the fence on whether to bump up to the 33 tune or not. I'm fitted with 265/70R17s now. Did you try the stock tire sizing tune as well and notice a difference? I figured that since 31.6 is closer to stock sizing than 33s, that'd be the better of the two.

 

I am actually switched to the Premium 33 non-THX now. I have driven about 1000 miles on this now (yes I drive ALOT!) and where the truck is at now is where I need it to be. I have found that the non-THX is more predictable when it comes to gas pedal/throttle position/shift points. The reason I went with 33's when I have a 31in tire is because if you look at the weight difference it is only 4lbs between the 31 and 33 with the 33 being 4lbs heavier. Both the 33 and 31 General ATX are Load E 10-ply which is where the weight comes from. I never did try with the stock tire size.

 

Makes sense to me! I wonder whether the difference between the stock/33/35 tunes is accounting more for weight or diameter.

Btw, I know you had some reservations about the 4.88s, but I'm here to tell you that 4.88+ovt is a pretty sweet combo.

 

I have a strong feeling it would be awesome on and off-road and I might still do it some day. It's just for now I do not want to mess with the extended warranty I am paying for plus if something were to happen and I couldn't drive the truck because of the re-gear I would not be able to get to work. If I go up in tire size and/or add bumpers I will have to get it done but for now I am happy with the tune.

 

Picked up my 2020 Tacoma yesterday with 4.88 regear and 35’s. Currently it is a little underwhelming and not what I am looking for yet, but to qualify it I am not using heavy throttle as still breaking in gears. Just ordered VF Tuner and starting to study up here; looking for suggestions on what tune I want to run? Not looking to customize anything.

 

i will be another one that stands up for ov tune. the only reason i did not rate it 5/5 is the ambiguity for those of us that are gonna go the supercharged route instead. i do not know if will we will be able to utilize our vf tuner after this point, or we will get some ov magic coming down pipeline via a tune; futureproofing if you will. i know they have their twin turbo product, and by all means! anyhow, its still a ways off, but something i did wonder about. as for this product. its hands down phenomenal. what basically happens is it takes the 3.5 and flips it on its effin head lol. as a customer, youre expected to do a fair bit of leg work to get everything aligned right. either youre tech savvy that you know what youre doing right off the bat, or youre gonna wonder what the hell is going on. for me, i asked a lot of questions, i still do. its a good thing the boys at ov has a pretty straight up instruction file that if you follow verbatim then everything else is pretty easy. also, there is a good support group here at tw that answers pretty much anything you have a question to. i know there are/were people thats been having issues with correspondence with ov, but from everything i have been reading, it seems like its gmail. i used my yahoo mail account, and things showed up as expected. something that came up with my install was my laptop being brand new when i did this, and was in the process of flashing, i was wondering why the tactrix cable wasnt being recognized. come to find out i had to download the driver. that part wasnt in the instruction file. probably the only hiccup i ran across. i accounted it to the laptop being fresh opened when i was setting my vf tuner up. my truck was already updated with its tsb, so it was only a matter of flashing the tune i wanted and the preliminaries; its pretty quick. during my initial drive, i had my sprintbooster off. right off the bat you can tell the truck is different. when that dude dynoed his before and after with ovt and came out with 20hp/25tq increase, i believe it. i got this product for one thing. to change how the truck reacted with the vvti changeover; i just flat out didnt like it. you could be cruising and the second you hit 3.5k...well we all know what happens. it get exponentially worst when youre running an intake and exhaust. just coasting on by, open up the truck for some passing power, and its like an f-22 raptor comes roaring to life LOL. now, there is none of that. just a broad linear powerband all the way till redline. before, i would shift before 3.5k just so i wouldnt sound like im trying to race the next guy over. now, if i shift like how i did before before 3.5k its almost like the truck lurches (not really, just feels like it) almost as if the mf is trying to to tell you, "really, dude." i since went back to stacking my sb with ovt. sb with ovt is...different. the numbers is not the same as when you had it before ovt. its almost like a diminishing return. however, you still can tell and feel the real difference when you cycle through. sport9/race4/stock ovt all feel very different when cycled live. with all that being said, i loved my truck before, i love it even more now. my truck is a street build, thats unhindered by heavy tires, rims, armor, whatever. what this in turn does is give the truck unadulterated throttle and power whenever i need it. boost will always be the endgame, but for now ovt is definately worth the time and investment.

ov grade: 4.9/5

 

*Update*
I really wish that I had some good news to tell. I got the software and cable kit. I've got a key code and 5 credits. I sent an email to ovtune@zendesk with my name, order#7641, system ID, truck information etc. several days ago and Rafael finally last night at 22:20 emailed me back saying that they had my info and had sent it to their developer so that a reg key file could be generated for me. I was under the impression based on a previous thread that it was just Matt and Rafael working for ovtune. ‍♂️ Anyway, I replied to the email early this a.m. saying thank you and explaining that I had a fishing trip to go on this evening towing my boat and that it would be really nice to have that reg key file so that I could flash my truck before I headed out with my buddy who also has a 3rd gen taco and is interested in possibly buying the tune also. Welp, no reply as of yet. Seen a lot of posts on another thread by OVTune today though. . Hoping to get it soon. I mean you spend $836 on something and you kinda expect a little bit faster of a turnaround with a reg code file.. I understand they have to be busy, but they have time to reply to posts on here so... i dunno. Staying hopeful. Still have 2 hours before they close. Fingers crossed y'all.

 

We are expecting to get all of our reg keys out today to folks who have sent them in.
That's the one crappy part is that the reg key is currently provided by a 3rd party.