Pros and cons of tuning my 4.0

I have a 2010 prerunner trd tacoma 4.0, and I'm thinking about tuning it. I'd like to know what experiences people have had with it? Are those performance chips just plug and play? What else to do besides the tuning? Is it worth it on my 2010 with over 200k miles? Anything and everything will help. As much as I'd like a faster and more responsive truck, I'm leaning towards it not being a good idea. Mainly because of the extra work that may go into it, and because of the age and high miles.

 

It's not worth it imo. I have some tune from some jackass up here, I don't even know what it is, I was promised more power and better mpg. All it did was move the shift point a little bit further into the rpm range. No improvement to mpg. Unless there's been massive improvements I'm not aware of, don't bother. The 4.0 isn't going to be fast unless you supercharge it

 

If I had a 4.0 I'd be doing this. I wouldnt even care if it was snake oil.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cam-gears-for-v6-add-power-and-mpg.618266/

https://urdusa.com/urd-exhaust-cam-gears-4-0l-v6/

I'm doing a 1GR Head job this week, wish I had these to install for the customer.

 

I have the D3 tune on my tacoma 4.0 and I love it, try it out they do 30 day money back too. Made driving it a lot less painful, pretty nice now actually for a tacoma.

 

First off there is no plug and play "performance chip" or tune, you have to actually change the tune file in the PCM with something like HP Tuners.
I have a tune on mine by @JustDSM it definitely can make the truck more responsive and improve MPG slightly but there's not alot of power gains to be had with a tune alone, mine is a manual but with the automatic trucks there's alot more that can be done with transmission shift behavior and such.

I haven't seen any downsides to a properly done tune aside from the cost.

I'd suggest reading though some of the stuff in the Performance and Tuning section to get an idea of what can and can't be done with a tune as well as other performance mods.
Also here's a thread with some dyno testing of the 4.0 OTT tune.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1gr-fe-single-vvti-dyno-testing-by-ott.759616/

You can buy the tuner and credits yourself and tinker with the tune which I don't recommend if you don't know what your doing or you can get a custom tune from someone like @JustDSM at OTT.


For a custom tune you basically have 3 options to install it:

Send your PCM to a tuner to get it reflashed.

Take your truck to a tuner if there's one in your area.

Buy the tuner, credits, and custom tune and flash it yourself (this is probably the best option if you wana try different tunes and be able to go back to stock but it's also the most expensive option).

 

I'll probably do these if/when I need to do valve cover gaskets.

 

Tuned mine and love it.