Removed Trifecta Tune.. for now.

[OnlyTaurus]

Yup. I switched back. I'm sure going to miss the extra pep, but my Cruze was having too many problems with the tune. Vince tried explaining that it was normal, but I'm sorry, I'm no dummy.

I originally had the occaisional P2097 - Post Catalyst Fuel Trim Over Limit. Vince sent me a 'fix tune' to take care of the code. Said it was nothing to worry about, and he's had 7 years of tuning experience to back it up. My response is, 'Why is no one else setting this code then?' It would happen on light cruising after some harder accelerations. I didn't think much of it.

Now, my check engine light came on today. After checking the codes via EZFlash, I now have not only the P2097, but 6 other codes. Fuel trim codes, Barometric codes, IAT codes, and Pressure codes. The turbo is functioning properly, I've already look into it. The turbo was my first guess.

I took the tune off and cleared the codes. I'm going to provide proof of the question everyone seems to have with the tune. 'Is fuel economy really better with the tune?'

My answer after driving 20 miles after reverting to stock tune, 'It's not looking good for Trifecta." I was able to maintain a 57mpg at 10inHg of vacuum while cruising in 4th (manual trans), which even with the 'Eco-tune' at the same vacuum, I only saw 38mpg. I'm going to test the mpg on stock tune tomorrow on my commute to work. I was able to achieve a best of 43.5mpg via tune, I'm going to see if I can beat it. I will post results.

[tecollins1]

Yeah if I was having probs with it I would too. :/


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[blk88verde]

Let us know the MPG results. I have had my tune for over a year now. I had it revised once as it was giving to much boost to low in the RPMs and caused the engine to run rough. I have only seen one code in all the time I have had the tune, this past October I got the code for Lean Bank One. I cleared the code and it has not returned.

[ErikBEggs]

Interesting...

I'm sorry you had to go through that man.

In the defense of the tuners, I believe most of the fuel economy benefit is more efficient transmission behavior from the Automatic transmission. It will upshift earlier and uses slightly less boost (therefore, fuel) for a given throttle position. Since a computer is making all the shifts and whatnot for us, we simply translate it as a bump in fuel economy. This "advantage" most likely disappears with manual transmission drivers since they control all of that. That is my personal hypothesis as to what goes on (take it for what it is).

For me, the tune has netted higher city MPG by a good 2-3 MPG. However, highway MPG driving is pretty much unaffected by the tune due to steady state conditions. My highway fuel economy was only increased after purchasing an intake.

[XtremeRevolution]

Interesting...

I had challenged the notion that the Trifecta tune provides any fuel economy benefit. Nothing has come of that yet although Jerry said he'd send me a tune to test.

Trifecta fanboys love to tell me that their Eco MTs can get 50MPG with the tune. Well, so can I...without the tune. Having tuned cars on my own with HPTuners, I've had a hard time figuring out exactly what they changed (aside from the shift points on the automatic) to improve fuel economy.

[titan2782]

Sad thing is, you already spent the $400 to purchase it. Welcome to the boat man! Only reason I'm keeping it is because I had Vince make adjustment to other things to make the car more to my liking since I couldn't feel any perf difference.

Guess what, the Cruze was built by a team of highly specialized engineers with decades of experience, but that little shift light they threw in there doesn't know better than I do about when I need to shift my car. Point is, just because someone has been doing something for X years doesn't mean they've been doing it correctly or that they know a whole lot. Not of offend anyone, but I know where OnlyTaurus is coming from with this situation.

I kept asking about the underboost code and all I got was a "here you go, I fixed it for you by hiding the problem" tune. I'm expecting my down pipe to help and for that i'll need the tune as well.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[iCruze2]

I have had 0 check engine lights from my Trifecta tune....just saying

[titan2782]

I have had 0 check engine lights from my Trifecta tune....just saying

"From" or "after tune install" ? Big difference.

[ErikBEggs]

Sad thing is, you already spent the $400 to purchase it. Welcome to the boat man! Only reason I'm keeping it is because I had Vince make adjustment to other things to make the car more to my liking since I couldn't feel any perf difference.

I don't know anything about the codes... but the performance numbers *do* speak for themselves.

I guess a lot of the customer satisfaction with the tune depends on why you buy it. I got it for the better shifting more than MPG or power I was pleased with those in stock form. But ask a customer who bought it for MPG claims and they probably feel differently

[tecollins1]

I have had 0 check engine lights from my Trifecta tune....just saying

Unfortunately it That doesn't really mean anything.
They could of fixed/hide the problems that were accruing on other cars.


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