im looking to get a programmer that will sit on my dash and i can change between different programs on the fly. maybe one that will have 3 or 4 programs, one for better gas mileage, one for better performance, etc. does anyone know of one that will do this? i want to get better gas mileage, but i dont want to lose power. can someone help me out? thanks.

 

you can get a single tune to do all of that.

Ryan

 

like at a shop or a hand held tuner?

 

The PCM in these cars must be flashed for changes to take effect...that means the engine has to be turned off, then turned to the on position without turning the car on, flashing the program, and then starting the car. You can do some nifty little tricks with the onboard RAM on these cars and make SOME changes, but they wouldn't be permanent, and you are limited as to what you can adjust (HPTuners offers this type of thing with their tuning software).

What you are looking for, to my knowledge, does NOT exist for these cars. You are looking to do something on the fly...at the very least, you'd need EFILive's Roadrunner setup to do that...and along with that, you'd have to learn how to tune your car. Steep learning curve, and potentially expensive consequences if you mess something up.

 

well that sucks. ive seen ones on trucks that you can change with the push of a button for better gas mileage, better towing, or more power. ive also seen ones on diesels that let you choose how much power you want added, from "mild to wild"

 

Been watching the Powerblock on Spike?

 

yeah i do, lol. but have seen guys around that have them on the diesels.

 

You just have to realize that the computers on these cars physically can not do that as they come from the factory. Apples to oranges.

 

LS1's cant but diesels can?

 

Forget the diesel versus gasoline engine thing...the problem lies in the PCM architecture. If there was a way to run your PCM on a diesel truck, you still wouldn't be able to change the tune on the fly. EFILive's Road Runner can take your stock PCM and modify it to do something like that, but you are talking big bucks and a steep learning curve.

 

oic...well that sucks. i dont want to mess anything up... and you dont think that a tune will do anything for my mileage huh?

 

A standard tune that still uses the factory O2 sensors while cruising? Not a chance...you don't have headers, so your O2 sensors are in an ideal environment heat-wise (they need heat to work properly). The O2 sensors are used while idling and cruising around to adjust the fueling, and you can't "tune" an O2 sensor. Either they are working properly or they aren't. If people get their cars tuned, it usually focuses on WOT fueling...WOT isn't going to net you better gas mileage no matter how you look at it.

I'd start trying to figure out why my exhaust smells like rotten eggs sometimes...that isn't normal. Throwing money at a tune with a nearly stock car like yours is going to be a waste of time and money.

 

i wasnt talking about tuning the o2 sensors. i was just talking about tuning it in general. i was wondering about the whole tune doing much with a pretty stock car, eventually im going to get an intake, longtubes and a cam and then tune it, but thats after i pay some bills off...

 

I'm not explaining myself properly.

The car under idling and cruising conditions adjusts the fueling based off of the feedback from the O2 sensors. The O2 sensors, purely by magic, figure out what air/fuel ratio is coming out of the engine. If it is running too lean, it tells the computer to add more fuel. If it is running too rich, it tells the computer to pull fuel.

Under normal driving conditions, the computer relies on these sensors. The computer has a set of tables that it references...if the O2 sensors say something, the computer looks at some tables, and says "okay, based off what you told me, I'll add/subtract this much fuel to get the chemically correct air/fuel ratio." That's the whole concept of a closed loop control system...the computer takes feedback from sensors and makes adjustments.

GM did a good job calibrating the computer to adjust the air/fuel mixture from the factory provided you keep the O2 sensors in the right location. If your O2 sensors are bad, they are giving the computer bad information, and it could cause less than ideal fueling.

Are you getting my point? You cannot adjust fuel economy without understanding the entire problem...a big part of that equation is the O2 sensors on a mostly stock car like yours. They are providing the feedback to the PCM...if they are going bad, they usually err on the side of making things go rich. If the car is running too lean, the PCM will throw a separate code for that.

Tuning won't do **** for a car like yours...there isn't a whole lot that you can do in the way of messing with the O2 sensor look-up tables, and there isn't anything you WANT to do with those tables since you have the stock exhaust manifolds. In closed loop operation, there isn't anything you can adjust outside of these look-up tables to affect the fueling.

 

ok, thanks. i understand. if the o2 sensors were going bad would it through a service engine soon code?

 

Yes, they should.

 

hmm...they didnt come up last time i got it checked i dont think, but it could have happened since then i guess. i got it checked a little while ago but it only came up with the 2 possible problems under the intake best i can remember.

 

Dude just get a Diablo programmer. Thats all you need for now. When you get aftermarket stuff and buy the tuning program, but know how to do it I would read every book you can on it one slipp up and you will pay for it.

 

EFILive can do a switching on the fly tune, The custom os5 can change fuel and spark ect at a flip of a switch, trans settings included if you wire it correctly.

 

Hmmm can you do this without a roadrunner? Or is it like the bidi controls with more options? I thought you were pretty limited on what you could do without a reflash.