Grumpy Bear

I don't doubt that a minute. Ever ask yourself what the word 'tune' means? Original meaning and etymology makes this note; "to put into a state proper for some purpose..." Tuner marketing being marketers have adulterated the meaning by assigning purpose as power. Hence limiting the scope of the original intent which was, again, 'some' purpose. The factory tune is, by nature, a compromise for 'any' purpose and as a matter of fact not a half bad stab at it. It makes decent torque over a useful range and does so with adequate BSFC. More importantly to them is, it does this safely. So safely in fact that it can be handed a fair amount of abuse and stay in tact. That, in fact, is a primary goal. Abuse can be as simple as filling up with the wrong fuel or as cruel as a neutral drop. I'm not advocating it will handle a diet of that sort of thing. There is a saying that goes, "you can't pick up one end of a stick". When you tune for one purpose you effect or touch them all. Torque, Power, BSFC and reliability and most believe that the advancement of one is a decline of all other. That can certainly be true but...not a condition laid in stone. Then there is this; WOT operation. That is what you see on a dyno chart. A transition from the lowest rpm the motor will pull cleanly to the red line at WOT. Those numbers sell tuners. Is that where you drive? WOT? Is it even where you pull or tow? Is it the only interest you have in a tune? If so you are a drag racer or a truck puller. Enjoy! There are 99.9999999 other points on that map and an infinite number of drivers and driving conditions. There are other purposes than power. Finding that guy...with those skills...and an inclination to perfect your needs? Pretty tough call in a world that places no value on anything but $$$$. (Commercially that is). You don't see many adverts for economy tunes and no information on the few that exist. Range and Diablo Marathon are not tunes in the normal commercial sense of the word. They are devices that extend the operating parameters of what is already a feature of your truck. My own research suggest a motor in CDC ON or AFM active gets about 8% better mileage in a snap shot view but is only active about 30% of the time according to Diablo. Net about 2.4% and on a truck getting 20 mpg without enabled would be about .48 mpg. If you can get the full 80% Diablo claims it comes out a bit better at an increase of 1.3 mpg. AFM extenders are much like Prilosec for heartburn. A thing you use to allow you to continue to operate your system past it's design. People don't lay off spicy food, they take Prilosec. People don't want to operate their trucks in a manor that keeps the AMF active a higher percentage of the time. They want to drive 70 mph + or lift it sky high and get the mileage they would at 50 mph stock. Your best bet Pete is likely a frank talk with someone at Diablo (Lew) and a custom tune based on live on board data logging allowing your style and local conditions to be accounted for and your specific goals to be met OR find a local tuner with a EFILive license and good reputation.

Very low mile extra clean and rust free loaded 2009 Lacrosse CXL Even the bottom gets waxed LOL Under 45K miles. My back loves this car. The wife's 2014 Verano. About 17K miles. It gets out once in awhile like trips to dinner 500 miles away or her brothers. 30 mpg + at 70 mph all day any day. Think I mentioned in on one post but I bought this truck cheap enough the suspension upgrades still haven't got it to list price. It didn't cost me anymore than someone buying the truck as factory delivered. IN fact every mod I've done hasn't touched list price yet. Getting close though.

Park it! Honest. While Pepper sits outside year around I don't drive in salt or slush and rain only if I'm trapped in it. Most of my miles come in the summer months. Our Buicks get the garage. The ones we rarely drive. I know. I/we don't make much sense. I have a 210K salt Honda for that work.

Tuning and warranty are not mutually exclusive. Wish they were. So yes, you would be on your own but is that a bad thing? There seems to be some belief that if you tune you WILL blow up. Why is that? If you haven't any skill be honest with yourself and use a mild canned tune. Lots of folks swear by Black Bear. Some like Diablo. There are more but those two stand out in a crowd. Diablo has a trap feature on your factory tune so you can reinstall when ever you like or if you don't like the canned or custom set up. Not sure about BB. Both have tech support that will create what you wish based on what you actually have. Data logging as a basis. Thing is Andy, I don't believe in the Elfin factory. The skill is in the man and not in the company. I do believe this however. There is more to be gained by learning and optimizing your truck and optimizing your driving skill set than there will be in an MPG tune from anyone. It's why I went Scan Gauge.

Precision in speech. NASCAR IMSA, F1 even professional level drag racing. All consider fuel efficiency a HUGE part of performance. Only in the 'shade tree' street world is fuel efficiency considered unworthy of a performance minded individuals consideration. The metric is called BSFC. How much power from a pound of fuel. As motors are load devices this is directly convertible to MPG and a prime consideration. Manufactures have safety nets. Torque management for example to save warranty claim $$$$. They know that this whole current buying public is of a mind that they should be able to take a jackhammer to their truck and GM should pay the bill. Self entitlement and all. They defend themselves rightly. Inside all that is some fat to be trimmed that can produce the types of gains this fella is asking for. Sadly for the eager and willing the underlined is true. It's what those tuners are marketed toward. That said finding the right tuner is a bit of a struggle. Most of these are high $$$$ toggle switch boxes with their own safety nets built in. Laptop direct access tuning is beyond most but......only because of beliefs such as those noted here. Some have mail order custom tunes by fellas that do it for a living. While this type of tune may not be their bread and butter it is in their wheelhouse if you can develop a relationship with them. ???? Payout ???? Sometimes just being able to is enough payout for me. Not everything is $$$$ and sense. (pun intended) All this aside I use a Scan Gauge II from Linear Logic and use it to hone my knowledge and skill surrounding my truck. It's paid for itself many times over. It's not a tune but a guide with a window into the workings of the tune that help you exact more from you truck. Is it not a good idea to know what it does and why before you start flipping switches?

My 15's OLM goes off every 7500 miles or would if I let it get that far. Anyway, seems you drive a bit harder than I do to run the OLM down that quickly and harder doesn't mean faster as a rule. Short trips in cold weather are worse than long fast trips in warm weather for example. There's a dozen things that can undo a hydraulic lifter. Trash/debris, gum, varnish as well as mechanical issues. Rumor has it that these Ecotec3 motors have a screen in a main galley to catch the cats and dogs the filter lets by. If it catches enough of them the lifter galley is starved for oil, aerates and the lifter collapses. The dealership will use a bulk oil they buy cheap. Just good old mineral oil. These motor have 207F thermostats in them and oil temperatures routinely exceed 250 F even in the winter. Even at 3000 mile changes the oil is stressed enough to varnish. 3000 miles was common as dirt it the 60's and never an issue but thermostats were also 180/192 F and oil temps 210 F or so in normal driving. That Dexos thing means little. Well is what it is now, but look into that screen and use at least a Group III oil or run a thermostat driven oil cooler with a 180 F limit.

May I ask how often the oil was changed and what filters were used?

A bit over a years worth of fuel history showing seasonal swings and gradual improvements. (Error bars are one standard deviation.)

I understand. Thing is this topic comes and goes and always someone feels obligated to step on it. No use chumming for sharks if sharks aren't what your fishing for, eh?

Doesn't matter as it isn't what he asked for. He just asked for miles and hours. Let is be. PLEASE!

40.39 mph

Rex now eleven months. Rat/Pit mix. 25 lbs. ( He hears everything)

Factory thermostat trigger temperature is 207 F with a +/-3 error. Don't kid yourself the oil temp is a good deal hotter.

Who will know is Ben Brazda at Filthy Motorsports. Give he a jingle and tell him I sent you. and your welcome. If you need part numbers or something give a shout.

50,000 mile Service Record: Tread depth is seven and a half thirty seconds (.234”). Projected tire life remains 70,000 miles. Rotate and balance. Adjust pressures to 35 psig. Motor: 6 quart Red Line 5W20 & Mobil 1 filter. Trans: 6 quart Red Line D6 service fill. New GM filter. Diff: 2.5 quart Red Line 75W90, new gasket. I’m in the process of converting the fleet to WIX filtration. The initial impression of the suspension conversion was…it was rock hard. Ben called it ‘firm but in control’ and that it would settle in over about a thousand miles. I was skeptical. In fact two post ago I was ready to start making some drastic changes and a bit disappointed. Today…not so much. I consider myself patient. Evidently not patient enough. Now having logged 3,000 miles it has done as he said it would. Calmed down. I’m not sure I’d even call it real firm. Perhaps moderately firm and very much in control. As much as I liked the way it took a corner early on I’m just giddy about it now. The truck rises and falls with the swales in a pleasant manor absent the boat like feel but not welded to the road giving the impression you in a roll-a-coaster car. You hear the tar snakes but don’t feel them now. Broken pavement is where you start to appreciate how well these shocks work. Rough tracks are just that, rough. But my fillings stay in place and the truck stays planted. Washboard sections it eats like jam on toast. This is the forth vehicle I’ve totally redone and the best of the bunch to date. The Deer Slayer II Today, King/Deaver/Sulastic paid for itself and sealed its place in my all-time favorite personally modified rides. How so? A buck large enough I could see his full back above the hood stepped into my path while I was traveling 55 MPH in a drizzling rain on one of the worst sections of Illinois 72 left only a few miles from my home. A road that before these modification made me believe that 45 mph was way too fast to travel it. It’s just after dark. There is an oncoming car with his high beams on. It lit this deer up like a Christmas tree at about 100 feet from me out of a road side thicket. Curb side service of deer roast looked unavoidable. If you could have frozen time and discussed it I would have bet a month’s wages this truck was toast and that dear the meat in the sandwich. 55 mph in a 100 feet? I hit those brakes like the floor board was on the highway in an attempt to scrub off enough speed to limit the damage. He barely gave me a notice. Rack held high and turning his head toward me I could count the hairs of his eyelashes. That truck came down like it caught the wire on an aircraft carrier. Dead flat and straight as an arrow in flight. The ABS kicked in at about 10 feet from target for a blip and then…Can’t tell you how I missed him but I did cleanly. I’ve ridden bikes for decades and made many a front tire only panic stop and I’ve never felt anything like it. On rough pavement? In the rain? On a dime with nine cents in change. Smooth as a kitten. With the GM suspension I can guarantee you there would have been blood in the street. That was freaky.

300 + mile round trip to Peoria Illinois to pick up a few cases of Red Line Oil D6 trans fluid and a Genesis shock gauge from Hoerr Racing. Peppers upcoming 50K service. There's a $400 dollar day.

Dad has this pump he worked up to draw it from the dipstick tube. A metered 6 quarts. He's 89 and likely in better shape than I am. What most I know I learned from him. The milk trick is just fun to do. Try it.

integration is the short answer. Longer answer.... Try this. Put a eight ounce glass of milk in a sink. Above it one of those 5 gallon water bottles with a valve and start draining the bottle into the glass allowing the glass to over flow. Keep track of how much water it takes to make the glass clear again. When you done with that think how convoluted the interior of a transmission compared to the simple shape of a cylinder. In the laboratory you would use an 'opacity' meter to quantify the degree of cleanliness and not your eye which will lie to you. Next fill that glass with milk and dump it out. Fill it with water and dump it out. Over 90%. Repeat two more times and it will be 97% clear. This would simulate an overhaul fill. They taught you this in chemistry labs. Repeat that process with only removing 1/2 of the liquid each time. You'll get the point the math is supplied in the post. They taught you this in middle school math. The type of process the power or pump flush is trying to simulate is something similar to what the oil industry does to pipelines when flushing large transmission lines between liquid types. But most either don't know or don't remember they do this with a device called a 'pig' or a plug that fully displaces the lines volume in one sweep. Why? Refer the running water in a milk glass paragraph. A 24" pipeline is a much simpler shape than a gear box. Power flushing a brake system is a bit different due to line size and capillary action. Assuming you suck out the reservoir and refill three times before attaching the power head. Biology would have hinted at this. What your observing is an illusion of clean without actually being clean. That said accepting it is a whole different thing. It's your gear box. Do as you please.

The math of the trans fluid change: Your 6L80E holds, for sake of argument, 12 quarts. I want to fully replace all the fluid in the transmission. I have three options. 1.) Remove the gearbox, disassemble as much as need to fully drain the box/converter and replace with fresh fluid. 12 quarts. 2.) Do a service fill which is remove the pan, change the filter and refill. This takes 6 quarts but leaves 50% of the original fluid. If I repeat this process four times with mixing (drive time) between dump and fills it takes four six quart changes to displace 93.75%% of all the original fluid. 24 quarts. 3.) Power flush. While this sounds like a good idea to get to the same 6.25% contamination level of method 2 I would need to flush 192 quarts or 48 gallons or roughly a drum of fluid through the system and that is if I could assure good agitation during the process. An 18 quart power flush leaves 65% of the old fluid in the box. The number of service fills below will give these percentages of fresh to foul fluid. Run the truck a day or so between services and the filter needs to be changed but once. In fact if you have a pump you can do this at home via the dip stick. 1 = 50% / 50% 2 = 75% / 25% 3 = 87.5% / 12.5% 4 = 93.75% / 6.25% 5 = 96.88% / 3.12% 6 = 98.44% / 1.56% 7 = 99.22 % / 0.78% 8 = 99.61% / 0.39% 9 = 99.81% / 0.19 10 = 99.91% / 0.09%

Bump!

We put Pepper on the rack before we started to assure we were still on the marks I set earlier and we were. (That alignment is posted several pages back).Then the suspension got her face lift. The readout on the left the result. It moved it quite a bit. The photo John took after the alignment when the printer went wheels up at the worse time possible. Deegan's is a first rate shop. As you can see the camber is actually inside the GM spec and in perfect proportion. But there was not enough in the factory camber eccentrics to reach the negative camber numbers I prefer.

Another thousand miles logged. She’s fully settled and still 37 inches and change. Had it on the rack looking for the squeak/rattle and found it. Front leaf eye bushings are in the slip/stick mode. Not enough grease or perhaps not the right grease and washed out, so out they come again to get cleaned, inspected and repacked. That means a gas tank drop again. Collecting information on shock travel still. Rear shocks are sitting at 4-1/4” of 8-3/4” of stroke and using 2-1/4” in compression. Bump is set at 2-3/4” and N2 pressure is 200 psi. Ditto on the N2 up front. Front droop (rebound) is 2” and bump stop limited. Looks to be about 2” and change up front as well in compression. Hard to get a direct measurement inside the coil. In essence then we are using about 4” of nearly 9” in available travel. Bottom line, it is firmer than the stroke needs to be for the roads and speeds I travel. That said, I don’t have enough information to start making wholesale changes in that direction. Still need a few numbers from King. Maybe some equipment/tools as well. Measurements of bump stop stiffness and some questions answered about the N2 preload. Ideally I would like to see at least two more inches of travel employed. That means some limits would have to be removed or moved. Deaver delivered. I have a spring that puts the shock at mid-travel and gave the drop I was looking to get. The ride quality in in the right zip code now and not just on the right planet. Ben has been at the SEMA show and unavailable. Email stack up and I’m not a huge priority all things considered. Time and patients will crack this nut. Different subject. Cold temperatures and high winds are wreaking havoc on fuel mileage. I talked about preheat last winter and that needs a revisit.