Trifecta tune review on a 2017 6.2L 8sp

silveradosammy · August 28, 2018

I installed the Advantage + in my 2017 6.2L. Tranny shifts nice and the truck is more responsive but after 10,000 miles with the tune, a little towing, lots of highway and plenty of city driving, I uninstalled it. Overall feeling- Blah. What attracted me to Trifecta, like others, was their ability to tune the TCM. The program switching from ECO with the CC on, to sport with the CC off, to tow mode was a neat feature as well. First thing you notice in sport mode was how responsive the throttle is. After a little driving though and switching from eco to sport- you can tell they changed the scaling pretty dramatically. Nothing happens past the "click" in the throttle travel anymore and it feels like your at WOT before pushing though the click. This is the first tune I've had with such a noticeable change in throttle scaling and I've had Blackbear 2x, HP, and a Livernois tune on a 14 Ecoboost. I can tell it wrapped quicker as well so they may change that scaling to compliment other PID changes.

The tranny shifting was definitely better, and most noticeable in sport. Pulling a 6K lb boat through some hills in southern Missouri in tow mode felt pretty good but not significantly better than stock. Shifting is firmer at all speeds and loads and most noticeable at slower speeds. Mileage was super erratic on the long pulls due to wind so no measurable improvement, but I didn't have any reason to believe it would improve (see below).

Now for the bugs. The first thing I noticed in the first 1000 miles was a steady decline in the mileage. Trifecta advertises a 2.4 increase in mileage in eco mode, but I saw a 2+ mpg decrease. Sport mode was even worse but that's easy to blame on the foot. I used the same pump at the same station and tried everything I could to limit variables but I was always between a 2 and 2.5 mpg decrease on the highway with the tune installed vs stock. I track every tank and have data back to the first fill up using milage/gals that i track with an app on my phone, not the mileage gauge on the dash. I was actually getting better mileage when it was 25°F outside with the stock tune than 85°F on the Trifecta tune.

Second bug, and the one that scares me, is when the temp is below 60°F on a cold start in sport mode, the truck will jump forward when shifting from park to reverse or drive....enough to leave black marks on the drive way. The colder it is, the worse it gets. Typically when I shift out of park, the RPM's would jump to between 1500 and 2K and slam into gear. The highest I saw was about 2200RPM's before dropping into gear. Doesn't do it in Eco mode, only sport. I let the truck warm up for a minute or so while I plug in the phone, pick some music, grab the shades, and by that time it is idling back down to about 1000 rpm. Put it in reverse and wham!

Trifecta's customer service- not great. I told them right away about the mileage decrease and they said "it's a performance tune". I said "Yeah, I get that, but you advertise an increase in mileage in Eco mode and my data indicates a consistent decrease". Their response- " We can't do anything about your hand calculations". Not an impressive answer.

When I inquired about the revving when cold it was an even worse response--"If it does that in Sport mode, then don't start the truck in Sport mode. If you want our engineers to review it you'll have to send in video". By the time I figured out how to consistently replicate it, it was too warm outside most mornings for it to rev much past 1000 rpm. Made a trip up in the mountains in June and woke up to a 35° morning. Hopped in the truck and forgot to capture the video. Not safe to wait until November to record it in the act, and not driving 800 miles to record a video for them, so I uninstalled the tune.

IMO If I had to do it over again, I'd go back to Blackbear or HP. I had a small bug in a Blackbear program a few years ago and they went over the top to get it fixed. If it felt like Trifecta had any interest in trying to diagnose reported bugs I'd leave the tune in and try to work through it. At this point I'm terrified of the Mrs or someone else hopping in my truck someone getting hurt- not worth the risk, and apparently, not worthy of Trifectas time.

Edited August 28, 2018 by silveradosammy

shift_grind · August 28, 2018

Thanks for your honesty review. It's good information that others should know.

Are you planning on keeping the stock tune?

Pearl2017 · August 28, 2018

I also installed the tune ~10 k ago and I pretty much agree with the first paragraph of SSammy's review. What i thought at first was a low end performance boost was likely throttle scaling and maybe holding gears a bit longer before shifts. I pulled a 9K# travel trailer cross country and back and had no issues. About a month ago it developed the full blown TCC chuggle vibration on slow takeoffs/cruising and on highway at =<66mph it would continually chuggle with rpm's fluctuating ~200, At =>67mph it would run smoothly.

Scanning using HPTuners i could see the TCC lock up @ 67 mph. I coulsd also see while scanning that the stock Knock retard condition that was happening on the highway while passing was not happening with the tune. But that is with heat soaked MAF sensor on 112 degrees ambient hot day. Before i changed the tires I didn't really see a notable difference in MPG.

I uninstalled the tune and took it in for service and after a fluid flush and filter it is back to running a tiny bit better than it was new. Silky smooth and not the occasional chuggle it had before.

Now I'm asking myself ...do I miss the tune? It did wake up the lazy feeling throttle but the overall difference is not that dramatic to make it a necessity. I'm going to drive it as is for a bit and record a good performance and MPG baseline and give it another go at some point. I sure hope the CHuggle doesn't return every time the ATF gets a little used up ...and theres no friggin dipstick to look at the fluid.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Pearl2017

ray2005 · August 28, 2018

I uninstalled the tune and took it in for service and after a fluid flush and filter it is back to running a tiny bit better than it was new. Silky smooth and not the occasional chuggle it had before.

Did the dealership question whether there was a tune on it? Trifecta claims to be undetected.

This is unfortunate so far, I've seen tons of good reviews on the smaller ecotech engines from the cobalt, cruze, and hhr forums. I was really intrigued by the ability to switch from eco to sport.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

silveradosammy · August 28, 2018

18 hours ago, shift_grind said:

Thanks for your honesty review. It's good information that others should know.

Are you planning on keeping the stock tune?

For now, don't really miss the tune. When it gets cold this winter i may reload it and take some video, but not overly exited at this point.

silveradosammy · August 28, 2018

18 hours ago, Pearl2017 said:

What i thought at first was a low end performance boost was likely throttle scaling and maybe holding gears a bit longer before shifts.

Something i forgot to mention, I noticed it pulls harder at a stop light in sport mode with my foot on the brake and found the truck creeping forward a few times. Turn on Eco mode, the RPM's dropped about 200. Turn on sport mode and they climbed about 200.

Pearl2017 · August 29, 2018

Ray, No the dealer didn't say a word about a tune. This was not my first vehicle that has been tuned and taken to the dealer for service. As has been said many times before even if they find a tune, there needs to be a clear line drawn between the tune and any damage they find to deny warranty. Tunes just don't operate in such a drastic fashion to cause real damage normally. So unless you're hacking it yourself or taking it to billy-bobs garage for tune it shouldn't be a problem. Some of the previous tunes on other vehicles were more of a drastic difference over stock, I just think at least on the GM 6.2 version they didn't leave as much on the table. And that AFE intake I added scavenged a good bit of that without a tune.

Sammy, My truck is not doing the things yours is doing. The trifecta tune did behave similar to the stock including the odd chuggle now and then. and mileage today to work was ~20mpg timing lights and cruising V4 mode on highway ~62 mph indicated. And that's with big heavy 285/65/20 Michelin defenders on it. Maybe the second go round post chuggle fix i'll have some more definitive details to share.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Pearl2017

silveradosammy · January 14, 2019

Update- A couple of weeks after I posted the original review, got a message from Trifecta that they had discovered a bug in my calibration, fixed it, and a new file was ready to try. Weird...So, I tried it.

The massive lurching when shifting into gear went away, but the overall tune also went from blah, to undectable gains. Putting it in sport mode just changes the throttle scaling but when I have ran acceleration timers with a couple of different apps, the gains were not consistent enough to indicate an actual improvement to performance. So... I uninstalled it and still wouldn't recommend their Silverado tune to anyone asking. Feels like I spent $600 on a window sticker.

My 8sp tranny has developed the heavy clunk, delayed engagement, and violent- as in "what the hell did i just run over" downshift on the highway that has prompted a recent class action lawsuit and several TSB's. There were early signs of the issues well ahead of installing the tune that the dealership kept saying was normal and would diminish when the tranny had finished learning. That's why I originally started looking for a tuner to clean it up. I don't think anything Trifecta did made it worse, but it sure didn't make it any better or prevent the demise that's being seen by many.

Edited January 14, 2019 by silveradosammy

High Country 6.2L/8 · August 11, 2020

I installed tune on my 17 High Country 6.2L and see some difference. Trans fluid was changed with Amsoil ATF as soon as it left the lot when bought new with a relearn .Never had a vibrations like you see on many forums. Did have the clunking/ lurching but the relearn and tune nearly took that away. Have a Launch X431 Pro that i can do transmission relearns when i want. My experience with Trifecta is good and im enjoying the tune.