Accert ECM programming

It is a difficult topic, so many possibles, and no real way to test. I would think heat may cause failures but not really cause wear, I would think wear is caused by metal to metal contact, although less heat is still a good thing. The lower hp Cats dont really have an EGT problem, and on a properly maintained C15 at 550 I haven't really seen any major heat related failures either, a few cracked manifolds and turbo housings but not major engine failures or wear.
I pulled a 475hp 3406E engine out last year to fit a new C15, the truck was a Marmon, it had done 1.6 million km and had never had the head off, has had just one turbo, never an exhaust mainfold, it didnt even really fail, broke some rocker hold down bolts and owner thought it was time to fit a new motor.
I also think on a (Cat at least) increasing horsepower will cause the liners to move around more, this results in liner fretting faster and head gasket issues sooner... maybe?

 

Hey Jas,

My first Bully Dog will be here on the 22nd!!! At last.

I'll do the download and come up for a run one night.

Would be keen to see what the your Diagnostic tool can see as far as changes.

On a side note the new version of the Bully dog program is supposed to be able to adjust speed limiter etc as well. (might be a few users who get themselves into trouble with the law.)

tony

 

Sounds good, look forward to seeing how it goes, give me a call when you have it running.

I stay away from the speed limiter thing, too much hassel for me.

 

Bully dog unit arrived

really easy to load the program. Took about an Hr all up.

Went for a test this morning.
Goes really well!!! Pulls an empty A Trailer like it's bobtail.

Better throttle response

Power and torque seem to be around the same RPM's, just better pull.

The boost is up about 25kpa maybe more.

Exhaust temps are up 25 or 30 deg C on the same hill, but the truck is a gear higher.

It still idles, starts and runs like normal.

Don't know about fuel economy, but if it is no better then it is money well spent just for the extra power! I'm sure the economy will be better though.

It seem s to do all that the makers said it would.
Makes the truck nicer to drive without being stupid with HP. You could give the truck to a company driver and be pretty sure that even if he is a complete idiot, he won't do any damage to it.

If any one in Australia wan't to try one, let me know and I can arrange a free trial.

Once you've loaded the tune ,you'll never change it back.


Tony

 

One thing i feel that is being overlooked here, is that not may 5ek's are pushed REAL hard with doubles on.

In comparison, how many 550's are running at 100?
how many have drivers tring to hack them for more speed, rpms or whatever..

makes accurate comparisons pretty hard.

 

Thats a great point, more load on the engine (more weight) will wear out an engine faster just like more power. I knew a guy towing a road train with a C12, didn't get a million kms from that one. Not a lot of 5EKs around these days but I have seen plenty of them pulling doubles in the past, one repower we did the 475hp 5EK was over 1.5 million kms with no major work (finally did a liner o-ring) after we fitted the 550 6NZ the guy was towing a B-double doing 20000km a month so I would think thats what he was doing with 5EK that was in it before.

I think there is a theory floating around that an engine can only burn a certain amount of fuel and then its worn out. If you run low horsepower, low weight and low speed you will have good fuel economy and the engine will take a long time to burn its life time of fuel before its worn out. If if increase one of these 3 then fuel economy will be lower and engine life will be a bit less, if you increase all of these the fuel ecomony will be a lot lower and engine life a lot shorter.
The other factor effecting all of this is engine temperature, cold starts are hard on an engine, high load when cold is murder on an engine, thats why all emergency gensets in buildings are preheated.

 

Hey Rallytony555 I see it has been a week that you have had your Bully Dog
install would be nice if you could give a update on fuel mileage power and so on in the real world

 

yeah tony true ting

 

I don't use the truck much.

So have only done a couple of local trips.

The thing goes so much better.

I just returned from a trip to Cowra and back for hay.
I used a little bit less fuel but not a lot.(maybe .1 km per litre)
That said I was up it all the way there and back.

Onj the steep pull back into Sydney, I'm better that 2 full gears up.
Everywhere else I was in top gear all the way!!

I'm sure the fuel saving are there, but i am having too much fun blowing away all the big HP trucks.
I also knocked about 1/2 hr off the trip (750km)

Let you know when I have done a few trips to the same locations

Tony

 

After riding in and driving a 888rwhp truck, its hard to step back to 'only' 535rwhp.

Nothin like a tweaked and awoken kitty. they pull like a freight train.

Tony what rear gears are you running? still got the crappy 4.33 we get standard?