Newbie here, with a 2015 Chevy Trax 1.4L turbo

Hi everyone,

I'm new around, and I have no idea how to tune, I do not have a dyno, or one readily available.

I'm looking to find an easy way to tune my 2015 Chevrolet Trax LTZ AWD 1.4L turbo to get a bit more power and better fuel economy. I already use high octane fuel as the regular fuel here is really "cheap", as in heavily cut with Ethanol (+10%), which my cat really doesn't like at all. I've been going many times in the States, or in Western provinces, as I live in Quebec Canada, and regular fuel is not a problem there at all, but here, the Trax never liked regular fuel, even when it was brand new.

As I'm already running high octane fuel, I was considering getting a performance chip upgrade. I was looking at the Diablo I3, which seems really easy to use, but very limited, and of course the HP Tuner option too. I've been reading up a bit on the website and the forum, and it REALLY seems to be for more advanced user.

What I would like to do is get a generic "high octane" tune that I could simply push into my ECM, and, if possible, be able to adjust tire size for odometer and fuel economy correction when I use Winter tires. I would also really like to be able to tune the BCM for options like when to turn on headlights, and such like you can do with AlfaOBD on a Dodge.

I do not intend to visit a tuner, or a dyno guy, and get the most power I can squeeze out of my ride, all I want is a generic "more power and better fuel economy" preset tune, without the hassle of doing a complete tune myself.

Is this a possibility with HP Tuners? If yes, what would I need to do this? Any special hardware or software? If not possible, is the Diablo I3 a good option?

I already own a OBDLink MX+ that I use to monitor my engine with "Torque" with my cell phone, can it be used to reprogram my ECM and BCM like with AlphaOBD?

Thank you.

PS : Sorry for my English, I usually speak French.

I am no expert at this either but I have the same engine.

Sounds like you need to get with either BNR or ZZP or Trifecta or Vermont tuning. You can either rent their hp tuners interface (I know zzp does this) or you will have to buy either an mpvi or rtd. Or you can get a autocal and you "should" be able to change your tire size back and forth. Do you have e85 in your area? I know nothing about the Diablo. https://www.vermonttuning.com/produc...evy-trax-1-4t/

Hi! Thanks for the quick answer.

No, we do not have E85 yet.

We have regular, which usually have 10% ethanol or more (87 octane)
we have "intermediate" which have a maximum of 10% Ethanol (usually around 5%) (89 octane)
and we have Premium, which have from 0 to 10% depending of the brand, I specifically choose brands that contains no Ethanol at all. (91 octane)
and we have super premium at some location which is 94 octane. No idea how much ethanol though.

As for BNR, ZZP, Trifecta and Vermont tuning, aren't they located in the states? I would prefer to avoid going into a shop for this, I'm looking for something simple that I can apply myself, something "plug'n-play".

What's the difference between MVPI and RTD?

There seems to have several models of MVPI, which one is needed to program this engine?

Are there credits included with the MVPI, or do I need to buy some credit on top of the MVPI?

Which software should I need to do the download, and where can I get the tune file?

Thank you.

Got the 1.4T, but from Europe. I assume this is the port injected one, and not the newer generation direct injected 1.4?

These engines like fuel with as much octane as you can get.
You could get about 170 hp (at the engine) with a straight reflash or about 180 hp if you remove the cat just by editing the torque management tables and removing some turbo limits.

HPTuners will do that just fine, only downside is it's a proprietary format and you can only use the VCM Suite programs to edit the ECU file. You will also need to have 4 (i think?) universal credits to license your ECU, after that you can reflash as much as you want.
You can read the map files from a car without using any credits.
VCM Suite itself is free, so you can download it and try it out with some .hpt files for this engine from the forum to check what you can and can't do.

Sadly it's only possible to edit the ECU files, and the transmission files if it's an auto. Body module not possible.


As for tune tune itself, i have the original OEM 100 hp, OEM 150 hp and my old tune with no-cat available so you can directly compare what can be done by yourself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr_Evil

Hi! Thanks for the quick answer.

No, we do not have E85 yet.

We have regular, which usually have 10% ethanol or more (87 octane)
we have "intermediate" which have a maximum of 10% Ethanol (usually around 5%) (89 octane)
and we have Premium, which have from 0 to 10% depending of the brand, I specifically choose brands that contains no Ethanol at all. (91 octane)
and we have super premium at some location which is 94 octane. No idea how much ethanol though.

As for BNR, ZZP, Trifecta and Vermont tuning, aren't they located in the states? I would prefer to avoid going into a shop for this, I'm looking for something simple that I can apply myself, something "plug'n-play".

What's the difference between MVPI and RTD?

There seems to have several models of MVPI, which one is needed to program this engine?

Are there credits included with the MVPI, or do I need to buy some credit on top of the MVPI?

Which software should I need to do the download, and where can I get the tune file?

Thank you.

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Yes they are located in the states.. You wouldn't have to go to the shop they can remote tune. The mvpi will do everything, and the rtd is only for the tuner to do anything with. You would have to go to hp tuners website to get the programs they are free. Credits would be on top of the price for the rtd or mvpi should be like 100 dollars for credits. The tune file would have to be custom made from a tuner.

HP Tuners doesn't provide "generic" tunes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sbarisic

Got the 1.4T, but from Europe. I assume this is the port injected one, and not the newer generation direct injected 1.4?

These engines like fuel with as much octane as you can get.
You could get about 170 hp (at the engine) with a straight reflash or about 180 hp if you remove the cat just by editing the torque management tables and removing some turbo limits.

HPTuners will do that just fine, only downside is it's a proprietary format and you can only use the VCM Suite programs to edit the ECU file. You will also need to have 4 (i think?) universal credits to license your ECU, after that you can reflash as much as you want.
You can read the map files from a car without using any credits.
VCM Suite itself is free, so you can download it and try it out with some .hpt files for this engine from the forum to check what you can and can't do.

Sadly it's only possible to edit the ECU files, and the transmission files if it's an auto. Body module not possible.


As for tune tune itself, i have the original OEM 100 hp, OEM 150 hp and my old tune with no-cat available so you can directly compare what can be done by yourself.

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Yes, it's the port injected model.

I'm not looking for a lot more HP, I'm aiming at a better fuel economy, while keeping reliability. Fiddling with the turbo limits make me feel uneasy, those engine already are known for blowing up turbos... I do haul a bit with it, so I was hoping to find a tune aimed for that too.

I don't mind that it's a proprietary format, if I can get my hands on "generic tunes", I really don't want to get too much into it, I do not have the budget for an engine rebuild on top of a programmer, I'd prefer to have a safe tune instead.

Adding 4 credits (4 x 49$) on top of a 400$ programmer is really a lot of money too, I was hoping that buying the 400$ programmer would at least include enough credit for a single car, but at 600$ USD, ouch! And not being able to tune the BCM at that price, double ouch!...

At that price range, without having any "generic tunes", risking my engine reliability, and having to fiddle with it, and not having BCM programming possible, I'll think I'll pass, it's way above my price range, I won't be able to save this much money on gas until the end of my car...

Thank you very much for the help, and for all this information

Quote:

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Originally Posted by danyilboon9

Yes they are located in the states.. You wouldn't have to go to the shop they can remote tune. The mvpi will do everything, and the rtd is only for the tuner to do anything with. You would have to go to hp tuners website to get the programs they are free. Credits would be on top of the price for the rtd or mvpi should be like 100 dollars for credits. The tune file would have to be custom made from a tuner.

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I have visited all the mentionned website, and they are all way above my price range.

Thank you for the help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gtstorey

HP Tuners doesn't provide "generic" tunes.

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That's sad, I might have bought a programmer if they did, but at that price range, I wouldn't expect to risk fiddling with it and discover by myself what works or not.

On one side, I have the option to go with a Diablosports I3 programmer with generic tune for my car, with little to no fiddling involved, at a lower cost, which is "plug'n play" that gives you way less option though.

On the other side, you have HP tuner, which cost almost double, have a steep learning curve, without "generic tunes", that actually require you to learn and understand what you are doing, at your own risk, but with way more possibilities.

And on the last side, you have professional tuners, that cost even more, that can remotely tune your car, but on whom you are dependent unless you are willing to learn it for yourself.

Sadly, I'm not an enthusiast or even an amateur, all I want is to get better fuel economy, a bit more power when I'm hauling, and save some money on the long run, expecting the fuel economy to pay for the mods in a reasonable time delay.

Right now I'm feeling like getting HP tuners is getting myself a racecar for my weekly groceries... Way overkill for my use...

Thank you for the help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr_Evil

Yes, it's the port injected model.

I'm not looking for a lot more HP, I'm aiming at a better fuel economy, while keeping reliability. Fiddling with the turbo limits make me feel uneasy, those engine already are known for blowing up turbos... I do haul a bit with it, so I was hoping to find a tune aimed for that too.

I don't mind that it's a proprietary format, if I can get my hands on "generic tunes", I really don't want to get too much into it, I do not have the budget for an engine rebuild on top of a programmer, I'd prefer to have a safe tune instead.

Adding 4 credits (4 x 49$) on top of a 400$ programmer is really a lot of money too, I was hoping that buying the 400$ programmer would at least include enough credit for a single car, but at 600$ USD, ouch! And not being able to tune the BCM at that price, double ouch!...

At that price range, without having any "generic tunes", risking my engine reliability, and having to fiddle with it, and not having BCM programming possible, I'll think I'll pass, it's way above my price range, I won't be able to save this much money on gas until the end of my car...

Thank you very much for the help, and for all this information

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Well, the turbo exhaust housing will crack even on the stock car. I replaced mine with a bigger unit after 100'000 km (62k miles), and the original was cracked, but i didn't notice any difference driving the car.

Attachment 124365


Only the max boost pressure was increased, turbo speed limits are kept the same so you're not really in danger of them exploding. This is more of a heat cycling issue.


As for the fuel consumption, i don't really think any generic tune which increases power is going to lower the fuel consumption. They usually only increase the torque limits and that's it.

By default the ECU can command up to 10.5 AFR (while people usually target 11.5 under high boost high load), and the actual measured AFR can be much lower than that.
A custom tune on a dyno with a wideband can get you much MUCH better fuel mileage and efficiency if that's your end goal. And you get an all-around great tune so there's really no point of reflashing yourself every once in a while. That might be the best bang-for-buck you can get.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sbarisic

Well, the turbo exhaust housing will crack even on the stock car. I replaced mine with a bigger unit after 100'000 km (62k miles), and the original was cracked, but i didn't notice any difference driving the car.

Attachment 124365

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Yes, the cracked housing, and also the little oil feeding tube that keep getting baked under the heatshield and then clogged, stopping the oil feed and burning up the turbo.

Quote:

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Only the max boost pressure was increased, turbo speed limits are kept the same so you're not really in danger of them exploding. This is more of a heat cycling issue.


As for the fuel consumption, i don't really think any generic tune which increases power is going to lower the fuel consumption. They usually only increase the torque limits and that's it.

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Some do advertise it with their product, and this is why I started comparing the different products available. Lots of good publicity regarding HP tuners, this is why I'm here. Everything seems a lot more complicated to use though, and as you can guess, I'm no pro. I'm an electrical engineering technologist, I do my own car repairs, and I program PCs, automatons and robots, but I know nothing of fuel mixture, I have no Idea of what's too rich or too lean in a modern car, what would detonate or not, and I don't want risking blowing up an engine, especially one that is already passed the 180 000 Km mark.

Quote:

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By default the ECU can command up to 10.5 AFR (while people usually target 11.5 under high boost high load), and the actual measured AFR can be much lower than that.
A custom tune on a dyno with a wideband can get you much MUCH better fuel mileage and efficiency if that's your end goal. And you get an all-around great tune so there's really no point of reflashing yourself every once in a while. That might be the best bang-for-buck you can get.

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See, I don't even know what AFR is, is it an acronym for Air Fuel Ratio? Too lean, rich condition? As I said earlier, a custom tune on a dyno, with an AWD car would cost way over budget, and wouldn't be really be financially sound on a car that still have 100 000 km left at the most.

I'm looking for a quick and dirty solution that wouldn't shorten the engine life, give me better mileage, and would shut up the catalytic converter efficiency warning that get triggered everytime I do a short run that doesn't heat it up enough.

Thank you again for the help

If I'm reading this correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong, then you just want a file that gives you a bit more performance and fuel economy, but costs nothing or hardly anything. This will not work.
There are remote tuners (so called "file service") that will "put together" a Stage 1 for little money, which can be good, but also bad for your engine. Don?t get me wrong, there might be good guys or those ones, which just "copy?n paste" or just "fry" everything togehter.

AFR is Air Fuel Ratio - correct. Attached you will find a picture explaining the values.

Attachment 124376

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sbarisic

Well, the turbo exhaust housing will crack even on the stock car. I replaced mine with a bigger unit after 100'000 km (62k miles), and the original was cracked, but i didn't notice any difference driving the car.

Attachment 124365

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Looks like a cracked turbo is normal for GM, and should not affect performance :doh:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...47384-9999.pdf

Attachment 124377

Wow!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chickenbreast

If I'm reading this correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong, then you just want a file that gives you a bit more performance and fuel economy, but costs nothing or hardly anything. This will not work.
There are remote tuners that will "fry together" a Stage 1 for little money, which can be good, but also bad for your engine.
AFR is Air Fuel Ratio - correct. Attached you will find a picture explaining the values.

Attachment 124376

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+1. If it was that simple to create a generic tune that did this, why wouldn't the OEM do it to start with. You might get a tune that offers better fuel mileage, but about the only way to do much is to reduce power. Basically it will force you to drive to improve mileage, which you can do anyway by being gentle on the throttle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chickenbreast

If I'm reading this correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong, then you just want a file that gives you a bit more performance and fuel economy, but costs nothing or hardly anything. This will not work.
There are remote tuners (so called "file service") that will "put together" a Stage 1 for little money, which can be good, but also bad for your engine. Don?t get me wrong, there might be good guys or those ones, which just "copy?n paste" or just "fry" everything togehter.

AFR is Air Fuel Ratio - correct. Attached you will find a picture explaining the values.

Attachment 124376

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Thanks for the info about the AFR, good to know.

As for the first part, I am willing to pay for a programmer, of course, or preferably use the one I already own, I know you can program with it, I programmed my friends Dodge Ram using it, at the cost of the android AlfaOBD app, but I do not have thousands of dollars to spend on this either. I'm not looking for a custom tune, or going to a dyno, I'm looking for an "in-between" solution. HP Tuners, as of right now, looks like a hard core solution, while the Diablosports I3 looks a bit too restrictive.

I feel like I either have a choice between a Honda Accord, and a Maserati, when I'm looking for family van ;-)

I have a budget of maximum 500$ CAD, so about 375$ USD, including the programmer, the software, the "credits", everything from start to finish, while keeping everything reliable as it's my daily driver, and a blown engine would be very bad as I wouldn't be able to get to work. And the point is that I want to be able to pay back the upgrade in the long run, as I hope to get that 500$ CAD back from the pump in the long run, as I will save on fuel.

Again, thanks for the help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gtstorey

+1. If it was that simple to create a generic tune that did this, why wouldn't the OEM do it to start with. You might get a tune that offers better fuel mileage, but about the only way to do much is to reduce power. Basically it will force you to drive to improve mileage, which you can do anyway by being gentle on the throttle.

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I've seen people I know get their car tuned, and got better fuel economy when daily driving, while getting more power when they needed/wanted to, this is actually what got me looking in the first place, but GM cars programming options seems quite limited, compared to other brands.

And as for the OEM not doing it, why should they if it ensure that the car would last a bit longer past the warranty, they are not paying for the fuel, but they are for the under warranty repairs. Running richer was always a way to protect the engine, but waste some gas, older cars always ran too rich, and same goes when you blow up a sensor, they run the engine as rich as they can to protect the engine until you replace the broken sensor and get the MIL off.

Thanks for your input :D

CAFE-Corporate Average Fuel Economy.

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Originally Posted by gtstorey

CAFE-Corporate Average Fuel Economy.

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We are talking about a 2015 car, not a newer model.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr_Evil

We are talking about a 2015 car, not a newer model.

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CAFE has been around since 1975.

Yes, but with most severe requirements aimed at 2025, by Obama in 2012 for 2017 models and upward https://www.transportation.gov/missi...cafe-standards

I'm sorry if I sound a bit "anti corp" but I'm pretty sure those big corporations are in this to make money, and if they apply all the tech they already know of that work right now to improve fuel economy, they will have to work harder afterwards to continue improving. In the end if they do the bare minimum now, they will have to invest less in the future too.

That's my take on it anyway, and since there are ways to improve fuel economy still, without sacrificing drivability, I'm betting I'm not 100% wrong.

And I'm not trying to create fuel economy out of thin air either, I'm talking about a tune that would allow to take advantage of a higher octane value of a premium fuel, allowing to have higher cylinder pressure without detonation. The oem ECM mapping is for regular fuel (87 Octane), with a 91 Octane mapping, I could improve fuel economy in the long run, some like Trifecta and Diablosports already advertise this, if it's true or not I don't know, but the do advertise more power with better fuel economy.

What bothers me with Trifecta and Diablosports is that they have a lot of negative reviews, with a lot of positives too, but in many of the negatives ones, HP Tuners is cited as being better, which got me interested.

Then after posting the original post here, I saw that HP tuners removed custom "mods" from their repository, a couple of years back, when switching to 4.0 version I think.

To make a long story short, I'm being indecisive because of the prohibitive cost of HP tuners, while lacking easy plug'n play tunes, like some other offers. I feel like I'm going to need to study a lot on engine inner workings to be able to tune mine, with the risk of blowing my daily driver...

Thank you very much guys,

So, after discussing it with my wife, I think I'll buy one anyway...

But, I'd like to know, is the Chevrolet Trax even supported? I can see the Buick Encore and the Chevrolet Cruze, both have the same engine, same ECM, but the Chevrolet Trax is not listed as being compatible.

All I need is the MPVI3 and the 2 credits (If it's the same as the Buick encore), and the free software right? Nothing else?

Anyone have a file I could look at to start training myself? Any online training that could help?

Thank you

If your vehicle is not in the supported vehicle list I would contact HPT support to ask if it the same. I don’t even remember what a Chevy trax is, but unless it’s a very rare vehicle, I would expect it to be in the list if it’s supported.

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Originally Posted by gtstorey

If your vehicle is not in the supported vehicle list I would contact HPT support to ask if it the same. I don’t even remember what a Chevy trax is, but unless it’s a very rare vehicle, I would expect it to be in the list if it’s supported.

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Thanks :D I sent an email to support at hptuners.com to ask, but I'm guessing it is supported because I'm seeing a lot of people on different forums telling they got it for their Trax.

This is a Chevy Trax ;)

Attachment 124404
Attachment 124405

This is a Buick Encore (All parts except some body parts are interchangeable)

Attachment 124406
Attachment 124407

And they both have the same powertrain as the Chevy Cruze 1.4L Turbo Ecotec Engine

Attachment 124408

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gtstorey

+1. If it was that simple to create a generic tune that did this, why wouldn't the OEM do it to start with. You might get a tune that offers better fuel mileage, but about the only way to do much is to reduce power. Basically it will force you to drive to improve mileage, which you can do anyway by being gentle on the throttle.

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Fuel economy is a fancy thing these days. Catalytic converter must not overheat or it might melt/die, so it simply dumps too much fuel under wide open throttle to cool it down.
My car in stock form doesn't even use power enrichment, it relies on "temperature protection" to add additional fuel for on-boost power, and this temperature protection doesn't even know the actual temperature of the catalytic converter, but uses some fancy formula to estimate it. There's really no point to dump that much fuel to cool the cat when all i did was a 2nd and 3rd gear pull and then continue to drive normally.

This is a very broadly used engine, and every car model is different, and every cooling system for a different model car is different (and the airflow around the exhaust components) - BUT the base tune is the same across all of them.

As for the AFR number, adding more fuel displaces oxygen therefore you actually lose power. Very small, but measurable. Removing fuel actually increases power AND reduces fuel consumption at the cost of some components maybe running hotter. You can get more out of a generic customer car like this, than a straight up sports car that's tuned from the factory to the limits.
Driving on the highway under no-load and fixed speed can be improved by running even leaner and advancing spark timing, it results in lower fuel consumption and same power output at the expense of different exhaust gas composition (google honda lean-burn system).

This is only a rough outline, but there's so many places where you can save on fuel in the map files.


There's also the point of CO2 and NOx emissions, more fuel -> more volume of gasses -> SAME ACTUAL amount of NOx in the exhaust stream -> "less percent" of bad gasses per mass of exhaust.
And that's how you get numbers that look nice on paper to show to your local government/european union and make the impression that you're eco friendly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr_Evil

Thanks :D I sent an email to support at hptuners.com to ask, but I'm guessing it is supported because I'm seeing a lot of people on different forums telling they got it for their Trax.

This is a Chevy Trax ;)

Attachment 124404
Attachment 124405

This is a Buick Encore (All parts except some body parts are interchangeable)

Attachment 124406
Attachment 124407

And they both have the same powertrain as the Chevy Cruze 1.4L Turbo Ecotec Engine

Attachment 124408

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My car also isn't listed on their main page, but it's the E78 ECU and same engine and it works just fine. :cool:

You can post any questions regarding your tune on the forums, and we'll try to help when we have time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sbarisic

Fuel economy is a fancy thing these days. Catalytic converter must not overheat or it might melt/die, so it simply dumps too much fuel under wide open throttle to cool it down.
My car in stock form doesn't even use power enrichment, it relies on "temperature protection" to add additional fuel for on-boost power, and this temperature protection doesn't even know the actual temperature of the catalytic converter, but uses some fancy formula to estimate it. There's really no point to dump that much fuel to cool the cat when all i did was a 2nd and 3rd gear pull and then continue to drive normally.

This is a very broadly used engine, and every car model is different, and every cooling system for a different model car is different (and the airflow around the exhaust components) - BUT the base tune is the same across all of them.

As for the AFR number, adding more fuel displaces oxygen therefore you actually lose power. Very small, but measurable. Removing fuel actually increases power AND reduces fuel consumption at the cost of some components maybe running hotter. You can get more out of a generic customer car like this, than a straight up sports car that's tuned from the factory to the limits.
Driving on the highway under no-load and fixed speed can be improved by running even leaner and advancing spark timing, it results in lower fuel consumption and same power output at the expense of different exhaust gas composition (google honda lean-burn system).

This is only a rough outline, but there's so many places where you can save on fuel in the map files.


There's also the point of CO2 and NOx emissions, more fuel -> more volume of gasses -> SAME ACTUAL amount of NOx in the exhaust stream -> "less percent" of bad gasses per mass of exhaust.
And that's how you get numbers that look nice on paper to show to your local government/european union and make the impression that you're eco friendly.






My car also isn't listed on their main page, but it's the E78 ECU and same engine and it works just fine. :cool:

You can post any questions regarding your tune on the forums, and we'll try to help when we have time.

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Thank you very much, very informative, I'll post questions for sure :D

And it's also a E78 ECU on my Trax :D

Sorry to be a downer, here's my .02 from reading this thread: you're going to be happier and better off purchasing a tune from a professional shop.

You'll need to dedicate many hours reading/researching/adjusting/dynoing your vehicle, otherwise you're going to be frustrated and disappointed in the results. Read this article from HPTuners support to understand how the E78 works: http://www.hptuners.com/help/VCM-Edi...th_e78_ecm.htm

There are a handful of tuners already mentioned here, both good/bad to use. No need for me to chime in and say which shop is better, I'd recommend you research (sounds like you already have) and call the few you're interested in. Most people are happy to chat on the phone about what they can/can't do with a tune for you specifically. Most of them use a HPTuners RTD through their shop to deliver their tunes to you.

Haven't seen anyone else mention it here yet, but you will also need a Wideband O2 installed and connected to HPTuners MPVI so you can see what your actual AFR is. Without one, you're shooting in the dark when making fueling changes. GM doesn't use Widebands on most vehicles, as an owner and tuner of my 13 Sonic, I can confirm the E78 doesn't (so Trax/Encore don't have one either).

HPTuners supports the E78 in the Sonic/Encore/Trax, worst case your OS isn't mapped which would be a quick update from the support team but I'm going to bet it's already supported now.

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Originally Posted by ScarabEpic22

Sorry to be a downer, here's my .02 from reading this thread: you're going to be happier and better off purchasing a tune from a professional shop.

You'll need to dedicate many hours reading/researching/adjusting/dynoing your vehicle, otherwise you're going to be frustrated and disappointed in the results. Read this article from HPTuners support to understand how the E78 works: http://www.hptuners.com/help/VCM-Edi...th_e78_ecm.htm

There are a handful of tuners already mentioned here, both good/bad to use. No need for me to chime in and say which shop is better, I'd recommend you research (sounds like you already have) and call the few you're interested in. Most people are happy to chat on the phone about what they can/can't do with a tune for you specifically. Most of them use a HPTuners RTD through their shop to deliver their tunes to you.

Haven't seen anyone else mention it here yet, but you will also need a Wideband O2 installed and connected to HPTuners MPVI so you can see what your actual AFR is. Without one, you're shooting in the dark when making fueling changes. GM doesn't use Widebands on most vehicles, as an owner and tuner of my 13 Sonic, I can confirm the E78 doesn't (so Trax/Encore don't have one either).

HPTuners supports the E78 in the Sonic/Encore/Trax, worst case your OS isn't mapped which would be a quick update from the support team but I'm going to bet it's already supported now.

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Hi, dang, I just pull the trigger on the MVPI3 and the credits, oh well, guess I'll have to learn now...

Thank you :D

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Originally Posted by ScarabEpic22

Haven't seen anyone else mention it here yet, but you will also need a Wideband O2 installed and connected to HPTuners MPVI so you can see what your actual AFR is. Without one, you're shooting in the dark when making fueling changes. GM doesn't use Widebands on most vehicles, as an owner and tuner of my 13 Sonic, I can confirm the E78 doesn't (so Trax/Encore don't have one either).

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Any wideband O2 sensor to recommend? Anything plug and play that doesn't need rewiring?

Thank you.

Just a heads up we were able to confirm support for the 2015 Trax 1.4 application today and added it to our supported vehicle list. We likely support other years of the trax but need to confirm before adding them to the supported vehicle page.

https://www.aemelectronics.com/produ...and-uego-OBDII

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bill@HPTuners

Just a heads up we were able to confirm support for the 2015 Trax 1.4 application today and added it to our supported vehicle list. We likely support other years of the trax but need to confirm before adding them to the supported vehicle page.

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Yes, thank you very much Bill, excellent service, have a nice weekend!

(Yup, that was me on the other end of those emails :cool: )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by danyilboon9

https://www.aemelectronics.com/produ...and-uego-OBDII

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Oh, I see! I though I had to replace the O2 sensor that is pluggued into my car harness with a Wideband sensor instead.

I'm not equipped to drill and weld a second bung to add another sensor to my catalytic converter though.

And there is very little room to be able to add one too...

The Catalytic converter is right after the turbo.

Attachment 124496

There is no room at all to add a second O2 Sensor...

Attachment 124497

Would it be possible to install a wideband O2 sensor instead of the original sensor, and have the ECU running properly with it?

Thank you for the info.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr_Evil

Would it be possible to install a wideband O2 sensor instead of the original sensor, and have the ECU running properly with it?

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I guess this answer that : https://www.google.com/search?q=repl...ptQPtJq1sA4_37

So this : https://www.14point7.com/products/sp...a-controller-2

Wired in the original ECU O2 sensor plug (Signal ground to black and narrowband output (brown) to signal wire), with a Bosch LSU 4.9 instead of my original sensor. (Might have to disable heater failure detection in the ECU though, if possible)

Bring up a 12V and a gnd from the fusebox to power it up, and the heater, and use the output 0-5V to a gauge : https://www.14point7.com/products/solid-afr-gauge and/or to the MVPI3 with the pro features and the prolink+ https://www.hptuners.com/product/pro-link-plus/ would do the trick...

But... I think you may overestimate a bit how much fiddling I'll do in there ;)

And especially overestimating my budget...

I've tried replacing a narrowband with a wideband and wiring it up, never got it to work properly without the ECM throwing additional O2 codes. Probably not a worthwhile exercise to try it, but your call!

Yep, it's tight with the factory cat on the LUV engines being immediately post-turbo BUT it's doable. My friend with a 2012 Sonic had a bung (comes with most WBO2s) welded in near the factory pre-cat sensor and it worked pretty well, have to ask the shop doing it to be creative and make sure there's room for the sensor to stick out. IIRC it was near this spot, marked it with a red arrow:

Attachment 124500

The AEM one recommended earlier is very convenient and what I'd recommend as well, plugs into your OBDII port and the MPVI plugs into it so you can read the WB datastream right in VCM Scanner.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScarabEpic22

I've tried replacing a narrowband with a wideband and wiring it up, never got it to work properly without the ECM throwing additional O2 codes. Probably not a worthwhile exercise to try it, but your call!

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The default O2 sensor has some heater circuitry, you only need to connect the actual output wire and then disable the codes for the heater in the tune. The computer will automatically switch to closed loop lambda feedback after the signal voltage drops below 1.1V.

I have both the narrow and wideband welded into the exhaust basically next to each other. I'll post pics later.

But this is a good idea and definitely something i'll look into in the future, to replace the narrowband with wideband.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sbarisic

The default O2 sensor has some heater circuitry, you only need to connect the actual output wire and then disable the codes for the heater in the tune. The computer will automatically switch to closed loop lambda feedback after the signal voltage drops below 1.1V.

I have both the narrow and wideband welded into the exhaust basically next to each other. I'll post pics later.

But this is a good idea and definitely something i'll look into in the future, to replace the narrowband with wideband.

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So even better : https://www.14point7.com/products/co...ntroller-3-adv

Can be used to push the narrowband data to the ECU, I'd use the 4 wires coming from the original harness for the data and heater, to feed this module (heater + o2) only need to bring 12V to feed the electronics, and come with a usb converter that is compatible with VCM Scanner and Torque Pro on my phone!

I'd be able to not only monitor the AFR using my phone, or my pc while tuning, log it with VCM scanner,, or keep an eye on it while driving, since I already use torque pro on a daily basis, without having to modify the harness itself, only recover the plug from the current O2 Sensor. Since the power to feed the O2 Heater would come from the same wires as they are now, I won't even have to, at least in theory, remove the heater from the ECU.

Something like this
Attachment 124509

Hi,

I've got my first question.

I have setup my wideband sensor, using the Can bus, and it kinda works.

I can add the channels :

Attachment 124861

They are getting logged : (Value is at max because the sensor not installed yet, only plugged in the controller, and Lambda range of 0.6[Lambda] to 3.4[Lambda], equivalent to 8.82[AFR] to 50[AFR] for gasoline are the limits of this controller, so it makes sense, and I saw the sensor temp rise, and oscillate +-10 degrees)

Attachment 124862

But I cannot figure how add it to math, gauge or graph since the channels are not showing up in the parameters list : (and when I select them, there are no ID and such in channel, so I can't manually add them either)

Attachment 124863

Anyone have some insight on how to add the CAN bus value to those? I'd rather use the CAN values over analog.

Thank you

is it the aem obd2 wideband or just using the canbus inputs on the pro ? if u have to set the maths up u first add it so u can see the wideband in the channels working then right click and select transform then select the correct wideband if its there or select user defined and then select a wideband to then set your own offsets too, if its the obd2 canbus then u cant set it up its just correct as it is