General Pointers for a Newbie?

[Moisture]

Hey everyone,

Trying to get a start into tuning a bit, I have a 2017 Jeep Wrangler JK with aftermarket intake, exhaust, and a throttle body spacer.

My initial goal was just to mess with the mass air flow sensor tables to ensure that it's not running lean after these modifications; however, after lurking for a bit and seeing some postings, it seems like the stock performance for the 3.6L Pentastar engine could be vastly improved (Hemituna posts mentioned this) and was hoping maybe someone would have a good start for me on this journey so I know what I'm doing lol.

As a note I already read the sticky post for 2017+ dodge vehicles, but all of the information seems a little overwhelming -- plus the '2017 Jeep Wrangler Important Information' doesnt point anywhere for me, just an error message.

Eitherway, thanks in advance -- I appreciate and advice!

[SiriusC1024]

Best way to do it is to copy the tables from a Challenger tune. They have identical engines. There's your jump from 285 to 305 hp.

I did this exact thing to a 2014 JK. Really opened it up. Don't have to worry about the engine blowing up because it's still a factory tune.

Don't forget most of those dyno tunes you see that say 330hp or so are on 93 octane. You can tell it's simply the timing advance allowed by higher octane that's the bulk of the gains. Chrysler pretty well maxed out the Pentastar in the Challenger tune. You're not going to gain much in the only other possible area - cam phasing. It's not hard to tune for higher octane yourself once you get familiar with advancing the timing safely, but that's for later.

You can mess with throttle max and opening rates (also I prefer adaptive throttle set to off), power enrichment settings, torque limiters, and driver demand tables to get a little more out of it.

And what are you talking about with tuning the MAF? There is no MAF, only a MAP and IAT. No need to tune for your CAI other than under the Pressure Control section if you want to get technical.

You don't need to tune for your exhaust. The Pentastar doesn't have exhaust manifolds, so not like with longtubes or anything like that. The small increase in volumetric efficiency from an aftermarket muffler and piping won't be too much for the neural network to handle.

Port the throttle body and lower intake (unless it's already a PUG lower). If you have the lower intake off might as well upgrade to a cast aluminum oil filter housing while you're in there. Buy a set of OEM o-rings. Don't use the ones that come with the filter housing or you'll be sad. Throw the throttle body spacer in the trash where it belongs. They don't help. If not then at least account for the increase in intake manifold volume in your tune.

Run Chrysler spec MS-6395 oil (they really mean it) and a Mopar or Mobil 1 filter. I don't think Chrysler ever got the passenger bank valve train issue fully resolved. I used to run Pennzoil Platinum, as recommended by Chrysler, then switched to Quaker State Full Synthetic. It's the best oil on the shelf and still meets spec. Change your transfer case fluid every 2 oil changes. Diff oil once per year.

When lifted use Rancho fully boxed control arm relocation brackets instead of adjustable control arms if you care about correct suspension geometry. For 4 inch lift add a drag link flip so that the tie rod moves in parallel to the trackbar. People talk about Jeep death wobble. It's because of those two things, not the steering damper needing upgraded. Always have an alignment done that corrects steering wheel angle, otherwise traction control will randomly error at the worst time and throw you in a ditch. The error is more prone to happen with larger aftermarket rims and tires, especially when hitting bumps, and most especially when they become unbalanced. TC can be disabled with HPTuners, but you can't turn off the light on the dash.

Idk the hoops you mentioned for your model year. I do know for 2016+ you'll have to ship your ecu to HPTuners to have it unlocked before you can modify the tune.

[rays04gtx]

To me, the best place to start is Logging, Lots of it, simple daily to work logs , get a few of them, rainy day , cold day, Mother F'ing hot day, take an hour trip. some normal driving logs, some spirited driving ones....they don't all have to be Mash pedal to floor logs, getting to understand how you Jeep is reacting to as many different situations and environmental inputs will help you down the line. I've also found it helps to record the same trips either video or vocally, I take a little tape recorder with me on every "logging" run, and Note little things, like why I had to slow down, locations , what direction I turned, did it feel like the trans hung between shifts, does it feel like it should of shifted. listen back to the recoding as I watch the log, that way I have a mental marker for each transition. once you get a feel for how it's behaving, you'll notice the small effects.
The more information you have, the better....And Read everything you can.


As for the Infamous TB Spacer, I worked for Comp cams for over 20 years, we did a few dyno tests, a few track days, I've seen unbiased Dynos and track days..... do they Add power...99% not really, seen a few Honda applications gain 5-6hp and TQ , keep in mind that results was seen after averaging 20 pulls with and with out....but it's not due to the "swirling effect" of the TB-spacer as much as it was due to the extra volume added to the plenum.

When Air flows into an engine it doesn't flow straight through as one column. When air is pulled/pushed through an intake manifold (or round/square/triangle pipe) it naturally flows along a surface, some of the air clings to the surface(positive/negative Ion attraction)becomes slow-moving/stagnate boundary layer .....that layer acts as lubricant/buffer for air flowing over it.

When air goes through your throttle body, a small portion will form a boundary layer on the throttle body bore & to some extent throttle blade, Air flowing over this" layer" goes into the intake manifold (the plenum area) while in there it's also clinging to any surface it meets.

SO moral to the story is , those grooves in a TB spacer get filled in with a boundary layer of air......and the rest of it just passes over like it was Nice and Smooth..... the only time I've seen a TB work on a Dodge product was a 2000 4.7 5speed Dakota, the private track day the best run was with a TB spacer....so the following week we took said Dakota back to the track, DA was 1200vs the previous weeks 1100ish, we had bought Bolts long enough to add 2 more TB spacers, we had 3 of those paper weights stacked on this thing.. picked up another .15 and 1 MPH more ......not worth what it would of costed to buy them.

the worst of the OEM "dodge" intakes are the 4.7 and the 5.7 (03-08) truck manifolds, TB sitting on top, of the intake facing forward the Air column has to make almost a U-turn to get into the plenum area, then those squatted runners all make for a super Crappy OEM intake manifold, lots of wasted surface area for air to collect and slow down the intake charge ..... ...but I digress.

[Moisture]

Best way to do it is to copy the tables from a Challenger tune. They have identical engines. There's your jump from 285 to 305 hp.

I did this exact thing to a 2014 JK. Really opened it up. Don't have to worry about the engine blowing up because it's still a factory tune.

Don't forget most of those dyno tunes you see that say 330hp or so are on 93 octane. You can tell it's simply the timing advance allowed by higher octane that's the bulk of the gains. Chrysler pretty well maxed out the Pentastar in the Challenger tune. You're not going to gain much in the only other possible area - cam phasing. It's not hard to tune for higher octane yourself once you get familiar with advancing the timing safely, but that's for later.

You can mess with throttle max and opening rates (also I prefer adaptive throttle set to off), power enrichment settings, torque limiters, and driver demand tables to get a little more out of it.

And what are you talking about with tuning the MAF? There is no MAF, only a MAP and IAT. No need to tune for your CAI other than under the Pressure Control section if you want to get technical.

You don't need to tune for your exhaust. The Pentastar doesn't have exhaust manifolds, so not like with longtubes or anything like that. The small increase in volumetric efficiency from an aftermarket muffler and piping won't be too much for the neural network to handle.

Port the throttle body and lower intake (unless it's already a PUG lower). If you have the lower intake off might as well upgrade to a cast aluminum oil filter housing while you're in there. Buy a set of OEM o-rings. Don't use the ones that come with the filter housing or you'll be sad. Throw the throttle body spacer in the trash where it belongs. They don't help. If not then at least account for the increase in intake manifold volume in your tune.

Run Chrysler spec MS-6395 oil (they really mean it) and a Mopar or Mobil 1 filter. I don't think Chrysler ever got the passenger bank valve train issue fully resolved. I used to run Pennzoil Platinum, as recommended by Chrysler, then switched to Quaker State Full Synthetic. It's the best oil on the shelf and still meets spec. Change your transfer case fluid every 2 oil changes. Diff oil once per year.

When lifted use Rancho fully boxed control arm relocation brackets instead of adjustable control arms if you care about correct suspension geometry. For 4 inch lift add a drag link flip so that the tie rod moves in parallel to the trackbar. People talk about Jeep death wobble. It's because of those two things, not the steering damper needing upgraded. Always have an alignment done that corrects steering wheel angle, otherwise traction control will randomly error at the worst time and throw you in a ditch. The error is more prone to happen with larger aftermarket rims and tires, especially when hitting bumps, and most especially when they become unbalanced. TC can be disabled with HPTuners, but you can't turn off the light on the dash.

Idk the hoops you mentioned for your model year. I do know for 2016+ you'll have to ship your ecu to HPTuners to have it unlocked before you can modify the tune.

Thanks a ton for the info!

I suppose my main questions would be, where would I find a stock challenger tune for a 2016+ model (if that matters), and would I have any concerns with transmission differences because I believe the challenger uses a different transmission than my Wrangler.

In terms of shipping my ECU out, that's something I suppose I'd have to contact HPtuners about and they'll help with that part.

Also, because I'm not sure how to do this, what device would I need to even read/write to my ECU? I assume HP tuners would sell something for that lol.

Thanks again for the advice, I like the idea of running the challenger tune for the Wrangler with 3.6L.

[SiriusC1024]

Once you register on hptuners.com you'll have access to the tune repository. There's a 2017 Challenger V6 file there. Leave the transmission part out of it. Only copy over Engine and Engine Diag portions. Leave alone the Torque Adapts found under Engine->Torque Management->General.

Here's the ECU unlock process. I was wrong it's not 2016+ it's 2015+. - https://www.hptuners.com/product/pcm-upgrade-service/

You'll need an MPVI3 - https://www.hptuners.com/mpvi3/

Then purchase credits to program your vehicle. Jeep Wrangler JK costs 2 credits. You'll have unlimited writes. The credits are to license the ecu.

https://www.hptuners.com/vehicles/stellantis-tuning/

If you want help with the tune post here then PM me that you've done so.

[Homer]

For an intro to tuning, these links helped me.
https://forum.hptuners.com/showthrea...l=1#post525502