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Thread: 2.8 duramax tuning help

  1. #1
    Tuner in Training
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    2.8 duramax tuning help

    I have a US version 2017 colorado 2.8 turbo diesel with the auto trans and would like to tune it a bit. I have tuned turbo LS stuff but never anything diesel and this also being my daily driver I dont want to mess it up. I have used the search tool and doesnt seem to pull anything up but the same two threads.

    Just like everyone else i want to get more power and MPG out of this little duramax because it seems like it has plenty of room for improvement.
    So far I removed some of the torque management stuff and lowered the MPH needed for upshift in all gears except 1>2. Turned up the shift pressure by 10 percent. I am going to mess with TCC lockup a bit so it locks up earlier and in other gears.

    Now engine tuning is where I am lost here. What maps do I change and what in them do I change to make more power and MPG when cruising. I have shut off the EGR for reliability purpose.

    Thanks ahead of time.

  2. #2
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    Just food for thought - don't know your exact production date or when exactly GM figured out they had the issue, but the earlier 2.8's have mis-designed injectors - they're leaking fuel all of the time causing fuel in oil dilution, excessive regens, lost fuel economy, fuel knock, stabilitrac lights and misfires during cruise... I'm personally still waiting on mine - they've been back ordered for over 2 months now just to give you an idea of how many have this issue - they're all going into production line trucks right now... I've been waiting to mess with mine just for reasons like this... Good oil - I use Schaeffer in mine - and fuel additives such as howes showed the best fuel economy increases for me - I figure the fuel additive is the only reason my injectors lasted as long as they did - I've got 50,000 on mine now after a year and 10 months of driving... Lost 3mpg due to the injectors / best I've ever gotten was after changing over the oil and highway driving which was 35.something... I hear, but have not tried yet that a cai does a decent amount for these... AND then actually keeping engine load down with higher rpms and less pedal helps a lot too - if you have any mountain driving like I do...
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  3. #3
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    You can watch balance rates at a cruise speed of about 70mph to see whether or not you have the leaking injectors - mine were getting into the 10 to low teens region on two injectors...
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  4. #4
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    Thanks I will look into that. I do not know my production date but so far I have 7k miles on it with no issues.

  5. #5
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    Oh, you haven't gone through the "final" staged break-in period yet... Something I noticed with mine was how it changed at certain mileage intervals - other owners said the same thing at almost the same mileage intervals when I asked them about it... 10,000 to 11,000 seemed to be the last one...
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  6. #6
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    Well I haven?t even gotten HPtuners to read the ECU. It?s giving me two errors and their tech team is trying to figure it out.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by GHuggins View Post
    You can watch balance rates at a cruise speed of about 70mph to see whether or not you have the leaking injectors - mine were getting into the 10 to low teens region on two injectors...
    My 2016 has about 30K on it now and I have begun to notice a rougher idle/cruise then when it was new. Especially after the GM recall reflash concerning the DPF sensor. I'm going to log balance rates asap and see if that is the source. This is the first I'm hearing of this recall, does it concern all early 2.8's or just early production 2017?
    Me love boost long time.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Rickleepierce91 View Post
    Well I haven?t even gotten HPtuners to read the ECU. It?s giving me two errors and their tech team is trying to figure it out.
    Won't read my 18 either. Still haven't herd back from support. I already have it tuned with EFI Live now though. Let me know when they get yours working I can help you out with the tune.

  9. #9
    Senior Tuner cobaltssoverbooster's Avatar
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    so far the recall extends to all duramax motors from 2016 to current.

    Condition
    General Motors has decided to conduct a Voluntary Emission Recall involving certain 2016 model year Chevrolet Colorado, GMCCanyon; 2017 model year Chevrolet Express, GMC Savana; 2017-2018 model year Chevrolet Colorado, Cruze, Silverado HD, GMCCanyon, Sierra HD and 2018 model year Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain vehicles, equipped with a dieselengine. The enginecontrolmodule in these vehicles may not properly diagnose a fault in the exhaust particulate matter sensor. Additionally, a subset of these vehicles, certain 2017 model year ChevroletSilverado HD and GM Sierra HD vehicles, may in rare instances exhibit a condition in which the engine surges up to 2,800 RPM during vehicle coast or vehicle braking.

    Correction
    Program the enginecontrolmodule, and transmissioncontrolmodule when applicable.
    2000 Ford Mustang - Top Sportsman

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by BigCE View Post
    Won't read my 18 either. Still haven't herd back from support. I already have it tuned with EFI Live now though. Let me know when they get yours working I can help you out with the tune.
    Thanks BigCE. I am working with them now and it seems to be a problem with their software not recognizing the ECM. Seems to be a issue with 2017 and 2018 trucks because multiple other people have had this issue.

    Also I have noticed a weird rough idle sometimes now after I got the recall for the DPF sensor.

  11. #11
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    Mine with the leaking injectors goes through "harmonics" - you can actually feel the over fueling cylinders firing during idle... Mine is the second batch of them originally released from GM that were held up for a few months over some stupid brake pedal fix - It was custom ordered August of 2015 and actually got it April of 2016 :/ I've had this injector issue, one burnt out DPF sensor before this recall and a tranny line blow out Other than the injectors and the tranny line, I actually expected the sensor issue, which is what they came out with the recall to address...

    The balance rates should stay around 2 to 3 - as stated mine were (-) 10 to (-) 13ish on two cylinders only while cruising - roaming around while idling, but not bad at idle / idle was (-) 2.6 on the worst cylinder - #2 if memory serves... Mine has #2 and #3 both bad at the time of checking at the dealership when I drove it for the tech working on it showing him what was going on... GM told him this was a common problem due to mis-designed parts and to replace all 4 as they would probably all be bad the following week - so apparently a bad issue with them right now...
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  12. #12
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    Another thing you can watch are misfires - that's actually what mine was setting the stabilitrac light for - see current accumulated count and watch for misfires while coasting, which is where GM has the duramax's doing some sort of post fire injector test / if it shows misfires during coast with no throttle or very light throttle, then you have the injector problem and get ready to wait, cause there aren't any available in the US for replacement at the moment...
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by GHuggins View Post
    Another thing you can watch are misfires - that's actually what mine was setting the stabilitrac light for - see current accumulated count and watch for misfires while coasting, which is where GM has the duramax's doing some sort of post fire injector test / if it shows misfires during coast with no throttle or very light throttle, then you have the injector problem and get ready to wait, cause there aren't any available in the US for replacement at the moment...
    Hopefully I don?t have any of these issues but I will be looking for these symptoms when I start tuning. I feel like most of these problems are cause from shitty Chinese made products that they decide to use. Some Chinese made things aren?t bad but wouldn?t use something like injectors that are so vital and need to be accurate.

  14. #14
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    Yeah and they went back to low voltage firing older style injectors on all of the duramax's to save cost... You think they would have learned their lesson with the LB7's
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  15. #15
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    Well I am working with HPtuners to get this problem solved. So they have to figure out the programming for my PCM so I can tune it. Now just waiting for them to get back to me when the update is available.

  16. #16
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    HPtuners team fixed everything so i can tune my truck. Here is the stock tune and it can only be opened on the latest beta version of VCM editor. if someone could help me tune i would appreciate it thanks.3-21-18 stock colorado tune.hpt3-21-18 stock colorado tune.hpt

  17. #17
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    Don't know if it would help you any or not, but here is a somewhat updated 16 calibration for comparison before the exhaust recall was done...
    Attached Files Attached Files
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  18. #18
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    GHuggins is that a stock file or after you modified it? I really want to learn more about making power with a diesels and what they like because I have only tuned gas vehicles before.

    Right now working on tuning my LS twin turbo camaro and want to hit 1000hp with 93 and water/meth injection. This colorado is my tow rig and daily. Just want more power and MPG. Also get rid of the hesitation from turbo lag as much as possible.

  19. #19
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    It's an earlier OE file, just to let you know what gm changed... I haven't personally done anything to mine until the injectors go in and it's nearly out of warranty...
    2010 Vette Stock Bottom LS3 - LS2 APS Twin Turbo Kit, Trick Flow Heads and Custom Cam - 12psi - 714rwhp and 820rwtq / 100hp Nitrous Shot starting at 3000 rpms - 948rwhp and 1044rwtq still on 93
    2011 Vette Cam Only Internal Mod in stock LS3 -- YSI @ 18psi - 811rwhp on 93 / 926rwhp on E60 & 1008rwhp with a 50 shot of nitrous all through a 6L80

    ~Greg Huggins~
    Remote Tuning Available at gh[email protected]
    Mobile Tuning Available for North Georgia and WNC

  20. #20
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    I made a tune for my truck and now getting a "Engine power is reduced" message on the dash. It doesnt seem like it reduced power at all. The tune makes a lot more power and is fun to drive. I am still learning diesel tuning and trying to figure it out. I feel like i have to change something in the Engine diagnostics tab under airflow but not sure. He is the tune.

    My Tuned colorado tune.hpt