Can Someone Tune My Buick?

[jborchel]

I own a 2014 Buick Verano. I would like to change the shift points in my transmission so that it will act like a "Sport" mode that is available in many similar vehicles. Buick tuned the shift point for economy and as a result it shifts too early in the 4th, 5th, and 6th gears. Currently it ends up at around 1400 rpm after shifting and I would like it to end up at no less than 1800 after shifting. Can this be done using the VCM Suite? If I wanted to try it myself how much is the software and hardware? I could not find any prices.

Is there anyone in my area, Sacramento or San Francisco Bay Area, who perform this as a service? How much would that be?

I would really appreciate some help on this as the Verano is a really great car in all other aspects.

[jborchel]

I own a 2014 Buick Verano. I would like to change the shift points in my transmission so that it will act like a "Sport" mode that is available in many similar vehicles. Buick tuned the shift point for economy and as a result it shifts too early in the 4th, 5th, and 6th gears. Currently it ends up at around 1400 rpm after shifting and I would like it to end up at no less than 1800 after shifting. Can this be done using the VCM Suite? If I wanted to try it myself how much is the software and hardware? I could not find any prices.

Is there anyone in my area, Sacramento or San Francisco Bay Area, who perform this as a service? How much would that be?

I would really appreciate some help on this as the Verano is a really great car in all other aspects.

I've had 29 views on this but no replies. Is it a stupid question or beyond the scope of this board?

[warriorpluto]

I don't think you can. That's the mechanical action of the transmission. Only way i know to do that is manually shift and leave it in 5 th to be at those rpm. Basically holding a gear

[5FDP]

Exactly, each gear has a gear ratio. The higher the gear is the lower the numerical number the gear ratio has. So as it shifts from 4th to 5th and 6th the rpm has to and will always drop to a certain level depending on throttle input and vehicle speed.

The only way to stop it from falling so much is to stop the transmission from shifting gears so early so that the engine rpm will rise further and the vehicle speed will be higher when it enters the next gear, thus having the rpm higher than before when the next gear is selected. Does that make sense?

I have no idea if there is full control of those transmissions either with HP Tuners.

You didn't search hard enough to find the prices, it's all listed on their website in huge numbers when you select the MPVI 2 product. Then you have to purchase credits for your vehicle at $50 each and most take 2 credits.

https://www.hptuners.com/product/mpvi2/

[jborchel]

Exactly, each gear has a gear ratio. The higher the gear is the lower the numerical number the gear ratio has. So as it shifts from 4th to 5th and 6th the rpm has to and will always drop to a certain level depending on throttle input and vehicle speed.

The only way to stop it from falling so much is to stop the transmission from shifting gears so early so that the engine rpm will rise further and the vehicle speed will be higher when it enters the next gear, thus having the rpm higher than before when the next gear is selected. Does that make sense?

I have no idea if there is full control of those transmissions either with HP Tuners.

You didn't search hard enough to find the prices, it's all listed on their website in huge numbers when you select the MPVI 2 product. Then you have to purchase credits for your vehicle at $50 each and most take 2 credits.

https://www.hptuners.com/product/mpvi2/

Thanks for that info. I am sure you are right in that the mod required would be to change the rpm for the shift to the next gear so that when the rpm drops it would pick up at the rpm that matches what speed the wheels are turning. It makes sense that the lower limit for each of those gears would be raised. What happens then to cause the transmission to downshift when you reach that point as you slow down? For instance if I am cruising in 6th gear at 65 and 2200 rpm and I slow down for a turn or curve will the downshift occur down in the rpm range like it does now(1400), or at the higher rpm where it dropped to when going into 6th because of the newer higher shift point? Seems like it needs to have two new shift points per gear; one for when you are accelerating and one for when you are decelerating.

I looked at the pricing. It looks like it is $300 for everything I would need to tackle this task. If so, how much skill does it take. I have moderate computer skills and very little electronic engine management experience. The closest being using an OBD II meter to reset error codes on a Boxster that was giving out Engine Check signal. That turned out to be a bad gas cap.

[5FDP]

There are upshift and downshift tables in just about every single application, so if the downshift tables were not touched it would still function like stock as you are slowing down.

Again what I don't know is what HP Tuners offers for that transmission itself as far as tuning goes. I do not know if they have full control over those transmission. That would be something you need to look into first before spending the money. I don't know anyone with that kind of car or if anyone has uploaded a file to the tune repository to view and see what they have for adjustable tables.

To get you going it would be $299 plus the costs of credits. If that car requires 2 credits, it's another $100 to tune that vehicle.

[jborchel]

There are upshift and downshift tables in just about every single application, so if the downshift tables were not touched it would still function like stock as you are slowing down.

Again what I don't know is what HP Tuners offers for that transmission itself as far as tuning goes. I do not know if they have full control over those transmission. That would be something you need to look into first before spending the money. I don't know anyone with that kind of car or if anyone has uploaded a file to the tune repository to view and see what they have for adjustable tables.

To get you going it would be $299 plus the costs of credits. If that car requires 2 credits, it's another $100 to tune that vehicle.

Is there a way to reach HPtuners via phone? They don't have a phone # on the web site that I could find.

[jborchel]

I have an appointment next week with an HP tuner VAR to change my shift points. The Verano's transmission brain supposedly adjust the shift points after sensing your driving history/style. Is there a way to turn this function off once the VAR changes my shift points? I wouldn't want them to change after we have gone through the trouble to set them to my liking.

[KShef]

Have you purchased the HP Tuners hardware? The transmission tables are there to do what you'd like. I recently tuned a Verano and cleaned up the shifting quite a bit.

[jborchel]

Have you purchased the HP Tuners hardware? The transmission tables are there to do what you'd like. I recently tuned a Verano and cleaned up the shifting quite a bit.

I have not purchased the hardware. The shop I'm taking the car to has the hardware and software. They will do the tuning with my input as to what I want. On the phone their specialist said the Verano shift points were based on speed. With my driving habits I observed that this was about 30 mph for 4th, 40 for 5th, and 50 for 6th. I am going to ask him to set it about 5-8 mph higher for each. Basically I'm trying to keep the upper gears from reving at less than about 2,000 rpm, maybe 1,800.

Can you describe what you did to "clean up" the shifting. Any advice on how to go about it?

[jborchel]

Finally got it done. It's like a new car. Had a speedshop in Rohnert Park, CA do it using HPTuners hardware/software. $300 was the cost.

[catencio]

Finally got it done. It's like a new car. Had a speedshop in Rohnert Park, CA do it using HPTuners hardware/software. $300 was the cost.

may you post the name of the shop or any contact information?

[jborchel]

may you post the name of the shop or any contact information?

https://www.rpmeng.com/ Ask for Jason. He is the tuner that re-did my transmission setting.