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GDE Tune (Green Diesel Tune)

313K views 1K replies 171 participants last post by  Hanskropft 
#1 ·
So... I see there are lots of comments about the GDE Tune but I can't seem to find a thread dedicated to it. Lets start one.

If you have a GDE Tune or a thinking about getting one then this thread is for you. Please stay on subject.

I ordered my tune this morning and I see that it has shipped already. That is pretty fast service so far. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I also asked Keith at GDE four or five pre-purchase questions. He was fast to reply with answers.

If you have the tune already, you might post some data here and brag a little. Also reveal any problems that may have arose.

Which method did you choose to obtain the tune? Etc, Etc.

I decided to bite the bullet and buy the flash tool. So my bill was $750.00.... ouch. BUT we are going to launch on a 6,000 mile trip. At $4.35+ per gallon of gas, I should make up a portion of the price right there.
We'll see.

The scariest thing about the whole deal is the warranty. Its like... HEY you are messing with your car, if anything goes wrong, it totally on you. Its the same guarantee you get when you install a hack in your computer operating system or your WII Game System. If you hack, its on your back. I hacked my WII so I don't have to insert any disks any more..... great. But then my WII didn't cost me $26,000.

So.... hearing from happy customers is welcome and encouraged. When enough people say, "I did it and it works GREAT." It really helps. So dive in.

:2thumbsup:
 
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#2 ·
Yep had one on my WH for about 18 months.

Combined with a 3" exhaust and snorkel i got around 11l/100km with full armour and roof racks and mud tyres. Even on 35's im now getting 12.2l/100km city. Towing a camper was around 13l/100km.

Much better torque (and power), ran a 14.9sec at 89mph on the qtr mile too. Armoured. I can hunt Hemis :).

The motor is noisier than before (part of the fuel savings are removing extra fuel pulses to quieten the combustion) but never worried me.

Flash tool is very handy trail side when the lights come on. Clears codes and all.

Dave
 
#3 ·
Got mine done 2 weeks ago. I immediately saw an increase in mpgs and a decrease in exhaust temps. I have a lift and bigger tires so the engine was working harder.

Before tune @ 65mph = 700F+ on the Cat1

After tune @ 65mph = 500F on the Cat1

Still working on my first tank of "tuned" fuel, but I will report back mpgs. It will be a mix of hwy, city and trail.

Engine is slightly noiser. Sounds a little more trucky....

Power has increased, but it is not 500hp V8 put you in the seat power.....
 
#4 ·
Before tune @ 65mph = 700F+ on the Cat1
After tune @ 65mph = 500F on the Cat1
Engine is slightly noiser.
Interesting that cat temp is lower.
Any idea on how does this help performance?
Do you think it could lead to incomplete burn off?
 
#5 ·
The lower exhaust temps while cruising are due to less fuel being injected, slightly more advanced timing and optimized boost pressure. This equates to a more complete burning of the fuel, not less. The higher exhaust temps with stock tune are also partially due to higher levels of hydrocarbon. Higher heat in the exhaust is more wasted energy and you money ging out the tailpipe.

The posted temp data is from steady-state cruising and does not reflect our changes to performance. The test would have to be completed stock vs. tune on a 0-60mph run to see the exhaust temp difference at full power.
 
#7 ·
The catalyst on the WK is an oxidation catalyst. The light-off temp is between 360-380 F, this is the temperature when the catalyst starts converting HC and CO. The oxicat does very little to burn soot. To burn the soot you need sustained temps above 1100 F for 5-10 minutes, this is accomplished during the DPF regeneration.

There is also some passive soot regeneration in the DPF, but this typically occurs when the DPF bed temperature is above about 840 F. Typically during trailer towing or when vehicle is loaded and traversing grades. The level of passive regeneration is also highly dependent on the amount of platinum in the DPF substrate, which is only known by the Chrysler engineers.
 
#8 ·
Installed mine on Monday. I also went for the programmer and tune. Very quick response from GDE, emailed my tune to them around 10 am eastern, and had the mod tune back by mid afternoon. Very impressed so far, acceleration from a standing start is very good. Yup, it is louder I find, but only when you put the food down, but, then again, it is a Jeep with a diesel in it. So that is fine for me. Just completed a 200km trip to work, filled up half way. I have a garmin gps with the Eco app, it shows real time mileage figures on it. The mileage today on the drive was quite a bit lower than before the tune. By mid next week, I should have another 400km trip and fill, so i should be able to compare with my past mileage figures. I have recorded my fuel consumption on paper, from the time I bought the Jeep in 2008, so I should see any difference right away. I'll keep you posted.
 
#12 ·
Interesting. I regret that I have not kept detailed data since I got it.

I have one of those Garmin thingys too. Mine has the blue tooth transmitter that sends engine data to the unit on the dash. Is that what you have too?
I'm hoping there will be enough stored data in the unit to get a good comparison.

I'm not excited about more noise. My MB engine is so quiet it is amazing. You can hardly tell it is a diesel. Extra mileage will be worth it though as will the other spiffs.

Speaking of putting "your food down," have you ever tried cooking potatos on the engine while on a long trip. Wrap them tightly in foil. Works great.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for starting this thread chirpz!

I have some basic questions about the tune that I hope gde or someone else can answer:
1) what toon options are available? For example "economy"?, "performance"?, "swirl motor delete"?, "dpf delete"?, "egr delete"? Or combination of those items? My swirl motor is fine and I would like to keep it enabled with error codes that it may generate, but I'd like the egr disabled but I want go leave it place etc.
2) are you entitled to receive more than 1 toon? Or is every different toon an additional charge?
 
#13 ·
Chirpz said:
Nice. Keep us posted on your observations.

What do you use to measure the exhaust temps? Elm Scan?
Sensitive toes?
I have a dashawk that I use....it provides me exhaust temps mainly for regens which happen every 750 miles. Temps on the regen go above 1200F for 10 minutes. I have the Dashawk setup to flash at temps above 900F.

When I added the bigger tires I noticed an immediate change in exhaust temps....which meant to me the engine was working harder to move the bigger tires and push the lifted Jeep.

With the GDE tune I am back to exhaust temps I saw with the stock wheels, tires and suspension.
 
#14 ·
Chirpz said:
Interesting. I regret that I have not kept detailed data since I got it.

I have one of those Garmin thingys too. Mine has the blue tooth transmitter that sends engine data to the unit on the dash. Is that what you have too?
I'm hoping there will be enough stored data in the unit to get a good comparison.

I'm not excited about more noise. My MB engine is so quiet it is amazing. You can hardly tell it is a diesel. Extra mileage will be worth it though as will the other spiffs.

Speaking of putting "your food down," have you ever tried cooking potatos on the engine while on a long trip. Wrap them tightly in foil. Works great.
My wife is the noise gauge...tire noise and engine noise. She did not notice any difference. It is not louder to the untrained ear.
 
#19 ·
GDE Tune flash scan device arrives.

Getting back to the GDE Tune, I ordered it on Wednesday morning and it shipped out the same day. It arrived today!! Wow, that was fast.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to use the tool until Sunday afternoon. I'll post some photos of the device along with my nervous comments and blood pressure.
 
#20 ·
Don't forget that you will have to download your current tune, come back to the computer and mail it to them. Then it will get modified and sent back to you to be uploaded in your Jeep. When I got mine I thought it would just plug and go.
 
#24 ·
Brillant !! I like the idea of monitoring EGT from each manifold. Especially with a tune I think its vital to know EGT before the turbine ... if EGT during regen is 1200 F at the CAT 1 sensor...imagine what the temperature is like just before the turbine !
 
#26 ·
GDE Tune Arrives

I guess I was too eager to wait. I managed to sneak away from our anniversary party and download my data from the WK and email it off to the GDE people.

To my surprise, by the end of the day, I received an email reply with my new tuneup data file ready to install. I'll do that tomorrow afternoon and then do some testing. Waiting is difficult.

Fast service.
 
#27 ·
terrasmak said:
Is the EGT sensor supposed to be before or after the turbo?

BTW the search function sucks on this forum? Nothing came up under EGT, he'll this thread should have come up.
Where ever you want, it depend what temp you'd like to monitor. There's already sensors after the turbo... Ecu captures the cat temp so you can monitor those via obd gauges (dashawk or bullydog). Curently there's none before the turbo
 
#28 ·
GDE Tune .... OK, Wow!

OK WOW!

I went out today at 3 PM and installed my new Green Diesel Tune for my WK.
I'll post some actual data later along with some "For Dummies" photos of how the install is done. It was easy. Here is my first impressions of the performance.

I got in and started up. Nothing unusual. I listened carefully and did not notice any additional noise. If it is louder, I can't tell, but then I do wear hearing aids in both ears. My wife did not notice anything either and she is a "sound hound." I have not told her about the tune up yet. That is my way of testing the "feel" of it.

I put it in reverse to back out of the drive way and first off I noticed that the Jeep started moving as soon as I touched the accelerator pedal. There is usually some mushiness in the pedal and you can tweak it a little when you back up. NO MORE. Same with forward motion. There is no play at all in the pedal, if you push it even a tiny bit, it goes.

I also noticed that the going smoother and steadier. I sometime get a tiny bit of turbo lag, but not near like it used to be. The turbo lag (if that's is what it is) is also different. Used to be it would not accelerate strongly until the lag was over, now is gets off to a smooth strong and immediate start and then there is this tiny little lag. It seems to happen on medium and fast take offs, and is imperceptible on the slow typical type take offs. My wife often complains about the Jeep being laggy. I doubt that I will hear that complaint again.

Power.... I took it out and stomped it couple of times. Very subjective test. It does seem to have more pep. I have no way to rate this. It has always been peppy. Now it is a smoother peppy. I did notice that it is more difficult to get it to go slow in those 20mph zones on Main street. Have to watch it.

Mileage.... most important to me.
I'm starting with a FULL tank and have previous records. I'm clocking mileage using my Garmin Nuvi in harmony with a Garmin Mechanic Ecoroute HD that monitors the actual engine performance through the computer port. For the next fill up I'll compare their "At the pump" feature with past records. Each routed trip is tracked and log individually.

This morning I drove to Church and back.
Recorded 16.xx on the way there and 19.xx on the way back. On the way there, the trip was ruined by a long period of idling when we made a stop....should have shut it off. It is only an 8 mile trip so a little idling makes a dent.

This evening, we made the same trip and recorded 23.xx both directions. So it appears that I will have 3 to 4 mgp increase in mileage. This is very good news to me and shows that the "tune" will be a lasting value.

By the end of the week, I'll have some comparison data to post.
So, my first impression is that the "tune" is easy to install and it does what it claims to do."
 
#29 ·
Keep us posted...I am traveling this week to MI in my ML350 so it will be another week or 2 before I can get the actual fuel economy for the first tank of fuel with the tune.

Fuel economy alone the tune will pay for itself, and the peace of mind with the swirl motor is priceless.
 
#30 ·
So let me make sure I understand correctly... the GDE tune will eliminate the swirl motor from the equation with no adverse affects? I have 84k on my 08 right now and the replacement black seal charge tube I installed at 25k is now leaking pretty good so its not the be all end all fix either. I need to run this truck for another 2 years so avoiding the swirl motor problem is huge for me. If this tune gets rid of it... that right there is worth the price of admission.
 
#32 ·
The tune does two things. First, it modifies the way the engine works to improve performance and economy. Second, it modifies the ESM to ignore the alarm signal from the swirl motor and prevents a swirl motor alarm from putting your Jeep into limp-home mode.
On another note, regardless of the color of the intake gasket, you should correct the leak condition. Search in this forum for elephant hose to find the most common cure for oil in the turbo intake.
 
#35 ·
Well, just hand calculated my last fill. Did a 400km drive home and then back to work, so this was mainly highway driving with two days of city. The terrain is mainly flat, but the first 1/3 is quite hilly. Kept the speed about 98 km/h(60mph), (speed limit is 90km/h), both ways. I calculated 9.8L/100km, 28.9(imp)MPH, 24.08(US)MPH.
This is about the same as before I lifted and installed the larger tires.
So far it's looking good.
 
#37 ·
Since i have a check engine light with code p2009 i will be ordering the gde tune in the am. I have read very good reviews on it and spoke with Keith at gde twice today and he seems to be a very nice guy. So i will have one coming my way also. I have been assured by everyone it will take care of my current code.

Much like Scootr, I dont get to drive my jeep much, because it is my wifes. At this time i have 4 Dodges with cummins in them. My wife has always loved the sound of them, so she wanted something that had the sound of a big truck, and she loves her jeep. I just hope I can work out the reliabilty of the jeep so we can keep it for a long time. I know she will only drive it a couple more years tops, then like many on here it becomes mine.

Also the extra mileage should pay for the tune in no time.
 
#38 ·
ktmkris said:
Since i have a check engine light with code p2009 i will be ordering the gde tune in the am. I have read very good reviews on it and spoke with Keith at gde twice today and he seems to be a very nice guy. So i will have one coming my way also. I have been assured by everyone it will take care of my current code.

Much like Scootr, I dont get to drive my jeep much, because it is my wifes. At this time i have 4 Dodges with cummins in them. My wife has always loved the sound of them, so she wanted something that had the sound of a big truck, and she loves her jeep. I just hope I can work out the reliabilty of the jeep so we can keep it for a long time. I know she will only drive it a couple more years tops, then like many on here it becomes mine.

Also the extra mileage should pay for the tune in no time.
Please post up your wife's response to the engine after the tune....it sounds more like a diesel to me.
 
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