My County is Not Testing Diesels Anymore. Stage 1 or Stage 2?

[tj3089]

So like the title says, my county recently stopped testing diesels for emissions and I am currently at 15,000, mi on my 2023.

Should I do a stage one tune until my powertrain warranty is up or roll the dice and just go straight to a stage 2 with exhaust and block off plates??

The main reason why I want to do it is to help with the high engine temperatures while towing this summer.

What would y'all do??

Sponsored

 

[Chance575]

Ran a derringer for a few years, now at 45k moving onto a Eco stage 2. Just waiting for it to ship. I also tow a 5k trailer.

 

[tj3089]

Ran a derringer for a few years, now at 45k moving onto a Eco stage 2. Just waiting for it to ship. I also tow a 5k trailer.

I'd rather do a tune to turn off the EGR and def, but mostly to help bring the engine temps and egt down.

 

[Solo25]

If your wanting to shut it all off do a stage 2. Then you can pull it all off and go. I ordered my stuff yesterday for the stage 2 street tune. Waiting for the email to where I need to send my PCM. I did this back in 22 with my JL and it made a huge change in driveability. I'm almost at 30k on my 21 so and did it at 15k last time lol.

 

[tj3089]

If your wanting to shut it all off do a stage 2. Then you can pull it all off and go. I ordered my stuff yesterday for the stage 2 street tune. Waiting for the email to where I need to send my PCM. I did this back in 22 with my JL and it made a huge change in driveability. I'm almost at 30k on my 21 so and did it at 15k last time lol.

Yeah I think I'm going to go with the stage 2 and just get it over with. Instead of having to pay to do it twice basically

 

[Gregj]

Get ALL the tunes.

 

[Firehawkcpo]

I put in the GDE tune and it's a great tune if you have to keep the stock hardware. I am switching to stage 2 to help with long term maintenance.

 

[Solo25]

Yeah I think I'm going to go with the stage 2 and just get it over with. Instead of having to pay to do it twice basically

Yea i went all the way again as I had zero issues before and doing it again. PCM should be there this week and hopefully returned soon as they are cloning and making a tuned version. Then prob a couple weeks for all the rest to return. Install isn't horrible at all just tight up near the downpipe and egr.

 

[Hdog911]

If you're under warranty then get a new PCM installed and programmed, tell the dealer you want to keep the old/stock one and give that one to EOC. Then go Stage 1 EGR off and choose DEF on or off and trans tune. The main reasoning is you can revert back to stock in 10-15 min and still be covered for the engine and transmission.

If you're not under powertrain warranty, or are having problems with emissions equipment or have F&*K U $$$$$ then definitely go stage 2 and trans tune.

Be aware if you choose multiple maps then you can not use Tazer live functions. I like being able to keep the sway bar discconected at highspeeds in 2wd, lock rear diff in 2wd, and also lock front brakes for burn outs all with a touch of a button; so I chose the 1 map option.

My current ritual to go to the dealer is: reflash trans, unmarry and remove tazer and then replace the tuned PCM with the stock PCM. The one rule when reverting to stock is you have to unmarry the tazer before swaping PCMs. I have DEF turned on otherwise I'd also have to drain and refill the tank when swaping PCMs. But for how much extra DEF the system consumes with the extra boost, I'd reccomend turning it off and dealing with the drain and refill procedure. I don't tow but I've gone to the dunes and my DEF tank empties as quick as my fuel tank.

I have the stage 2 kit sitting in my garage so when the warranty is up I'll send my tuned PCM back to EOC for the reflash. I'll still be able to drive on my stock PCM during that time. The last time I checked the flash service to change from Stage 1 to Stage 2 was about $400 CAN which is about $280 USD. At the time I got tuned the most aggressive Stage 1 map was only 10hp less then Stage 2. The main reason to go stage 2 is for reliability, but to me that's not worth losing the warranty for just yet.

 

[tj3089]

Well I ended going with the stage 2 tune and exhaust from Mr tuning. @Gregj came over and copied my ECU for me which was very awesome and kind of him to do. Then he let me drive his stage 2 truck. That helped make my decision. I guess might as well just buy once, cry once right?

I do take my kid to the dunes a lot to play with our rc cars and roam around.

 

[tj3089]

The turnaround time was faster than I expected from Mrtuning. Ordered it March 31st, they received my cloned ECU on April 7th and I had everything to my door by April 21st. Not bad at all.

I can say for sure there is a very noticable improvement in power and throttle response. I opted for the SOTF map since I do not have ACC and do not use the live tazer features as much.

It does smoke a bit on cold starts and smells like an old diesel truck, but the power gain and mileage improvement is worth it.

I just got back from a quick overnight camping trip to the mountains and noticed my mpg improved a bit. The drive starts at 4k feet elevation and I setup camp around 9k feet. On this drive I typically get around 21mpg, but this time I averaged a little over 23mpg during a windy couple days too!

Hopefully this helps keep engine temps a little lower while towing this summer. I'll report back what happens.

 

[RudeJeepin]

That sounds great.
Tell me about that tent, please?
I too like to ride motorcycles, 21 CRF450RL for me.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

I have two single tune file ECUs
1 on towing which is what I leave in there most of the the time
1 on race which is what I put in for desert fun

I looked at the files for the SOTF and just like multi maps for other platforms, its just an overfueler to boost power vs a lot more parameters being changed in single tunes.

what difference does that make? Well my gladiator on race tune with 42s, tons & 4.88s will repeatedly outrun SOTF JTs or JLs on 37s-40s with all sorts of gearing on stock axles or tons and it smokes less doing so. By around a jeep length in the dirt or road.

with the tow tune it seems like I smell less diesel at lights when warm and I have a more turbo bark off throttle. What that means I couldn’t tell you

 

[tj3089]

That sounds great.
Tell me about that tent, please?
I too like to ride motorcycles, 21 CRF450RL for me.

It is a naturenest clamshell I bought a year ago for $1400 shipped. It's been through hells Revenge in Moab and more and has held up well.

I can make a separate post about it with more details if you would like?

 

[RudeJeepin]

It is a naturenest clamshell I bought a year ago for $1400 shipped. It's been through hells Revenge in Moab and more and has held up well.

I can make a separate post about it with more details if you would like?

I'd be interested in a full review of the tent. Not absolutely sure I'll buy a RTT, but a side load, hard shell type would be my leading choice.
I currently run a DiamondBack tonneau with tracks for a rack on it. If I was to do a RTT, I'd use my short rack so the top of the RTT was about even with the top of the Gladiator's cab. It would end up about 8 inches higher than yours.

Sponsored