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Just so we are clear, this tool does not give you control over the ECU software, nor does it actually completely reflashes your ECU. It does what it's known as a "realtime" reflash, it will not do a base reflash. A base reflash completely rewrites your ECU and usually takes 15-20 minutes to load up. A reflash takes 20-30 seconds and only reprograms the learned parameters. You know, those parameters that you reset by disconnecting the battery. Afaik only Cobb tuning has cracked the Nissan ECU and allows a base reflash, alas they only have it for the Z, GT-R and Infiniti G. This tool is akin to the Diablosport programmer that's used by truck guys, my old man included.

 

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I used to think Ormand was an ass too, but then I started understanding where his tone was coming from. And I don't blame him one bit. It's because of the acute lack of common sense these boards seem to be suffering from these days. For example what is with all the whines about "give us more info". Have we suddenly lost the ability to use Google?

 

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m_turner_02, if this is anything like the Diablosport tuner which is right around $400 as well, I can assure you the gains are not imaginary. My dad's workhorse is a Cummins turbodiesel Ram 3500 and the additional torque gained from his Diablosport reflash is nothing short of impressive. The truck pulls hard and pulls hard sooner (more boost at lower rpms).

Having said all that though, when a company comes up with such a product, hopefully they have done R&D on the tunes beforehand. Amongst other things, they should have dyno runs. I see no reason why these would not be released, unless the gains were not noteworthy ...

 

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I think I know the difference between tuning a NA vs a turbo better than most around here While I realize my comparison was apples to oranges, what I was saying was to not dismiss the tool right off the bat. I am skeptical myself in the sense that I like my hard data to accompany marketing claims. Bully Dog offers a 30-day money back guarantee, one could simply purchase it, test it and upon disappointment simply return it.
A Technosquare reflash is admittedly better, however, this tool is cheaper and provides some monitoring capabilities as well. THE best way to go about it would be a pro-tune but not everyone has the inclination to do so.

 

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Sethman, interesting info, appreciate it. I guess I was a bit misleading about my statement. I was just trying to say this is not a complete ECU reflash/base reflash.
I'm sure you know that "just bumping the boost" involves a lot more than just tuning target boost. There are a lot of other parameters that need to be tuned as well.

 

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So if I were to throw this on my car, it won't screw the cvt up? or anything in the car for that matter? Like if i were taking my car in for services and i took out the chip would my ecu screw up ever?

The transmission has it's own separate programmable control unit called a TCU (transmission control unit) or TCM (transmission control module). It would not affect it in any way. If you do go to the dealer you can always unload the flash and be on your merry way

 

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I don't get what you're proposing. The CVT will pretty much do the same that you're describing. The only limiting factor is the rev limiter, which you also happen to have. Besides that, can't think of anything else.

 

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m_turner_02, before you flame you should consider that it's a delicate balance of sharing information and keeping to intellectual property. If bullydog posted the complete ins and outs of their procedures then the competition would be able to reverse-engineer it and undercut their market. I'm not saying I'm satisfied with throwing around money for things and just taking the seller's word for it, but rather than looking under the proverbial hood, we should look at results. Even my tuner will never release me an open map so I can see exactly what parameters they've tuned. All I see is the logs and, well, how the car pulls
So, in other words, rather thank asking for tuning parameters which they will never release, I think we should ask for some dyno runs. Being that this product is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, I really see no reason why those tempted to try it would not simply buy it and if they don't like the results, return it.

 

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I will say this. You get what you pay for. Technosquare's reflash is somewhat of a pro-tune, is it not? It takes into consideration your mods and tunes accordingly. It also happens to be almost twice as expensive This device is loaded with OTS maps (off the shelf) that are in no way personalized and are meant for a wide range of applications (meaning they need to NOT screw up any Altima). I can pretty much tell you they tune your AFR, fuel trim, timing and a few other parameters. Take their claims with a grain of salt, of course. I think the key word is "up to". If they take a car, tune it, put it up on a dyno and they get 20 extra horses, that doesn't mean you'll get that. OTS maps are very ... unpredictable I would say but that's not the right word. Two different cars can net completely different gains.

I subscribe to your proposition, actually. I think their details are too sketchy. It would be nice to see the information that they base their gain claims on and also at least SOME summary of what they actually tune. They are probably banking on the customer's eagerness to try it, but I think they are also losing some potential sales due to lack of info.

 

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raise the pressure in automatic transmission lines to increase the speed of shifts

I don't wanna call straight up bullshit on this so I'll just say I am very skeptical. I'm fairly familiar with my JATCO transmissions. So far, nobody has been able to crack the Transmission Control Module which is a separate entity than the ECU. This means that you can't raise the line pressure without directly interfacing with the TCU or manipulate other settings in any other way. The only way I know so far to increase line pressure is through actual hardware mods done by companies such as IPT (Import Performance Transmissions). These guy have been building and tuning JATCO trannies for a living for a long time. They know the ins and outs. Go to their site. They will tell you the same thing I told you.

So unless Bullydog comes back with a thorough explanation as to how they manage to manipulate the AT line pressure, I'm going to say it's a false claim and they are banking on the fact that nobody will bother to check if the line pressure has actually changed.

Us Subie guys have been drooling over the possibility of interfacing with the JATCO TCU for as long as I can remember. Don't tell me some off-the wall company managed all of a sudden to do so, when others such as Cobb Tuning or IPT never did.

20hp out of an OTS tune is at the crank and still seems like a high number to me.

 

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I think even your dealer can do a timing advance and it would probably cost you an hour labor at most, which is generally well under $100

 

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Good or bad, let us know what the outcome is

 

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I disagree on the BMW remark, those cars are pretty stellar out of the box. They're not exactly tuner cars due to the fact they cost an arm and a leg to do so, plus their electronics oftentimes get in the way. But I guess sometimes that's a good thing, since the electronic system will often throw error codes on the dashboard when ricers try to hook up mad HID kits y0.

 

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^I still call BS on the "increasing line pressure in the automatic" part

 

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Look guys, what I would personally do, especially with the 30 day guarantee, is get the thing and go to a dyno and then prove the gains are nowhere near close to what they are claiming. They will attempt to question your results by claiming it was due to environment conditions or the state of the engine, but someone will have to step up and do it. If I still had an Altima I'd be all over a test like this, I have access to a local 2WD dyno.

Basically I started questioning their claims the moment they said the Bully dog also has the ability to adjust automatic transmission parameters such as line pressure. This is, I will say it bluntly, a very questionable claim, if not an outright lie, because nobody has been able to crack the JATCO transmission control module so far.

 

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5 pages and no dyno runs yet. Jeez.

 

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They don't have dyno runs to show because they don't exist. They did their testing on other cars and they extrapolated from those gains to claim "roughly" the same for the Altima. And I bet you if you read their statements closely, they will most likely include words such as "up to", "capable of", etc.
Yeah, up to 25hp. So anything from 1HP to 25HP means their statement is true. If you spent $450 and gained 1 horsepower, in theory their device worked. That's a heck of a lot of money for 1 horsepower ...

 

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I'm with saltima on this, it would be nice to see an actual dyno run or two with a baseline compared to the car tuned, because those would actually be meaningful numbers in terms of seeing how much power is gained or not.
BUT, this device comes with a 30-day money back guarantee if I'm not mistaken. For all of you bitching about the lack of dyno runs, why don't you get off your bum, buy the device, get a couple runs on the lolers and see for yourself. You would also contribute to the knowledge of this forum. And if you don't like it, give it back to the company citing concrete facts (dyno sheets) that you are not satisfied with the gains.

The end

 

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I just don't get one thing about the premium tune.

The premium tune makes sense on the 2.5 because the vehicle is designed to run on regular fuel.

The 3.5 is designed to run on premium fuel and tuned that way. I just don't know if it will make any difference in the bully dog gt.

The way I understand it, it advances timing on the 3.5 as well and if you tune, premium won't be just an option, but a requirement to not have the engine knock at all. I think it advances timing to the point where if you run regular, the engine pulls so much timing that it noticeably hurts performance and/or the engine will still knock. Probably pulls off the baseline, which is a good way to crack a ringland.

 

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Oh, stop being so negative Dyno numbers matter too if you have a baseline. I'd be curious to see them too.