Hello all. Been lurking for a while, first post!

This truck is still new to me, trying to figure out what’s normal and what’s not.

 

2006 G56 4wd 3.73 DRW 163k

 

I have a little over 3000 miles on a long block with a Hamilton 178/208 with reman injectors I sourced from my local Bosch facility. While I’d prefer a Smarty Jr, truck came with a Juice with Attitude so I have been running that. All else is stock.

 

My normal trip and main use for this truck is hauling my 8.5x20 standard height bumper pull enclosed with my Jeep inside from CT to PA via interstates 84 and 81. Trailer is roughly 8500lb loaded up, so I am guessing I am somewhere between 16-17k lb gross, though I have not been to the scale.

 

The hills on this route are not what I would call extreme, but some are relatively steep and many drag on for 2-3 miles. With the stock tune but Edge boost fooling to 35lb, just about every hill would have my boost maxed out there with EGTs between 1200-1300*F with Edge reporting 100% load. On medium sized rolling hills this was enough to maintain 70mph, but not on the longer grades. Not much change between Edge settings between stock and 2, but 3 seemed to provide a noticeable bump. On 3, medium rolling hills were down to 25lb and 70% load, EGTs about the same but still losing speed on longer grades. When pulling grades losing speed, I noticed that boost and EGTs would reduce with rpm, I would max out around 30lb and 1150*F by the time I was down to 2000rpm, this differs from my 12v a few years ago that would fuel consistently no matter what, though I realize this is a different animal and may be normal operation.

 

70 mph puts me about 2300rpm. Both fill ups netted me 9mpg, which seems low to me. Daily driving seems to be about 15mpg. Towards the end of the trip I separated from my friends with lighter setups and slowing down to 65-70mph and the truck seems happier there, 70+ and it seemed it needed 15lb of boost just to maintain speed, though there is basically zero flat terrain on the entire trip.

 

Some things to note:

Not making or consuming oil

Light black haze pulling hard with Edge on 3, no other smoke

Rail pressure is 20kpsi full load at 2300rpm, idles at 7kpsi

Baldwin filter in stock canister, Donaldson 3mic/water sep on frame rail

I have slight shake in the truck most noticeable through the shifter between 1600 and 2000rpm, I can’t hear a miss in the engine or exhaust and all exhaust manifold ports laser thermometer’d within 10*F or so at idle and 1500rpm – balance issue somewhere?

 

 

Does this sound normal? Should I start poking around my truck or adjust my expectations? Or do I need to just slow down. With 325/610 stock, I figured 8500lb would be a breeze at 70. It does it, but it seems to be working.

From what I understand the reason 5 & 6 read hotter is due to the intake plenum design. It tends to be restrictive to those rear cylinders which would explain why you're seeing cooler temps up in the front cylinders.

The weird quark with Edge Products is the timing typically is much greater on the higher levels. So yeah I know every suggesting against running high levels. Typically there is very little gains on lower levels like your finding out. The other factor is what sublevel your also using per main level. This will impact the fueling and timing maps too. After seeing a stock timing map from @AH64ID I would say you could use all the timing you could get. Running higher level but controlling everything by throttle can be safe as long as you watching the EGT's closely and giving some margin for error of the pyrometer. The problem is the lower tunes are less and less timing as you go down in main levels.

 

Know the improvements with Smarty I would look that direction personally for a better tune. Even EFILive is a good solution as well vs. Edge Products.

I still wouldn't tow with an Edge product above 3 on a HPCR as there is a lot more going on up there than just timing. They run too hot up there for added timing. 

 

 

The 4-6 should be hotter than 1-3. Got a pic of where your two probes are exactly?

Attached pic. Gauge reads 100-150* hotter between 3 and 4 than Edge does down in the collector. Wouldn't expect gasses to cool that much before hitting collector, especially since back runs hotter. Wondering if it's the cheap gauge.

 

Edited September 15, 20168 yr by JPhauler87

How do both gauges compare in the morning before starting?

I can't get the Edge to read while engine is off, so no dice there. I will try switching them sometime.

 

The shake I mentioned in my first post is starting to get to me a bit. 1500-1900rpm most noticeable through shaking shifter while driving or by truck slightly shaking parked in neutral. 5,000 miles on remans from friend that works at a Bosch shop that does a lot of business around here. I don't hear an audible miss, temp gun on manifold runners was inconclusive. If it's a balance issue, I'll throw a Fluidampr at it and live with it. If it's an injector issue, I obviously  want to get that sorted. I would like to do a kill test and rev to shake RPM, may have a friend of a friend with a scanner that can do it, or even was considering disconnecting injector wires one at a time. This shake has been there since the motor went in, hasn't gotten any better or worse. No different running two stroke or a strong dose of stanadyne. Some injector rattle, but nothing extreme. I occaisionally get a P2149 for injector bank two voltage, I suspect my aging batteries may cause that and slow crank speed. All injectors check out at .8 ohms.

 

Vids of shake in neutral and cold start below. About 60* in cold start, not sure if friend ran grid heater or not but it was cold enough to make it cycle for me right after. Was in the 40s last night.

 

Should I be concerned?

 

IMG_4627.MOV

 

I'll have to upload cold start vid when I get home and can upload to YouTube or something, I'm exceeding attachment size. 2-3 second crank, 2 seconds of gray smoke that clears up completely. Once warmed a bit, starts right up with no smoke.

Edited October 8, 20168 yr by JPhauler87

my thoughts and input might be off as i dont' have the G56.

i've had the smarty S06 and and edge.

i only towed with the smarty once and was less then impressed with it's power. but it was clean and cooler running.

the tune settings ah64id had me run was a nice boost in performance for sure.

i now have the edge JWA. and i have to say i like it. yes it runs hot. i'll NEVER tow on anything above tow setting. even on "stock" setting mine will hit 1323 then slowly drop to 1180 towing LONG like 17 miles long 6% grades.

if i was to tow all the time i would go with a smarty. hands down. but sense this truck is now a play toy. i'ma keep the edge as it makes the truck pull SOOOO much harder and i like to embarrass little rice rockets.

 

AS for EFI Live i'd get in touch with Anarchy. i have their tune on my 08 6.7 G56 and what a wold of difference the truck is.

Still have that Smarty...................

Smarty Jr. on the way from Amazon

 

Made PA trip w GF's Jeep a couple weeks ago with Edge removed. Her Jeep is about 1000lb lighter than mine, and it's noticeable. 65 was doable on all but the couple worst hills which would have me down to 62-63, so still not bad. I did not miss the power from the Edge, was nice to mat it when needed with no worries. EGTs at 2100rpm maxed around 1250, scraped at 1400 running up to 2500rpm merging onto the highway. 10.4mpg.

 

Thinking I am going to run the Smarty on SW1 and see how I like it. I've seen AH's dyno sheets on Jr. SW1 and I have a feeling it will do me well. All around improvements in economy and power. Might try SW2, but really like the idea of gains coming purely from timing and not added fuel with SW1.

Had that perfectly good used one ready to ship at 64% the price....

 

 

67% but it's only money, right?

Yeah  didn't realize you didn't pay the MSP. 

Been running the Jr on SW1 with default timing. Power increase between 1500-2500rpm is huge! Has made the truck much more enjoyable to drive. However, only seeing .5-1mpg increase, at most. I found some threads on the Smarty Resource forum where Brian claimed SW3 was actually the most efficient setting for the J06. I was under the impression Default timing was the same across SW1-3 and additional power was gained from duration. Maybe not? Thinking I will give SW3 a try and see how it does on fuel for a while. I think I could be satisfied with the SW1 power level and am not really after much more, so thinking I will set the POD to 80-90 to keep the drivetrain happy.

Is that while towing? 0.5-1 is pretty good then. 

 

PoD won't do what you are thinking. At PoD 85 all the power is there up thru about 2800 rpms. At PoD 75 all the power is there up they about 2200, IIRC. It only effects the throttle position tables so fuel is untouched. Think of it as limiting your throttle to 75% on PoD75, except the way the ECM fuels that can still be 100% fuel at low/mid rpms. 

 

SW3 will be better empty, but SW1 is still what I would use towing. 

The .5-1mpg is empty, I haven't made any long towing trips in a while

and probably won't until spring. Thanks for the clarification on the POD.

First trip of the year this weekend. Called Smarty Resource last week and they reassured SW3 was a good choice for towing as long as my clutch was up to the task and I kept EGTs under 1200 sustained.

 

This year, I stepped up to a 30' 14k GVW enclosed, 90" inside height. 6000lb empty, ~6000lb cargo. Scaled at 20360lb on the way home today. Also got the 245 19.5s install over the winter, cruising RPM is around 1950 at 65, 2150 at 70, 2200 at 55 if I drop to fifth. Works out really well.

 

9.3mpg running 70mph the whole trip. Really enjoyed the new found power and found EGTs very easy to manage maxing out around 1150, so I pushed it on the hills to see how it did. On the way home, I ran the speed limit and grabbed 5th on the long climbs and slowed down to 60 at 2400rpm, very happy there. Managed 10.7mpg.

 

Moral of the story, should have bought the Smarty sooner like you all suggested I am netting the same fuel economy with a taller, heavier trailer. 6th is usable on more than just rolling hills, and EGTs are much cooler and easy to manage. Truck pulls the way I expect a Cummins should. Very happy.

Edited May 8, 20177 yr by JPhauler87

Glad to hear it's working well for you. 

Hi Guys

 

Back in October my girlfriend and I did a 5400+ trip to Utah and back with my truck, trailer and Jeep. Amazing trip. Truck was flawless, zero issues. 9.7mpg average with speeds at 65-70.

 

One persistent thing I have noticed that has always been a complaint of mine with this truck is that even when keeping speeds reasonable (65-70 on the interstate), the truck wants to make 20+ lb of boost for flat ground cruising. I realize my tall and heavy trailer put a load on it, but that seems like a lot. It makes 12-13psi doing 70 without a trailer on flat ground.

 

I was under the impression after some reading and a comment AH made here that the turbo itself may be to blame with a small and restrictive exhaust side. I have gotten a couple comments when asking about turbo upgrades stating that better tuning would be likely to net me a much better ROI.

 

I am running the Jr on SW3 85 POD and love it power wise. Full load, happy gauges on hills and plenty of power to merge and maintain speed on hills. Is better tuning a better option than a better flowing turbo exhaust side to get the truck to feel more relaxed and use a little less fuel?

Sounds like a fun trip!

 

Your mileage doesn’t sound too low for the weights and speeds. 

 

Yes, that much boost is a result of the turbine housing. 

 

I’m a huge fan of custom tuning, but it won’t make a night and day difference in cruise boost or mileage. 

 

I’m also a large fan of the modded HE351for applications like yours. The turbine housing is modified to take the HE351VE 70x60 turbine wheel. This will improve exhaust flow, lower mid range boost, decrease drive pressure, improve upper rpm performance, and it also seems to spook quicker. My dads 06 has this mod and I’m fairly certain if I had known about it before buying my Garrett I would have gone that route. 

I was looking at this pretty hard. About $1000+ less than the 62/65 setups people seem to be running. $265 with free shipping in their eBay store.

 

http://turbolabofamerica.com/he351-exhaust-housing-upgrade/

 

I emailed Turbo Resource a few weeks ago and haven’t heard anything back. I’ll give them a call.

 

I have been going back and forth on tuning or hardware change.