All very good, and appropriate, comments. If I could pick up 85 HP and 85 ft. lbs. of torque for $1,500 and not risk damaging my $90K car I would do it in a heartbeat. However, there are too many scams out there to just take someone's word for it.

I'm with Chuck08XJR--need to find a local company to do this so if a reflash is needed I don't have to have my car out of commission for a week.

 

HouTexJag I have a friend that is a mechanic 59 South Jag dealer that is looking into it for me so I will keep you posted.

 

Should the vendor not at least have their own dyno results to show?

Otherwise how can they make any claims at all?

 

I would like to see the before and after from the same dyno and pretty close temp.

 

i see your long list of cars..? so your telling me im not a serious tuner do to the facts that i didnt look for more details before tuning my XJ? what tunes have you done to the list of cars you currently own. i See a M6 which is a tune machine, But do i agree with what your saying yes. Does the company need to provide a dyno? correct. IF you didnt know the engine in our XJ supercharged and up models. Have the Exact same tranny's and Internals as the new 2012 XKR-S. <--- that is suppose to be the jag's super coupe (for now). If you dont feel safe doing these mods which your saying by all means i tell you to go to ARDEN. 3000.00$ just for the ECU MOD and yes it includes a dyno if you go to there website.

 

Why would i do the better satisfaction for others and pay for a dyno session when i know what my before and after pull feels like. I owned a CL65 i know what a pull feels like. and i cant wait till summer to rip up some M's and AMG's.

If you get a good relationship started with the tuner* who did your file for you. they will probably do things like flash back to stock or reflash for free.

ALSO for those who are stating it can be detected or your motor will blow up and need to buy a new engine. im sure we are all witnesses to this forum as the tuner of this forum stated that, Neither the tunes will be detected nor will our engines be at jeopardy and if either of these tend to happen? our evidence is right here.

 

skforza did you pull your own ECU and how hard was that it to do? And who did the pulley for you?

I have no doubt it will make a huge change and not sure why everyone is having such a hard time with a tuned chip.

 

Agree that you should be carefully with altering the maps, and the sharper the tune the higher the risks obviously.

But if not done on a dyno, how do you know where the knock limit is so you can stay safely away from it? So if done right, you must have some before and after dynos, and it is not about the max power you could achieve (thinking of higher risks), but the power increase from stock over the rpm range. So not showing a dyno would make me feel hesitant …

 

no ecu was pulled. my local tuner he connected his computer to my car download the file on to it and it was done less then an hour. pulley being pulled out was a bi***, but a local shop did it.

its not a *chip* its a file that over writes your stock ecu and creates the output to be a more enhanced performance.

Like the CL65 i owned. Sales manager went to the AMG course and they said the output of the 65 V12 engines were reduced in HP and TQ before being sold on the market. thats why renntech charges you 3-5000$ for another 100HP and 250TQ. same situation here but the pricing is amazing. Please by all means people who are very hesitated go to arden they charge 2500 or 3000 i think its on there site.

 

This is good news. Are you saying that ECU Tuning Group offers this service? If so, I would purchase the tune, perform before and after dynos with AFR and boost levels and be glad to post for all forum members to see.
I have quite a bit of experience with tuning my cars and tuning vendors. Sending in your ECU or making a trip back to your local tuner shop after a dealer software update is simply unacceptable to me. Been there and done that......

 

Please view the original post. Gains have been updated to 565hp 525+lbs tq with an ECU tune and 590hp 550+lbs tq with a pulley and tune.

New pricing available on our website. Price List

We posted new information about the Jaguar 5.0L Supercharged in our blog.

 

dittto

 

OK...no more bickering, conjecture, guesses and defensive posturing. I've done it as of today and documented results as best I could (not perfect, but gives you a pretty damn good idea).

Preface: I DO NOT LIKE MAIL ORDER TUNES. I've tuned several cars on the dyno, and all have been bench flashed, dyno and/or road tuned. However, if any Jag owner is actually a gear head an interested in tuning, you may have noticed we have limited options.

Here goes:

1. ECU Tuning Group Customer Service. Top notch!! Jags is a tuner, and as such can be a bit difficult to contact at first. I emailed, then followed up next day with a call because he asked me to. He was then super attentive through the whole process. I'm sure Jags has dyno sheets to post, but he's busy tuning cars...I for one am happy about this after having done it, so I'm posting the dynos here. Jags sent me the laptop and OBD reader and answered his personal cell phone every time I had a question and was ready and willing to walk me through every step (even though it's very, very easy). I read the file (15 minutes), emailed to Jags, he sent back tuned file (15 minutes), programmed car (10 minutes).

2. Results. Dynos posted here. I posted the baseline (mine was very strong stock...even the dyno operator commented based on the presumed 470 bhp rating...should have been in the 405rwhp neighborhood with drivetrain loss through an automatic tranny...rule of thumb of course). Mine posted three runs around 420/400 rwhp/tq. These runs were done around 11:30am in Dallas in 67 deg weather. I drove the car from cold start 10 miles to the dyno, let it cool for 45 minutes and made the runs.

Then I opened the tuning package, performed the tune. Jags was there all the way through. Buttoned it up, and per Jags drove at least 105.3 miles for the car to adapt. Drove it 113.8 to be exact, unfortunately, drove it for 1.5 hours straight to do so, directly to the dyno. Let it cool for 45 minutes and made the after tune runs. Four runs around 460/450 rwhp/rwtq at 5:45pm in Dallas in 75 deg weather.

Short story, gained 40rwhp and 50rwtq, which is AWESOME!!!!

Now, because of the temp difference, outside and car, those numbers are probably 10 low on each, but that's just a semi-educated guess, and could be more due to the excessive amount of hammering I did in the 1.5 hours of adapting the car to the new tune because I drove it hard...very hard and it was very hot.

More positives...

While I was hammering the hell out of it for 113 miles, I averaged 18mpg (was 20 for the 113 miles, but with 4 pulls and more hammering it over 156 miles total got 18 mpg) 1 better than I usually average in typical city driving!

The car shifts much, much better and is more smooth all the way across the band. Even the dyno operator noted the improved shifting on the damn dyno and commented.

You can feel it without question.

AFR was 14.8 after tune (see bottom of tuned dyno sheet, they didn't run wideband on base runs unfortunately, and I just caught that)...SOOOO MUCH BETTER and not in the danger zone everyone seems to be so worried about. You could run 87 octane in this rich sonofa3#$% stock if you wanted to...no need to worry about detonation.

OK...for those that just have to take stick to horse, I'm sure there will be a host of other questions, but I'm a converted ECU Tuning Group customer after this experience...for what it's worth.

It's a hell of a thing to buy 50rwhp for $1700...always a deal!! Throw in better drivability and it's great! Now, I can't say anything about the detectability of the tune, but Jags knows his stuff and I spoke to him at length.

Hope this helps somebody that wants it!

Jags, if you're reading, many, many thanks!

 

BTW, this car was a bit of a pain to dyno...traction control presented an issue, but the guys got it down pretty well. You can see at least one outlier run in the after dynos.

 

Icarus77, thanks for the detailed info. IMO this is what all have been looking for. When you say you performed the work, they sent you the file and you have a local shop perform the work? With that info ECU Tuning gives 3 tunes at no extra charge. Does that still apply when the file is emailed? Also, new to this concept was the local person familiar with Jaguars or just a local shop with dyno?
Thanks again, Fire34609

 

Once you contact Jags, he will overnight you a laptop and modified OBD reader tool (one you can buy at autozone that just reads codes). Then you just need to open it up, get in the car yourself and call Jags. He will walk you through the whole process. It's really very quick, and very easy. You will basically do the "tuning" part yourself.

The software on the laptop reads the car and downloads the information through the OBD port, which is just below the dash near the driver's door. Then you can take the file from the computer on a flash drive, and email it to Jags. You can drive it while Jags is modifying the file if you like, but it will show codes (ie, check engine light, etc.).

Jags will send you a modified file back, and you just need to go back to the car, hook the OBD back up from the laptop and Jags will walk you through the programming. It's really as easy as pushing a "read" button first, typing in a couple file names, emailing, pushing a "write" button, and tuning is done!

Then, one code will still be thrown, a U100U code I believe, and as Jags explained, it's a code that tells you the car lost communication with the ECU. You plug in the OBD tool Jags sends you, push a couple buttons and clear the code!

Go drive 100 miles and smile continuously.

The only thing I used my local shop for was the dyno. I'm sure a local guy would do it for you, but definitely ask, because those guys get nervous dropping in someone else's tune on a 100K car. Honestly, pick the closest 14 year old computer/gaming kid and he's probably your best bet.

Yes, I believe you get two additional reflashes, didn't ask about three, but whatever he has on the site is correct. I'm sure you'll need to pay shipping, which is about $100 each way, because you need the tools each time.

Hope that helps.

 

Thank you for posting your results and feedback.

I question the 21:1 AFR for the stock engine and wonder if it's a typo. That would be extremely lean for light throttle cruising, never-mind a full throttle dyno run. The after-tuning 14.8 AFR is also very lean under full throttle, unless the Jaguar 5.0L behaves differently than other forced-induction engines....and it's not even remotely rich as you suggest. Since lean air-fuel ratios combined with some operating conditions lead to high combustion temps (increasing likelihood of detonation), higher exhaust gas temps, pre-mature catalytic converter wear, and higher engine coolant temps, I'd appreciate it if you could explain your conclusions. The AFR traditionally should be closer to 12.0:1 (lower number is richer for those not familiar). Here's an article discussing tuning air-fuel ratios... Browser Warning

Your 50 hp/50 tq results are quite low compared to the 95 hp/101 tq typical power improvements advertised. Have you discussed your results with Jags?

Thanks again for the feedback.

Bruce

 

The dyno shop I used tunes Lambos mostly (and ridiculously overkill cars in the 1200hp range), and they were very impressed with the tune gains from a "canned" tune...particularly the torque gain over stock. They don't know Jaguar at all though, so take that into consideration.

Most tuners would trade their first born to get 50 usable ft/lbs for $1700. The CTS-V boys get 50 out of a tune, headers and exhaust (runs you about $5k installed).

Not sure what other tuners are seeing for gains, but this has got to be pretty high up there for just a tune.

 

Bruce, thanks for the input, and note that I don't buy much into the AFR, as I noticed on my first dyno that they didn't actually run the wideband (see bottom of sheet), so the 12 I saw was on a compilation sheet and means nothing...gonna take that off the post because I confirmed with the dyno they didn't run the AFR on the first runs. 14.8 is a perfectly acceptable AFR based on all the tuners I deal with, but to each his own, I'm sure. My rich assessment is more based on the fuel consumption change.

However, please pay attention to the gains posted...REAR WHEEL as measured on a dyno, not bhp as advertised. If you take the roughly 16-18% drivetrain loss, you get about 540bhp, which is a little off from the claims, but not to say he hasn't had a car dyno that way, or that mine wouldn't dyno 15bhp better after cooling more.

I did discuss with Jags, and my car was very strong on stock pulls compared to most at 405rwhp. End result numbers were about what he's been seeing, with a few higher numbers (and I'm sure the advertised is one of the stronger ones).

Now, take into account dyno, operator, southerly breeze, angle of the sun, and you can pick it to death, but the fact is, this was a very significant gain from the tune. Hell, I can make the dyno read 40hp one way or the other if I wanted to.

This was the best I could do for a comparison.

 

Bruce, I also just noticed that you stated 21:1 AFR, and then realized I had also done that in my OP. 12 was my dyslexic intent, but it still stands that it means nothing because the first runs didn't have the sensor.

On my na engines, I ran 13.5-15 AFR.

Apologies.