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Got my GDE Friday!! (not to be confused with GED)
My initial impression, is extremely positive. Definitely has more pep. Shifts a lot smoother.
There is no longer a massive "drag" on the vehicle when I take my foot off of the peddle, and as a result coasts a lot better. It actually behaves like a normal vehicle would in this regard. This is a slight learning curve for me. I've gotten used to using that "drag" to slow the Jeep down when approaching stops and turns etc. Now that it coasts much easier, I find myself hitting the brakes a bit harder than normal when it comes time to stop. I'm gonna have to get used to letting off of the go peddle sooner.
Overall, it seems as if the entire vehicle has changed (in a good way). I can't quite put my finger on it, but is as if the whole vehicle is working a lot less. Like somebody all of a sudden made the car 1000 pounds lighter.
I don't have actual MPG numbers to report as the tune was done "mid tank", but what I observed driving this weekend gives me very high hopes. I have fueled up the tank this morning, and will have an "official" MPG number when I re-fuel Friday evening. I have 4 tank milestones that I make note of, and I will also update this post as those are reached throughout this week.
To give you guyz some context, to get around 33 mpg, I need the following for each point on the fuel gauge:
First sign of Rise Above the Full Line - 110mi
Even with 3/4 Line - 200mi
Even with 1/2 Line - 350mi
Even with 1/4 Line - 500mi
Here are the GDE tune numbers - I will update as the week progresses so stay tuned if you are interested
*** Updated July 18 2009 ****
Begin to Rise Above the Full Line - 114.5
Even with 3/4 Line - 217
Even with 1/2 Line - 385
Even with 1/4 Line - Never made it that far prob. would have been around 560
Tank AVG - 551miles on 15.2gal = 36.2mpg
Tire pressure is 38#
65mph hwy, No AC and windows down quite often
My typical drive consists of mostly 2 lane HWY and Express Way almost completely flat land - 4mi small town (2 lights 2 stop signs), 12mi 2 Lane Hwy (4 Lights 3 of them at the Freeway), 39mi Freeway, 1 mile city (9 lights - gotta love the big city) exact reversal for the drive home.
**** Updated 7-15-09 **** - this is a rehash of a post I just made
Hit the 3/4 mark at 217miles. I know its not the hard numbers some people are looking for, but I wont have one of those until the end of the week when I re-fuel. In fact, since I don't have an evic, it really takes 3-4 tanks to get a feel for the fuel economy. After this week I will only post my tank averages for the next few weeks, not the long winded observations that I am doing this week.
No shudder noticed No shudders as of yet. This wasn't a shudder, and may not be GDE related, but yesterday at 65mph it felt like the transmission downshifted. It did not downshift, but that's what it felt like. Don't know what it was or what caused it, but it was hard enough to get my attention. So I'll list it here, but it may have nothing to do with the GDE
Cruise Control seems to drift up and down ~2mph on small hills and overpasses. I don't consider it a very big deal, it always did this to a certain extent, but its more pronounced now. So I would have to say that the GDE tune had a hand in this. Again, I hardly consider this an issue. What appears to be happening, is going up a hill, the jeep gives the engine more power than it needs to maintain a constant speed. By the time your on top of the hill, you have accelerated about 2mph. Just the opposite seems to happen going down. The Jeep backs off on the throttle a bit too much, and you end up about 2mph slower before the engine "kicks" back in.
Coolant temperature seems more sensitive to the outside temperature/engine cools down faster The temp gauge always has reacted to the outside temp, but since getting the GDE, it seems it takes less of an outside temp change to affect how hot/cold the jeep runs. Not sure if i expressed this correctly, I hope you guyz understand what I'm trying to say. Not a showstopper for me, and could even be better on the engine
Yes Virginia I can make the exhaust smoke. Its barely noticeable, but if you push the peddle almost to the floor when going 15-25mph (depending on gear as well) you will see a little haze.
**** Final Update 7-18-09 *****
Never made it down to the 3/4 mark. I wanted to fill up after 5 days of driving to work. It was at 535mi with maybe 20-30mi left before 3/4. So after factoring in 3% for the ODO being off, the first tank numbers 551mi on 15.2 gallons of fuel for a tank avg of 36.2mpg
My drive this week was slightly slower than normal. Construction caused some minor backups all week, and traffic was a bit thicker than normal and as a result i did not get to use the cruise control as much as I would have liked. Based on driving experience with my jeep, I probably would have gotten around 31 mpg without the tune
I drove pretty much like I usually do tried to keep it at 65 on FWY and just under 60 in the 2 lane hwy. No AC , Windows down a lot.
Another observation: This pretty much echos what another poster said. Before the tune, when going say 58 and NOT in overdrive, the engine was a lot more noticeable. So much so that I either had to get over 61 to enter "lockup" or back down to under 54. Now with the GDE tune doing 58 and NOT in overdrive the engine sounds a lot smoother almost unnoticeable.
I would highly recommend this tune to anyone considering this sort of upgrade.
I can't compare it to the inmotion, but me the things that sold me on this tune as opposed to the inmotion:
-The Expertise behind the GDE - this is no slam against inmotion, just that the folks behind GDE are intimately familiar with the 2.8L CRD.
-The previous post that stated the EGT and other temps were lower after the GDE tune.
-In my case they were just down the road from where I work so I just had to stop by as opposed to sending in my ECM.
GDE offers a 60 day money back guarantee, but it looks like I'm gonna be keeping this.
This will be my last update unless somebody has some specific questions. I will post some more tank averages in about a month.
_________________ 2005 CRD Midnight Blue GDE Tune Moog Ball Joints No Exhaust Brake Winter Diesel  Summer Diesel  1-800-PIK-A-BIZ Everyone's toll free number and then some
Last edited by ac5501 on Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
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