Some of us had surge issues, sometimes called turbo bark, from day one on our early model 2005 CRD's. We also had that put you back in your seat rush of acceleration that disappeared with the series of flashes Chrysler pushed out the door after the CRD shipped. The symptoms I experienced were a loud, barking, raspy noise that would sometimes occur immediately after accelerating, then letting off of the accelerator. It was noisy and annoying. A little investigation (back then before this site and a knowledge base on CRD's existed) with some Ford and GM diesel pickup owners helped reveal the same issue on a few but not the majority of diesel pickups. The sudden deceleration of the engine while the boost pressure was still building caused a backflow into the compressor that makes for an unpleasant noise and added stress on the compressor wheel and shaft. I had to learn to drive around it. I knew of 2 others with the same noise/issue on their CRD's, but no more than that. It seems to me that if you have this issue you know it, either from the noise or your boost gauge readings.
F37 eliminated that problem, as well as acceleration, power and fuel economy for me. It was overkill to that issue and the shift points were changed to avoid overstressing the inadequate tc's being shipped by Chrysler. As proven by InMotion, RocketChip and now GDE, a better tune can eliminate that issue even while increasing power. It just took effort and a decision to do it right, a process that was not part of Chrysler Corporate management.
I will also add that even since upgrading the TC/tranny pump as well as 2 different tunes, I do not have turbo surge as evidenced by my boost gauge. There is nothing but smooth, rapid build of boost, even to the 22 - 25 psi range and smooth quick dropoff when the auto tranny shifts or releasing the accelerator pedal while under full load. When the CRD was first introduced, then VP of Jeep Jeff Bell wrote in an interview that the CRD turbo system was a 26.5 psi design. If that's true, we have a bit of headroom over most tunes running at 22 psi. I've seen surge on a TDI boost gauge and it's not a pretty sight. I've run the InMotion stage II tune for over a year and now Jeff Robertson's RC tune for the CRD (supplied by his European partner) for 6 months, which has even more low end torque than the InMotion stage II, and it hasn't surged a single time with either tune. This lack of surge is while providing smoother, faster boost build and quieter engine performance. It just runs smoother, without turbo surging as shown by a boost gauge. The boost gauge is electric, with it's own map sensor connected at the manifold on the engine itself, directly into the chamber/plenums feeding the intake valves. If it was present, it would show up at some point on the gauge.
I agree with UFO that the pre-turbo exhaust pressure is higher under acceleration, but when the tranny shifts or fueling drops, it drops quickly and rapidly. It's not a static environment. If the GDE tune is optimized to only briefly open the egr valve during those periods of shifting or sudden fueling drop, it will likely blow boost out through the exhaust for a brief moment of time, enough to prevent a surge. It seems to be a good safe approach for a failsafe design, all things being equal. Unfortunately, the egr valve design has not proven to be all things equal. rather failure prone in my case and I'm slightly concerned that even using it for this feature may end up with it failing open once again. I'm concerned about that because it's happend to me twice in the first 18 months of CRD ownership. Even then, it's still less expensive to change it out than a turbo, but only if you actually have turbo surge. The GDE tune appears to offer it as a safety feature.
IMO, their tune is great for the majority of stock CRD's out there running stock or F37 Chrysler quality torque converters. I love the approach they took, with full instrumentation during development. It's a great solution for any CRD with a stock torque converter.
For the few who have a TC more than capable of handling high torque, with tens of thousands of vibration free shifting and trouble free miles using tuned PCM's, it offers a solution to a problem that no longer exists on their CRD's.
For those who don't have the upgrades, it should be a very good offering. If you want to run it with all of the features and have a segr installed, just put your loopback plug in and you're good to go. The segr will not set any codes, pending or otherwise if it's properly built and installed. I've monitored for codes on a CRD equipped with a segr for almost 2 years and it never has set any codes, pending, or stored freeze frame data, using 3 different scan tools, including a DRB dealer scan tool. I've deliberately pulled maf sensors, and set other codes on a CRD with a segr, then cleared them and they never came back.
It's nice to have choices. There is now a tune available for everyone, whether your CRD is stock or modified.
_________________ 2005 LTD CRD RB1 NAV/Htd Leather seats/Amsoil EA filters SunCoast Mega Trans & Billet TC/PML pan/Aux cooler Fuel cooler/Lift Pump/10um Pri/Racor R490 2um Sec Fuel Filters IronMan Lift/Shocks/Provent/Moog ball joints/ V6 Airbox/Fan/Hayden Cobalt Boost/EGT/Oil/Trans/Volt gauges/Aeroturbine 2525 Yeti Hot Tune/Odessey 65/Samco's/Michelin Defenders
|