GDE/SFT? Tune

3315 Views 59 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Bounty Hunter, 3 mo ago

z swind

Discussion Starter · 4 mo ago

Hey guys, new to the forum and a new owner of a 2018 ecodiesel thats fully stock.

I have been trying to figure out which tune to purchase and the research has been confusing to say the least. Some people say GDE is the way to go but also say their new EPA compliant tunes are trash. Other people swear by SFT but say they do shady business and their tunes arent reliable. I emailed GDE and asked a few questions and got very "EPA compliant" responses saying their tunes will not work with any EGR deletes (however I have been told that GDE's tune does disable the EGR?) When asked if their tune supports turbo back exhausts or straight pipe exhausts that delete the DPF, I was firmly told that the GDE tune will not work with a turbo back/ straight pipe DPF delete and it is ILLEGAL to do so quoting exact dollar amounts for fines by the EPA if observed. Not sure if GDE is just covering their asses via email and their current tunes do support DPF removed exhausts.

When I emailed SFT I was confidently told that their tunes disable the EGR and that their stage 2 tune requires a "fully deleted closed course exhaust" (not clear as to what this is? It seemed like SFT was very open about their tunes disabling the EGR and being DPF delete friendly.

I say all this to ask for advice and to hear from anyone that has purchased a tune from either GDE or SFT recently. My main goals for my truck are to run cleaner, get better gas mileage, and sound like a diesel should. I dont necessarily want to delete my EGR but definitely want it disabled. I also want to run a turbo back or straight pipe style exhaust (not sure if this is even reasonable).

Sorry for the long post, thank you for the guidance.

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z swind

Discussion Starter · #15 · 4 mo ago

John Jensen said:
I've run GDE's pre compliant tune, SFT tunes and currently MRT (via EOC) tunes.
If you want to be compliant GDE is the only one. Unfortunately, they cannot sell to Califunny registered trucks, which I am.
If you want to shut off the EGR or delete (stage 2), SFT and MRT are available.
I've already posted on this and other forums about SFT's dishonesty.
I'm finding the MRT tunes to be excellent. I am concerned with their regen cycles.
SFT regened an average of every 190 miles, MRT tunes are regening an average 0f every 137 miles. Part of the difference is SFT included some hiway miles, so far the MRT miles are all local miles. MRT is regening at about the same intervals as the stock tune.

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John, thank you for the response. The way I read your post is that stage 1 is just an EGR disable or delete and stage 2 is an EGR disable or delete and an emissions delete in the form a DPF delete? This is why MRTuning requires a turbo back exhaust in their stage 2 tune?

Also, I may not understand the regen process completely but I understood it as a burn off of “soot” in the DPF. If you delete your DPF will your truck still have to regen?

Thanks for clearing all this up for me.

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z swind

Discussion Starter · #17 · 4 mo ago

Another question. Is the MRTuning transmission tune universal? By that I mean, if you pair a stage 1 engine tune with a transmission tune and later want to change to stage 2, do you have to purchase another transmission tune?

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z swind

Discussion Starter · #22 · 4 mo ago

Hey guys thanks for all the responses. I think I have decided to go with MRT. Does anyone know if stage 2 absolutely requires EGR removal, or if like stage 1 the EGR is just disabled?

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z swind

Discussion Starter · #25 · 4 mo ago

DrivingZiggy said:
I got my GDE tune at 30,000 miles. I did not remove the EGR until at least another 100,000 miles. So you should be good with that.

Now, if you don't want to spend the $ on the pipe, you can pull the DPF, cut it open, hollow it out, then re-weld it back together. That's what I did. Most of my reasoning is that I was going into Kalifornia regularly at the time and I didn't want any visual indicator that I was deleted. Did a thread here about it, but it was so long ago that I don't know if it's still archived.

Are you running MRT or another tune? I got an MRT stage 1 and added the DEF disable as well. With the EGR disabled and now the DEF disabled I feel like I should be able to run a turbo back without getting coded??

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z swind

Discussion Starter · #30 · 4 mo ago

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Ended up going with MRT stage 2 + trans tune. 10 plus week lead time which sucks but it is what it is

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z swind

Discussion Starter · #33 · 3 mo ago

MYTRUC said:
If your truck is fully stock then go for the GDE Compliant tune with the transmission control. I DID ABOUT 50,000 miles ago. I even had them modify it slightly for better control of the transmission. My preference. You will be very satisfied with the tune and incredible customer service. They seem to be straight up, answer any question on the spot. If your near Detroit they'll put it on for you. I'm in Western NY and I drove over, about 7 hours if I recall, to have the guys that wrote the program put it on the truck.

yeah if I could have the tune installed in person I would. I’m in Florida so that drive would be pretty brutal. Thanks for the feedback

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