Dynamic Fuel Management

jagabom (Esquire) · January 19, 2018

Idles on one cylinder now. Active changed to Dynamic.

The 2019 Silverado will be available with six engine/transmission combinations. This includes new 5.3L and 6.2L V-8s equipped with GM’s Dynamic Fuel Management, which actively shuts off any number of cylinders required to optimize fuel economy — meaning it can idle efficiently on a chilly job site while running on a single cylinder.

Jim

CYWG

Donstar · January 19, 2018

This sounds exciting, but I'm sure the idea will stress many members. I'm wondering if there will continue to be the display indicating the number of activated cylinders. I know the sight of the V4 indicator had a love/hate following and I can only imagine the feeling when you are cruising in V2! ( like my Harley?) If the system truly works on need, I wonder what will happens to peoples' perceptions if it never needs V7 or V8?

Loco-diablo · January 19, 2018

This sounds exciting, but I'm sure the idea will stress many members. I'm wondering if there will continue to be the display indicating the number of activated cylinders. I know the sight of the V4 indicator had a love/hate following and I can only imagine the feeling when you are cruising in V2! ( like my Harley?) If the system truly works on need, I wonder what will happens to peoples' perceptions if it never needs V7 or V8?

Ha ha! I totally agree. It’s definitely gonna cause a lot of controversy here!

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EChavez · January 19, 2018

It sounds really cool, but I hope you can disable it if it gets annoying. Even at least with a plug in module like the Range. My truck is tuned and has had the AFM removed for over 15,000 miles. I absolutely love that it has 0 drone and constantly stays in V8. However, if you're keeping your truck stock it shouldn't be too much of an issue, but we'll see.

newdude · January 19, 2018

Won't idle on one cylinder. It can cruise at highway speed on one cylinder.

garagerog · January 19, 2018

32 minutes ago, newdude said:

Won't idle on one cylinder. It can cruise at highway speed on one cylinder.

Ok, with dynamic fuel management we can run on one cylinder, might as well put a hit and miss engine under the hood, or step it up a bit and go for the optional Johnny Popper, a two lunger torque monster! Before those that blindly except the latest technology start hating on me, this was said in jest.

garagerog · January 19, 2018

and another thing, with a V-8 running on one cylinder, sounds like a lot of unbalanced (meaning power strokes) rotating mass, I would hope for a forged crank with 4 bolt HD bearings. Might work out ok on an inline 6 on one of the middle cylinders, but on a V-8, I'll wait and see.

HondaHawkGT · January 20, 2018

8 hours ago, garagerog said:

and another thing, with a V-8 running on one cylinder, sounds like a lot of unbalanced (meaning power strokes) rotating mass, I would hope for a forged crank with 4 bolt HD bearings. Might work out ok on an inline 6 on one of the middle cylinders, but on a V-8, I'll wait and see.

That's what I thought too. Supposedly DSF has less vibration than AFM since they can command whatever firing pattern they want. I would prefer a heavier duty bottom end all the same.

Delphi and Tula show NVH benefits from Dynamic Skip Fire

http://articles.sae.org/15485/

HondaHawkGT · January 20, 2018

jono20 · January 20, 2018

Absolutely no way it's going to idle on one cylinder. Can't imagine it will ever do this except for extremely light load scenarios like going down a slight hill.

This is the stuff I'm most interested to learn about. I don't trust the current generation Ecotec engines in terms of long-term reliability. I'm attracted to Ford's Coyote and the 2500+ 6.0 Vortecs because they don't have all of this junk, but it's tough to weigh against the fuel economy hits. If GM adds port injection into this generation of engines I'll feel a lot better about it, but pure direct injection and the AFM is a recipe for disaster as these motors age.

HondaHawkGT · January 21, 2018

3 hours ago, jono20 said:

Absolutely no way it's going to idle on one cylinder. Can't imagine it will ever do this except for extremely light load scenarios like going down a slight hill.

This is the stuff I'm most interested to learn about. I don't trust the current generation Ecotec engines in terms of long-term reliability. I'm attracted to Ford's Coyote and the 2500+ 6.0 Vortecs because they don't have all of this junk, but it's tough to weigh against the fuel economy hits. If GM adds port injection into this generation of engines I'll feel a lot better about it, but pure direct injection and the AFM is a recipe for disaster as these motors age.

Ford significantly redesigned the 5.0 Coyote for 2018. Compression jumped from 10.5:1 to 12:1. First year of with direct injection. This is also the first year Ford is doing port+direct injection on their F-150 engine lineup. The block has been redesigned and no longer uses iron sleeves but instead uses a nickle deposit applied to the aluminum of the block itself. The changes are just enough to make me wary of the 2018+ 5.0 trucks. I'd still take them over an Ecoboost truck though.

The Vortec 6.0 is definitely the simple, tried-and-true engine of choice but it desperately needs to be updated. It's missing a lot of basic improvements that GM's other pushrod V8 engines have today.

Tula/Delphi has been developing DSF for at least 10 years. GM invested in Tula way back in 2012 and has been working with them on integrating it into their engines since then. Hopefully the technology is ready and not being rushed for CAFE-related concerns. I'm sure there will be a way to disable the system. If I buy a 2019 GM half-ton, both DSF and start-stop will be turned off permanently as soon as I can do it. If DSF turns out to be a reliable system, it'll be great since it's supposed to deliver 7-15% better fuel economy and a huge reduction in emissions. It might even allow GM to put out more aggressively tuned versions of the 5.3 and 6.2.

jono20 · January 21, 2018

6 minutes ago, HondaHawkGT said:

Ford significantly redesigned the 5.0 Coyote for 2018. Compression jumped from 10.5:1 to 12:1. First year of with direct injection. This is also the first year Ford is doing port+direct injection on their F-150 engine lineup. The block has been redesigned and no longer uses iron sleeves but instead uses a nickle deposit applied to the aluminum of the block itself. The changes are just enough to make me wary of the 2018+ 5.0 trucks. I'd still take them over an Ecoboost truck though.

The Vortec 6.0 is definitely the simple, tried-and-true engine of choice but it desperately needs to be updated. It's missing a lot of basic improvements that GM's other pushrod V8 engines have today.

Tula/Delphi has been developing DSF for at least 10 years. GM invested in Tula way back in 2012 and has been working with them on integrating it into their engines since then. Hopefully the technology is ready and not being rushed for CAFE-related concerns. I'm sure there will be a way to disable the system. If I buy a 2019 GM half-ton, both DSF and start-stop will be turned off permanently as soon as I can do it. If DSF turns out to be a reliable system, it'll be great since it's supposed to deliver 7-15% better fuel economy and a huge reduction in emissions. It might even allow GM to put out more aggressively tuned versions of the 5.3 and 6.2.

That's good info on the Coyote. I've mostly been looking at the remaining 2017s to avoid the start-stop gimmick, from the sounds of it that may be a good bet. That said, seems like now's as good a time as ever to wait and see what everyone comes out with this year.

HondaHawkGT · January 21, 2018

2 hours ago, jono20 said:

That's good info on the Coyote. I've mostly been looking at the remaining 2017s to avoid the start-stop gimmick, from the sounds of it that may be a good bet. That said, seems like now's as good a time as ever to wait and see what everyone comes out with this year.

All F-150 trucks have auto start-stop for 2018 too BTW.

amxguy1970 · January 21, 2018

16 hours ago, jono20 said:

Absolutely no way it's going to idle on one cylinder. Can't imagine it will ever do this except for extremely light load scenarios like going down a slight hill.

This is the stuff I'm most interested to learn about. I don't trust the current generation Ecotec engines in terms of long-term reliability. I'm attracted to Ford's Coyote and the 2500+ 6.0 Vortecs because they don't have all of this junk, but it's tough to weigh against the fuel economy hits. If GM adds port injection into this generation of engines I'll feel a lot better about it, but pure direct injection and the AFM is a recipe for disaster as these motors age.

Not at all, there is no solid regular evidence to reflect that...

Tyler