Tuning issues 2011 GMC 2500HD

RileyDavis618 · July 23, 2019

Good evening everyone! This is my first posting on the forum!

I’ve got a 2011 GMC 2500HD 6.0 that has visited 2 tuners in the central Texas area. I have a TSP VVT2 cam, 3600 converter, forged internals, And exhaust, with more to come soon.

I have been told by these shops that my truck could not be dialed in like it needs to be due to missing airflow tables on HPtuners. Supposedly the 2011 HD’s have a odd computer that has to be torque based tuned.

I am having idle problems... pulling up to stop lights and turns the truck will die 8/10 times, but starts right back up.

Anyone know a way around this hiccup? These shops have gotten it to the best they could, which still is not enough obviously.

CamGTP · July 23, 2019

Nothing should be missing, they are just not smart enough or haven't taken the time on how to calibrate it correctly.

The E38 controller used from 2007-2010/11 and the newer 2011-2019 E78 controller both use the same style main airflow tables. The E78 computer is just a newer torque based computer that takes more steps to dial in. There is different logic in for the idle settings and how idle airflow are used.

Both sides of the fueling (airflow model) are there to calibrate. If they are super lazy and only calibrate the MAF sensor and not the VVE tables, they can surely hurt the way the engine runs.

I'm not sure if this will post but you can read about how the E78 works in the HP Tuners help files. I'm no guru with everything on that computer and without seeing what they did, it's hard to say exact where to begin.

http://www.hptuners.com/help/

Click working with VCM editor, then advanced tuning how to's, then working with E78.

Edited July 23, 2019 by CamGTP

RileyDavis618 · July 23, 2019

3 hours ago, CamGTP said:

Nothing should be missing, they are just not smart enough or haven't taken the time on how to calibrate it correctly.

The E38 controller used from 2007-2010/11 and the newer 2011-2019 E78 controller both use the same style main airflow tables. The E78 computer is just a newer torque based computer that takes more steps to dial in. There is different logic in for the idle settings and how idle airflow are used.

Both sides of the fueling (airflow model) are there to calibrate. If they are super lazy and only calibrate the MAF sensor and not the VVE tables, they can surely hurt the way the engine runs.

I'm not sure if this will post but you can read about how the E78 works in the HP Tuners help files. I'm no guru with everything on that computer and without seeing what they did, it's hard to say exact where to begin.

http://www.hptuners.com/help/

Click working with VCM editor, then advanced tuning how to's, then working with E78.

Thanks for the response!

This is blows my mind, the truck spend 3 months with Casey Rance who works closely with Texas Speed and performance. He does all the tuning on their record breaking TT camaro’s and other wild builds that come out of Temple, TX. It’s also been to Lethal Performance of Texas out of San Antonio twice. Each visit to Lethal performance has helped slightly, but the problem still remains. I’m to the point where I’m frustrated with the truck so much I’m almost ready to throw the towel in!

BlackBearPerf · July 24, 2019

On 7/22/2019 at 6:29 PM, RileyDavis618 said:

Good evening everyone! This is my first posting on the forum!

I’ve got a 2011 GMC 2500HD 6.0 that has visited 2 tuners in the central Texas area. I have a TSP VVT2 cam, 3600 converter, forged internals, And exhaust, with more to come soon.

I have been told by these shops that my truck could not be dialed in like it needs to be due to missing airflow tables on HPtuners. Supposedly the 2011 HD’s have a odd computer that has to be torque based tuned.

I am having idle problems... pulling up to stop lights and turns the truck will die 8/10 times, but starts right back up.

Anyone know a way around this hiccup? These shops have gotten it to the best they could, which still is not enough obviously.

Seeing vehicle data would be a good way to diagnose what can be happening. We use EFILive exclusively for tuning, we would tune your vehicle via our AutoCal. The hardware is your to keep and it will allow us to see your vehicle data and provide your custom tune files via email. We will also update your tune for free as long as you own the vehicle.

Since you have had it tuned with 2 other tuners I would send us an email, [email protected] and our tuner can take a look at your setup, issues you are having, and let you know what he thinks.

SierraHD17 · July 24, 2019

On 7/22/2019 at 9:24 PM, CamGTP said:

Nothing should be missing, they are just not smart enough or haven't taken the time on how to calibrate it correctly.

The E38 controller used from 2007-2010/11 and the newer 2011-2019 E78 controller both use the same style main airflow tables. The E78 computer is just a newer torque based computer that takes more steps to dial in. There is different logic in for the idle settings and how idle airflow are used.

Both sides of the fueling (airflow model) are there to calibrate. If they are super lazy and only calibrate the MAF sensor and not the VVE tables, they can surely hurt the way the engine runs.

I'm not sure if this will post but you can read about how the E78 works in the HP Tuners help files. I'm no guru with everything on that computer and without seeing what they did, it's hard to say exact where to begin.

http://www.hptuners.com/help/

Click working with VCM editor, then advanced tuning how to's, then working with E78.

The E78 is incomplete.. Things simply don't work when you make changes to it in comparison to an ecm like the e92. Just because the table shows up doesn't mean it actually accomplishes anything when you make a change...It's used on little cars and HD gas trucks only.. two things nobody gives a damn about. The support is not there like it should be and HP's own forum shows that. Look at the e78 chatter.. notice since 2011 there is hardly any posts. Well there is your answer lol. EFI is the exact same thing on their site. I figured this out 2 years ago tuning my 2017 6 liter and decided against camming it for that reason.

There are more than a few posts like this guys which resulted in the truck getting taken back to stock because no matter who touched it they couldn't get it tuned.

Take my own truck... ghost burst knock style retard on heavy throttle transition. Pull all the timing you want out and it still retards it at what seems a preset value. Had 3 tuners who are known good tuners on the torque model ecm's go through it along with myself... no fix. Same with the base idle speed table. I recommend anyone doing a swap with an L96 into an older vehicle to use an e38 and throw the e78 away... it's a paperweight.

If its just the tuner... then every tuner on the planet sucks with the e78... even if they can take the more complex e92 and make it do whatever they wish.

If the new 6.6 becomes something I really want in my 2017 I may attempt in the future to replace my L96 with and retro the e92 to the truck... being a 2017 it should be doable. Be a lot more fun anyhow. I wish anyone luck tuning and modding the 2020+ HD gas trucks especially if they use a different ecm than the half tons.

Edited July 24, 2019 by SierraHD17

RileyDavis618 · July 25, 2019

20 hours ago, SierraHD17 said:

The E78 is incomplete.. Things simply don't work when you make changes to it in comparison to an ecm like the e92. Just because the table shows up doesn't mean it actually accomplishes anything when you make a change...It's used on little cars and HD gas trucks only.. two things nobody gives a damn about. The support is not there like it should be and HP's own forum shows that. Look at the e78 chatter.. notice since 2011 there is hardly any posts. Well there is your answer lol. EFI is the exact same thing on their site. I figured this out 2 years ago tuning my 2017 6 liter and decided against camming it for that reason.

There are more than a few posts like this guys which resulted in the truck getting taken back to stock because no matter who touched it they couldn't get it tuned.

Take my own truck... ghost burst knock style retard on heavy throttle transition. Pull all the timing you want out and it still retards it at what seems a preset value. Had 3 tuners who are known good tuners on the torque model ecm's go through it along with myself... no fix. Same with the base idle speed table. I recommend anyone doing a swap with an L96 into an older vehicle to use an e38 and throw the e78 away... it's a paperweight.

If its just the tuner... then every tuner on the planet sucks with the e78... even if they can take the more complex e92 and make it do whatever they wish.

If the new 6.6 becomes something I really want in my 2017 I may attempt in the future to replace my L96 with and retro the e92 to the truck... being a 2017 it should be doable. Be a lot more fun anyhow. I wish anyone luck tuning and modding the 2020+ HD gas trucks especially if they use a different ecm than the half tons.

Thanks for the input,

everyone’s helped me out on this forum more than it may seem. I’m taking the truck to Houston House if Power in August. The tuner, Chuck, is confident he can take care of it... but that’s the same thing the past 2 tuners have said. I’ll check back in after a few weeks I suppose.

SierraHD17 · July 26, 2019

4 hours ago, RileyDavis618 said:

Thanks for the input,

everyone’s helped me out on this forum more than it may seem. I’m taking the truck to Houston House if Power in August. The tuner, Chuck, is confident he can take care of it... but that’s the same thing the past 2 tuners have said. I’ll check back in after a few weeks I suppose.

Be cool if he can as maybe HP or EFI has updated tables in the last while. But I find a lot of tuners just are like "oh yeah it's fine" but if you ask them how many cammed, and otherwise modded 6 liter HD trucks from 2011 up have you tuned it's kind of the crickets in the night sound lol. They just assume it works the same as other ECM's but unfortunately it's not the case. I don't mind being wrong though and if a person can actually tune these hoopty's properly I might build a stroker out of the old L96 with the L8T's crank and rods as it would be simpler lol.

RileyDavis618 · August 5, 2019

On 7/25/2019 at 7:34 PM, SierraHD17 said:

Be cool if he can as maybe HP or EFI has updated tables in the last while. But I find a lot of tuners just are like "oh yeah it's fine" but if you ask them how many cammed, and otherwise modded 6 liter HD trucks from 2011 up have you tuned it's kind of the crickets in the night sound lol. They just assume it works the same as other ECM's but unfortunately it's not the case. I don't mind being wrong though and if a person can actually tune these hoopty's properly I might build a stroker out of the old L96 with the L8T's crank and rods as it would be simpler lol.

Well, got the truck back from HHP today. After all of this mess, it is apparent that these e78 computer can be tuned, you just have to find the right person to do it. 4th time is the charm In my case, Chuck had it dialed in within the hour. Really impressed with this shop.