SwedeSpeed - Volvo Performance Forum banner

Reverted from IPD tune to stock, boost pressure unchanged. What?!?!

7K views 48 replies 13 participants last post by  Saleen9090 
#1 ·
Just took off my IPD tune today and reverted to stock because I am sending back for a refund. I even confirmed the tune reverted properly by checking the tune with the softloader, it read "Current tune on car is not an MTE tune (AKA factory tune)". I drove about 20 miles nice and easy in case the car needed to relearn, and it did need to. After about 20 minutes I tested it out. To my surprise it still boosts and holds at 17.5 psi. WHAT?!?!? It actually behaves NO differently than the tuned version.

Is this even possible if my factory tune truly loaded properly? Since it is completely reflashed, the car should have no recollection that it has ever boosted 17.5 psi in the past. I am in limbo now because I wanted to get it tuned by Lucky but how am I supposed to hand him a factory tune that is F'd up?

Background info: I purchased my tune from IPD and was unhappy with it. Car literally felt no different. I also expected numbers in the 18-19 psi range and it struggles to hit 17 as well as building very slowly. It will boost quickly to 15 psi like stock then VERY SLOWLY creep up to 17 psi. IMO that is not a "true" 17 psi. Instead of troubleshooting, I just decided to go with Lucky. I am basically chasing better customer service. Not that IPD's is not good but I heard Lucky is exceptional.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
Not sure you need to worry about it with ARD. I sent him my ECU and It had a RICA tune in it.Lucky was able to do a custom tune on it no prob.
 
#19 ·
I could relate to you some very valuable information that makes me feel like I might have a similar situation with IPD. Only through pm though...
 
#7 ·
Do you also have a boost gauge to prove this? Without a boost gauge I might not have noticed because when I originally loaded the IPD tune I was disappointed with its performance and complained it felt like stock.
 
#9 ·
Even if the "factory tune" they give you is a remodified factory tune, why not replicate a factory tune? They can control boost levels so why would they make it different than factory?
 
#13 ·
Yeah. Picking it up on Friday. They wouldn't ship it to a residential address. Even though I was, you know, paying them.

So I got a friend with a truck. We're going down Friday afternoon, then dropping it off. Hopefully I'll have it back this weekend.

Then, first order of business: Meth injection.
 
#18 ·
Have you guys tried contacting IPD? Ken is great to talk with about the tunes...

Also, if you're hitting 17 psi on a stock tune, that is strange. You shouldn't be hitting more than 15 really unless you are counting spikes on gear changes. For example, here is a graph I made with the data logger for before/after boost levels.

 
#22 ·
Yes I contacted both Ken and Bud many many times trying to figure it out. They couldn't really explain why my boost would jump to 15 psi and then very slowly climb to 17 psi. It's no wonder I didn't feel much of a power difference. They wanted me to use the softloader's built-in data logging feature to help pinpoint the problem but to their surprise that didn't work either. Ken claimed this was the first time anyone had this unusual problem with the data logging feature and it took them almost a month to even get back to me with troubleshooting ideas. The way I see it, first they have to get my data-logging feature working before they can even start figuring out the problem with my tune. So I guess my secret is out, I eventually got fed up with waiting and chose to just switch tunes altogether.

I am not counting boost spikes.
 
#24 ·
Since you actually have to give Lucky the ECU I'm sure he would be able to find out if anything is wrong with your ECU vs anything wrong with IPD tune/software. Sounds like IPD is saying it's a problem on your end not with their tune. Hopefully once lucky has the ECU in hand he can give you more info if your ECU is at fault. Good luck.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I originally started blaming my equipment too because I figured I had a TCV issue or something of the sort that only shows its face when boosting above stock level. That would make sense but what does not make sense is how my car behaved perfectly on the factory tune before switching and then behaves differently when I load my "factory" tune back on from the softloader. IMO that can't be a problem on my end. And if the factory tune they sent me isn't right I feel there is a good chance the stage 2 tune isn't right.
 
#33 ·
So tried something new tonight. Loaded the stage 2 tune back on and went out for a drive. Same as last time, it would boost to 15 quickly like stock then creep up to 17 psi late in the RPM band. Then I reloaded the factory tune again. Everything normal now, boosts to 14.7 psi and holds fairly steady. Again I say WHAT?!?!?! Both times I loaded the factory tune, I used the softloader to confirm the tune was loaded so how does it behave differently on two different days. To me the tune should either A) not load at all, B)Partially load causing a corrupt tune, or C)Properly load the tune. How does it successfully load the tune but have some of the variables (like boost limit) jumbled up? Weird stuff.

On a side note, Bud at IPD said that the quick spool up to 14.7 psi followed by a slow creep to 17 psi is normal on a stage 2 tune. Can anyone else confirm this? Or are others with stage 2 noticing a quick spool directly to 17-19 psi? I believe this is why I didn't feel like much of a power increase was present. To me, an extra 2 psi high in the RPM band near shift point is useless.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Hello everyone-

I'm going to try my best to hit on some of the topics that were brought into this particular thread.

I would like to first mention we are here to help anyone with any issues no matter what the situation might be. Tuning has always been a fun one right???? I can promise you over the years we've ran into many different types of scenarios that leads to us working with the customer a bit closer, figuring out the symptom or issue. I appreciate Saleen9090 bringing his experience to this format. This forum is very important to us, if it wasn't ,we wouldn't be involved to the extent that we are. We're not pleased that he wasn't happy with this particular outcome. We want everyone to be 100% satisfied with our products. When selling products as long as we have, the possibility of this occurrence becomes reality. In this case Saleen9090 chose to go a different route which we have completely honored.

I would like to briefly explain how the softloader file transaction occurs- and I mean briefly!

Pulling Files From The Car:
-When you perform the first download for us, the softloader isn't extracting or removing anything from the vehicle. It's actually pulling the file names needed to determine which file is actually in the vehicle. MTE has a complete database of factory program files.

Once MTE reviews the file:
-Once MTE receives your file, they match the file names taken out of your vehicle to factory files in their database. MTE then assembles a stock file along with a "UPGRADED" version of the factory file for the customer. The only way the stock file is altered is by MTE adding notifiers for datalogging in the upgraded tune and for the stock tune. When we send you the upgraded programs, one program is stock, and one is the upgraded program.

Data Transmission:
There's always a possibility that the computer says the file has been successful. That means that the computer was successful in transmitting the data, BUT that doesn't always mean the ecu in the vehicle received the information properly. We strongly feel there wasn't any issue with the actual tune file, meaning it wasn't corrupt. If the file wasn't correct for the vehicle, it wouldn't start.

Moving Forward:
Our CS manager and Saleen9090 spoke about trying to reload the tune once again. We were pleased to see that the stock tune was loaded properly back into the vehicle with stock boost configurations.

We utilize the datalog feature to see how the boost and tune is reacting once loaded. It's unfortunate we weren't able to get that information in this particular case for review. Everyone should have access to the ENDLLF file if you have used the softloader to make any transmissions between the car and the laptop.

Boost Levels:
Boost levels are going to vary between automatic and manuals along with other variables. Our targeted boost maps are looking for 18-19psi given other parameters are inline. There are so many factors that play into boost. The grade of fuel in the car, fuel pump/fuel system condition, knock sensors, altitude, rpm, load and the traction control system. That also doesn't include mechanical issues that could play into variations in boost levels. Vacuum leaks, boost leaks, cracks anywhere in the plastic intake piping has led to inconsistent boost levels. Some of these issues might not be relevant with stock boost configurations. All this can be seen when looking at a datalog. IPD/MTE can look at the datalog in depth and see what other parameters that are being skewed due to a possible mechanical issue.

There are many customers who use our tunes. Many of them have posted up dyno/datalogs from before and after. Our goal is to make sure you're happy with the product. In this case, our job is to support Saleen9090 with whatever decision is chosen. I appreciate the correspondence he's had with our CS manager.

Before I exit this topic I have a dyno run with all the associated graphs showing you how our boost and AFR levels react throughout the RPM's.

Have a great day.

We're always here to help, please feel free to contact us direct anytime!

 
#46 ·
Data Transmission:
There's always a possibility that the computer says the file has been successful. That means that the computer was successful in transmitting the data, BUT that doesn't always mean the ecu in the vehicle received the information properly. We strongly feel there wasn't any issue with the actual tune file, meaning it wasn't corrupt. If the file wasn't correct for the vehicle, it wouldn't start.
I'm surprised the softloader doesn't check its work after uploading to confirm that the file successfully transferred. It could at least give an error message letting you know the upload was unsuccessful. Also, I checked afterwords and the softloader said "this tune is not an MTE tune". If it was not the MTE tune and it was not my factory tune, what was it?
 
#45 ·
I wasn't noticing my top boost (17 psi) until around 5000 RPM and I think that is where my disappointment set in. Like the guys at IPD said, it's too bad my data-logger doesn't work to prove so.
 
#47 ·
The bottom line it comes down to was I didn't feel any difference with the tune. Literally none. I even had friends who had driven in my car many times before give it a go and they all had the same opinions. You can probably imagine the first day I got it with such high expectations and then the realization that I just spent $900 for nothing. Now, obviously I did not waste $900 because IPD is willing to work with me and they always leave the money-back gurantee open but that was my unedited first opinion on my first drive.
 
#48 ·
well at least it returned to stock. issues happen sometimes, and glad to hear IPD worked with you to a satisfactory end.
 
#49 ·
Ya IPD was responsive and helpful but ultimately I made the decision on my end to ditch because I didn't want to go through the process of getting the data-logger up and running and then finally working on getting the tune corrected.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top