Let's talk about the hatchback rod failures

[gtman]

I've had a Ktuner v1.2 sitting on a shelf for ~3 years now. As soon as I saw that FK7s were mostly the ones having issues it dissuaded me a bit. I really want to tune and I take care of my car, but I drive a lot and I'm already up to 150,000 miles.

Would taking care of it and being moderate with a base/OTC tune be beneficial in tuning a higher mileage car? I've seen a couple others on the thread with high mileage but still scared.

I'd like to think I'm the right guy to ask here...

I feel comfortable telling people with hatchbacks to tune. Honestly, a lot of it is just maintaining your car properly and common sense on the road. Hatchback or non-hatchback, those are two big keys to reliability.

As far as tunes, I prefer the Phearable 1.5R over the TSP 1 but either one is superior to the base tunes. Just use top tier 93.

What I love about the 1.5R tune is how John spaced the peak power of the three maps.

Map 1 at 15 psi feels like what the Honda factory tune should have been.

With the 20 psi second map there's noticeably more oomph when you put your foot into it.

And Map 3 at 24 psi is eye popping at 4,000+ rpm. I tend to ease into it a bit.

Overall, if your car's in good mechanical condition you should be fine and grin ear to ear but .. there's always some risk.

Sponsored

 

[dktyson]

I'd like to think I'm the right guy to ask here...

I feel comfortable telling people with hatchbacks to tune. Honestly, a lot of it is just maintaining your car properly and common sense on the road. Hatchback or non-hatchback, those are two big keys to reliability.

As far as tunes, I prefer the Phearable 1.5R over the TSP 1 but either one is superior to the base tunes. Just use top tier 93.

What I love about the 1.5R tune is how John spaced the peak power of the three maps.

Map 1 at 15 psi feels like what the Honda factory tune should have been.

With the 20 psi second map there's noticeably more oomph when you put your foot into it.

And Map 3 at 24 psi is eye popping at 4,000+ rpm. I tend to ease into it a bit.

Overall, if your car's in good mechanical condition you should be fine and grin ear to ear but .. there's always some risk.

As soon as I saw you start this thread I figured I'd hop in and get some questioning done before the thread fills up.

I am thinking about just playing safe and getting myself the TSP Stage 1 since it's on sale currently.

Maybe after a while of keeping the car in good shape with that, I will upgrade to Phearable 1.5R. From the research i've done the map switching is a really awesome thing.

As far as good gas, everyone has different opinions. I will say i tend to go to Costco for my 93 since I live in PA with our *lovely* gas taxes. Which do you recommend? Sunoco?

Theoretically my car is due for the dealership to tell me I need some new parts so maybe I'll let them check it over then see for myself what I actually want to replace.

Thank you so much!

 

[86salmon]

1. Myx - "Absolutely great experience with zero issues from the tuner or the car. However, I blew my engine a couple days ago testing what I should not have been testing. Was testing a race gas tune with non-race gas in the car. Was trouble shooting why on map 1 and map 2 I was only getting 17psi. Figured I must've loaded the wrong tune (which I did). Switched to map 3, which was for race gas, but it was too aggressive for non-race gas. Starting at about 4800rpm, ran wide open throttle and somewhere between 4800rpm-5500rpm, the engine went POOF. Found a piece of connecting rod on bottom of engine with oil everywhere."

Not trying to take away from the overall message, but I think Myx has an ex-t sedan

 

[gtman]

I can tell you a couple "negatives" on the TSP 1 for the Non-Si specifically.

1. It tends to be a bit jerky at times. Overall it's smooth but does have moments of "what the hell?". For me it was the occasional big time hesitation at low speed when I needed to gun it quickly. It didn't happen often but was bad when it did. YMMV.

2. This is the big one. It's an older tune that's never been updated. It's missing a really important feature --- the high rpm artificial knock control removal option.

3. The first two maps are oddly spaced and a bit too similar. Map 1 is factory, Map 2 is only 16.5 psi.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good tune and I ran it for like two years. Switching to Phearable though was a definite upgrade.

 

[gtman]

Not trying to take away from the overall message, but I think Myx has an ex-t sedan

Seriously?

https://www.civicx.com/forum/garage/myxs-garage.1085/

He definitely has a hatch. Or had. I don't know if he even still has his car.

 

[86salmon]

Seriously?

https://www.civicx.com/forum/garage/myxs-garage.1085/

He definitely has a hatch. Or had. I don't know if he even still has his car.

My mistake
I thought the wife was the hatch and his was a sedan

 

[eob2000]

I'd love to give Phearable a go but I lack the ability to easily get anything higher than 91 so I think TSP is what I've got to stick with.

 

[gtman]

There's no 93 equivalent readily available in the UK? I didn't know that.

 

[eob2000]

There's no 93 equivalent readily available in the UK? I didn't know that.

Oh no in general you can get 93 just not anywhere particularly convenient for me. I live in a fairly rural area.

 

[JonStewK20C2]

There's no 93 equivalent readily available in the UK? I didn't know that.

Same with Atlantic Canada, no 93 within ~400km of me

 

[sbace_hamb]

I've had a Ktuner v1.2 sitting on a shelf for ~3 years now. As soon as I saw that FK7s were mostly the ones having issues it dissuaded me a bit. I really want to tune and I take care of my car, but I drive a lot and I'm already up to 150,000 miles.

Would taking care of it and being moderate with a base/OTC tune be beneficial in tuning a higher mileage car? I've seen a couple others on the thread with high mileage but still scared.

If it makes you feel any better, my car doesn't have a crazy amount of tuned miles, but it was at 123k when I first tuned it. I'm at about 129k now and have had nothing but good experiences with how much it woke the car up. It might actually make you a little sad that you went 150k without it as long as you've been up on your fluid changes, there really shouldn't be anything underlying to worry about bringing to the surface

 

[hattedchimp]

I really want to tune and I take care of my car, but I drive a lot and I'm already up to 150,000 miles.

I'm on the same boat as you, except I'm already tuned, and I'm about 2k short of 1500. I feel if you can keep up with maintenance (on any car) it will function just fine.

Maybe after a while of keeping the car in good shape with that, I will upgrade to Phearable 1.5R. From the research i've done the map switching is a really awesome thing.

I thought about using other/cheaper tunes, but I just heard and saw so many good things about the 1.5R that I had to get it, and also because I can pay about a little more when I got my KTuner V2 for the upgrade from 1.5. to 1.5R at checkout. I can say its night and day from stock tune. I try not to do a lot of pulls knowing I'm almost at 150k, but I haven't had any problems with it, so far. If anything, I never planned on doing pulls but just knowing the power is there is hard to not stick the pedal down to the ground, but I mostly just use it for acceleration/passing on the highway since most of my driving is across the state. And for the map switching, it's a peace of mind for me because I know I'm not constantly at a high psi. My only issue with the vehicle is the AC but I doubt that's from the tune.

 

[dktyson]

I'm on the same boat as you, except I'm already tuned, and I'm about 2k short of 1500. I feel if you can keep up with maintenance (on any car) it will function just fine.


I thought about using other/cheaper tunes, but I just heard and saw so many good things about the 1.5R that I had to get it, and also because I can pay about a little more when I got my KTuner V2 for the upgrade from 1.5. to 1.5R at checkout. I can say its night and day from stock tune. I try not to do a lot of pulls knowing I'm almost at 150k, but I haven't had any problems with it, so far. If anything, I never planned on doing pulls but just knowing the power is there is hard to not stick the pedal down to the ground, but I mostly just use it for acceleration/passing on the highway since most of my driving is across the state. And for the map switching, it's a peace of mind for me because I know I'm not constantly at a high psi. My only issue with the vehicle is the AC but I doubt that's from the tune.

I see your point here... the phearable tune - which is from what I've heard from users here - is better. And if the race mode is only 100 more, that's pretty justifiable i would think.

Plus if i go with phearable i could just spend the extra 100 on top of that and make it a GOD tune... does anyone have that? do the burbles sound good?

 

[gtman]

DO NOT do the GOD tune. Your cat will thank me.

Hope this helps.

1.5R all the way.

 

[sbace_hamb]

I see your point here... the phearable tune - which is from what I've heard from users here - is better. And if the race mode is only 100 more, that's pretty justifiable i would think.

Plus if i go with phearable i could just spend the extra 100 on top of that and make it a GOD tune... does anyone have that? do the burbles sound good?

If you are still running a catted downpipe, you should not go for GOD mode. It dumps unburnt fuel into your cat and degrades it heavily. The pops come from that fuel making contact with the exhaust and igniting in there instead

Sponsored