The Tuned CivicX Experience & Reliability Thread (for all models)

[gtman]

Tuning experience notes: I compared my stage 1 Phearable OTS tune with my friend who has a 2020 Civic EX hatch CVT and tuned with stage 1 TSP but we are both stock mod. We raced in closed loop and in MEXICO. He got the first pull, but my car crept up to him on mid to higher range. He was shocked. My car also played with V6 Altimas and love seeing them behind my rear view mirror. None other than that, I drive like a damn grandma who just want to save gas.

Yes, TSP 1 feels slightly snappier off the line but there is no doubt in my mind that the Phearable 1.5 has superior mid and top end punch. I also had some jerkiness here and there with the TSP transitioning from low rpm, low throttle to WOT. Phearable on the other hand is silky smooth top to bottom.

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[Barticus520]

Vehicle: 2017 Civic Sport touring cvt

Total tuned time: day

Tuned miles driven: 350 miles. car has 90359

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner V2

Tunes used: Phearable Stage 1.5

Fuel used: BP or Mobil 93.

Additional related mods: None

Problems/issues: None. Just flashed recently

Driving style: Spirited driving

Tuning experience notes: None

Love the tune so far. Phearable fixed the idle big time and the car has amazing power. Before tuning with a/c off the engine has a harsh idle that vibrates everything. Now it is barely noticeable and idles just under 800.

pics are from when I got the car but it is dirty and looks the same.

Update
96634 miles
6300 tuned miles.
About 2 months tuned
Issues:
1.small amount of oil dilution but now it is summer temps and it has stopped.
2. Phearable tune daily but with higher temps outside I noticed k. Control skyrocketing. Tried multiple fuels but just started with higher outside temps. One pill and it goes from .49-.70 the highest has been .91. Going to switch to ktuner dual tune with the k control disable and will update.

 

[gtman]

2. Phearable tune daily but with higher temps outside I noticed k. Control skyrocketing. Tried multiple fuels but just started with higher outside temps. One pill and it goes from .49-.70 the highest has been .91. Going to switch to ktuner dual tune with the k control disable and will update.

Yeah, that's the thing. Knock Control while mostly a reflection of fuel quality also is affected by things like ambient temps and load.

I just wish TSP or Phearable would release a paid update that included the artificial knock rise disable feature.

 

[likewater]

Vehicle: 2020 Civic Si Sedan

Total tuned time: 2 months

Total tuned mileage: 500

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v1.2

Tunes used: TSP Stage 1

Fuel used: 91 Octane only "76" because it's close to my house. Will run 93 when I get a chance to get some from a local station

Additional engine mods: None

Problems/issues: None

Driving style: Casual with occasional roll romps - 3500RPM+ only. No lower RPM pulls and no hard digs. Run in Map 2 mostly

Tuning experience notes: I am new to the Si scene but have had several other forced induction vehicles, with my all time favorite being the B8 Platform Audi S4. With that car, I went with APR…transformed the car but the tune was really just “plug and play” no user available adjustments were provided. With the Si, I have yet to play with the KTuner since I have no other supporting mods, and based on how good the TSP maps are out of the box, I feel there really is no need. As with others, I'm worried about the clutch beginning to slip eventually so I'm staying put for now. If I keep the car when the lease ends, I’ll begin adding supporting mods and will most likely start to mess with the settings a bit more. For now though, I couldn’t be happier.

**Update** Flashed now with TSP Stage 1+ - still no other mods. Running 3 Gallons of 100 Oct race fuel and the rest 91 - runs great with no issues. However, the car only has about 5K miles on it so we'll see. Love the car still - however I'm super excited to see what the 11th Gen Type R will be like when it's released - I may move to that when I'm done with this one. For now, this is still a great platform.

 

[OsirisPalko]

Has anyone had an oil smell come through the vents after hard pulls?

 

[uwg55]

Spoiler: Old post

Vehicle: Hatchback Sport 2019 (6MT)

Total tuned time: ≈ 6 month

Total tuned mileage: ≈ 10 000 km (6213.712 miles)

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v1.2

Tunes used: TSP Stage 1, Phearable 1.5 NON-SI (current)

Fuel used: Petro-Canada 94

Additional engine mods: K&N air intake

Problems/issues: None so far. But, on the Phearable tune my LTFT is at 4%, should that be alarming?

Driving style: Slightly speedy with aggressive bursts from time to time.

Tuning experience notes: This is the first car that I bought new, before that I had an old 2009 Chevrolet Aveo so that’s a big upgrade for me. I never tuned cars before, so I read a lot before tuning this one and I have to say that it is not complicated once you understand how everything works.

UPDATE

Vehicle: Hatchback Sport 2019 (6MT)

Total tuned time: ≈ 1 year

Total tuned mileage: ≈ 20 000 km (12 427.42 miles)

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v1.2

Tunes used:

• Phearable 1.5 NON-SI (Current)
• TSP Stage 1

Fuel used: Petro-Canada 94

Additional engine mods:

• K&N air intake,
• Mishimoto intercooler

Problems/issues: None, everything is running great!

Driving style: Speedy grandma. I spend most of my time in map 1 and sometimes map 2 (when going into the highway).

Tuning experience notes: This is the first car that I bought new, before that I had an old 2009 Chevrolet Aveo so that’s a big upgrade for me. I never tuned cars before, so I read a lot before tuning this one and I have to say that it is not complicated once you understand how everything works.

 

[OsirisPalko]

Plans for the car: 18x9.5 +38 wrapped with 255s, -2 camber all around

I just put on 18x9.5 +38 wrapped in 255's today

 

[Mike2020si]

I just put on 18x9.5 +38 wrapped in 255's today

Yeah well you know what? Your an absolute animal looks good! I cant wait to get fitted with some feets like that. Thanks for sharing this pic?

 

[gtman]

Current thread stats and info:

Tuned cars submitted: 637

Tuned miles driven: 8,918,650 (reported)
Cars with most tuned miles: choo (101,000+);
dallasjhawk (91,000+); vctsonicgrey (70,000+)

Cars with major failures: 15 (2.4%)
Failures by tune type: Base: 7; OTS: 2; Custom: 6
Failures by model: Si: 3; Non-Si: 12; CTR: 0; 2.0 NA: 0
Percentage of cars running reliably: 97.6%

Transmission type: CVT (209); Manual (428)
Percentage of tuned base models with CVTs: 68.0%
Upgraded/aftermarket clutches installed: 68

Hondata used for tuning: 131; Race (113) Carb (18)
KTuner used for tuning: 535; V1.2 (298) V2 (237)

JB4 used as tuning device: 3
RaceChip used as tuning device: 4
Motec used as tuning device: 3

Pro custom tuned cars: 120
Base tuned only cars: 187

Most popular OTS tune: TSP Stage 1 (273)
Other popular OTS tune: Phearable Stage 1.5 (120)
Newest OTS tunes: TSP 1+ (23); Phearable 1.5R (10)

Top rated pro tuners: Derek Robinson, John Vega

Submissions by model: Si (285); 1.5T Non-Si (288); Type R (45); 2.0 NA (19)

Most popular fuel used: 93 octane (330)
Users adding 1-2 gallons E85: 82
Flex fuel kits installed: 67

Cars with no added bolt ons: 197
Cars with at least one bolt on: 306
Cars running full bolt on setups: 134

Upgraded turbos installed: 45

Notes: The most installed bolt ons are intakes*, intercoolers, downpipes and exhaust systems. Full bolts ons (for purposes of this thread) consist of downpipe, frontpipe, intercooler and intake at a minimum. "Base tuned only" means an out of the box KTuner or Hondata tune was used exclusively; no canned tune from Phearable, TSP or other vendors was ever used. *In this thread, a drop-in filter/silicone hose combo is not considered a bolt on.

Major Failures: 1 car had a failed CVT (replaced under warranty). 1 car had faulty injectors and a blown head gasket. 1 car blew a CVT pushing the car hard with an existing emissions problem. 1 car blew an engine running an E35/meth setup. 1 car blew an engine on the racetrack. 1 car blew an engine when the owner mistakenly used non-race gas with a tune designed specifically for race gas. 1 owner had a major failure on a used car he purchased. 1 owner admitted he abused his car and destroyed his engine. 1 non-Si owner used a high power stage 2 Powermetric flex fuel tune w/full bolt ons and blew his motor. 1 owner had his CVT replaced under warranty (damaged by high power ethanol tune); the new CVT has been trouble free for 70,000+ tuned miles. 1 car threw a rod under "iffy" circumstances according to it's owner (possible abuse/user error). 1 owner destroyed his CVT after some track time in 100° weather. 1 car had a bent connecting rod but there were many factors (neglect) beyond the tune. 1 car bent a rod while doing WOT datalogging for a custom remote tune (had run meth for a short time as well). 1 car blew a CVT after serious neglect/abuse with numerous brake launches and burnouts.

5 of the 7 (71%) Non-Si engine failures occurred in hatchback models.

Lesser Issues: There's been some issues reported here and there with the stock clutch, CVT, a couple injector replacements and some fuel trim and knock control funkiness (depending on intake and gas used). None of these issues were catastrophic.

Observations: From the cars added so far, base and especially OTS tunes (on a more or less stock 10th gen) appear to be mostly safe. Properly tuned, adding bolt-ons can be fairly reliable, too. The issues seem to happen most often when power output is pushed too high, owners attempt to self-tune too aggressively, or there is some abuse or neglect involved.

Summary: There is no doubt that a tune is the single best power-based performance mod. Having said that, tuning does add additional stress. Long term reliability can be compromised if you tune for ultimate power (on stock internals) and push your car to the limit often. Use common sense and your tuning experience should go well.

Important info regarding updates: Since this is an ongoing reliability thread, please add a new post from time to time. Use that new post to show additional tuned miles driven, changes to your tune setup, any issues that occur and new tuning experience notes. That way, we can keep the thread as accurate and up to date as possible. - gtman

 

[jheiges]

Vehicle: 2018 Honda Civic EX Hatchback

Total Tuned Time: 34 months

Total Tuned Mileage: 40k plus

Tuning Device: Ktuner v1.2

Tunes used: Ktuner base 19.5/23.5, aggressive throttle

Additional Mods: PRL CAI

Problems/Issues: None

 

[gtman]

It's been hard getting people to add their cars recently. Only about 10% of the tuned owners I message are joining up. Hopefully, that will change, because it's frustrating.

Anyway, just a reminder that if you do add your car, please use the 10 item format shown in the first post of the thread. Thanks.

 

[dallasjhawk]

UPDATE 5.21.2021

Vehicle: 2016 Civic EX-T sedan

Total tuned time: 52months

Total tuned mileage: 97,000 miles

Tuning device(s) used: Hondata Flashpro, currently using KTuner V2

Tunes used: Hondata +6, KTuner Starter 21, Vit 93 octane, Vit E30, TSP Stage 1 for non-Si (current)

Fuel used: Chevron 93 & Kroger e85 when running ethanol

Additional engine mods: AF Dynamic SRI, K&N Filter

Problems/issues: CVT Started getting trippy and slipping at 25k miles on Hondata. Switched to Ktuner did a custom ethanol tune and shot it to the moon. Got a new CVT under warranty. Been tuned with Ktuner now for 70k miles on the new CVT with no issues.

Driving style: Beat the hell out of it, also cruise, taken 2600 mile road trips, a little bit of everything. With the pandemic I have not driven as much so I only put about 8-9k miles in the last year. Still rolling with the same tunes. Switch between them all just to goof around

Tuning experience notes : Helped tons of people flash and setup basemaps.

 

[CopEvader1400]

Vehicle: 2018 Civic Sport hatchback

Total tuned time: 1 month

Total tuned mileage: maybe 2,000 miles

Tuning device(s) used: Hondata

Tunes used: +6 psi base tune + throttle response changed

Fuel used: 87 octane or whatever the lowest one is, I usually use regular

Additional engine mods: Borla S-Type exhaust

Problems/issues: CVT broke/failed, replaced under warranty

Driving style: Usually pretty easy on it sometimes a pull it a little hard

 

[gtman]

Total tuned time: 1 month

Total tuned mileage: maybe 2,000 miles

Tuning device(s) used: Hondata

Tunes used: +6 psi base tune + throttle response changed

Fuel used: 87 octane or whatever the lowest one is, I usually use regular

Problems/issues: CVT broke/failed, replaced under warranty

Big mistake using 87 with that +6 tune. You really should use 91 minimum.

About the CVT, a couple of thoughts/questions.

First off, 2000 tuned miles wouldn't damage a CVT without serious abuse like brake launching. I assume you didn't do this (hold the brake and accelerator down on takeoff).

Was this car purchased used? How many miles on the car total? Did Honda replace it due to being factory defective? What was the defect?

Thanks for any details you can provide.

 

[techguy124]

2018 civic hatchback EX

total tuned time: about 2 and a half years

total tuned miles: started around 26000 with ktuner stage 2 currently at 56000 with custom tune.

tuning devices: started with ktuner then shop switched to Hondata with custom tune

fuel used: 93 octane

Mods: PRL intercooler, straight piped from cat back, 27won CAI, 27won W1 turbo, 27won inlet pipe.

Problems/issues: random limp mode after W1 install couldn't easily replicate the issue and the shops scanner said it was a transmission issue which was weird. I bought a scanner of my own and found that it was the waste gate arm. there was a slight tolerance issue with the new turbo and the shop was able to add spacers and I haven't had an issue since.

Driving style: hard pulls from time to time. but mainly play with the boost just to hear the waste gate sound lol

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