My experience with ARD and the 'orange' ECU flash - GREAT results!

[sikbrik]

I just wanted to share this with this community because I figure it might help a few folks enjoy their cars just a little bit more.

I recently upgraded my 01 XC with an ARD tune. You can see my review on the actual product site - I'm not affiliated with ARD in any way other than being a satisfied customer. http://ardideas.3dcartstores.com/ARD-Orange-ME7_p_34.html#

I'm extremely pleased. Lucky worked out a tune based on his orange tune that is sort of a 'hybrid' with an 'eco' tune he's been working with. So now I have increased power, better driveability, and 10% to 15% increases in fuel economy. My XC sees 35 mpg highway now. No joke! [thumbup]

I'm not going to push it but I just wanted to mention it in case anyone is interested. It's a great price for a tune just for the power (my car is otherwise stock.) Getting the fuel economy along with it is paying for itself well within a year for me at the rate I drive at today's gas prices.

Have fun!
Mike

[Astro14]

Call me a skeptic...but I find it hard to believe that a tune would net a 40% increase in MPG...My XC gets about 25MPG...going to 35 MPG would be a 40% increase...

How is the power/throttle response?

[JRL]

IMPOSSIBLE to get 35 MPG

[howardc64]

I guess gas mileage is on most people's mind these days :)

On pure highway (trigger mileage calculation only when car is on highway). I've seen 29-30 on my 01 T5 and 30 on my 01 V70XC at about 65-70mph in a 200 mile run with some hills. But it drops really fast if you include any city driving at all. Normally around my suburbia short drive to and from work with a couple of big hills to climb and only a few stops, I only see 19-20mpg on the V70XC and 20-21 on the T5. I know on my Prius, going 60mph saves quite a bit of fuel compared to 70mph (seems like 5mpg or better). Haven't done 60mph highway runs on these Volvos yet so not sure how much gain there is.

ARD's website shows 2-3mpg gain. Not sure what strategy they deploy to do that. Hard to imagine you can get power + fuel savings without cylinder deactivation on highway and/or reducing fuel during deceleration. It would be interesting to find out what the strategy is.

http://ardideas.3dcartstores.com/ARD-Orange-ME7_p_34.html

Perhaps OP drove 60mph and measured mileage only on highway segments? Seems possible to get above 30 in this controlled environment where fuel consumption is at the optimal? Granted, this isn't a viable only driving pattern for most people :)

[Pennhaven]

I agree it's extremely unlikely that changing the ECM maps could deliver this kind of fuel economy at typical highway speeds. The only time I ever got 35 MPG on the "highway" was by deliberately keeping to 45 MPH on a back country road.

[JRL]

Only way you will see anthing over 30-31 is DOWNHILL foot off the gas.
I've done several runs on level ground with the cruise control on V70Rs, XC's all years with different mileage, etc.
Stock AND flashed and the best I ever saw on any of thse was at at a flat 60 mph (you will get run over at 60 mph) for 10 miles and that was 31 on an ECU flashed V70R, 6 speed MANUAL in 6th gear!

[sikbrik]

Call me a skeptic...but I find it hard to believe that a tune would net a 40% increase in MPG...My XC gets about 25MPG...going to 35 MPG would be a 40% increase...

How is the power/throttle response?

I knew that was coming but my XC previously got 30.5 on long pure highway trips (we're talking flat PA turnpike with no traffic) and now gets 35+. Your choice to believe that or not but it's my personal experience.

The highway increase is exaggerated because of the low rpm (i drive with cruise at 60mph) and you can see that my in town is "only" up 2mpg.

[sikbrik]

Put aside the mpg talk - the power delivery is smoother, idle is smoother (that stupid little plastic document clip used to rattle at idle...no more) Transition off idle is smoother, car accelerates silky smooth, and there's more top end there if I need it. That alone is worth it to me.

Back to the skeptics:

Jim, you're close enough to come do a ride along with me if you must . You guys are funny. Read the whole thing. 2 3 mpg in normal driving. I'd venture that most of you get around 20, which I used to. Is that part unbelievable to you? I do normally run between 40 and 42 psi in my tires. At stock pressure (and stock tune) I was getting 27 mpg on this same highway route. This is calculated with onboard, additional obd2 monitoring, and calculating my fuel used. Maybe not scientific enough but it's close.

35mpg is at 40 psi (cold) in tires and controlled highway only (from the on ramp to the gas station at 60mph.). I'm also not talking about a 1 mile trip here. I'm talking sustained 60 mph (sometimes 65 for light passing duty...believe it or not, other people go slower than 60 sometimes!) for ~100 miles.

Controlling the maps to use less fuel can produce more power. Let's be clear...if I'm using the pedal, it's going to eat large quantities of fuel. Ever heard the phrase "lean is mean"? Less fuel can produce more power in some environments. It's just a known tuning fact but that's not what's giving me the majority of increases here. It's the reduction of fuel by about 6% (as I understand it) on average down low in the rpm/load range.

In fact, the tune is based on factory volvo press car maps that were engineered to offer increased economy down low in the rpm range, light load, etc.

[howardc64]

Hey Mike:

Your explanation is interesting. Your description shows you are using typical hypermiling tricks to get mpg short of driving behind a 18 wheeler to reduce the wind resistance (Did that once on our Prius and got like 75mpg for a 20 mi stretch. Not safe of course, was just curious)

Sent an email to the ARD owner (looks like its Bob Lucky from iPD) and it would seem many people would be interested if the gains are real and consistently reproduceable. I don't doubt you. Would be more interested if we aren't getting used to the 50mpg in the Prius :P But really cool to think this is possible. ARD website shows a remote upgrade option will be available soon. Curious about the price and upgrade method :)

[giorgio]

Usually when someone install tuning software for increase the power at first believe have decrease the fuel consumption because the instrument of the car say it . But when you go to buy gas you have the surprise .
If you drive slowly the consumption is the same but if you use the increase of power the consumption is bigger !
In Italy and in Europe too the most drive diesel engine but is the same.
Here gas and oil are more expensive and there a lot of people ( me too ) who joke to be an hipermiler........
My consumption normally is 30 mph and only one time i have drive 560 miles at 80 miles per hour all in one day with only 15,85 gal.My record 35 mph.

[giorgio]

usually when someone install tuning software for increase the power at first believe have decrease the fuel consumption because the instrument of the car say it . But when you go to buy gas you have the surprise .
If you drive slowly the consumption is the same but if you use the increase of power the consumption is bigger !
In italy and in europe too the most drive diesel engine but is the same.
Here gas and oil are more expensive and there a lot of people ( me too ) who joke to be an hipermiler........
My consumption normally is 30 mph and only one time i have drive 560 miles at 80 miles per hour all in one day with only 15,85 gal.my record 35 mph.

diesel engine !

[sikbrik]

I might have missed the point and lost a few people along the way with the highway mpg thing. Let's back up a little and consider the old internet adage "YMMV". Let me also restate that I'm not selling anything - just trying to help fellow XCers. I paid full price and I'll continue to pay ARD for products and services because I'm happy with my experience with them.

It's a fair observation, Howard, but my only "hypermiling" techniques are being aware of how I'm driving and tire pressure. I'm sure I could even up that if I used more of what I'd consider dangerous hypermiling techniques like tailgating (drafting is just a coverup word for the dirty truth), coasting in neutral, etc. I'm not interested in ruining my transmission with all that in and out of gear shifting and I'm not interested in trying to stop this tank quickly because I'm too close to the person in front of me. We do have a Prius C, as well...I drove it to work today and the dash showed 65mpg but tank average is always very close to 50 - I wonder if I really got 65 and my wife is the one killing the tank average! [mad2] I'm not looking to end my dependence on fuel with my Volvo but it's a nice little bump and, since I like to tinker, it keeps me interested in my car. We drive the Prius whenever we can but I won't drive that 400 miles with my kids and my dogs and bikes, strollers, etc.

So let's have a more "real world" discussion, maybe. I'm thrilled with the service Lucky gave regarding the tune and the recommendations. I'm thrilled with my own personal results. I believe you all could see at least a 2mpg bump. A real door-to-door trip to see my wife over lunch netted about 25mpg with some stop and go and a decent stretch of I-81 in lunchtime traffic. I listen to NPR and Ray Charles type stuff while driving - I take it easy. I'm a calm driver with no rush to get anywhere. YMMV. I'll be driving from Harrisburg PA to Phoenixville PA this weekend with the family. I'll measure door to door and back, rather than on-ramp to off-ramp. I've gotten 27 mpg on this trip before at between 65 and 70 mph...I'm hoping for 32 on this trip. We'll see...

Currently you need to remove your ECM and send it to ARD. They have a softloader option coming soon - not sure of the cost difference. The cost is $490 currently (and you are responsible for shipping to ARD while they cover return shipping), which is much less than the IPD/TME and other tunes as far as I could find. You get one-on-one discussion about your needs and wants. Turnaround time for me, being on the other side of the country and sending over a weekend, was about 5 days (3 business days) from my door to ARD and back to me.

The cost won't be justified if you only want increased MPG and think you'll magically get 35mpg average on a tank. If you drive 15,000 miles a year, it might take well over a year at today's prices to recoup the cost. If fuel goes to $6, maybe it's a faster "payoff" but if you're buying it only for that, you might be missing the boat. If you also want an extra 25 or so horsepower, then it becomes worth it, I think.

If anyone has specific questions about what the car can do now (0-60, 0-100, drive a certain route at a certain average speed and certain tire pressure) I'd be happy to try to get estimates of those results with electronic meters and report back - I'm not going to a dyno or planning on running 1/4 mile with this car.

I think it's great to be skeptical and expect proof of one person's claims. I don't knock you guys for that. Just don't think you'll get me to falsify my results to make it more believable for everyone. Thanks!

Mike

[ARD-Lucky]

Thanks to Howard for letting me know about this thread and I hope I can contribute something useful. Mods if vendor status or similar is required to post up please PM me :)

My point here is to share info not be a salesman, so with that said I hope this helps!

As for MPG in these cars; XC's are the worst because they have so much against them. Less optimal aerodynamic profile, highest parasitic loss from AWD, Auto trans, and poor stock mapping IMO. My 99XC is a prime example. I can't get much over 18 in city on stock map and around 26 on highway. However all stock fuel maps are not the same, typically an air fuel ratio (AFR) of 14.7:1 is ideal for both reduced emissions and maximum efficiency but factory mapping is not consistent in every car. Most Volvo models that I've seen are programmed for this 'stoichiometric' value of 14.7:1 but I've seen press cars with maps (I affectionately call them 'Press Maps') that have the fuel trims at 16:1. Obviously this leaner fuel target is only at light throttle cruise and has typical AFR values when under load and in boost.

Point being there's some room in the middle to take advantage of this. Now 16:1 in my experience is too lean and could end up reducing vehicle longevity even if only by ~10%... it's too lean for my comfort level in what I would provide out the door to a customer. In the particular case of a vehicle with a 'press map' that I most recently read out that car was a 2000 S70 GLT with 120K on the odometer so take that for what it's worth.

There's three basic strategies that tuners employ when trying to increase MPG's
1. Reduced load transient sensitivity. Basically filter out the smaller movements in the throttle that would normally cause tip in enrichment when the movement is less than 5%, essentially this helps keep the ECU from enriching the mixture for throttle tip in when it's just small variations in driver foot positioning. Again this is done primarily at light throttle cruise.

2. Advanced timing strategy based on fuel and mods. Adjusting the timing maps based on typical fuel octane the driver uses and with respect to modifications on the car (exhaust, intake, etc..) these maps can help to increase engine efficiency and lead to increased MPG's.

3. Active AFR. By adjusting AFR by not just the front wideband 02 sensor based on fuel map target but also offset by the exhaust gas temperature model. The EGT model is a feedback value that normally enriches mixture to lower EGT's if they get too high, but with a bit of rework you can also use that map double duty to lean the light throttle cruise AFR's based on EGT modeling. So if EGT will allow it the ECU will lean the mixture to a point. If EGT's get too high it will bring AFR's back down to keep the model limits satisfied.

All three methods above working together can get some decent gains, and with respect to the OP that's what we've done... this ECO-Orange tune is somewhat of a new hybrid that we're testing out so we'll see how things look long term in a few more months.

Be advised you'll really only see increases like this at highway speeds since the inertia and energy required to move the car stop light to stop light is fixed and can't really be changed. So in town gains are pretty small but on the highway bigger gains can be had.

For anything more specific please feel free to post up with questions!

[sikbrik]

Thanks for accurately explaining all of those things, Lucky, which explains why I'm seeing about 2mpg on my normal commute (which is really about 50/50 mix) but drastically higher on mostly highway trips. Weight is certainly an issue for stop and go, as is rolling resistance from tires and poor suspension/alignment condition. If I just run out to my kids' daycare and back, I see about 16 or 17 mpg. Some of that might be cold/open loop but it's congested stop and go. I wouldn't expect much more.

I'm a little curious about trying to get closer to the 16:1 once I get a few other things in place (maybe an EGT, etc.) I've read that the old Honda lean burn cvcc engines ran near 17:1 in light load, cruising situations. We can discuss that once I've got more time on the tune and can pull and read the plugs, etc. It seems like a fun experiment at this point.

Howard, thanks for being a neutral contributor and helping get to the bottom of things.

[howardc64]

Indeed really interesting info to tickle the engineers here :) I read up a bit on AFR which seems to be a main improvement factor in Lucky's explanation. Here is the info on AFR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air–fuel_ratio
http://www.fuelsaver-mpg.com/tuning-for-mileage
http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbobygarrett/airfuel_ratio_tuning_rich_vs_lean

So let me get this straight. I gather that leaner (higher) AFR produces more power up to a certain point. But leaner AFR also has the potential to damage to the engine with higher temps + knocking. However, leaner AFR can be used under light load conditions such as say cruising along and that is how we get the mpg improvement. Right?

Very cool, I never knew using less gas can actually make more power :)

[Ocean Racer]

Good to see you back Lucky !

[ARD-Lucky]

Good to be back guys!

If you need anything from me or have questions don't hesitate to post up and I'll be happy to answer :)

[JRL]

Good to be back guys!

If you need anything from me or have questions don't hesitate to post up and I'll be happy to answer :)

All that being said, I've been thinking of a very MILD tune (only) for my 07 XC70
.
114K miles

Complete stage 0

(New T belt, complete breather, Seafoamed, plugs Mobil 1 etc etc, all at 111K miles).

What could I expect to get powerwise and mileage wise and can I still use 89 octane?

Jim

http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww329/JRL1194/2007XC70whiteNEWfullleft-1.jpg

[sikbrik]

I'll speak only to the octane...I'm still using 89 octane with no issues.

[Forkster]

I have the IPD softloader Stage 1. It turns my 04XC70 into a beast. And I do find it hard to control myself to stay off the gas. I just can't help myself... :D

It adds almost 50HP + 85lb/t to my 'boring' XC70. But I bet if i took it easier, it would actually help with mileage. But I'll never know...

[ARD-Lucky]

89 octane is fine, all the factory adaptations are retained so the ECU can account for octane changes up to 104.

As for power it depends on what tune you select and supporting mods. It't not uncommon at all to see 45+hp and 70+Tq with our Green tune.

[ifnt420]

But I bet if i took it easier, it would actually help with mileage. But I'll never know...

+ 1... haha

[Ocean Racer]

"Go ARD or go home"

[01V70XC5A]

89 octane is fine, all the factory adaptations are retained so the ECU can account for octane changes up to 104.

As for power it depends on what tune you select and supporting mods. It't not uncommon at all to see 45+hp and 70+Tq with our Green tune.

I'm interested in a green tune. I wonder though, what is the safe limit for the transmission, ~250 ft-lbs Tq? Right now I'm replacing the timing belt(+water pump & belt tensioner) and several mounts. I have 87K on the clock so I'll soon be doing a stage 0 along with the IPD bypass upgrade and HD TCV. I already have a K&N filter installed, is there anything else I should do before flashing the ECU?

P.S. I only run 91 in my XC.

[sikbrik]

On the ARD website, the green tune specifies an upgraded turbo for the LPT. There's a distinct power increase with the Orange tune. I'd think if you're not planning on changing out hard-parts like turbo, that might be the way to go.

[01V70XC5A]

The ARD website shows that Blue and Black tunes require upgraded turbos, I don't see where a turbo upgrade is required for the green tune on an ME7 (non R) vehicle.

[sikbrik]

Maybe I saw that on the Snabb site. I'm sure Lucky will chime in.

The reasoning would be that boost on the green is bumped to 14psi and a stock 01 LPT (13g? 14t?) may struggle that level. Just my thoughts. I'm sure ARD will get you what you want and be happy with it! :)

[01V70XC5A]

I'm sure I'll be happy with it. At 14 PSI, my estimates show between 240 and 250 HP at the crank so long as gains are more or less linear on these engines.

[Ocean Racer]

For those questioning a simple ecu tune upgrade only, I can personally vouch that it makes the XC a totally different car to drive.
Stock boost of 7-8psi raised to 14 is VERY noticeable. You will never regret it!

[ARD-Lucky]

I'm out of town traveling for SEMA this week so give me a day or two to catch my breath and I'll post up with answers!

Thanks guys!

[n00bkiller944]

Good to see you again Lucky!!

[ARD-Lucky]

As for our tune levels... The tune level you choose with regard to ARD is always based on the turbo we're tuning for. So for most ME7 with stock turbo the Orange or Green tune is best suited. However if you have a K24 turbo from the R or later S60 variants then the Carbon (for R's) or Blue (For T5's) is appropriate.

Long story short I like to talk to each person and get a feel for what their needs are and their environment/vehicle setup before I recommend anything, so don't hesitate to email or PM me! :)

[Franxc06]

Hi Guys I read a lot of articles regarding BSR and they seem to increase about 30-45HP with stage 3 and the torque is rather impressive as well. Its available in Australia
for around $1000.00 not cheap but respectable power and torque figures for the price.
Any way my XC70 is stock standard 2006 model, last week I put on the 17"XC60 rims with 235 x 60 before I had put the 17" rims on I had done gas / mileage fuel consumption:

klms travelled = 283.9 ( mainly suburban driving )

litres used top tank =31.5L

consumption = 283.9 / 31.5 = 9.012 kml / L

100 / 9.012 = 11.1L per 100 klms ( 25.47 mpg imperial gallon )

A long while ago I did and posted highway consumption and if I remember it was between 30 and 35 mpg.

I'll be doing a fuel consumption with the new 17"rims to see the difference.
Cheers, any input regarding BSR would be appreciated .