5th gen tuners/programmers

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mikenac

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If this has been covered somewhere I apologize. I was searching but struggling to find anything.

We have a winch installed on our 4runner (2016 trail). I had bad bad problems with my wrangler when i had a winch and it was solved after i put a programmer on it with idle up capabilities. Im not sure about how the 4runner will do because we have not used it yet, but if so do they make anything that gives the 4runner the ability to high idle?

thanks!
 
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From what I've read, Toyota does a good job protecting their code, and there are no aftermarket programmers or "chips" available. There are places (there is one here in Wichita) that will put your car on a Dyno and based on the results tune or program a chip. But I don't know exactly what their capabilities are.
 
mikenac said:
If this has been covered somewhere I apologize. I was searching but struggling to find anything.

We have a winch installed on our 4runner (2016 trail). I had bad bad problems with my wrangler when i had a winch and it was solved after i put a programmer on it with idle up capabilities. Im not sure about how the 4runner will do because we have not used it yet, but if so do they make anything that gives the 4runner the ability to high idle?

thanks!
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No. Toyota ECU is locked. There is no chip, add on, hack or anything else. What you have is what you got and it's not a Wrangler.
 
If you want more power - I would consider trading the 4runner for a different vehicle. If you want a slight throttle up - turn on the AC. If you want a bit more - figure out some method to depress the gas pedal a little bit. Otherwise I think you're probably SOL. I haven't had the need to do multiple long pulls with the winch on my 4runner, so I don't really know how well it would recharge. My guess is that with most other electronics turned off/down it will charge quite well. It has no problem keeping up with my snow plowing, but that's not as heavy of demand as 10 consecutive 100' winch pulls. If you're a gunner for a trail run or something where you're doing a bunch of long pulls, it's probably worth just asking someone else with an 8274 to do the dirty work.
 
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Jetboy said:
There's a company called vivid racing that claims to have a tuner for some GR series engines. Their claim is that the code already has multiple maps and they can use the OBD2 access in some way to trick the ECU into running more powerful maps already contained in the ECU. I'm VERY skeptical. But... I want someone else to spend the $800 for the .001% chance that it's actually a functional option. Buy one and let us know if it works!
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yyeeaaahhhh..........

I just want to idle up a bit, dont care to gain any power. $800 is not in the cards lol
 
mikenac said:
yyeeaaahhhh..........

I just want to idle up a bit, dont care to gain any power. $800 is not in the cards lol
Click to expand...

I realized that wasn't very responsive to your question. There's a lot of work trying to tune the 2GR for the Lexus crowd, but as I understand it some of the dyno comparisons have actually lost around 5hp. Dyno runs have enough error my guess is that it's really just a zero.

My personal small frustration is just one of gearing - the gearing is wrong for 285s. It doesn't hold 5th gear well. I'm not sure why Toyota didn't gear it properly for my choice taller tires. With stock tires gearing was just fine - and got better mileage too!
 
I haven't had any issues the 5 or 6 times I've used my 9500 lb winch. But I've really only put a hard load on it once (FedEx Mercedes Sprinter van in a ditch). The rest of the times have just been pulling forward 10 feet or so out of mud.
 

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Basic winching: You shouldn't run the winch in idle since it pulls direct from the battery.

You should be in Neutral (NEVER PARK when winching, never ever). Lay on the brakes if you're pulling someone else out or drive if you're winching yourself out. And you should rev the engine to 3000+ RPM. A higher idle really isn't an issue.
 
3wbdriver said:
I haven't had any issues the 5 or 6 times I've used my 9500 lb winch. But I've really only put a hard load on it once (FedEx Mercedes Sprinter van in a ditch). The rest of the times have just been pulling forward 10 feet or so out of mud.
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No weird electrical issues you have noticed at all?
 
LawnDart said:
Basic winching: You shouldn't run the winch in idle since it pulls direct from the battery.

You should be in Neutral (NEVER PARK when winching, never ever). Lay on the brakes if you're pulling someone else out or drive if you're winching yourself out. And you should rev the engine to 3000+ RPM. A higher idle really isn't an issue.
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Yes its terrible for your electrical system to not idle up. My jeep was nightmare before i used a programmer to set high idle...it would shut all my lights off and radio and the electrical system would freak out. I wish someone had something for these like the flashcal for jeeps
 
Can someone explain why they think it's bad for the electrical system to winch at idle. I've done it for 20+ years without issue. I assume starting you car at 0rpms is okay - and that's basically a short version of the same thing. A common battery should be capable of 3 or so times the wattage required to winch. Obviously as the battery drains it becomes an issue, but outside of that I'm not thinking of any reason to be concerned with a short term 3-400 amp draw on the system.
 
My ARB twin will drain my battery in about 20-25 minutes if I use it with the vehicle with the key in 'accessory on' position. Just that much draw from constant use (I use it to clean off film camera gear on some locations).

So you don't HAVE to have the motoring running, but you'll kill the battery a lot faster than revving the engine up to about 3-4K while pulling. If you're at full extension on the line your winch will pull many more amps than if you're doing a 10' pull.
 
I generally just use mine at idle. But I have yet to do the type of offroading in my 4runner where I'm doing multiple full length pulls. I probably don't use my 4runner hard enough. In general the times I've usually done that are in deep snow in my trail rig. In that case it does drain the battery really fast. Probably 1 full 150 foot pull would drain a battery without the engine running. I run marine batteries in that vehicle. They seem to last longer especially in vehicles that only get used once or twice a year. But I only have a 60 amp alternator.

I haven't ever really worried about damaging electronics in the vehicle though. It sounds like some Jeeps have strange electrical gremlins when voltage levels are too low.

I wonder how a lithium ion battery would handle winch duty.
 
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