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Banks versus GDE

Whitty37

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Had the GDE in my 2014 but looking at options for my 2022...both are 50 State compliant but I know nothing about Banks. My strong preference is to not have to send my ECM to GDE so Banks gets a point for that at least. Hey, @djevox , how about a review or pros/cons of your Banks setup? Looking for any feedback...

thanks!
 

djevox

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Sorry I missed your mention, and that’s a tough question.

I like banks a lot because they are well proven for diesel performance. They even build their own diesel crate engines. They claim their safety monitoring of engine and trans parameters or more stringent then the stock engine monitoring. I believe them based on their history. The Derringer works very well, and I can monitor it pulling power if there’s trans slippage (through our shop’s snap-on scantool).

I like almost everything about the tuner. Banks has weathered a lot of storms, so I’m not worried about them going out of business- i.e., support will be there for you in the future.

The two things I don’t like about it:
1) it does nothing for the EGR system
2) it does not increase gas mileage at all, when there is plenty of opportunity to do so.

GDE has a much shorter history, but if they were messing up tunes and blowing up engines or transmissions, the internet would be blowing up about it. That’s not the case, so I think they’re fine.

The things I don’t like about GDE’s tunes:
1) It’s a PITA to get the tune done unless you drive there. You have to be willing to have at least three days (realistically, a week in case of shipping issues) of truck downtime while you ship out the PCM to be flashed. He won’t be offering a handheld for a while. (He told me ~4 years when I talked to him on the phone this past April)
2) If you don’t what truck downtime, you need to order a spare PCM and have it cloned at a dealer that will do it for you. GDE can clone, but you have to send your truck’s PCM and the spare PCM to them at the same time, defeating the whole zero downtime thing.
3) If GDE decides to close shop tomorrow, you’re out of luck on support or updates. I have faith they’ll weather economic storms though, as their overhead is pretty low and they can still operate by renting dynos and do the rest from an office in the owner’s house if they really wanted to.
4) Price is pretty high for a canned tune.

Things I love about the GDE tune:
1) Increased mpg.
2) Makes better use of the low-pressure EGR loop to reduce soot buildup in the intake.
3) Engine braking.
4) Trans tune included.

All that being said, I think GDE wins because of the reduced soot and the gas mileage increase. I would 100% put it on a spare PCM though. If something were to happen, I’d want a quick fix from putting the stock PCM back in while I figure out what went wrong.
 

ayoslickxd

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Sorry I missed your mention, and that’s a tough question.

I like banks a lot because they are well proven for diesel performance. They even build their own diesel crate engines. They claim their safety monitoring of engine and trans parameters or more stringent then the stock engine monitoring. I believe them based on their history. The Derringer works very well, and I can monitor it pulling power if there’s trans slippage (through our shop’s snap-on scantool).

I like almost everything about the tuner. Banks has weathered a lot of storms, so I’m not worried about them going out of business- i.e., support will be there for you in the future.

The two things I don’t like about it:
1) it does nothing for the EGR system
2) it does not increase gas mileage at all, when there is plenty of opportunity to do so.

GDE has a much shorter history, but if they were messing up tunes and blowing up engines or transmissions, the internet would be blowing up about it. That’s not the case, so I think they’re fine.

The things I don’t like about GDE’s tunes:
1) It’s a PITA to get the tune done unless you drive there. You have to be willing to have at least three days (realistically, a week in case of shipping issues) of truck downtime while you ship out the PCM to be flashed. He won’t be offering a handheld for a while. (He told me ~4 years when I talked to him on the phone this past April)
2) If you don’t what truck downtime, you need to order a spare PCM and have it cloned at a dealer that will do it for you. GDE can clone, but you have to send your truck’s PCM and the spare PCM to them at the same time, defeating the whole zero downtime thing.
3) If GDE decides to close shop tomorrow, you’re out of luck on support or updates. I have faith they’ll weather economic storms though, as their overhead is pretty low and they can still operate by renting dynos and do the rest from an office in the owner’s house if they really wanted to.
4) Price is pretty high for a canned tune.

Things I love about the GDE tune:
1) Increased mpg.
2) Makes better use of the low-pressure EGR loop to reduce soot buildup in the intake.
3) Engine braking.
4) Trans tune included.

All that being said, I think GDE wins because of the reduced soot and the gas mileage increase. I would 100% put it on a spare PCM though. If something were to happen, I’d want a quick fix from putting the stock PCM back in while I figure out what went wrong.
interesting what about Eoc heard the tune they have is great also
 

Malodave

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I have to stop by in a couple of weeks to reflash the GDE tune. The Dealer reflashed it to the latest software
when I went in for something totally different. The Spare PCM route is very difficult with the Supply shortages.
I have tried numerous times only to have my order canceled and CC refunded.

You can feel the Extra 45HP and 80 ft/lbs of torque. The trans tune is still on and I am averaging 26 MPG on
my morning commutes with half at HWY speed and the other half at 30-45 MPH.

I have also been letting the truck Drive itself with a Comma3 from Comma.ai. We have Steer to Zero MPH
working and are adding the HD models in with the next release of the supported software. The we Start
working on recognizing Stop Signs and Lights to get End to End working with the Nav.

Malodave
 

Malodave

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Just got a message from GDE the PCMs they have are $600. That is twice what the dealer wants and
3 Times what the OEM sellers Price is, If you can get them with the supply shortages.

Malodave
 
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WXman

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When I was shopping them I went GDE. The Bosch CP4 has a bad reputation as it is (see the recent 2nd Gen EcoDiesel and 2019/20 Cummins recalls) and the idea of fooling it into pushing even more fuel flow beyond the engineered specification to me seems like asking for trouble. Anytime you're simply piggybacking sensors to fool the PCM into doing things it's a less than optimal way to go about it.

GDE on the other hand fully tunes the PCM and they engineer everything in step to work together correctly. They dyno certify for the EPA also. They have background working for the OEs in Detroit on powertrain calibration so they know what they're doing. The GDE tune is a total package that is created to work together and runs the engine cleaner and safer. Most of the Gen 2 engines that you see with 150k or more miles on them only survived that long because they'd been GDE tuned years ago.
 

djevox

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Just got a message from GDE the PCMs they have are $600. That is twice what the dealer wants and
3 Times what the OEM sellers Price is, If you can get them with the supply shortages.

Malodave
Honestly, I would do that if they could just take my Vin and get me an image. The PITA part is sending the ECU.

Edit: Just called them and I still need to send in my ECU.
 
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Malodave

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Honestly, I would do that if they could just take my Vin and get me an image. The PITA part is sending the ECU.

Edit: Just called them and I still need to send in my ECU.

They still need the Base OEM image from your truck. I want to see if I can get my tune on a Thumb drive and pick up flash Hardware to re-flash if needed.
That might be easier than getting a Spare PCM from RAM.

Malodave
 

djevox

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They still need the Base OEM image from your truck. I want to see if I can get my tune on a Thumb drive and pick up flash Hardware to re-flash if needed.
That might be easier than getting a Spare PCM from RAM.

Malodave
That’s a great idea. Hopefully it works out. I did ask earlier this year what flasher he uses, and he said some obscure name that instantly left my brain. I think the name began with an L.
 

tom318

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For those with GDE tunes, was the on board driving data affected after the tune? Range, avg mpg and instant mpg? Our vw tdi has a Kerma tune and once that was done the on board data is completely skewed and useless. Car gets 40/45mpg but the display shows 30 or less. Curious if that’s the same case in the Ram. I know many claim that info is inaccurate from the factory but mine has been spot on and wouldn’t want to lose that if I do the GDE tune.
 

djevox

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For those with GDE tunes, was the on board driving data affected after the tune? Range, avg mpg and instant mpg? Our vw tdi has a Kerma tune and once that was done the on board data is completely skewed and useless. Car gets 40/45mpg but the display shows 30 or less. Curious if that’s the same case in the Ram. I know many claim that info is inaccurate from the factory but mine has been spot on and wouldn’t want to lose that if I do the GDE tune.
That was due to how VW designed their active data monitoring for params relating to that. Back in late 2008, I dug into kermaTDI’s tune for my mk4 golf. I didn’t find anything in the tune that seemed like it would point to anything other than what I mentioned in the first sentence, so I used pen and paper methods for calculation for a while.

I don’t have GDE‘s tune yet, but just from my data logging of the Derringer, RAM does a much better job of calculating values under normal conditions and re-calculating throughout the crossover tables. The read out is not great, but it’s the same amount incorrect as stock for the tuner I’m using. That gives me a pretty strong indication that it will be the same for GDE.
 

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