Got a few questions to pick a brain or two. I'm a newbie so please take pity!!!

I got a used Predator from a supporting vendor here, Great sight, Great deal. Anyway, got it in last Thursday and went staight to tuning, easy as pie. Set it to 65hp on my three week old 1400 mile truck and drove about 25 miles to pick up a camper I was renting to go to the Highlifter Mud Natl's. I knew the transmission had to relearn so that didn't scare me much, tried to make it shift as much as possible on the mostly highway run. What scared me was the engine had a definite rattle at takeoff and cruising speeds. Kind of sounded like a very loose rocker arm or a detonating gasser. Didn't really care for that so I pulled into a gas station and dropped the 40hp tune in it to see if that would help anything. It definately quieted down and somewhat improved driveability. Picked up the 4k. 21' camper and towed it back w/ zero problem, Love the power. :ro) Well we went on the trip, about 750 miles round trip, and felt very comfortable w/ the truck, no unnerving rattles or noises and the tranny shifted smoothly until the ride back. Now I don't put-put like grandma nor do I try to set land speed records but when I merged back onto the highway w/ a 4wheeler in the bed and a couple more on a trailer w/ all our gear I had to get on it and the tranny shifted so hard it felt like it was about to pass us up. The wife jumped my a$$ and said you are gonna tear up your new truck. Well, I told her to shut up and hold on and I really didn't feel like hearing it, just figured the ally wasn't used to shifting w/ all the power down on on it at once. It still doesn't feel right when i get on it to show off a little now and then. Then on Tuesday I decided to drop the 85hp tune just to see what it felt like knowing not to rag on it often after reading numerous posts b/c of heat issues on a stock truck. Throttle response was wickedly sensitive but the power was awesome. Well I got into the truck and cranked it up after sitting for a while and still warm and noticed the 4x4 lights all on like normal at startup but it felt like the xfer case shifted like it was out of 2hi and going back in. It never did it again. Then this morning on the drive to work I tired to put a Cd in the factory player but it wouldn't let me get the one in it out or even play it for some reason. The display even said PLAYING while the radio was on. Got to work and reinstalled the 40hp tune and everything works again, go figure. Does the Predator modify anything else besides engine data, fuel curves, or any of the options on it or do ya'll think I might be in the need of a reflash. The truck is an '05 but was built in 10/04 w/ the LLY and the only mods has been fingered and blocked since a week after I got it. Well that about covers it for this daily reading of my ranting novel and I hope I didn't take up to much time or space of everybody but I am need of opinions on my worries. Again, Thank ya'll very much, this sight :ro) :grd:

you got alot of things going on in that post! I'll try and answer a few. For some reason the 65hp tune has more rattle, I loaded up the 85hp tune and it went away, but I got chicken after a few days and put the 65hp tune back on (didn't want to limp the tranny).

It takes a few days for the tranny to learn then new hp setting, and every time you load a new program, the tranny has to re-learn. The trick is to drive semi-aggresive when you load a tune, so it can learn both easy and heavy shifting. After awhile you'll feel the shifts firming up, and all will be good.

Dunno about your other questions, maybe someone else can help with those...

I posted the same problem with the CD player quite a while back, and I think everybody thought I was crazy....):h

anyway, I reloaded the tune again, goin back to stock and then back to the tune after a recent visit to the dealer, and it's working fine now. Dunno what happened, but reloading fixed it all up....

switching between tunes really screws the tranny up. Let it stay in a tune for a while. And yes, the 65 tune is really noisy. I actually went back to the 40 tune, cause the 65 was just a lil 2 much for noise.

hope that helps.!

on the 65 hp tune... definately louder.... I think thetune turns off the pilot injection earlier in the band... the stock tune turns it off at like 2500 rpms...

The truck worked fine prior to the Predator. correct?

You may want to try this. Download / restore the stock program. That essentially re-loads the truck back to how it was originally. See if everything works fine. Then reload a tune again. With the LLY version the stock program is then back-up / reloaded into the tuner again. It's possible that when the first back-up of the stock program occurred that a piece of data may have been corrupt.

Just a thought - but worth a try as the tuner is a computer and we all know how fussy they can be at times :)

On trani learning - A trick I picked up from some other posters and an allison tech. It is also posted on the diablo site if you search the FAQ for allison. Get on a flat road and get up to 60, down shift into 1st. Don't worry its all computer controlled and it won't shift through the gears until its safe for each gear. Let the truck slow all the way down without using the break. Apply the parking brake turn the truck off and repeat this three times in a row. This won't make it perfect because it tries to optimize for the way you drive but it lets the trani see some high torques numbers without tearing things up and sets the upper limit. You can pretty much stomp on it after this.

Kinda off the subject, but what exactly does limping the trans mean? What happens

The truck did work fine prior to the predator to answer your question skory. I will try and reload once I get back home (offshore for 14 days). Very good explanation that may be the culprit of the radio issues.
I am glad I'm not the only one experiencing a noisy 65hp tune, that calms my nerves alot. By the time I get home I hope to have straight exhaust, gauges, intake and maybe an edge or something sitting on my doorstep to play with on my two weeks off. You guys are great help and thank you very much. BTW, lefty ,I think I will try the little tranny trick also when I get home. If it does tear up it's under warranty so screw it. Again Thanks and if there are any more questions about this let me know.

i thing the cd player not playing a cd or ejecting it has nothing to do with the predator. mine did it and i do not have a predator. bone stock. we reset and it has been working fine

In regards to the rattle, I must either have dull hearing or a unique truck. I get slightly more diesel rattle with any of the tunes, but none of them are outrageous.

I agree on too much rattle. I got rid of the 65 HP tune and settled for the 40 HP.

When you used the Predator, did you pull the fuses first?

On trani learning - A trick I picked up from some other posters and an allison tech. It is also posted on the diablo site if you search the FAQ for allison. Get on a flat road and get up to 60, down shift into 1st. Don't worry its all computer controlled and it won't shift through the gears until its safe for each gear. Let the truck slow all the way down without using the break. Apply the parking brake turn the truck off and repeat this three times in a row. This won't make it perfect because it tries to optimize for the way you drive but it lets the trani see some high torques numbers without tearing things up and sets the upper limit. You can pretty much stomp on it after this.
I'm pretty sure that "fast learn" procedure has been totally debunked and does not do anything to the programming in the Allison. It was pretty well established in 2002 and I even did it myself on country roads in Wisconsin - never saw any effect and feel a bit foolish for even buying into it. Bottom Line - don't waste your time and do the "First Gear from 50 Boogie":rolleyes:

Debunked? I have tried the drop 'er in 1st from 5th (off the 'gas' peddle) and it seemed to improve shifting (relearning) quite a bit. Also seemed a lot less bruttle to the Alison then driving with flarring for a couple hundred miles. I guess we need more data?
Also, it seems to me, I think also reported here, that the Tow/Haul mode also has to be relearned seperately. So if you think you have the standard mode relearned and you put in T/H you'll probably find that is shifting poorly.

Debunked? I have tried the drop 'er in 1st from 5th (off the 'gas' peddle) and it seemed to improve shifting (relearning) quite a bit. Also seemed a lot less bruttle to the Alison then driving with flarring for a couple hundred miles. I guess we need more data?
Also, it seems to me, I think also reported here, that the Tow/Haul mode also has to be relearned seperately. So if you think you have the standard mode relearned and you put in T/H you'll probably find that is shifting poorly.

I agree - it surely made a difference when I installed mine, but some disagree - to each his own.

RE: the T/H - I let it learn in "regular" mode first then drove a few days in T/H all all seems fine now.

Mcrat, yep made sure to. I got some wierd faces when I pulled over at the gas station and started working under the hood on a truck that still had the paper plate on it, but oh well, to each his own.

BlueD, what is flarring. ):h

Yah, nice to know other people are going from 65 down to the 40 tune. The diesel "ting" bugged me also. So I reprogrammed to 40HP. I liked the sound better and the fuel gains from the 65 HP mode has not decreased a noticable amount in the 40 HP mode.

The truck has plenty of stock power. The reason I got the Predator was for the mileage (and other Predator features). The power was not my main concern, but GIDDY-UP. I was concerned about loing some of that 65 HP tune power but I'm pleased with the 40HP. Even pulling my T/A cargo work trailer if I want to pass someone -I PASS THEM:HiHi: .
I'll continue experiment back and forth. After all isn't that what we love?

I've been running the 65hp tune for three months now and the noise has never been an issue. The ally learned in normal mode after about two days of aggressive driving, I'm going to use tow/haul mode for a couple days to let it learn in that mode. I have noticed a slight increase in fuel mileage, hand calculated at about 18 mpg around town.

I too run the 40HP tune, the 65 is too noisy, and the power is too peaky. Reminds me of a 2-stroke bike, kind of. I actually feel the Ally shifts the best with the stock tune. I'm not sure I'm going to even keep the Predator at this point. It's nice, but not really needed.

I'm pretty sure that "fast learn" procedure has been totally debunked and does not do anything to the programming in the Allison. It was pretty well established in 2002 and I even did it myself on country roads in Wisconsin - never saw any effect and feel a bit foolish for even buying into it. Bottom Line - don't waste your time and do the "First Gear from 50 Boogie":rolleyes:
this is from the diablo site, also spoke with an engineer at allison and this it the procedure they use after they repair a trani.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" bgColor=#000080 border=0><TBODY><TR bgColor=#b0c4de><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">Predator: 2004 Chevy Duramax Diesel/Trans - I just purchased a Diablo Predator for my 2004 Chevy Duramax Diesel. Of the 4 pre-set settings, 45, 60, 85, & 125 HP's, all of the ranges slip gears on my transmission, with the 85 and 125 un-drivable (or at least I won't do it). The 45 and 60 slip at first, but after a few runs through the gears, it settles down and they are useful tools. Do I need to return this to you for re-programming? Where do we go from here? </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#f5f5f5><TD><!-- Article -->The Predator for Duramax truck has no transmission function in it at all. No manufacturers can communicate directly with the Allison transmission. It is a self-learning system, the trick is to drive it, and it will adjust to the power level your using in time. The more you change around the power level the longer you drag it out, the higher power levels will adapt for the lower ones, and the harder you drive it the faster it will adapt.
Now there is also kind of a trick you can play on the system that helps speed up the process. Take the truck out on an open piece of road, allow it to shift all the way up to high gear at cruise, then release the throttle and shift the truck down into low gear, not to worry it will not jerk down into low gear, foot off the throttle allow the vehicle to shift down through the gear progression until your riding along in low, apply brake, put the truck in Park, and do it again.
After two or three times, generally, you will see improvements right away, Allison has learned.
Or just keep driving and it will improve on its own, just know your going to have to wait it out.
Again this is the case for every manufacturer adding horsepower to the GM Duramax trucks.

Thanks,
Nick Spinelli
DiabloSport Sales Manager
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