Hello all. My name is Dave, I am new to the forum. Just bought a 2006 Ram SLT w/5.9L Cummins (my first ever diesel vehicle). The vehicle had CaTcher Software (setting #3) installed. What I began to notice after driving the vehicle for a few days was what sounds like a rattle in the motor. Reading some posts on the forum, a couple people mentioned "timing rattle" associated with the advance of timing that performance upgrades such as this produce. Just to ease my concerns, I used the Smarty Box to place the ECM back to stock settings and the rattle has gone away. Couple questions:
1. Where does this "rattle" come from and why is it happening?
2. Is this a normal result of advancing the timing?
3. What benefit does advancing the timing produce? Since there are other settings available (such as 60hp increase w/o advanced timing), I'm wondering if that setting would be ok to use, and what results I would see from that setting.
4. Should I be seeing an increase in MPG with this box? With it I was getting around 14.5mpg. (I am running 35" tires) Since putting things back to stock setting, my MPG went up to 15.2.

Just trying to understand the complexities of these programmers and what they are doing to the engine. I do not like hearing the sound of a rattle in the motor - even if it is a normal by-product of the box. I definitely can tell a difference in HP with it, as opposed to without it, but I am very concerned about this noise.Thanks to anyone that can provide information, suggestions, experiences....

 

increased timeing will casue this rattle you hear. . .all it means is the air charge is under higher pressure when the injector fires so there is a larger bang. also due to this increased timeing the engine will actualy run cooler and your EGT's will be cooler. however the increased timeing does have some negatives. . .increased NOx production. this is due to the increased initial pressure and temp from the combustion process that will actualy produce these NOx emissions. . .lower the timeing and the NOx will go down.

if you use setting #4 which I think is the 60hpw/o timeing all that is going on is the computer is ueing slightly higher pressure from the CP3 and the injetors are heald open longer. this is a good setting for those who have timeing duration boxes who do not need the added timeing smarty will give. you can use this setting with no ill effects. only thing you may notice is a little more smoke from the exhaust.

programmers basicaly 1. increase the timeing of when the injectors fire, 2. hold the injectors ope a little longer, 3. increase pressure on the bottom end rpm's to get things moving along quicker. then hold those pressure higher to ensure the fuel rail does not run dry.

boxes, will do the same thing, however they do not replace the factory programming in the ECM. all they do is fool the ecm a little bit to accomplish the same things.

so how do you like your smarty. . .Ive been thinking about getting one to stack with my TST box(when I can figure out whats going on with this thing[:@])

 

Drew - thanks for the quick reply. I feel a little better about things, but still do not like hearing that rattling - it gives me the impression that something is wrong with the motor! Other than the noise, the box does an incredible job of increasing power. I have no experience with diesels so for me to give my opinion on the box wouldn't mean too much! All I can tell you is that it is very easy to use, and I can definitely feel the HP difference. I also like that it has the ability to change tire sizes so that the speedometer is corrected.Being able to quickly take the vehicle back to stock settings withno trace ofany alterations is a plus too for service and warranty issues. Thanks again for your comments. Appreciated.
Dave

 

I know what you mean with that rattle. . .it will get annoying. . .but nothing is wrong. if you want to remove the rattle you can adjust the tone ring back 1/2 degree to 1 degree and that might take care of it.

adjusting the tone ring is rather extensive, you would have to remove the belt from the crank pully and loosen the harmonic ballancer.

 

I would assume that any box/chip/etc would produce this same noise if timing is advanced, yes? Is this common with other manufacturers also? Just so I understand, what would be the results of setting #4 ( 60hp increase w/o advanced timing) as opposed to setting #3(60hp increase with advanced timing)? Are you saying the only noticeable difference would be more smoke? If I can get 60hp increase without that rattle noise, I may just try that as long as there are no negative effects from it. Thanks again.

 

if I crank my TST box up enough I'll start to get some of that timeing rattle. . .any box that advances the timeing enough will cause this. any harm done, not at all.

go ahead and test out the #4 program and see what happens. . .

 

Set the box to #2 (which is the 60hp increase w/o timing) yesterday...only noticable difference between that and #3 is that the exhaust temps are much higher. No rattling though! What is the "red zone" for exhaust temperature? I am seeing it go up to around 900 when on the throttle...I was seeing about 500-600 with stock settings. Is running that hot causing any ill effects to anything?

 

I've been wondering about that rattle for a while now. Im glad to know it isn't a bad thing.

Drew,
I had the P0336 happen to me yesterday as I was driving , didnt have the issues you did but it startled me and I dropped the TST down to 0. My poor truck felt so sluggish after I did that. I don't think I can ever give up my box now...