Rep Power: 511

Just a PSA for anyone that is considering getting a tuning unit for their 10th gen civic. Anyone that mods their car is well aware of the risks involved, as reliability is inherently decreased when you push the factory engine closer to its limits. HOWEVER, there is an ongoing survey on CivicX.com regarding aftermarket tunes (e.g. Hondata or KTuner units) with people posting up their setups, any issues they've had, failures, etc.

Here's the survey if you wanna read through it and see what people are saying (yes, I was the first person to respond to that survey. lol).

Personally, as of last night, I've been tuned for 21.8k miles pushing 21psi (OEM 16.5psi stock under ideal conditions) with no issues.

The survey on CivicX.com has 452 vehicle submissions as of 12/19/2020, 6.3 million combined miles driven with a tuning unit and a grand total of 13 failures reported, most of the major failures were due to abuse, negligence, or custom tunes (not off the shelf tunes like TSP, MAPerformance, or Phearable tunes, or included Hondata/KTuner tunes). The lesser failures were things like the stock clutch being garbage, or problems with the intake used vs tune used (likely using a race MAF on a street tune), "none of which were catastrophic"

That said, tuning your car is generally safe, but know that there are risks involved. If you mod your car, you should already have that mindset. If voiding your warranty is high on your list of worries, hold off until you're out of warranty.

I will say, however, this 21psi tune has really changed the feel of the car for the better. It really wakes up the car and makes it that much more fun to drive. As another user put it, "Casual driving feels smoother and aggressive driving feels more satisfying." To top it off, my fuel economy hasn't really taken a hit. Last 10 fill ups have had a combined average fuel economy of 33.87MPG, probably a 40/60 split city/highway miles. I can also confirm that the current configuration I'm on (21psi tune with quick enables) passes Clark County, NV (Las Vegas) state emissions testing with the tune installed. Generally, no CEL and all sensors ready are passing requirements. I've had a CEL for something stupid/non-emissions related on my 2002 and it still passed.

***DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this thread is not to tell you that tuning your car is 100% bulletproof. It is not here to let you say, "Well... xRiCeBoYx said I would be fine, and I blew my motor!" It is simply here to inform everyone that the tuning solutions out there are relatively safe for us end users and good way for us car enthusiasts to get more enjoyment out of the 10th gen civic. If you experience failure, be it catastrophic or a mild inconvenience, know that you have modded your car and have thus accepted the risks involved.***

 
Rep Power: 511

I forgot about this thread. Not gonna lie. Got a new like, so I figured I'd share some updates

Since January, I've been running a more powerful off the shelf tune, specifically the Phearable 1.5T non-Si CVT tune. I'm now pushing 47k on the clock, and I've run this tune for about 12.5k miles. It's dampened a bit down low (still peppy compared to stock, but much smoother when compared to the KTuner 21psi tune), but up top, it increases the peak PSI to 24psi. The CVT tune (in comparison to the MT tune) was made to limit peak torque to 245ish ft-lb, and the max whp is about 215whp. I can drive chill, but once I hit 3000rpm, this thing takes off, much faster than the original KTuner 21psi tune. If you buy a KTuner from Phearable, you'll get their $120 tune for free. TwoStepPerformance has another off the shelf tune that, on paper, is "weaker" than the Phearable tune, but allegedly runs just as well, just a bit different (jerkier than the Phearable tune, I've read). They have a similar deal, you buy from TSP, you get their $80 tune for free.

The phearable tune calls for higher octane fuel highly recommended (93 octane), but it will still run safely at 91 octane. I've messed around with a few tanks of 3.5gal 100 octane, topped off with 91 octane with great results (k.con stays closer to .49 longer and drops down faster when that is elevated -- mind you, OEM tune k.con is typically in the 1.00 range). Still zero issues with the engine. It's still peppy as hell. Still a blast to drive, still getting great fuel economy (last fill up was 75/25 hwy/city miles with 34.6mpg)

If anyone has any questions, feel free to post up. IMO, it's the best bang-for-buck mod you can do for your civic (provided you don't live in CA with their recent "no factory tune = no pass smog" rule)

 
Rep Power: 511

Minor update. This is the first time I've smogged my car since getting the Phearable tune...

If you have smog tests in your area (except California with their new laws), the Phearable tune (on map 3) will pass an OBD2 smog test, at least here in Nevada - Clark County. No flashing back to stock for the smog test, then driving around to make sure your sensors are all in ready, etc.

edit: as it sits right now, I've been tuned since Feb 2019, just over 38.6k miles, and still zero issues.

 
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i made an account to post on here because i havent seen documentation of anyone running their phearable 1.5R tune on a CVT for so long. i saw that youre still active on here so i wanted to ask a few questions.

1. how has the car hold up?
2. how many miles on the car and how much of it was tuned on the phearable 1.5R tune?
3. any issue with your CVT thus far?
4. are you still running the tune? does it play nice with 91?

 
Rep Power: 511

1. Car's been holding up nicely. Admittedly, I've been softer on the throttle lately because of gas prices, but she still has plenty of up and go when I need

2. I have just about 68k on the clock, about 33.5k of which has been running the Phearable tune, and running KTuner starter tunes for about 23k before I nabbed the Phearable tune

3. Zero issues with the CVT, and I've changed the fluid once when I hit 43.5k

4. I'm still running the tune, and almost exclusively been running map 3 (the one that tops out at 24psi), filling up with almost exclusively Costco or Chevron 91 octane. I did get frisky a few times and did a 100/91 octane mix (3-3.5 gallons 100 octane and topped off with 91), and it made a difference (knock control was pretty much dead set at 0.48 for most driving, and maxed out at .6 after some hard pulls). I don't really race or anything, so I can't really justify the cost. Pre-covid, 100 octane was sitting at about $9/gallon. I haven't even dared to look at the prices since then. Needless to say, I have zero intention of removing the tune. She passes smog with the Phearable tune flashed, so I have no need to flash to stock. Phearable did just drop their non-Si 2.5 tune that's supposed to be an increase to 247whp with 246ft-lbs tq when running e85, but I don't know if I can justify the $200 on an extra tune that I'd have to buy a few hundred bucks of extra equipment to get the full potential

 
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thats great to hear man. i actually saw your post on gtmans thread over by civicx but you hadnt updated it so i wanted to reach out personally because i also have a cvt hatch and thinking of getting the phearable tune.

if i ever need to bring the car to the dealership for whatever reason, should i be flashing back to OEM tune?

also what were your k.con values on 91? do you think its safe to run the 1.5R tune on a daily driver?

 
Rep Power: 511

It'd probably be a good idea to flash to stock if/when you bring it into a dealership. I've not read anything concrete of whether or not they can tell if you've tune the car or not, even if you flash to stock. I don't bring my car to the dealership because I hate other people working on my car (provided I can do the work), so that's been a non-issue for me.

My k.con values for daily driving are usually around .49 to .58/.6, depending on if I gun it anywhere. I did a couple short full-ish throttle pulls on the highway (on the on-ramps and got to 75, KTuner def read out 22-24psi manifold pressure), and my k.con throughout the entire drive didn't break .62. It usually jumps higher when the Vegas heat comes around, but the absolute highest I've had my k.con (spirited driving/full throttle pulls) was .81. A bit of driving around like a normal person brings it back down to .49-.55 fairly quickly though. I set color setpoints on my KTuner gauges, specifically on the k.con, I set it to be green at .6 and below, and turn amber/yellow above .75. I read somewhere that the OEM k.con is something like 1.0, but I like to leave margins of error.

I will say, when I experimented with the 100 octane mix, the absolute highest I had the k.con was .65, and I was trying to raise that summabitch. The experiments I did were 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 gallons, topping off with 91 after that. the 3 gallon mix was the best bang for buck, imo

As far as the 1.5R, yeah, I'd say it's safe. It's the same as the 1.5, but it removes the artificial k.con rise the ECU does. I wish I nabbed it when Phearable had that "tune upgrade" for like.. $75 or whatever it was. It was right after they dropped the 1.5R, also. They've since taken that off, but I'm still happy with my choice. Like I said before, I don't really race or anything, so the extra cost would be all for naught. If I were running the 1.5R, I'd probably be monitoring my k.con a lot closer than I do now. As it sits right now, I really only open my KTuner app to monitor when I'm feeling frisky and wanna go on joyrides. Or, if I gun it quite a bit while driving around, I'll open it up to see where my LTFT is at, and see how much my k.con jumped.

Just some extra info.. I tried running Map 1 for a full tank to see if it gave me any significant increase in fuel economy. That lasted all of a half hour of driving because I was so used to the power that Map 3 had. And yes, I def daily Map 3. My DD habits barely have me breaking 5psi (16-20 if I'm merging into heavy traffic on the freeway), but if I need the extra power, all I have to do is floor it and get that extra boost. Don't think, just buy. lol

 
Rep Power: 210

I have a Phearable basemap with o2 sensor delete in my 5th gen B20. It's been in for about six or seven years and no issues. I requested the o2 sensor delete which solved the intermittent low/fluctuating idle it had with the P75 ecu the previous owner installed. At the time I called the owner of Phearable who's shop was about 1.5 hours from me when I used to live in Florida. I inquired about a dyno-tune and he said at best he may be able to get about ten more hp and ten more ft/lbs of torque via dyno. He said since it a relatively quick tune he would only charge me $300 instead of the normal $400 or more. I never brought it to him because it didn't seem like enough gains for the price. Kind of regret it though because 10/10 would probably be noticeable on this light car...glorified go-kart.

 
Rep Power: 511

woulda, coulda, shoulda. John Vega does magic tuning Hondas, man