Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

Hi, I am rather new to upgrading cars and I am looking into tuning my 04 Honda Civic LX daily driver. It is currently bone stock and it is an automatic. I do plan on installing a CAI and Cat-back in the future.

On my research I have seen that most ECU's are made for manual transmissions. From the tuners I have seen such as K-PRO they do not offer anything for automatics.

So I was wondering. Can a tune be done on an automatic? If so, what is the best way to do it? Flash, Chip replacement, etc? Should I do it as a first step on the upgrade path or last step?

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

The cai and cat back won't do anything but be shiny and add more noise. You're probably sol for a tunable ecu for an automatic

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

Is there a particular reason that automatics favored over manual for tuning? It get that manual is the way to go if you want to track. But, me being new and all I'm not trying to go to crazy by swapping trannies and I'm just looking to make daily driving more fun and learn.

I have been looking at some universal standalone options like AEM EMS 4 and Haltech. Has that been done before?

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

SOL = sh*t out of luck.
Automatics are not favoured by tuners. Because then you have to deal with shift points, lock up and a whole host of other nonsense.
Sell your car and buy a manual car, and get one with VTEC for a little more power

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

Wow, that was very helpful. I thought this forum was an open space for people who had questions. Guess I was wrong.

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

You are totally allowed to ask questions.
I'm telling you what I know based on my limited experience.
You can manual swap your car if you want to but for the time and effort and cost, you'd be better off buying a manual car. Especially since this is your daily.

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

This.

Also a “flash” for a D17 does not do much with bolt on’s. Swap in a camshaft for the best power bump without doing a motor swap or forced induction. You don’t really “tune” a stock D17 or one with intake and headers.

Re: Can my automatic Civic be tuned?
 

You can tune a piano but you can't tune a turd (stock D17).