5 Speed Automatic Question - Pedal Commander, Tune, & Cold Air Intake Added

I've added a pedal commander, a tune, and a cold air intake to my 2015 4Runner, and was wondering if that is an adequate enough fix for the 4.0 V6 and the 5 speed automatic.

The reason I ask is because the driving experience is drastically different. My 2015 4Runner has gone from being lethargic to just being peppy and enjoyable to drive. I don't think it's going to be as smooth as the 8 speed automatic in the new Tacoma/4Runner, but just wondering if anyone else had any thoughts or experiences to share on this? I don't remember the cost of everything but it was less than $2000 which just seems like a nice update compared to buying the re-designed 4Runner.

 

You can skip the pedal pretender since you tuned.

Not really sure what you’re asking because even with a blower they’re slow turds. Is it enough for what?

 

Other than the CAI (which is worthless other than the noise), if you feel a difference, and you're happy, well then just enjoy it.

 

Not adequate, as you forgot fuzzy dice, turbinator, and go-fast stickers.

 

Agreed. A pedal pretender and a tune is like a belt with suspenders. It's over kill.


Oh, and "Cold Air" intake is worthless.

 

https://www.vividracing.com/vrp-col...0102021-cruiser-40l-20102014-p-152582495.html

So specifically this cold air intake is worthless and the Gains of 12 HP and 15 ft/lb of Torque are false advertising?

 

Most companies cover themselves with a "results may vary" or "up to" in the fine print. Modern vehicles just aren't all plugged up as they use to be so that intake may gain you 2-3 hp just at the limiter. Of course turbo vehicles will see more benefits from mods.

 

No. What I meant was, adding a cold Air Intake is worthless, because your engine already has an intake. You replaced a part that did not need to be replaced. It wasn't broken and it was doing its job.

 

Every vehicle today comes with a cold air intake that usually draws from the grille or fender. The only thing that restricts in a modern vehicle is the filter, and the airflow is inversely correlated with filtering ability. If you are gaining anything, it's because you're letting more air through along with all the other shit that comes with it.

So you probably are gaining something, but never what they tell you you'll get.

 

Unless you've gained surface area on the filter, then you can filter just as well and flow more air at a given pressure drop...

 

If you slap the sticker on your window it will add another 5HP on top of that.....

 

If we're being academic/pedantic, might as well throw in filter media too, but the fact is that nobody makes them so I'll point to my prior statement. The factory filter has massive surface area because of the folds and is made of a media that filters extremely well at the cost of a little performance. High flow filters sacrifice the media in nearly every case because adding surface area requires a massive conical filter that would look stupid or a custom box to use a rectangular filter.

 

Yeah. They did their own dyno testing. Show me 3rd party testing that says the same, and you might have a valid argument. Otherwise, it's a neat $300 noisemaker.

 

The reason you felt a 'drastic' change in your 4R is because of the factory' dampened throttle by wire was essentially bypassed by both the Pedal Commander and the Tune...well depends who's tune you got and what the tune comprised of and like others have said, the CAI add-on just adds to the background noise. I had a tune done on my rig and told the tuner to push a 'medium aggressive' tune but what I really wanted was to simply change the shift parameters to avoid the dreaded 'gear hunt'. While my rig' performance felt much improved (spirited) it wasn't because the engine started producing 10 or even 15 HP more but rather the delayed pedal response was taken out. Engine spools up sooner (relative to when you start pushing down on the accelerator pedal) and you feel like the truck is digging in quicker and you're going faster as a result.

In the case of the tune I had done it came with a big downside, such 'peppiness' in throttle response is more of a terror when you're on a trail (more so snow/ice) as you won't have the same 'deft' touch as you would have from a soft factory throttle by wire settings. Now add in being bounced around on a trail and tell me that you can effectively control such a sensitive throttle. I'll be meeting up with my tuner at some point to have the bottom 3%-5% tamed down a bit just for this reason alone.

You've done what you wanted to do with your rig, go out and enjoy it! Or, you can do a part of what Yoichi Imamura did to get almost 1,000 HP out of a 1GR-FE but that also required a number of custom modifications.

 

So I put the Pedal Commander on first, did the tune second, cold air intake 3rd. I also was researching putting on an aftermarket exhaust and long tube headers, but just took it once step at a time and decided this was enough for now. Added a heated steering wheel and a Sony CarPlay stereo so things were getting expensive. The cold air intake was a bit louder, but overall the engine feels slightly more powerful and just seems to run a bit smoother.

However, if the cold air intake was a bad update (fortunately it was not expensive) then I'm here to learn because I've never done this before.

 

Yes.

4Runner does not have restrictive air intake and its intake already setup for cold outside air, there is no power gain in modifying any of it. It could not show gains, especially such significant gains as claimed. As such it could only be false advertising.

 

Welcome to the forum,

I see the heated steering wheel as a tangible,functional upgrade in regards to your mods on your 4Runner

 

The tune can add 12 HP and 15 lb-ft, with 91 octane, but not the intake.

Aftermarket CAI feel more like a ripoff in the 4Runner than in other platforms, because the engine doesn't spend as much time above 3000 rpm in normal driving, so you don't even hear the louder sound.

 

Curious...when I had my 4R tuned, I was advised not to use the Sprint Booster I had on after the tune...

 

I emailed VR Tuned and asked them and they said it would be ok to try out the pedal commander with it. Very minor compared to the overall tune but can feel a bit more immediate throttle response.

 

Yep.

 

They are ripoffs in All platforms

 

All platforms? Says the guy without a supercharger...

 

Maybe so but the guy ran 12 flat with a N/A stock rotating assembly 5.7 in a 2006 Charger.
https://youtu.be/T-Sbz2Etl_A?si=bO6kKbcZK7oogNpx

11.3 on a 100 shot of nitrous.
https://youtu.be/KhG0KlXEOnU?si=jMid61r_X4hvicDR

I drove it to tracks in several states and 2 countries getting 26 MPG on the highway.

 

No replacement for displacement.