My Silverado has a laggy throttle feel compared to the F150 I had before it. Over the years, I have come to realize that Chevrolet has done this to attempt to decrease fuel consumption and prevent jack rabbit starts. Even though my L83 has much more power and torque than my old Triton, it sure doesn't feel like it off the line. I looked into a Pedal Commander for it, but am now thinking.. Is it really safe putting this thing between my throttle body and my foot? If it goes berserk and sticks open or sends full throttle signal when I don't expect it, how many people get hurt, etc. Or what happens if there is an accident and the insurance company finds that thing installed..
After weighing the options, I have chosen to just live with the heavy throttle feel.

After reading your experience, I think a tune and some mods are much safer and more effective. Is that your conclusion, too?

 

Clean it real good spotless hit the flap control ends with some 3in1 . Cleaning the maf and most importantly make sure that air filter is clean …throttle response could lag also from some clogged up cats / bad plugs wires or coils going bad

 

Johnny... Oh for sure I've "stop to think"!... Ever since I started driving this GM product!... Lots of stop to think! Got to admit though, 4.66 ratio 1st gear in this here C5 would chirp ... But would it Fix the discussed C5's GM designed foot felt accelerate lag or would it be "smoke and mirrors"?.... Like... "Let's fool em" 🤓

 

I don't really know what all this controversy is about. If someone wants a little more linear response from the pedal without cracking open the engine or swapping gears, a throttle controller is good tool to use.

They're safe, inexpensive, keeps warranty intact, and can be easily removed.

Of course, on a C5, warranty concerns are long gone, but then apparently no one makes a controller for the C5, so this is really all kind or moot point.

 

I bought my first C5 23 years ago ('99 MN6) when I was 25. So I don't particularly recall any lag, but I do recall finding the car to be pretty darn slow a short while after ownership (within the 36 month warranty period). I've owned two other '99 MN6 C5's along the way. They all needed something to wake them up. Gears, CAI, LS6 intake, p&p TB at a minimum in my opinion. The 3.90 or 4.10s are a must for me in NA C5s.(3.42 for the A4).

C5's are lazy because their tuned to be lazy, and their legs are too long for low speed and typical highway driving. (the Z06 M12 with 3.42 gear is equivelent to MN6 with a 3.90. Which should tell folks something about gearing relevance. No Z06 owners jumping in here supporting throttle lag comments. Same DBW stock TB's and intakes. Hmmmmm makes ya think)

Just with a tune and a gear swap the C5 becomes noticeably more responsive in every way. Making them truly fun to drive (and how they should've come from the factory...at least option wise). Without molesting the sh*t out of them or dropping big $ a tune and gears is the way to go. So no...not "smoke and mirrors".

I'm looking forward to Hary's update once his 3.42s and tune are added. (I think he should p&p his TB at the same time so the tune accounts for it). I'm willing to wager that he finds his C5 to be like a totally new car to him and it no longer is lazy with laggy throttle response.

Some of us learned this lesson over 20 yrs ago. But there is still hope for some of you others that are late to class.

 

Throttle response relative to what? Engine speed or vehicle speed? If there is traction the vehicle with a 4.10 gear will rev and accelerate much faster than an otherwise identical car with 2.10 gear, it feels like the throttle response is much better in the faster car, the car with 4.10 gear will feel much more "responsive".

 

1. Perform all maintenance and cleaning, pull apart the easy to access items and wash them out for example I would wash the intake manifold, replace pcv hoses, wash the throttle body and then OIL the throttle body so it can move easily and lubricated nicely while clean.
A new OEM air filter. Possibly new plugs, at least look at one or two of the old ones if you are a good mechanic and able to do so.
New plug wires, new pcv valve, it all adds up. Clean, new. Wash the engine. Clean the maf if it has one. Consider an Speed Density tune to get rid of the maf sensor... that is #2
2. Tune the engine properly. Get HPTuners and start learning how to tune it. Don't rely on other people. There are several perhaps 20 different things in the ECU which can improve throttle response. Some of the most important are injector phase and throttle movement sensitivity for DBW conditions. Also getting rid of the MAF is usually a great way to increase engine response and feel. It depends on the engine mods how bad the maf can influence the running condition but I always get rid of it for performance applications. Make sure you are using OEM style intake tract. There is kinetic energy of fluids to consider and the OEM does a great job designing their intake systems, this should not be overlooked.
3. You cleaned it, tuned it, maintained it. What else is there? Light weight rotating parts will help the engine feel lighter and rev easier. If auto there is some incredible difference when using a proper Yank 9.5" converter. No need to get a high stall, just the light weight 9.5" unit does wonders by itself, removing rotating mass will free up power and increase economy. Lighter wheels and lighter tires and light driveshafts all would help the car accelerate more quickly. Too quickly sometimes. If using a manual trans I would keep the normal weight flywheel, don't reduce rotating mass in front of the transmission. After the transmission however, is fine to reduce the weight of rotating parts.

These 3 things are the key to response, efficiency, 'feel' in the way the engine delivers power and handles it's fuel and air. It goes for all engines, all vehicles.

 

^^^^^
Or... Live with it.... GM's methods of LS1 acceleration Is what I'll do, and NOT reluctantly!... It's been knowingly developed from the informitive guys on This discussion.... Smart guys.

 

Bingo.!... good one lt4....

 

this thread gave me brain damage to read. but from what I handle of it I take it there's no pedal commander style box out for the c5.

a buddy was asking so I thought I'd take a look around. shame if not.

 

I had the CoW Booster from Chuck at Corvettes of Westchester - woke my car big time! Especially with the throttle.

 

Puppycock. Clearly the definition of throttle response has been misunderstood and the mechanical advantage of gearing also never has any bearing on throttle response.
Let me put this in terms more plainly understood.
A riding mower with a bigger pulley (read higher mechanical advantage AKA 4;10) will change direction more easily than a lower original gear. That does Not mean the engine will rev faster At All. This is the point lost to many here. Gearing won’t effect the rate of the Engine’s ability to rev faster relating to throttle response. Only what that engine has to struggle to move.
Prove me wrong. Take two cars. One with 5:90 gear set
One with 2:10
Start the cars. Push in the clutch. Rev up both. The car with a 2:10 will rev up just as fast

 

They are talking about in gear, not neutral. Who would rev the engine in neutral and complain about that not being fast enough and desire to change the gearing in the rear end to make the engine rev better in neutral.

Protip: don't rev your engine in neutral.
Protip#7: set your neutral rev limiter around 2800 to 3200rpm so you can smack the limiter in neutral without damaging the engine. Plus it sounds cool, gets there fast and people can't tell your safely settling down at 3k and not bouncing off the limiter at 7k or whatever.

 

It’s not a matter of what gear you have. That’s why I mentioned revving not in gear. Gears have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on throttle speed
An analogy here would be;
if you have a race car that already has max gears you can still gain benefits from engine management allowing for quicker throttle speeds that allows for Quicker response. That’s the point

 

Ive never heard the term throttle speed. Movement rate of the throttle? That is computer controlled for DBW and foot controlled by DBC. Why mention revving the engine at all to determine the rate something is moved by the computer? Im just trying to understand what you are saying and you are using words I haven't seen in 25 years across 25 difference automotive forms over 100,000 posts nobody ever talked about throttle speed rofl sorry

 

Ftf!
Because the ECU handles the DBW tipin of the electric motor on the throttle body and the % of total throttle amount and the ECU can be remapped to operate at a rate more instantaneously with less rubber band effect

Guilty as charged about the age thing. I’ve had involvement in motorcycles and cars for half a century

 

Well hell 🤔... I've just finished a 3 day drive from Palm Desert to Vancouver with my foot firmly (and loosely!) operating the C5 throttle on the Eye 5 for 3 days.. and at the common 80-90 hiway speed. It was extremely comfortable and with occasional bursts with the go fast peddle in getting clear of many those "amateur" drivers not uncommon at holiday time. I've got to admit.. very comfortable operating the C5 throttle as designed AND understandable with my new found C5 throttle knowledge obtained here!... You guys are so smart, and are the LS1 designers. 👍

 

I tried my hand at remapping the throttle via PCM tune a few months ago and I'm in love with the results. It was EASY EASY EASY to find in the tune and make the changes. You only brick it if you go HAM. I wouldn't dream of using some gimmicky device that lies to the car to an unknown extent when the correct way is so simple.

Note: I pretty much stopped reading at this post, so if in pages 2-4 this was covered don't hold it against me. I just wanted to weigh in on favor of the PCM tuning method.

 

So I can have a tuner adjust the throttle response?

 

What year are you? For sure on the P01/P59 cars.