I've verified that my, new to me '14 is operating the cylinder deactivation program.
The consensus seems to be to buy the plug in dongle to defeat it. It appears that the Range brand developed the dongle and is a well known brand.
Looking at Amazon, there are numerous knock off devices with many very good reviews selling for a fraction of the price.
So, what do you think?
Tried and true for $$$$ or the knock off for $??

 

IMO, cheap is cheap for a reason. Usually because it is wanting in some shape or form. With some knockoff, the problem you encounter is that when there is an issue, the seller might no longer be there. Ask me how I know. IIRC, some had issues with the range device draining the battery. According to many, they sent the device back when a software upgrade was present and it was fixed for free. Put this another way. If the work you did goes for $30 an hour, why would you accept $15?

Just to be clear, you don't have a manual? If you have an auto, I would go a different route. I bought the range device and didn't like how it worked which was to keep the ECM from checking the emissions readiness. That is why you have to unplug it before doing emissions testing and drive it for a bit before you test it. Besides, I have kicked the dongle out of the car accidently a couple of times. That can damage the OBD2 socket. Twice lucky and didn't want to see what happens on #3. I went with Diablew who did a bit of tweaking on the ECM for maybe a little more performance? Can't be sure although some have said it is worth a bit on the strip. I got him to increase the throttle tip in so I don't have to buy the foolers to make the TB open up a bit more for better throttle response and also did something to the shifting. Costs a bit more but it is expensive to fix the OBD 2 port.

 

How much did the tune cost you?

 

https://www.diablewtune.com/

 

I can not tell when mine goes to 4 or to 8 even while watching the dash notification. Mines an 18 c7 stingray z51, lt3 with 34,000 miles. These cars were designed and manufactured to do this. It feels like forcing an design and engineered process to not achieve its designed function, would cause a problem if not immediately, down the road. I've read where it has to be unplugged from time to time to allow the original design operation to function or risk malfunction from the components that have been idled.
What are some thoughts in here, on that? Thank you

 

I got the "CHEAP" one. Yep, it was cheap, and it worked perfect. I kept hearing about to many C7 engines exploding. I got tired of the Dongle hanging next to my knee, and didn't want to install more crap to deal with, so I did the VLOM mod. That works very well, don't even think about it any more.

 

OK, thanks, but that is more expensive and more involved than I really want. I'm fine with the factory tune, but not overjoyed by the added complexity of gov't epa ordered parts.
What I want, is just to disable the complex parts, that don't really help much at all, if any, that may be failure prone.
It doesn't appear that plugging in the dongle has any real negatives.
As far as cheap vs expensive, I very rarely buy the most expensive of anything, just because it is expensive. I usually buy for quality and value. Yes, I appreciate that Range did the initial engineering, etc., but their current production/selling price seems out of line. This appears to be a fairly simple/low tech/cheap device to make. The major reason to buy the Range vs generic version appears to be aftermarket customer service, which usually isn't needed. Weigh this against 20k?? various generic devices sold on Amazon in the last month alone, with most high ratings, and it appears that this is a fairly safe choice.

 

I wonder if the diagnostic port can be unclipped from the lower dash and stuffed up out of the way?
I'll try to check this pm.
I've also seen advertised, obd port adapter cables, that may not be as intrusive.

 

I actually didn't have any issues with the Amazon plugin one. I'm not that tall, it didn't bother me at all.

 

I suppose you can make the argument that you have a little more wear and tear in V8 mode vs V4? The way cars are designed today, I have negative faith in SOTP feeling. My A8 does the same thing and I can't feel it jerk. OTOH, if you are looking for it, you could imagine feeling it if you thought hard enough aka Placebo Effect.

I would say that you are keeping it out of V4 mode since it is already designed to V8 mode so not sure where the issue is today or down the road.

I've heard 2 schools of thought. 1 says you need to "exercise" it periodically like it is a living organism. The other says to leave it off permanently. There are a lot of people that will program it off and that makes it difficult to take that off and put it back on. Not sure I can place either in the "more believable" category since there is no evidence to support either. I am leaning towards the "Rip the cam out" solution to fix it once and for all.

 

I haven't found a way to fix that issue since nobody offers a better quality AFM lifter that you can drop in without pulling the cam. Frankly, I think GM just cheaped out and didn't design a proper system and slapped something together. Other people have had cylinder deactivation without so much issue.

Depends. I don't like the fact that it doesn't run a systems readiness test to completion and I tend to kick it which is risky considering how expensive it would be to get someone to fix the OBD2 port if it broke. I also don't want to have to get a Throttle Controller or bigger throttle body to have better throttle response. Supposedly the shifts are improved but I have nothing to verify that but a SOTP dyno which I don't trust. Others have said it is an improvement.

I myself don't care who was the initial designer. If I did, I'd be owning only MBs since Karl Benz designed the Motorwagen in 1885. Well, I did own MBs for over 20 years but that is another story. Without knowing how those guys on Amazon did it, all I can read is some reviews. You MIGHT be right about how easy it is to design the Amazon ones. IDK. Nobody has done a teardown to see exactly what they did. Like I said, earlier versions of the Range device had the power drain problem that had to be fixed with an update. AFM is here to stay for a while. With the updates, I might be able to make it work for the next car or sell it to someone if I go another way like I did. I wouldn't advise the dongle but if I had to choose, I would rather "buy once, cry once". I understand where you are coming from. Assuming you are not a professional mechanic, neither of us can afford to buy Snap-On, Matco, etc grade of professional tools to do an oil change or brakes once every couple of years. I also can't afford to buy the cheapo crap tools. Bought an extension out of desperation and my mechanic almost got his wrist speared by the 3/8 extension tool first time he tried to use it. Sure, WalMart bought it back but that would have been a HUGE problem if he got skewered. I have had a history of buying cheap crap and services that backfired on me. YMMV.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with height. More of how your leg swings as it gets out.

 

I have the Range on mine. I pull it once a year to for inspection. I can't feel the shift from 4 to 8 cyl, but I've got a Z06 with stage 3 aero, so it very rarely goes into 4 cyl mode. It isn't so much that you feel it change modes, it's that the 4 cyl mode creates a vibration in your driveline that is hard on the torque converter and the torque tube. Both parts are expensive to service.

I've been using it as described for about 4.5 years. So far, so good.

 

Those with M7 transmissions never have the AFM engaged or working unless you are in ECO mode and I never heard of them 'blowing up' by staying in V8 mode.

All Europe's C7's run just the opposite of USA cars, V4 is always off on all models unless you turn it on and they don't blow up either.

So why do the AFM lifters need to be 'exercised' ?

 

Mine works in Tour mode (noted as normal or daily driving mode) thats where you can select to watch as it changes 8 to 4 and 4 to 8.

 

YES, In V8 mode all lifters are being exercised all the time.

 

I have the M7 in my '14 Stingray and I simply pulled the fuse that controls the V8-V4 action. I also never use the ECO mode.

 

My 2018 stingray z51 allows it to work in Sport mode. Today I had it set up to show the V8 - V4 in Tour. I changed to Sport and the watch mode stayed in the middke of the lcd gagues and it switched from 8 to 4 to 8 all the way home in S.

 

There is a fuse for that? Which one?

Also, you said you have an M7. I thought the only time it goes into AFM mode is when it is in ECO mode so if you are never in ECO mode, it should not activate, right?

 

I purchased a disabler device on Amazon for $49 that has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating. 500 sold in the last month.
The best rated, best selling of the cheapo units on Amazon.
I'm fairly confident it should work well.