Diesel Tuners

[Bob_Vaughn]

I received an email and video from Trailer Life about Bully Dog GT tuners for diesel engines. It all sounds good but I have been warned that the warranty would be voided if I use a tuner. Now I wonder if this is true. If so then I guess I will have to wait until my warranty is up. It is 699 bucks and I wonder if there is enough of a fuel economy savings to ever break even?

[wintersun]

glazier wrote:
You can guarantee Ford didn't miss the tune these guys discovered in their garage. The big three diesel truck manufactor's could tune these trucks to produce much more power than we see today. Trying to meet emissions would never happen if they turned them up.

Remarkable ignorance. The first thing guys do who plan to tune for power is strip off the emissions equipment as they could care less about the air the rest of us and children have to breathe. Second thing they do is spend $3000 or more to have the transmission "built" so it can take the stress of the added horsepower. And these transmissions are not used in towing situations and are still vulnerable.

Easy to boost horsepower when you don't have to cover the warranty when parts start to break in the engine, transmission and the drivetrain components. If the engine runs hotter while no worries one can spend the money on a upgrade of the engine cooler. Need more fuel to keep the injectors lubricated, no problem simply buy a new external filter setup and add a lift pump. Always easier to spend other people's money.

None of the tuner companies will provide a figure for the improved fuel economy their very expensive products will provide. The magazines that want the advertising revenue from these companies will periodically to a review/test and the best gain I have seen is 1/2 MPG and the test was too short, involved no towing, nor driving in mountainous terrain or even stop and go city driving. Even then one would have to drive 100,000 miles to breakeven on the cost of the tuner, ignoring all the not so well hidden costs with these modifications.

I agree 100% with the statements regarding the idiocy that some programmer in a garage someplace has found a miracle cure for improving MPG for all the hundreds of truck models and model years that provide better fuel economy than the thousands of engineers working for the truck manufacturers have somehow missed for decades.

GM, Ram, and Ford, would kill without hesitation to get technology that would give them an edge over the competition. At the very least they could have bought all of these tuner guys for less money than they spend for fuel for their corporate jets. These companies have done this many times in the past and the only reason they are not doing it with the tuner guys is that the stuff is bogus.

[down_home]

I bought a Superchips tuner, from the Ford Dealer, in our 2002 Diesel dualie with the 7.4 diesel. It ran like a sports car in tow setting. Only problem was it would unlock the torque converter when pulling fifth wheel and make check engine light come on. Had the tune redone and lost power. Should have left it as original Superchips tune. Mileage increased too. The only problem was the transmission as the weak link. If Ford had kept the 7.4 and put the new trans in the 6.0 it would be the best truck bar none on the market.
Tuners work. EPA is the reason Mfgs choke engines and why engines and trucks cost way more than they should.

[AH64ID]

That's one of the great things about custom tuning, and doing my own custom tuning. I can set the powerband for driveability and longevity. I do the same for the tunes I sell.

There does come a point when things break from power, but good tuning can go a long ways.

[ib516]

Exactly ^^. I ran tuned diesels for 7 years (two different trucks in sig). Never a problem. I set the tuner to a reasonable setting and drove normally.

[N-Trouble]

transamz9 wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:
The new engines might be under-tuned, but what happens when the transmission gets hit with that extra power ? Or the rear end, U-joints, or my 4 wheel drivetrain ?

Tim

Depends on how you use that power.

Exactly! Beat on it at every stoplight and you could very well start breaking things. Drive it normally with some common sense while having some fun from time to time and your likely not going to have issues. There are many diesel owners with a lot of "tuned" miles on their rigs that have no problems. Most of the current EFI Live Duramax tuenrs know the limits of the rest of the truck including the Allison and tailor their tunes around those limits. Likewise they offer what they commonly refer to as "max effort" tunes for guys going all out with built transmissions and extra fueling capabilities.

Manufacturers on the other hand have to tune these trucks with warranty costs in mind and under the assumption that owners will subject them to the worst conditions possible. Warranty is warranty regardless of how hard I beat on my stock truck.

The argument that manufacturers test and test and no way could an aftermarket tuner be any better is complete hogwash... I bet many of the these tuners have spent more time on a dyno than the big3 put together.

[transamz9]

GoPackGo wrote:
The new engines might be under-tuned, but what happens when the transmission gets hit with that extra power ? Or the rear end, U-joints, or my 4 wheel drivetrain ?

Tim

Depends on how you use that power.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

GoPackGo wrote:
The new engines might be under-tuned, but what happens when the transmission gets hit with that extra power ? Or the rear end, U-joints, or my 4 wheel drivetrain ?

Tim

:B

[GoPackGo]

The new engines might be under-tuned, but what happens when the transmission gets hit with that extra power ? Or the rear end, U-joints, or my 4 wheel drivetrain ?

Tim

[N-Trouble]

On the newer DEF/DPF trucks tuning the emissions out WILL provide a noticeable increase in MPG especially if you have one that likes to regen quite frequently.

Adding 100HP/200ft lbs of TQ is nothing for a modern diesel. These things are so under-tuned from the factory its amazing. The H&S "Breaking Point" videos on Youtube illustrates this point quite clearly.

[transamz9]

wintersun wrote:
The heavy trucking industry will spend thousands of dollars on fairings and TPMS to improve fuel economy as even a 1% gain will result in many dollars in savings.
None of the fleets use tuners for their engines. The only difference is that the fleet managers decide based on facts and not advertising claims.

Want a guaranteed 15% increase in fuel economy. Drive at 55 MPH instead of 65MPH. Or even at 65 MPH instead of 70 MPH.

RVer's as a whole are the least conscious group of people in terms of doing anything to maximize fuel economy of any group I see motoring down the highway.

You'd be surprised at how many semi trucks get tuned before they are even bought. You choose what you want them set at and they do it at the dealer. The same motor can have 350 hp or 500 hp and they keep all warranties. The fleet managers also have speed limiters put on them. They will pull like a beast until you hit that speed. there are still alot of trucks out there that are down on power but if you pay attention to a lot of trucks that are governed at 62 to 68 when they hit a hill they hold that speed.;)

[lazydays]

I've had EFI Live on my truck now for 1.5 years. I love it. Didn't do if for any mileage gains. I just love how it woke my truck up. I guess the fun factor increased by about 100%. If it breaks, oh well.

[64thunderbolt]

If you are worried about fuel mileage drive a Prius and stay @ Motel 6. Custom chips tuned for your particular needs and driving habits are much better than the tuners with one size fits all tunes. I have mine chipped because I need it in the mtns. Towing in the mtns I gained power, speed & mpg. My truck is not a DD. Have a friend with a 6.4 Powerstroke with all the dpf and things removed. Has a 200hp tow tune in it and is a monster. Passes emissions also.

[Bamaman11]

My 7.3 went from 18 mpg to 20 mpg on the open highway with a 80 hp econo mode.

My automatic transmission program is by California's tranny guru, John Woods. It goes first gear, second gear, third gear, torque converter lockup and then fourth gear @ 47 mph. Feels just like a 5 speed auto.

Most of the tuners work better on the older trucks. The DEF diesels already have so much horsepower that more power's not really needed. I do believe that a good tuner could write a program that gives the new high hp models better driveability and general feel. But it's not worth losing warranty over.

[carlw32]

I have a H&S Mini Max I only run in tow which give me 60 extra hp no change in MPG. I can run up to 200 hp more but don't clutch would not take it for long. Where it has saved me is that it can read engine codes and clear them I when my turbo went out on the highway that saved me because I would have called a tow truck instead I was able to clear the code and get it out of limp mode and get home. Paid for itself right there.

[JIMNLIN]

I saw a 8-10 percent increase in MPG, while towing at legal speed limits, 11k-16k with my '03 Dodge Cummins. Along with the mpg increase was a big jump in the Cummins power at those rpms. Really woke the Cummins up in the 1900-2100 rpm range. Notice I said while towing.

But no mpg gains at highway speeds while running empty. Don't have a city out here so I have no idea what the box would do for the Cummins in that case.

The box is mild 40-50 hp version and one of the first out from EDGE for the then first year 305/555 HPCR engine.