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Community Alumni's avatar
Community Alumni
Oct 28, 2015

You Can Still Modify Your Truck

Earlier this year GM and a few other automakers lobbied against a proposed exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The exemption would allow for the diagnosis, repair, and modification of vehicle software without running afoul copyright laws. Auto manufacturers opposed this and wanted to make it illegal to access, modify, or circumvent any locks placed on vehicle software. However, the Library of Congress didn't fall for the argument and went forth with the exemption.

So all of your aftermarket programmers and tuner shops are safe. It doesn't give the green light to start rolling coal, but you can freely make lawful modifications to your vehicle without the threat of prosecution.

The most ironic part is that the EPA was one of the organizations that opposed the exemption. If the exemption had been in place before, the EPA would've probably caught on to the VW cheating sooner. The study that first found the cheating, discovered it in a very roundabout way. They had to develop mobile emissions testing equipment and drive cars around to find out what was really going on. It would've been much easier to just analyze or reverse engineer the code instead.

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  • Oldme's avatar
    Oldme
    Explorer
    Oct 30, 2015
    As a 68 year old (hot rod'r - in my youth) gear head, I am glad to see that
    we can still mod our vehicles.

    There are countless hours of + - arguments and in the end no one will convince the other, if they have not been there.

    I am pleased that somewhere someone looked out just a little bit for the consumer.
  • DirtyOil's avatar
    DirtyOil
    Explorer
    Oct 30, 2015
    NC Hauler wrote:
    Agree with the "rolling coal" comment. I've been witness to trucks rolling black smoke so thick, you couldn't see around them.... Blew my horn to show I objected to this type of display one time, ( it was a Dodge, made us look bad), and was promptly " flipped the bird", for my showing displeasure of his show, and he rolled even more black smoke...I was truly impressed :R


    "Rolling coal"... lol... I had to push the old 2005 3500 to get "black clouds of death" to roll, even at 517hp and 1135# of torque, I did most of my mods mechanically and ran a Smarty programmer(tried a Diablo programmer found it was adding rail pressure and making smoke, even on light throttle). No DEF or DPF on a 2005 Cummins back then. I got great fuel mileage and power, I just called my buddy who bought my truck, he tells me still going strong 380,000km. He did install new injectors with honed 50hp nozzles (they were due), same as I had on her. ****, I miss that truck!
  • justafordguy's avatar
    justafordguy
    Explorer
    Oct 30, 2015
    mabynack wrote:

    The downside is that last year I spent eight thousand dollars getting new head gaskets, a valve job, New EGR cooler, and oil cooler.



    This is why you blew the head gaskets, get rid of the stock EGR cooler and they are very reliable.
  • kellertx5er's avatar
    kellertx5er
    Explorer
    Oct 30, 2015
    NC Hauler wrote:
    Agree with the "rolling coal" comment. I've been witness to trucks rolling black smoke so thick, you couldn't see around them.... Blew my horn to show I objected to this type of display one time, ( it was a Dodge, made us look bad), and was promptly " flipped the bird", for my showing displeasure of his show, and he rolled even more black smoke...I was truly impressed :R


    Yeah, what a beautiful sight ...
  • Grit_dog's avatar
    Grit_dog
    Navigator
    Oct 29, 2015
    mabynack wrote:
    downtheroad wrote:
    Prosecution and warranty denial aside:
    I'm still waiting to be convinced that chipping/programming my truck is a good idea.


    I agree. In hind sight it wasn't a good decision.

    I bought a tuner for my F-250 and it worked great for about 40,000 miles. Increased my mileage by about 3 mpg. I even got 14 mpg towing a 14,000 lb FW a couple of years ago up in the Dakotas. That's the up side.

    The downside is that last year I spent eight thousand dollars getting new head gaskets, a valve job, new EGR cooler, and oil cooler.

    There are various theories about why they failed, but I'm sure the added cylinder pressures from the Hypermax Econ tuner didn't help. The tune advanced the injection timing and produced more cylinder pressure.

    Manufacturers frequently use the same engine in pickups and medium duty trucks. The difference is that the medium duty trucks use a de-tuned version for reliability and longevity. If you plan on towing, it's probably not a good idea to use a tuner. It puts too much stress on internal engine parts during extended full throttle operations, like towing a long incline. Something to consider if you're thinking about chipping.


    No it's just because that engine was/is a turd. Plenty of bone stock 6 leakers that lift the heads too.
    For the guy that needs convincing up here, lol. (He secretly wants twin turbos and efi live on his LBZ!!)
    My LB7 Dmax, I ran a healthy tune on it up to 125k when I sold it. No supporting mods. Mostly run 60-90hp setting but would turn it up once in a while for a drag race.
    Current truck in sig, 130k on it now. Running Bullydogs biggest canned tune since new. No programmer induced issues except a programming glitch with one of the side functions of the software. It doesn't like to re program tire size.
    Now moderation is the key to most things and this as well.
    If you add 150hp/300tq to your truck then mat it up the Ike loaded past your gcvw, watching your egts blow past 1500deg for 20 min, trying to go pro your bad @ss diesel for you tube, your engine may suffer short or long term problems.
    If you know what your doing with the tool you're using......much less likely.
  • Grit_dog's avatar
    Grit_dog
    Navigator
    Oct 29, 2015
    downtheroad wrote:
    Prosecution and warranty denial aside:
    I'm still waiting to be convinced that chipping/programming my truck is a good idea.

    Lol. Are you trying to be convinced? Haha
    It's a great idea or it's a horrible idea depending what you want, need or do with the truck.
  • cummins2014's avatar
    cummins2014
    Explorer
    Oct 29, 2015
    transamz9 wrote:
    Me Again wrote:
    mtofell1 wrote:
    Interesting info but the thing that catches my eye right away is the "fear of prosecution". I don't think many people are afraid of getting hauled off to jail for running chips. It's the denying of warranty coverage.


    Fear of prosecution is at the supplier level, not at the consumer level. Soon there will be no "chips" or delete pipes available commercially. Our son is in the wholesale exhaust business and they no longer stock ANY delete items.

    The feds are pretty serious about this stuff and will continue to crack down. VW just gave them a big push to continue the effort.

    And we have had the new 2015 for 5 or 6 weeks now, I see no reason to want to do anything to it other fuel/DEF it, change oil and filters as needed and than enjoy it. Well maybe create a couple little electical/mechanical fingers that would automagically push the exhaust brake and tow/haul buttons at startup.

    Listen UP FCA do a flash that allows these to remain set!

    Chris


    The exhaust brake stays on after shut down and restart on the cab chassis models.



    Mine does if it is plugged into a trailer, otherwise I need to set it each time after shutdown . Mine is a 2014 3500 Megacab.


    Never gave it a thought its a couple switches to push, but some think otherwise.
  • Bedlam's avatar
    Bedlam
    Moderator
    Oct 29, 2015
    That's why my 2015 6.7 CTD only has 325 hp and 750 lb-ft in my chassis cab. They expect that the duty cycle will be longer under load than the typical pickup.
  • mabynack's avatar
    mabynack
    Explorer II
    Oct 29, 2015
    downtheroad wrote:
    Prosecution and warranty denial aside:
    I'm still waiting to be convinced that chipping/programming my truck is a good idea.


    I agree. In hind sight it wasn't a good decision.

    I bought a tuner for my F-250 and it worked great for about 40,000 miles. Increased my mileage by about 3 mpg. I even got 14 mpg towing a 14,000 lb FW a couple of years ago up in the Dakotas. That's the up side.

    The downside is that last year I spent eight thousand dollars getting new head gaskets, a valve job, new EGR cooler, and oil cooler.

    There are various theories about why they failed, but I'm sure the added cylinder pressures from the Hypermax Econ tuner didn't help. The tune advanced the injection timing and produced more cylinder pressure.

    Manufacturers frequently use the same engine in pickups and medium duty trucks. The difference is that the medium duty trucks use a de-tuned version for reliability and longevity. If you plan on towing, it's probably not a good idea to use a tuner. It puts too much stress on internal engine parts during extended full throttle operations, like towing a long incline. Something to consider if you're thinking about chipping.
  • NC_Hauler's avatar
    NC_Hauler
    Explorer
    Oct 29, 2015
    Agree with the "rolling coal" comment. I've been witness to trucks rolling black smoke so thick, you couldn't see around them.... Blew my horn to show I objected to this type of display one time, ( it was a Dodge, made us look bad), and was promptly " flipped the bird", for my showing displeasure of his show, and he rolled even more black smoke...I was truly impressed :R

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