Chips

[Montana_2008]

I have a Ford 250 6.0 I am thinking about putting a Superchip in it and I am getting a lot of pros and cons. I added a 4 inch exaust and airaid that helped a lot. I get 22 mpg without the 3400rl and 11 with it,I have no trouble pulling the hills of WV. Do I need a chip. Thanks

[JH Sechelt]

Hi Jerry,

This falls under the old saying, " if it ain't broke, don't fix it ".
I added the chip to my 1999 F350 7.3L - made a big difference.
I don't need it for my 2005 F350 6.0L PSD.
Plus the older I get the slower I can go, time to smell the roses.
J & D

[Montana Sky]

mtman1313,
I cannot compare your truck with mine, but wanted to say my truck is stock. I average 20-22 mpg on the highway empty and 13-14 towing my 3400RL. Your truck seems to be getting really good mileage as is, I am with John on this one, if it aint broke, dont fix it.

[BigAl52]

If your truck is still under warranty and the dealer finds out that you chipped it I bet they will void the warranty. I know one guy here locally that had problems with Dodge and they voided his warranty when they found out it had been chipped. I think I would also adopt the policy if it ain't broke don't fix it Al

[stiles watson]

I am reprogrammed, but if I were satisfied with the performance without it, I wouldn't do it. The claims of increased mileage or really questionable. Sounds like you are getting good mileage and have the pulling power you need. Save your money.

[Glass Guy]

I agree if it is still under warranty the dealer can get out of a warranty issue if it has a chip. You may want to check out www.dieselstop.com they have a lot of good info on thier site. Roman

[tollmann]

My 7.3 is chipped with a Super Chip on the tow safe setting. It really helps with the trany shifts (more positive). It also has more power with the chip. I found my old fuel records from our yearly trip to Florida.
Without the chip I got 10.1 mpg for the round trip. The next two trips were with the chip 10.9 on trip one
11.3 on trip two. Its not much but with the price of fuel every gallon saved helps.

[ols1932]

I wouldn't chip my truck if it was under warranty. I had mine chipped with the Banks Power Pack four years ago when it was out of warranty and I'm very happy that I did.

Orv

[PowellsMonty]

I bought my truck used, had transmission problems, previous owner had a chip that he removed. Ford almost declined to cover under warranty. I had to buy a new computer (which the dealer where I bought the truck agreed to pay 1/2) before Ford replaced the tranney. If its under warranty, I wouldn't install anything unless prior approval from the dealership.
Paranoid

[BillyRay]

I hear people say they get 20 mpg, but I've never came close! my last trip towing we averaged around 9 mpg!

[dieselguy]

BillyRay ... That 20 mpg you hear about is running empty ... any truthful RVer will claim 10 - 14 mpg (diesel) depending on rig size. Prior to my diesel, I had a 95 gasser that got 12 mpg empty and about 6.5 - 7.5 pulling. You could actually watch the fuel guage drop! Ha!

[Fordzilla]

Most chip manufactures will claim to get you better mpg's. But most will fall short of there claims, because of the drivers increased weight of the right foot. I had a chip in my '00 F250 and it increased the power a bunch. But unless you learn to drive with the extra HP/TQ you will loose any mpg gained from the extra power. It was real easy to stab the throttle and blast along, but it did a number on the Mpg's as well. Once I re-learned how to drive within reason again my mpg increased above what stock numbers were by a couple of mpg.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

I can only agree with what the majority are saying " if it ain't broke, don't fix it ".


My stock Duramax is doing all I need and my fuel mileage runs about 13/14 with the Monty and 20/22 without it. If you're getting 11 and 22 I would leave it alone. Even if there was a 1 or 2 mpg increase with the chip, which I seriously doubt, recouping the additional cost of the chip and related gauges would be impossible.

[Thunderman]

mtman1313,
Can you tell us more about the "airaid" you added? I heard on a radio talk show that one of the significant problems with 7.3 ford diesel engines was a lack of air. It was suggested to install a "air box".
Can you expand on this subject?

Thanks,
Weldon

[Sweetfire]

I looked into the Airaid, the feelings of the local diesel shop is, "If you want it I'll sell it to you", BUT, they seem to think Ford got it right with the air filters on the 6.0. Most of the folks on the diesel forums seem to think that you may get increase air flow with aftermarket filter systems but you also decrease filtering and need to replace or clean filters more often and wind up pulling in hotter air from inside the engine compartment. You can cut the housing in front of the intercooler on the drivers side of the radiator to increase cooler air flow from outside the engine compartment but you risk pulling in rain water spray and soaking the filter. Banks makes an Intercooler replacement which is suppose to increase cooler air flow to the turbo but it isn't cheap or free of criticism.

The 7.3 is a horse of a different color. I have never had one, but, it seems the older 7.3 diesel engines and trans. gain horsepower, mileage and smoother shifting with some after market chips.

[Thunderman]

Sweetfire,
Thanks for your comments on the air aid. My interest is in regard to the 7.3 diesel. The housing which begins near the radiator and carries air to the filter has a metal baffle in front of it. One could remove or modify the baffle but it will be a bit of a task.
Thanks,

Weldon

[indy roadrunner]

Me thinks me going to keep my Duramax stock. To many cons for chipping. I think those chip stories about MPG are like fish stories. It gets bigger every time they tell it.
Put an egg under that accelator and watch your speed you might think you added a chip and didn't know it - eggs are cheaper than chips. If you think you need a chip for the increase in power, maybe you bought too small to start with.

[old turbo]

Every time these guys add more torgue and power to the engine, they forget about the thing that has to absorb all this power and torque, and distribute it to the rear wheels, the transmission. You have to make changes to the tranny too. We often forget about the tranny because you cant see it like the engine, and all the store gadgets are displayed to fit the engine. Over loading the tow capaciaty of the truck, and adding go fasters can cause big time tranny problems. Just my $1.00 worth.

[steves]

I agree with old turbo. when you get all that horsepower, you need to know how to use it without stressing your truck. I had chipped my previous 01 F350 and it was an awesome machine but it required me to add a bunch of gauges to monitor my engine and transmission temperatures. My 06 doesn't seem to need any more power so I don't plan on adding any of the after market HP gains.

[Koalityman]

Chips and larger air intake increases the HP and Torque significantly. With all this additional power, one can put a lot of additional stress on the tranny and torque converter.

Steve said it all....you have to monitor what your foot is doing using exhaust temp and tranmission temp gauges otherwise the power gets away from you.

As you can see, I'm running a lot of after market Banks equipment on an older Dodge 2500 diesel, but I take it easy, especiall since I passed my teen age driving years of racing every opprtunity.