DIESEL TUNER

[montanagal]

We have a 2002 Chevy 2500HD with a duramax diesel. I would like to use a chip or diesel turner. What is the most recommended product to use? Have been thinking of buying the Hyper Tech Tuner.

Daniel J. Dean
3400RL Montana
2002 Chevy 2500 HD Duramax Diesel

[rlwhit]

What ever you get be sure to have an EGT gauge. I found I could not use the extra hp till I changed the intake and exhust. You may want to do a search on this subject as there have been several threads.

[Larry and Sharon]

We have an Edge Juice installed and really like the power.Have seen no need for exaust or intake mods.Do install eg and boost guage.Set on 60hp , 1200 degrees is the highest I have seen and feel this is very safe.

[ken]

We have a 2005 GMC 2500HD with the Duramax. We added the Edge Power juice and attitude. The gage is mounted on the lower window frame next to the dash and has the EGT, Temp, and booster adjust display all in one. The book says to only use it in power levels 1-3 without doing modifications to your engine. It has not changed our egt temp as far as I can tell. The horse power increase is 40, 60, 75hp gains. It also said to tow in power 1 and 2 only. I saw a ford F-250 Diesel with the power setting of 5 spin his tires. I am not ready to do that yet. We wanted extra economy and a little more power. We had a chip in our 1999 F350 Ford and it made all the difference.
Ken and Velda Taylor
Dahlgren Va
2005 3475 Montana
2005 2500HD GMC Crew Cab with Duramax, Edge, Prodigy, 45gal truflow replace fuel tank.

quote:Originally posted by montanagal

We have a 2002 Chevy 2500HD with a duramax diesel. I would like to use a chip or diesel turner. What is the most recommended product to use? Have been thinking of buying the Hyper Tech Tuner.

Daniel J. Dean
3400RL Montana
2002 Chevy 2500 HD Duramax Diesel

[lightningjack11]

I don't know if it is the best but I have a 1705 Superchips programmer and reader. It reads about 250 codes and allows two programs, one for towing and 1 for high power. I use the towsafe program.

All you do is load the program into the stock chip through the diagnostic connecter. The advantage of this method is when you take it in for servicing you can reset your stock chip to the original program so that the garage will not void any warranties. No components to remove prior to servicing. It reads both p0 and p1 codes.

Good enough for me.

[NJ Hillbilly]

I've had a Banks exhaust for a few years and I just added the Edge Juice module with the Attitude monitor. Well worth the $$$. I ordered a Hypertech and walked out of the store with the Edge. The ability to change setting on the fly, if egt's are getting high I can turn the module down.

The digital gauges are well worth the price also. The module has 4 seperate gauges that can be user set to display egt, boost, water temp, gear and torque converter lock, along with some others.

There are also alarms that can be set to warn high temps and other things.


John

[Karl]

I have a 2003 Duramax, and I have added the Hypertech programmer. I have been very satisfied with it. I use the middle setting, and have seen a big difference in power..especially on mountain uphills.

I will e-mail you later to tell you more.

[Dave e Victoria]

We have a 2003 GMC D/A. We have over 60,000 miles with the Hypertech program We selected maximum pewrfortmance and use that setting for towing. No need for any other mods and we do not have an egt meter. We did tow a 3295RK and recently traded for the Cambridge so we tow very big loads. Our permenant home is in AZ so mountains are in every direction. It is true that I do not abuse the truck but the extra performance is very welcome. As an added incentive, we get a mile or two better mileage towing with the hypertech

[rlwhit]

Dave, A friend who installed my Edge does professional mods for diesel drag racing and pull competions. From him to me to you, you need to know your EGT when pulling that heavy a load. The Edge manuel says the Duramax can take 1350 degrees. Friend says 1100 for 5 minutes, not to exceed 1200. I would really like to be on the safe side of long term engine damage. As Steve says, just my thoughts.

[lightningjack11]

I agree with the getting an EGT guage(pyrometer). Remember chips control the fuel and shifting for more power. More fuel, higher temps. From what I have been told the internals could start melting at high temps. So I drive by my guages. If, say I am climbing a grade and the temp starts going too high I downshift even though the truck as the power to go in present gear. Downshifting reduces temperature. If it cost a little speed, so be it.

I installed the pyrometer myself and it has been worth the nominal cost.

Just my opinion based on what I have read.

[Karl]

There is no real need for me to add much more. As I said, I have the hypertech, and have only set it to the middle range. As with Dave and Victoria, I do not have the egt, the specs say that it is not needed with the hypertech since it does not raise the temps too high. I probably will set it to the highest level this year when I tow to Arizona. The additional torgue is definitely evident, and I "think" I get about a mile extra per gallon towing, but who ever really knows about that since no tow is ever the same as others. Suffice it to say that on calm day driving pulling a Montana 3295 on the reasonably level freeway, it is not unusual for me to average 13 mpg or even a bit more.

The programming is super simple, and "unprogramming" is just as simple. I would readily spend the $365 again.

[Montana_2785]

While I would love the extra power, I won't put one on my truck.

I have the 4R100 transmission in my truck. It is rated for 1000 ft/lbs of torque. It has a 2X torque converter which means that it is rated for 500 ft/lbs input into the torque converter. My 7.3L powerstroke is DERATED so that it its maximum torque is 500 ft/lbs.

The 7.3 can really provide a lot more power but it will overstress my tranny.

Do you know the torque limits for your transmissions? I don't know what the limits are for the Allison or the new(er) Ford....

My 2 cents.

Eric

[sreigle]

Eric, I do not know the torque ratings for the TorqShift tranny but will see if I can find something.

Meanwhile, I'm curious whether those who have installed chips/tuners or are contemplating that did so because they felt they did not have enough power or because they just wanted more power. We've towed ours on long grades to 8% and, frankly, I do not see a need for more power. We hold speed just fine. The EGT limit for the powerstroke is 1370 degrees and we've not reached that number. It once reached 1325 for a few seconds. Slight lift of the right foot cooled that right down with no more than one mph difference in speed. The probe is in the exhaust manifold. So am I missing something? Is there a reason other than towing ability for adding the chip/tuner? Sorry to be dumb on this one but I must be missing something. Thanks.

[gitrdun]

I have the hypertech tuner and have it set on stage 2. I could tell the difference in power and mileage, but you need to have the exhaust changed to 4" from turbo back. You can also reset the tire size if you change to bigger tires,and readouts if you have any daignistic problems. If you have to take you TV in for dealer work just reset to factory settings because if you don't and they plug their diagnostic center in it will erase your program. The tuner also meets warranty.

[Dave e Victoria]

Steve,
I originally installed the hypertech program mostly out of curiosity after talking to other owners who described the incredible Performance. Now, I wouldn't be without it. The extra power/torque is excellent for getting out of trouble -- like short on ramps. The mileage improvement is enough to get a quick return on the investment. Frankly, unloaded the truck is a blast to drive. There is so much added power it is possible to out drive the suspension -- after all, this is no sports car -- but, it is almost as much fun.

[sreigle]

Thanks for the explanation. Good info.