# Engine Programmer For Gasser



## dhdb (Dec 14, 2009)

Does anyone use an engine programmer on their gas powered TV? I know everyone will chime-in "go diesel and you won't have to worry about anything". True but, my TV is an '04 ram 2500 (62,000 mi) in great shape and all paid for. I hate the idea of a getting back into a truck payment right now. 
So, on to engine programmers. A buddy at work has an older Superchips-Flashpack. He loves it for performance, but he's not towing anything. He will lend it to me and the programmer has a "towing" setting. The newer units have all the same "settings" plus you can change/adjust the shift settings. 
Currently, the OB is under 1.5ft of snow, surrounded by a 2' snowbank, and the streets are salted and narrow (from snowbanks) so hooking-up and going for a drive is not an option. The idea of more power would def be helpful. My only complaint last year w/ my TV was shifting points. While climbing hills it would bog-down, so I would feather the gas-pedal to get the trans to downshift. I would be so low in a gear that by the time it downshifts, I'm low in that gear also (hopefully that makes sense). 
Anyways, I'm just researching this idea and would like some input.


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

Yeah I have the same problem with my Chevy van. I have to make sure I have high RPMs when I hit a hill. I even have a Tow button that helps with shift points. I can't find a programmer for it. I have several friends that use them on their Dodges and love them. Not sure what brands they have though. One friend has one on his Ford gasser and says he gained mileage and HP and towing.

Wish I could get one for my van.


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## jake's outback (Jul 24, 2010)

I've been contemplating one for my 2009 crew cab with 5.3 liter. I stopped at a racing/tuning shop not for from my work and he claims he can tune my computer to increase my performance and offers a lifetime (while I own the truck or he's around) of adjustments to the program. So if I change tire sizes or want different shift points they are covered. One thing I did not ask is what happens to my warranty from GM? Can the manufacturer tell I've messed around with it?

So if I was out of warranty I would get it tuned by him rather than a programmer. my opinion only

try this site...for more info... Yea it's a gm site but good info on programmers! here is some custom tuners from the site I copied it from a post!
Check out BlackBear, Wheatly, PCM4Less and Nelson Performance for custom tunes.

http://www.gmtruckclub.com/forum/


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## Bob in Virginia (Jul 15, 2010)

When I had my Tahoe I used a Diablosport Pedator programmer. I liked the results, gave some additional HP and raised the shift points just a bit, which worked well when towing. It had three different programs available, but the Tow program worked fine for me.


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## luverofpeanuts (Mar 9, 2010)

You could try contacting and getting some advice from some of the places that specialize in tuners. I'm sure there's more, but 5 star is mentioned on the ford-trucks forum.

http://www.5startuning.com/testimonials.html


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

I've got a Bully dog My link I used one my gasser Ford F250 and it works pretty good..you gotta buy 91 or better octane if you go with aggressive programing..they claim 25- 40hp @ the wheels; it's more like 25 with 93 octane.. But it helped get that rig up that [email protected] posted speeds


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## 4 Outbackers (Mar 5, 2008)

I purchased an Edge Evolution programmer for my F 150. There is a noticable power difference in the mid range. I leave it in the towing preset even when I`m not pulling the trailer. There is also a performance setting but I haven`t tried it because it requires 93 octane.


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## Rusty&Jacqui (Feb 7, 2011)

Go to www.dodgetalk.com forum. There is a bunch of people there that could help you out with programers.







I have a '08 Power Wagon with 4.56 gears. The gears help alot. The thing with the Hemi is, it's a high rpm motor. It makes all of it's power up in the rev range 3,500 5,000 rpm. So when towing, pull the trany into 2nd gear, and let the motor scream. Have friends that go over the rockies on Rt70 in Colo. pulling 10,000 lbs with no trouble.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Bob in Virginia said:


> When I had my Tahoe I used a Diablosport Pedator programmer. I liked the results, gave some additional HP and raised the shift points just a bit, which worked well when towing. It had three different programs available, but the Tow program worked fine for me.


I used/use the predator on my 2008 Suburban 2500 6.0 ltr, Quite frankly the best thing i got from it was to adjust the odometer/speedometer for the different size wheels/tires........ yes you get a little bit more power, but i dont think it was "towing" power, very limited torque gain, a little HP gain.

You really need to do it all to get some measureable gain, intake exhaust and tuner........ and then like you stated in your original posting "diesel" you need to weigh out what your gain will be for dollars spent verses a new or used comparable diesel....... IMHO

I would add that for the Gm products the 3:73 ratio on the gassers is a real PIA, i know it was on my 1500 burbs and my 2500 burbs, as it tends to want to hunt for the correct gear at highway speeds........ my friend complains the same about his 1500 silverado, he did the 2000.00 +/- upgrade of exhaust/tuner/intake .................. he says it helps but .......

Hope that helps some.........


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## Gilligan (Aug 25, 2006)

A Physics lesson:

Gasoline engines require an air/fuel ratio of 14.7:1 for optimal performance. This is called the stoichiometric ratio, and since gasoline explodes in an internal combustion engine, as opposed to burns, we can't deviate from this by much. Simply dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber without additional air will not increase power. All tuners and programmers can do is make some tweaks that will move the power band up in RPM to produce more HP. Remember, HP = (RPM x Torque) / 5252. Increasing RPM, with a constant torque, will net an increase in HP. All the tweaking in the world will not change the torque significantly. Things such as low-restriction intakes and exhaust systems can increase torque by virtue of allowing the engine to breath better, increasing volumetric efficiency. Increasing the compression ratio also increases torque, as it makes the combustion more efficient. With that said, a diesel engine is a whole other animal. It burns the fuel, as opposed to exploding it, so it is not so limited by the stoichiometic ratio. Dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber will net more torque. That is why programmers work so well on oil-burners, actually increasing the torque. And remember, when it comes to towing, torque is far more important than horsepower.

Gilligan


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## luverofpeanuts (Mar 9, 2010)

Gilligan said:


> A Physics lesson:
> 
> <snip>


Thank for the mini-lesson... nice to hear just a little more "below the surface" of some of these things to help better understand some of the differences.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Gilligan said:


> A Physics lesson:
> 
> Gasoline engines require an air/fuel ratio of 14.7:1 for optimal performance. This is called the stoichiometric ratio, and since gasoline explodes in an internal combustion engine, as opposed to burns, we can't deviate from this by much. Simply dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber without additional air will not increase power. All tuners and programmers can do is make some tweaks that will move the power band up in RPM to produce more HP. Remember, HP = (RPM x Torque) / 5252. Increasing RPM, with a constant torque, will net an increase in HP. All the tweaking in the world will not change the torque significantly. Things such as low-restriction intakes and exhaust systems can increase torque by virtue of allowing the engine to breath better, increasing volumetric efficiency. Increasing the compression ratio also increases torque, as it makes the combustion more efficient. With that said, a diesel engine is a whole other animal. It burns the fuel, as opposed to exploding it, so it is not so limited by the stoichiometic ratio. Dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber will net more torque. That is why programmers work so well on oil-burners, actually increasing the torque. And remember, when it comes to towing, torque is far more important than horsepower.
> 
> Gilligan


Gilligan; did you work on my Outback before I got it?


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

Gilligan said:


> A Physics lesson:
> 
> Gasoline engines require an air/fuel ratio of 14.7:1 for optimal performance. This is called the stoichiometric ratio, and since gasoline explodes in an internal combustion engine, as opposed to burns, we can't deviate from this by much. Simply dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber without additional air will not increase power. All tuners and programmers can do is make some tweaks that will move the power band up in RPM to produce more HP. Remember, HP = (RPM x Torque) / 5252. Increasing RPM, with a constant torque, will net an increase in HP. All the tweaking in the world will not change the torque significantly. Things such as low-restriction intakes and exhaust systems can increase torque by virtue of allowing the engine to breath better, increasing volumetric efficiency. Increasing the compression ratio also increases torque, as it makes the combustion more efficient. With that said, a diesel engine is a whole other animal. It burns the fuel, as opposed to exploding it, so it is not so limited by the stoichiometic ratio. Dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber will net more torque. That is why programmers work so well on oil-burners, actually increasing the torque. And remember, when it comes to towing, torque is far more important than horsepower.
> 
> Gilligan


Well that settles that right there. NOt wasting $500+ on a programmer. Will save that money for a down payment on a diesel.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Traveling Tek said:


> A Physics lesson:
> 
> Gasoline engines require an air/fuel ratio of 14.7:1 for optimal performance. This is called the stoichiometric ratio, and since gasoline explodes in an internal combustion engine, as opposed to burns, we can't deviate from this by much. Simply dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber without additional air will not increase power. All tuners and programmers can do is make some tweaks that will move the power band up in RPM to produce more HP. Remember, HP = (RPM x Torque) / 5252. Increasing RPM, with a constant torque, will net an increase in HP. All the tweaking in the world will not change the torque significantly. Things such as low-restriction intakes and exhaust systems can increase torque by virtue of allowing the engine to breath better, increasing volumetric efficiency. Increasing the compression ratio also increases torque, as it makes the combustion more efficient. With that said, a diesel engine is a whole other animal. It burns the fuel, as opposed to exploding it, so it is not so limited by the stoichiometic ratio. Dumping more fuel into the combustion chamber will net more torque. That is why programmers work so well on oil-burners, actually increasing the torque. And remember, when it comes to towing, torque is far more important than horsepower.
> 
> Gilligan


Well that settles that right there. NOt wasting $500+ on a programmer. Will save that money for a down payment on a diesel. 
[/quote]

i bought a programmer and a cold air intake for my suburban..... and reality is Other than adjusting computer for after market wheels and tires......... it didn't do much......... reality is you live with what you have that is capable but stretched or you go oil burner...


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## Joonbee (Jan 18, 2008)

I had an 04 Dodge quadcab 1500 with the hemi. Did the exhaust, CAI and Superchips tuner. It did make a difference. I have had to tune all of the stuff I had and this was the last gasser I ahd before we went to a diesel. This was BY FAR the only truck that made a significant driving difference. It really helped due to changing of the shifting points. Now I didnt tow with it, so my experience is from the performance setting on 93 octane. I actually took the salesman out after making the changes and gave him a demo. We were friends so it wasnt a big deal to "let the dealership know what I did". Well it had been a little rainy and the roads were not quite dry yet and we pulled out onto the highway from a short on ramp and I nailes it. We were doing about 35 and it downshifted all the way to first and lit the back tires (which were the 20's) up. If you did your homework and shopped a bit, you could get a cold air intake and tuner for cheap. May have to go with a new exhuast but htey could be had for a few hundred also. I would say you could do it all for less than $500 for sure.

Jim


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Ok, sorry, but I have to take some exception to Gilligan's comments:

First, Gasoline does indeed burn in the cylinder. There is a spark plug and a flame front expands outward from that. Sure it burns very quickly, but Diesel fuel does also. Gasoline engines do need to run at stoic however and therefore, they are much more limited on tuning. About the only knob a tuner has is to advance the spark. Of course if you go too far you get detonation which will quickly kill that engine. A manufacturer is going to be conservative because they warranty the vehicle. This means an aftermarket tuner may be able to get away with a little more performance, but as mentioned a significant change will require premium fuel. The higher octane levels reduce the tendancy of the fuel to ignite and therefore the likelihood that it will ignite prior to the spark plug firing. Changing hardware (Intake, exhaust, or engine internals) will help more, but then there's more money too.

Many tuners also mess more with the trans shift points to make it feel better even if it isn't making much more power.

Any turbo engine (diesel or gas) can be easily tuned to boost the power significantly.... Of course that also includes a much more significant risk of breaking something.

I don't know which auto computers can detect whether a tuner is used, but if you reprogram your powertrain control module, a manufacturer will be able to detect it. (The government requires that this be detectable since it messes with the certified emission levels as well)


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

Joonbee said:


> I had an 04 Dodge quadcab 1500 with the hemi. Did the exhaust, CAI and Superchips tuner. It did make a difference. I have had to tune all of the stuff I had and this was the last gasser I ahd before we went to a diesel. This was BY FAR the only truck that made a significant driving difference. It really helped due to changing of the shifting points. Now I didnt tow with it, so my experience is from the performance setting on 93 octane. I actually took the salesman out after making the changes and gave him a demo. We were friends so it wasnt a big deal to "let the dealership know what I did". Well it had been a little rainy and the roads were not quite dry yet and we pulled out onto the highway from a short on ramp and I nailes it. We were doing about 35 and it downshifted all the way to first and lit the back tires (which were the 20's) up. If you did your homework and shopped a bit, you could get a cold air intake and tuner for cheap. May have to go with a new exhuast but htey could be had for a few hundred also. I would say you could do it all for less than $500 for sure.
> 
> Jim


Only tuner I found that would work on my van is a $449 +shipping for the Diablo tuner. Can't really change exhaust or cold air intake on a van. Too tight. So that leaves me back at square one, which is....	Sell off a couple of kids and buy a truck, or save some cash and get a diesel van.  I could be swayed either way.


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## Gilligan (Aug 25, 2006)

Burn...explode. Basically the same thing, only at different speeds. In a gasser, the moment that spark occurs, a flame front will move through the combustion chamber very, very quickly, because the air and fuel are already mixed to the correct proportion, and uniformly distributed in the combustion chamber (at least we hope they are). In an oil burner, the combustion chamber is initially full of extremely hot air, and nothing but air. When the fuel is squirted in, it will begin to burn at the point of injection, due to the heat of compression, and spread into the rest of the combustion chamber as the fuel is delivered. Nathan, I think we are in agreement on this; it's just a matter of semantics.

I guess the obvious question to ask about tuners/programmers is: If the aftermarket people can find all this "missing horsepower", why don't the manufacturers themselves tune the engines the same way to get that extra power? They know how to do it...they're not dumb. There is obviously a trade-off here, and that trade-off is long term reliability. More power delivered through a drivetrain that may not be designed for that much power, not to mention pistons, rods, crank, etc., as well as running things right at the margin, is not good.

See, I learned a lot from the Professor, while stranded on that island for 3 years.









Gilligan


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## Professor (Sep 12, 2006)

Gilligan said:


> Burn...explode. Basically the same thing, only at different speeds. In a gasser, the moment that spark occurs, a flame front will move through the combustion chamber very, very quickly, because the air and fuel are already mixed to the correct proportion, and uniformly distributed in the combustion chamber (at least we hope they are). In an oil burner, the combustion chamber is initially full of extremely hot air, and nothing but air. When the fuel is squirted in, it will begin to burn at the point of injection, due to the heat of compression, and spread into the rest of the combustion chamber as the fuel is delivered. Nathan, I think we are in agreement on this; it's just a matter of semantics.
> 
> I guess the obvious question to ask about tuners/programmers is: If the aftermarket people can find all this "missing horsepower", why don't the manufacturers themselves tune the engines the same way to get that extra power? They know how to do it...they're not dumb. There is obviously a trade-off here, and that trade-off is long term reliability. More power delivered through a drivetrain that may not be designed for that much power, not to mention pistons, rods, crank, etc., as well as running things right at the margin, is not good.
> 
> ...


Well you were a good student but most of our power was green based on the island, remember the stationary bike, man you really did work out hard.

Your description of Diesel operation is related more to current direct injection technology and may not describe all the options for multi pulse injection were the first injection can occur early enough in the cycle where compression heat is not yet to the point of spontaneous ignition. It also does not take into account indirect injection that was the standard for many years.

Anyway, good to see you on here. Are you on FB?


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## Gilligan (Aug 25, 2006)

Professor said:


> Burn...explode. Basically the same thing, only at different speeds. In a gasser, the moment that spark occurs, a flame front will move through the combustion chamber very, very quickly, because the air and fuel are already mixed to the correct proportion, and uniformly distributed in the combustion chamber (at least we hope they are). In an oil burner, the combustion chamber is initially full of extremely hot air, and nothing but air. When the fuel is squirted in, it will begin to burn at the point of injection, due to the heat of compression, and spread into the rest of the combustion chamber as the fuel is delivered. Nathan, I think we are in agreement on this; it's just a matter of semantics.
> 
> I guess the obvious question to ask about tuners/programmers is: If the aftermarket people can find all this "missing horsepower", why don't the manufacturers themselves tune the engines the same way to get that extra power? They know how to do it...they're not dumb. There is obviously a trade-off here, and that trade-off is long term reliability. More power delivered through a drivetrain that may not be designed for that much power, not to mention pistons, rods, crank, etc., as well as running things right at the margin, is not good.
> 
> ...


Well you were a good student but most of our power was green based on the island, remember the stationary bike, man you really did work out hard.

Your description of Diesel operation is related more to current direct injection technology and may not describe all the options for multi pulse injection were the first injection can occur early enough in the cycle where compression heat is not yet to the point of spontaneous ignition. It also does not take into account indirect injection that was the standard for many years.

Anyway, good to see you on here. Are you on FB?
[/quote]

The Lesson on multi-pulse injection was going to be in the 4th year, but then we got rescued.

Gilligan


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Joonbee said:


> I had an 04 Dodge quadcab 1500 with the hemi. Did the exhaust, CAI and Superchips tuner. It did make a difference. I have had to tune all of the stuff I had and this was the last gasser I ahd before we went to a diesel. This was BY FAR the only truck that made a significant driving difference. It really helped due to changing of the shifting points. Now I didnt tow with it, so my experience is from the performance setting on 93 octane. I actually took the salesman out after making the changes and gave him a demo. We were friends so it wasnt a big deal to "let the dealership know what I did". Well it had been a little rainy and the roads were not quite dry yet and we pulled out onto the highway from a short on ramp and I nailes it. We were doing about 35 and it downshifted all the way to first and lit the back tires (which were the 20's) up. If you did your homework and shopped a bit, you could get a cold air intake and tuner for cheap. May have to go with a new exhuast but htey could be had for a few hundred also. I would say you could do it all for less than $500 for sure.
> 
> Jim


Don't get me wrong - i feel the Burb had more pep, sounds better and definitely was faster - but when towing i didn't notice much if anything...........


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Traveling Tek said:


> Too tight. So that leaves me back at square one, which is....	Sell off a couple of kids and buy a truck, or save some cash and get a diesel van.  I could be swayed either way.


Do they mow lawn, eat little, have straight teeth, and are smart and scholarly..... basically will they get stuff doen around the house and cost me very little? If so how much


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

clarkely said:


> Too tight. So that leaves me back at square one, which is....	Sell off a couple of kids and buy a truck, or save some cash and get a diesel van.  I could be swayed either way.


Do they mow lawn, eat little, have straight teeth, and are smart and scholarly..... basically will they get stuff doen around the house and cost me very little? If so how much








[/quote]

Not really. They seem to eat a lot, they are pretty smart (most of the time). Oldest is 9 but when we had a house she was learning the riding mower. As for cleaning, they do alright cleaning up, but you have to remind them about a hundred times. You know typical kids. Some times I think, why oh why didn't I stop at 3?? Then we would all fit in a truck, but the littlest one is just so darn cute!! 

Pretty sure my wife would have a cow if I sold them off. If we were just weekending or vacationing, then we could make a truck work, but we full time and sometimes drive for 12 hours. They each need their own space that the van affords. I just need to upgrade to a diesel now that the 2011 Chevis have a Duramax in the passenger van.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Traveling Tek said:


> Too tight. So that leaves me back at square one, which is....	Sell off a couple of kids and buy a truck, or save some cash and get a diesel van.  I could be swayed either way.


Do they mow lawn, eat little, have straight teeth, and are smart and scholarly..... basically will they get stuff doen around the house and cost me very little? If so how much








[/quote]

Not really. They seem to eat a lot, they are pretty smart (most of the time). Oldest is 9 but when we had a house she was learning the riding mower. As for cleaning, they do alright cleaning up, but you have to remind them about a hundred times. You know typical kids. Some times I think, why oh why didn't I stop at 3?? Then we would all fit in a truck, but the littlest one is just so darn cute!! 

Pretty sure my wife would have a cow if I sold them off. If we were just weekending or vacationing, then we could make a truck work, but we full time and sometimes drive for 12 hours. They each need their own space that the van affords. I just need to upgrade to a diesel now that the 2011 Chevis have a Duramax in the passenger van.








[/quote]

I hear ya







We do not full time, but we do have 4 kiddos 5-11 and they do all right on long trips in our pick up....... the last long one was to Acadia and back........... with the added fuel tank we only had to stop once on our way home and not for fuel 1 quick bathroom break that's a 600 mile trip each way...they did straight through to disney world for us that was a 1200 mile trip but in our suburban for that one (they showed me something on that trip) we will see how they do going to disney next year in the pick up......

Good luck in your future TV and your travels.........


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Gilligan said:


> Burn...explode. Basically the same thing, only at different speeds. In a gasser, the moment that spark occurs, a flame front will move through the combustion chamber very, very quickly, because the air and fuel are already mixed to the correct proportion, and uniformly distributed in the combustion chamber (at least we hope they are). In an oil burner, the combustion chamber is initially full of extremely hot air, and nothing but air. When the fuel is squirted in, it will begin to burn at the point of injection, due to the heat of compression, and spread into the rest of the combustion chamber as the fuel is delivered. Nathan, I think we are in agreement on this; it's just a matter of semantics.
> 
> I guess the obvious question to ask about tuners/programmers is: If the aftermarket people can find all this "missing horsepower", why don't the manufacturers themselves tune the engines the same way to get that extra power? They know how to do it...they're not dumb. There is obviously a trade-off here, and that trade-off is long term reliability. More power delivered through a drivetrain that may not be designed for that much power, not to mention pistons, rods, crank, etc., as well as running things right at the margin, is not good.
> 
> ...


Ok, you're right we are aligned. Certain terms just push some people's buttons (I'm sure you had the same problem with the Professor







)


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## dhdb (Dec 14, 2009)

So it looks like this....	Most tuners (for gassers) do not change any engine function. These tuners change trans shift points.. etc. Today I pulled the fuse on the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), cleared the computer, and replaced the fuse. I will say, the hemi was much quicker! At first I thought it was bec the cold morning air. (FORGOT TO MENTION-added K&N cold air intake 4 yrs ago) After driving around all day there was no question, the hemi was much "peppier/quicker".	Right now, I am leaning towards the Superchips (Flashpaq or Cortex) . I'm thinking the "tow mode" and ability to adjust shift points is what I'm looking for. I just wish I could go out and tow the OB around a bit.


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## Rusty&Jacqui (Feb 7, 2011)

dhdb said:


> So it looks like this....	Most tuners (for gassers) do not change any engine function. These tuners change trans shift points.. etc. Today I pulled the fuse on the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), cleared the computer, and replaced the fuse. I will say, the hemi was much quicker! At first I thought it was bec the cold morning air. (FORGOT TO MENTION-added K&N cold air intake 4 yrs ago) After driving around all day there was no question, the hemi was much "peppier/quicker".	Right now, I am leaning towards the Superchips (Flashpaq or Cortex) . I'm thinking the "tow mode" and ability to adjust shift points is what I'm looking for. I just wish I could go out and tow the OB around a bit.


Like I said before. Go to www.dodgetalk.com/forums. 3genRams. performance section. All you need to know about the different programmers out there for your Ram. With the new stuff now. You can change fuel, timing, shift points, torque management, red line, tire size, etc,etc. Torque management is the one I hate. Give the truck half throttle, and get 1/4 throttle for awhile, then it catches up with what I want.









You guys with the ford and chevys don't know much about how gas Dodge is set up. Chevys and some fords use a mass air flow system. Dodge uses a air speed density system. Two very different operating systems for fuel management.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Gilligan said:


> Burn...explode. Basically the same thing, only at different speeds. In a gasser, the moment that spark occurs, a flame front will move through the combustion chamber very, very quickly, because the air and fuel are already mixed to the correct proportion, and uniformly distributed in the combustion chamber (at least we hope they are). In an oil burner, the combustion chamber is initially full of extremely hot air, and nothing but air. When the fuel is squirted in, it will begin to burn at the point of injection, due to the heat of compression, and spread into the rest of the combustion chamber as the fuel is delivered. Nathan, I think we are in agreement on this; it's just a matter of semantics.
> 
> I guess the obvious question to ask about tuners/programmers is: If the aftermarket people can find all this "missing horsepower", why don't the manufacturers themselves tune the engines the same way to get that extra power? They know how to do it...they're not dumb. There is obviously a trade-off here, and that trade-off is long term reliability. More power delivered through a drivetrain that may not be designed for that much power, not to mention pistons, rods, crank, etc., as well as running things right at the margin, is not good.
> 
> ...


Well you were a good student but most of our power was green based on the island, remember the stationary bike, man you really did work out hard.

Your description of Diesel operation is related more to current direct injection technology and may not describe all the options for multi pulse injection were the first injection can occur early enough in the cycle where compression heat is not yet to the point of spontaneous ignition. It also does not take into account indirect injection that was the standard for many years.

Anyway, good to see you on here. Are you on FB?
[/quote]

The Lesson on multi-pulse injection was going to be in the 4th year, but then we got rescued.

Gilligan








[/quote]








the weather started getting rough,


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Rusty&Jacqui said:


> So it looks like this....	Most tuners (for gassers) do not change any engine function. These tuners change trans shift points.. etc. Today I pulled the fuse on the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), cleared the computer, and replaced the fuse. I will say, the hemi was much quicker! At first I thought it was bec the cold morning air. (FORGOT TO MENTION-added K&N cold air intake 4 yrs ago) After driving around all day there was no question, the hemi was much "peppier/quicker".	Right now, I am leaning towards the Superchips (Flashpaq or Cortex) . I'm thinking the "tow mode" and ability to adjust shift points is what I'm looking for. I just wish I could go out and tow the OB around a bit.


Like I said before. Go to www.dodgetalk.com/forums. 3genRams. performance section. All you need to know about the different programmers out there for your Ram. With the new stuff now. You can change fuel, timing, shift points, torque management, red line, tire size, etc,etc. Torque management is the one I hate. Give the truck half throttle, and get 1/4 throttle for awhile, then it catches up with what I want.









You guys with the ford and chevys don't know much about how gas Dodge is set up. Chevys and some fords use a mass air flow system. Dodge uses a air speed density system. Two very different operating systems for fuel management.
[/quote]

All this tech talk is real handy but I trust hard evidence.. My 2008 F250 w/5.4L & 5 sp OD auto, towing a loaded 28KRS 7500#+ (1 950# Polaris X2 500 in the garage) and a 600# ATV in the truck bed and some firewood, would not get 45MPH going up South Mountain on I-70 east after Hagerstown and before Frederick MD...about 3 miles of 6% grade. Est. total GCVW was about 14,500#. The max towing capacity of the truck is 11,200 off the bumper. I thru a Bully Dog tuner on it with max performance + aggressive shift filled up with Sunoco 93 octane, next trip up the same mountain same load and I was able to make 70MPH.... By the way this was on 2 different trips to Hatfield McCoys ATV Park in WV the weather condition was about the same each trip.

Eric


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