Could some of you please pitch in here and give me some advice concerning a good tuner/monitoring system? I'm not looking to tune my truck right now... happy with things the way they are. I mainly want a way to monitor temps, EGT's, EOT's, etc... as many as possible, and for the future do a DPF delete.

I, of course, may at some point add a mild tune, but don't plan on doing anything to try and push this motor. I bought this truck mainly for longevity, and don't want to shorten it's life with a serious tune. I simply want to get rid of the DPF here in a few months and mainly have a way of monitoring all these parameters.

Ive heard from Senix ( a trusted and knowledgeable good friend ) that the H & S and EDGE CTS systems are good. Any advice/comments? Not really worried about the cost. I'd rather not skimp just because I dont plan to tune right now. Want to keep my options open. Thanks!

(Just read up on the Spartan Phalanx....... any advice/ experience with this tuner for monitoring from you guys?)

 

I started off with a Scangauge II to monitor the things that you mentioned. Great capabilities for the price. I have very recently moved on to the H&S Mini Max. Great functions and monitoring tools, and you can use it as a power adder or not. Use with or without DPF/CAT. And you can turn off the EGR so it limits your chances of rupturing a cooler, but still allows the turbo pressure to blow off if needed. A couple of our Sponsors sell them and are great to deal with.

 

The H&S display is limited to show 4 (of 16 total if I'm not mistaken) parameters at any one time.

The Banks and Spartan show quite a few more

If you're not in a rush to tune, an Auto Enginuity can display/monitor/log hundreds of PIDs of all the ECU's above and beyond the long list of engine PIDs. Disadvantage is it runs on a laptop rather than a dedicated display that can be mounted on the dash. I suppose it would work weill if you had a tablet that runs windows

There's a few smartphone/tablet apps such as 'Torque' or 'Dash Command' that will display quite a few PIDs, but I've seen some complaints that say the monitoring of too many at a time unintentionally messes up the transmission shifting

 

bump it too the top

 

As a Spartan owner I would look into H&S. There are a few companies that make great tunes for the H&S there are also more options with H&S as well.

 

If you go Edge CTS be aware that Edge no longer makes a unit that you can delete the DPF with. There are still some around on line from the speed shops, and a used one on craigs or ebay from time to time. The key word is "racing". That's the model that allows you to delete.

 

Thanks everyone! Im definitely leaning toward the H&S. The only concern I have is I see that the monitoring unit is fairly small. Its screen dimensions are 2" by 1.5". Seems kinda small. But it definitely sounds like the better unit. It's time to chunk this DPF and other emissions crap now that my warranty is gone.

 

As a Spartan owner with no particular axe to grind, I'm pretty fond of it's monitoring and logging capabilities. It will monitor more crap than you probably care to look at but the important thing is you can fit quite a bit of it all at once on its fairly generous screen size. My largest indicator is EGTs, surrounded by Oil Temp, Coolant Temp, Tranny Temp, EGR Cycle On/Off, Torque Slip, and Boost Pressure. That's 7 functions, all easily readable, on one screen. Those are what "I" consider the biggies, but you'd be free to choose your own.

And if you're of a mind, you can custom design your own screen layouts and whatnot. I'm not of a mind so I wussed out and used something designed through someone else's labor.


You can delete or not, run tunes for either situation, or run no tunes at all. The factory unit is fairly pricey if bought new, but comes with tunes from bone stock all the way up to 350 HP race tunes. There's at least one towing tune in there as well.

Personally I think you'd be hard pressed to buy a better tuner/monitor. Cheaper maybe, but not better.

 

Thanks for your input tgreening. Those ARE most of my important parameters to consider. I would like a device geared more toward the displaying of temps and whatnot rather than paying for alot of goodies Ill likely never use. I have no desire to use my truck as a drag racer and it's got plenty of power stock for what I use it for. The only real issue is the DPF delete, but even that will be in the future. Thanks for your advice and Ill look at the Spartan also.

Thanks for beaming me up Scotty!!

 

The mini Maxx from H&S is pretty small, the black Maxx is slightly larger. I love my Mini Maxx... If money isn't an obstacle, I wouldn't waste your time with a stand alone monitor at this point. Figure out what tuner you'll eventually use to delete the DPF and get that one. Most will allow you to use a monitor while waiting on the right time to delete. I'll try to find the post, but a while back, someone compared H&S to Spartan and they preferred H&S... There have also been people that have switched to the other company and it seems H&S is usually the favorite.

H&S support is also great and they are always trying to improve their products...