I would start with the tuner swap IMO. Yes, your HPOP may be a little tired but my opinion is get with a safer tuning company that will work with you on things for FREE and with a quick turnaround. Mostly the safer tuning, that's a big deal. Your oil should be happier as well with less soot floating around, same with the mileage increasing a bit. I saw 3-4mpg increase between the two which makes a LOT of sense since I quit dumping spot in every tune except the hot one. Even that was a drastic reduction in soot content.

I'm on my fifth iteration of tunes for me existing setup, other than one hiccup I have received my tune revisions within three days via email from the guys at GH. If you can pick it up and have some military background, they do offer a cash pickup mil discount price. Not saying you'll get the deal I did, but my tuner with new chip was cost of chip and that's it.

I made the swap when I was still relatively stock (intake, exhaust, few other things but no go-fast goodies) and the drive ability difference was insane. Like night and day. Better mileage, WAY better EGT's, and a more enjoyable driving experience across the board. It has only gotten more so the more stupid I have gotten with upgrades.

HPOP is a close second, if you can find a core available for cheap - buy it. I found mine again, finally. I paid $50 for it and it had a spare IPR still with it so that was a bonus. So I intend on ordering the T500 down the road, and opting for the core-less option. That way when I return the core, I get the $300 extra back for a part I only spent $50 on. Which in turn, becomes an extra $250 in my pocket thus drastically reducing the price of the HPOP upgrade itself.

 

The core charge is not a "savings". You get all $300 back when you send your core to them after the swap. Having a spare core or paying the core charge is nothing more than a way to avoid waiting for your core to be shipped, rebuilt, and returned.

Based on my experience, and watching many others go through the same gyrations - If I were to buy a truck today that had your tuner in it, that would be yanked 10 minutes after I pull into my driveway for the first time. I'd rather drive unchipped. You may not feel like that because you like the oomph... but you haven't yet experienced a proper oomph. I think I can get you close, though - using the chip you have. I'll explain:

If one were to market a performance chip, one would want there to be a kick early in the throttle - to give the impression there is a crazy amount of power unleashed. Unfortunately, there was never a crazy amount of power in reserve to unleash... so an aggressive first throttle is the whole show - with nothing left after that. Keep your foot out of it - just use the top third of foot travel in the 80HP tune, and you'll find that you actually have more performance within the top third of pedal than you do when Pedal and Mat are embracing.

 

That part drove me absolutely nuts on the DP, yuck. Not getting the entire pedal travel used properly just irritated my logical side. You have the whole pedal, why not use it?

 

That drove me crazy as well. Even with all my upgrades and tire-lathing power, my throttle behaves exactly like stock in the first half of throttle - but the deeper my foot reaches out beyond that point, the further I go beyond stock performance. After all... isn't that when you need the power - at the point you feel like going past half throttle? In my view, if you can't drive on a dirt road without spitting gravel - the pedal is too heavy. Up North, we are more concerned with handling on snow and ice. What good is leaping off the line if you wave a picture of your foot at the pedal?

 

I can't get the tank out. I've been fighting with it all morning and it just isn't going to happen working by myself. The in-tank filter clogging issue is going to have to wait for now.

Does anybody know of shop in west houston (katy area) that would do the Hutch/Harpoon mod?

 

I found a shop that will drop the tank and install the Hutch mod. Hopefully by next week I will know if the in-tank filters are clogged and potentially causing this issue.

 

Sorry for not responding earlier bud, been hectic with the move to a new house and whatnot.

For future reference, the only shop that I know and trust for my truck is on the east side of Houston off 59 North - called PowerStroke Enginuities (PSE). There's a few other diesels shops around here, but Dorian and his crew are the main PowerStroke specialists in town as far as I'm concerned.