Hypertech

[WJC]

I have read an artical in diesel mag regarding engine problems with the 6.0 powerstroke. They pointed out a problem with the piston cracking when a guy drove his truck everday on race tune. I'm not here to knock the 6.0, actually wish i had one in my ex, but i do have a hypertech in my 6.8. Will this cause any problems with everyday driving or should i set it back to factory spec? I am running it on 87 octane fuel and do have it set for trans firmness. I don't drive it hard at all.

[ReAX]

In short no.

Hypertech built in tunes are designed to be safe for all the vehicles they cover. There is still plenty of headroom/safety built in. As long as you feed it the right fuel in, temps will be consistent and acceptable for the pistons and heads.

The trans firmness shouldn't set to max though. Bumping up the line pressure is hard on the pump and is suspected to cause premature failure. Maybe setting at 3/4 max or below would be fine.

[gr8scott72]

I would think that really the only thing a programer could do to harm a gas engine would be to have the timing advanced too far causing pinging/detonation.

I quit using a programer for that very reason on my Durango as it would ping under load with the programer (even on the 87 octane setting) and I didn't want to feed it higher octane fuel.

[Toreador_Diesel]

As far as trans firmness, I would go with a TransGo Tugger shift kit or the Sonnax/Tricumulator kit that I got. The same applies with your trans as with computers, hardware is always better than software.

The programmer will help with power and fuel economy but not as much as if it were a diesel. To me, I think it's worth it if I get a better performing engine out of it, but then again that's up to you.

As far as that guy in his 6.0, he obviously doesn't know anything about mods and preparing your truck for the added power. If you do the research and read the warnings on the box and in the manual, a race tune is NOT for everyday driving. It's as it's name implies: for Racing Only!