I want to add a chip or tuner to my 1999 SD 7.3 with auto trans but friends warn me that it will cause premature failure to some components mostly the transmission. My truck has 123k on it.

I was wondering if any one has experienced problems after installing a chip or tuner? If I was to add a tuner it would be for towing only and would go back to stock when not towing. My Toy Hauler weighs about 10k....

 

I haven't yet,but I put a Tugger kit in my Ex before I installed the DP tuner. My e99 had the chip in it already,but I have owned it for 6 months now. The Ex has been chipped for about three years now.

 

It is dependent on the type of tuner some are not friendly to transmissions, I have used DP, TS, and SCT, with absolutely no problems at all! As they are geared twords our engine /transmission in particular and the tuners have learned exactly what to do to get maximum power with total reliability! Good luck and choose wisely with DP or TS you will not be disappointed!
Jim & fat Monty

 

Also depends on the current condition of your transmission... They aren't very strong in stock form and don't take much when you throw more power at them.

 

I've had a T Wildman chip (http://www.totaldieselperformance.com/) in my F-250 for 6 years 151,000 miles and in the Excursion for almost a year with 200,000 miles. A custom chip will be tuned specifically for your setup & application. Most will agree it is better to install a new valve body in the tranny or upgrade the shift kit in the tranny so the shifts are done mechanically instead of increasing the line pressure through programming. Either mod is pretty simple an cost much less that the custom chip does. If you are interested in some good tow tunes check out T Wildman's auto downshift & TC lock-up in his heavy toe tunes. Gives you that extra hp for towing but helps slow the rig down when you need additional breaking.

In addition, I like the fact that Tony always has offered free reburns with the purchase of one of his chips. What does that mean? Anytime you want to change your tuning due to other engine modes or changes you would like made - it's free.

 

T Wildman uses TS performance platform! Great tuner! Also check out PHP the FU chip sets you up to reburn your own chip with any of the tunes that match your PCM code from their library...Power Hungry Performance - FU™ Performance Chip Package ...for free
Jim & fat Monty

 

Great post Jim - reps to ya.....

edit: tried to rep ya.........have to spread the reps first.......

 

Will it... Maybe not.


Can it? Yes.

Your weakest link is the tranny... A chip will not harm the motor if you have a good quality set of gauges first.

 

X1000 on the gauges FIRST know what's happening and you can prevent common failures! Also being a 99 I would suggest you install a transmission cooler for a 6.0 it's more than double the cooling ability of the STD cooler in your truck, and heat kills transmissions
Jim & fat Monty

 

I have installed the gauges and 6.0 Trans Cooler. I also have a cold air intake.. I did have the oem tc and flex plate replaced by ford two years ago. Other than that the truck is stock.

 

I ran DP on my 2001 with 5 inch exhaust, guages, and a shift kit.

Not saying it was the DP's fault, but I put the DP Tuner on mine at around 117k and at around 160k, the truck melted the factory tranny. Had it rebuilt with a valve body and beefed up Torque converter and the truck was an absolute hoss after that.

word of advice: adding any extra power puts extra strain on parts.

 

My stock transmission totally smoked behind my stock 7.3L and I had to start over with a new tranny. I upgraded my transmission, instrument cluster, exhaust, and chipped with a DP F6 (with USB port) and 6 tunes for different situations.

There's the mass-produced "Wal*Mart" approach to tuning a diesel where a programmer makes a nice display and learns how to dump fuel. Then... there are real pros out there that learn all they can about diesels, transmissions, and programming to truly augment performance and reliability.

Way back in 99, this was a young technology and the Ford programmers were still learning. The Ford programmers also had to adhere to engineering guidelines for emissions, expected driver behavior, and many other factors that force de-tuning the engine. The stock 7.3L engines are all crippled by de-tuning... let that sink in a minute.

Can you break your truck by tuning? You'd better believe it... but not for the reasons you'd expect. Tuning unleashes what the 7.3L is really capable of, but there was no transmission in '99 that could handle that at the hands of a newbie diesel driver. Handing all that power off to a driver puts the responsibility of breaking the truck in your hands. Get a good economy tune, a tow tune, a couple of gauges, and drive sensibly and you can actually extend the life of your transmission. Beef up the tranny, get at least 3 gauges to go with that performance program on the chip, and learn how to protect the truck yourself if you want to testosterone up.

My son got his hands on a dodge P/U gasser and he was yammering about all that power (360). His previous ride was a Mustang with a 4-cylinder. I put him behind the wheel of "Stinky" and told him to floor it.

He had to squeegee his underwear.

 

The only failure I have had from my DP tuner was my ATM card. It quit working for about a week but I got it fixed.

 

Yep, My SuperChip Destoyed my Transmission...

I was able to drive 100s of miles at a time, pulling a 30 ft camper @ 80mph (for 6YEARS before melt down)

I was also able to burn the tires off to the rims....


What did I get for all of that, a whole lot of fun and a NEW BTS

You put a chip/tuner in, it will make it a different truck

It is the NUT behind the Wheel that will determine what will last and what will break...

Get the chip/tuner.... but beware of the PMS (Powerstroke Mod Syndrome)

 

These guys covered most of what I would bring up.

All I can add is the custom tuning and the after market parts for the 7.3 have come a long way from where it was five years ago. Even in 2007 you would see several posts where people were having issues after having there truck tuned. Lots of finger pointing etc.

Sometimes it was the tunes and other times it was just the added stress the tune brought with it that caused a failure.

Upgrading is still pay to play but you don't hear the bad stories you used to hear about blown engines, smoked trannys etc.

I would get tunes from the vendors on here and or other Powerstroke friendly sites.