Chip help

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Nov 16, 2011 | 06:42 PM

f1501987

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Chip help

I'm looking to buy a chip now. I've had a post on another thread so I going to finish it here. !st. Were to buy it from?Dp, PHP, Tyrant, TDP, or gearhead. IM leaning towards PHP (since its cheaper) My other question is I want the best programs for my truck, So which company's tunes work better on the 7.3. Also what tunes to get for my straights piped, cold AFE air intake stock 7.3 with 35in tires,8 inches of lift truck.

Nov 21, 2011 | 06:09 AM

Tugly

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Joined: Jan 2011

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From: Puget Sound

Quote:

Originally Posted by f1501987

I'm looking to buy a chip now. I've had a post on another thread so I going to finish it here. !st. Were to buy it from?Dp, PHP, Tyrant, TDP, or gearhead. IM leaning towards PHP (since its cheaper) My other question is I want the best programs for my truck, So which company's tunes work better on the 7.3. Also what tunes to get for my straights piped, cold AFE air intake stock 7.3 with 35in tires,8 inches of lift truck.

While everybody likes saving money - "cheaper" was a trigger word when you are considering modifications to your truck. If money is an issue, you might consider getting the truck ready to modify before you actually do it. The stock tune is engineered for anybody with a foot to drive without a big risk of hurting it. If you unleash the beast within, you can hurt it quite easily and you'll have no idea what you did until you get the bill. Might I suggest you look into gauges first. The pyrometer and transmission temperature are absolutely essential to keep from destroying your truck in a single drive up a steep hill with a load (chip or not). The boost gauge is nice to have because you learn the behavior of the turbo and exhaust leaks (bad for turbodiesels) show up pretty quickly.

I did the whole thing in one hit, plus a new exhaust from the block to the turbo because of exhaust leaks, plus a new transmission. If I had a transmission temperature gauge before I blew it up, I'd probably still be using the other one. If I knew everything wrong with my truck up front, I would have paced myself a bit and I would probably be just getting my chip now.

If I bought my gauges first, I would have prevented crashing my savings account to address surprizes:

I would have fixed the exhaust leak after the gauges told me they were there.
I would still have the other transmission.
I would then chip up and know what a difference it made.

I went DP, and I hear great things about PHP - it sounds like they are on par for customer satisfaction. I went the more expensive route with having a USB port on mine and it has really paid off for me. Remember that new transmission? It's not stock. It took a few rounds to get the tune to deal with a non-stock item in the truck, but it was all handled like this:

I send an email, detailing the problem and the situation under which it occurs.
They email me a fix.
I hook my laptop up to my chip in the truck and program the chip (I have it down to 2 minutes)
I start the truck and away we go for a test drive.

If all else fails, the stock tune is always included in the chip, and I can change tunes on-the-fly with the DP (I don't yet know about PHP). I have 6 tunes. Maybe that sounds excessive, but there is handy stuff in there. Towing? You need a tune for that. Performance while keeping the fuel economy up? That is a different tune than towing. Buying something new to change the behavior of the truck or a new toy to haul? You might need a change to the tune or add a new tune. I can do it in 2 minutes, what can the others do?

Here's my review: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-dp-tuner.html