Yeah they don't offer the FU anymore, but still offer the burner by itself I think. Winds up about the same price give or take...

 

Just my .02 for you guys/gals that are in the market for a tuner call the tuners them self and see which one can provide the best tunes for what you do with your truck. Every thread I've seen posted on FTE on "who has the best chip" has turned in to who has the biggest p**** argument and no one every gets a answer. Point blank you WON'T get a answer. Everyone has a tuner that they like and every body else tunes are junk.

Like I said I ran PHP tunes and didn't like them not that I didn't like Bill are his staff theory were great to deal with.

I don't have anything against DP. I wanted a chip that if I wanted to change tuners I could with out buying another chip.

I've heard great things about TW tunes but I don't like the fact that it takes 2-3-4 months to get you chip back

Point is call the tuners cause if you post a thread about chips and get 200 replys you will get 200 different answers

 

And miss out on all the fun?!? I'd rather see Joe redline lol.

And I know what you are saying and agree. However, it can still be very beneficial to get into the conversation. I like to pay attention to a discussion so that I can pick up on things. Not to blindly follow one person or the other, but to understand what it is I'm looking for. What I need to keep in mind while purchasing and running a tuner for the first time.

 

I'm thinking they updated the tunes at some point between when you got yours and I got mine. One of the major differences between my PHP tunes and the DP tunes I had previously was how much less touchy the pedal is compared to the DP. The various tunes don't all shift the same and the one I run most hits OD around 45 mph. It's very tough to get visible-to-me smoke with these tunes, even hammering it.

 

Watching......no chain pulling from any side

 

O.K. Sometimes it's helpful to turn the telescope around.

So, what are the questions we should ask a tuner company about their tunes?

In otherwords, what are the characteristics of a good tune?

What are the characteristics of a bad tune?

For instance, since I drive in the Sierras alot, I know that I don't want a sensitive peddle because I don't want to break the wheels free on snow and ice.

And from reading in this thread, I also know that I don't want smoke.

So, you guys who have already found your personal favorite tune, could you describe its characteristics? You don't even need to name the tuner company. If I know what I am aiming for, then I can probably find the company that can supply it.

 

I want a tune that is linear...

If I push the accelerator 30%, I want 30% of the fuel available...

"Some" tuners like to ramp up the Accl poss, to where at 30% your over 50%... This makes the driver feel like "wow I have lots of power now"...

I want a tune that does everything, just like the stock truck did. I dont want to have 12 or 16 different tunes to do one thing, drive my truck.

I dont want to say anything further...

I drive in one tune, 99% of the time. It does everything I need it to do.

I have run many tuners over the years, there is only one I will never run again, never recommend to anyone. It goes much further then my experience with there tunes, it has to do with the way I was treated when I questioned there tuning.

Honesty goes along way in my book. Lost some good friends, some Internet friends and the love of a hobby over this one very subject.

 

Stock Sticks: My DP 60e had just the right balance of throttle response: Authoritive in daily driving without being "jerky" like the 80e was on a gravel road. Smoke? What's that? The 80e would roll coal if my air filter was due, so that was an inadvertent filter minder that I didn't need to open the hood for (not the best practice). It took me about 20K miles with the AIS before this happened. I used 60e when I was in 4x4 on snow because the stock tune was too doggy with it, but I did switch to Stock tune when I was on ice... I wanted the wheels to be very forgiving of my foot. 60e had absolutely the best fuel economy of every tune in my inventory (17+ Avg city/hwy Winter, 18+ Summer), and a lot of that had to do with how the transmission is tuned on city/neighborhood roads... in addition to the improved atomization. There... I brought up atomization. The only way to improve that with stock sticks in your lower power band (cruising power) is to raise the ICP... which makes more noise. Because I live on a steep hill, I would switch to Stock tune when I was near home to ease up on the noise level. I initially had issues with the firmness of the shifts (non-stock tranny), but the F6 made that a breeze to fix. Email, email, upload... tah daaah.

Stage II Sticks: Reset! The first try made Stinky a little too spry for my taste, but the second round... 60e has excellent manners in the neighborhood and on the open road - no need to switch it for anything but ice. I'm still dialing it for less smoke at WOT because I have my turbo set wrong (oops on my part). I'm going to email Jody with another small adjustment I'd like. That's how it works - my engine and the multiple sensors are 12 years old with 260,000 miles, plus I have my modifcations, so Stinky's not going to react exactly the same as any other truck.

 

I started a successful thread! Woohoo! I'm going with the Minotaur. My father is a mechanical engineer and deals every day with combustion. I'm going to school for mechanical engineering. I feel this is something I can tackle.

 

I think I'm going to break the mold here but here goes.

I've had a lot of bad experiences with plug in chips on previous vehicles, from different vendors, so I'm not trying to say these specific tuners are bad, I'm sure their tunes are awesome for what they do. Anyway I use an SCT on my 7.3 with custom tunes from Eric at innovative. I've always used him for 6.0 tunes for customers and never had a problem, and for me his 7.3 tunes are amazing. My truck never ran this good before I had it tuned by him.

Either way it's all in the tuning itself, nothing to do with the actual medium used, chips and tuners if programmed correctly will yeild results that are just as good.

 

I just switched to the ts tuner several months ago from the edge and the truck runs so much better and drives totally different, way more pop and top end power. i wouldnt wast my money on those box programmers.

 

A TS tuner with whose tunes?

 

Best advice, and I plan on doing that.

But in the meantime, I want to bump this thread to the top, because a lot has changed since it was started. Tugly has changed out his injectors. I am not sure, but I think CSIPSD maybe blew up an engine? JeffreyT destroyed an entire truck. And a lot of brothers have changed/experimented with different tuners and tunes. Some are probably now running tunes for the first time. And a lot of tuners have apparently either changed their tunes or have changed the method by which their tunes are delivered.

So, would you all mind updating this thread with your new knowledge and experience? You may name the tuner if you want to, but no bashing please. But I am not sure that naming a particular tuner is even necessary. Describing your experience with a particular type of tune for your particular type of injectors is likely all that is needed.

IMO, I still like CSIPSD's criteria for a good tune:

"I want a tune that is linear...

If I push the accelerator 30%, I want 30% of the fuel available...

'Some' tuners like to ramp up the Accl poss, to where at 30% your over 50%... This makes the driver feel like 'wow I have lots of power now'...

I want a tune that does everything, just like the stock truck did. I don't want to have 12 or 16 different tunes to do one thing, drive my truck.

I drive in one tune, 99% of the time. It does everything I need it to do."

 

Wow, I've come a long way since this thread was last alive. I don't think I had tunes until slightly after my last post above. I've since joined the world of tuned trucks and will never go back. My knowledge is still minimal on what's going on, but I've picked up just enough to feel comfortable with the new unleashed power. (And yes, I did kill a whole truck back in November, but I'm way ahead on my new one than where I was with Gus).

My current tunes are great, especially the tow tune. I love being able to watch the boost run up to 24 lbs without having to shift down to maintain speed up grade while towing. The shift points are good, but I may get a few tweeks down the road, and I'd love to be live tuned as well.

 

I have a 2000 F-250 7.3 crew cab automatic 4x4. I'd like better mpg without stressing the engine. I know zilch about chips or tuners so please use small words and no acronyms. Also I am new to diesels. Thanks