Cody I'm not worried about it at all since the truck it totaled and long gone now.
My first tuning from PHP was fine with the stock injector and I ran the same tuning on 160/stock but when I changed to the 180/80's is when the smoke issue came into play. The tuning was great other then the smoke. Also keep in mind that I was running 180/80 with the stock turbo.

When I went with Brian's tunes he had to keep turning me back to get the smoke down and stop my turbo from sounding like it was going to fly apart. I could hit 39psi.

 

 

That's funnier than heck Jeff. I'm waiting also, since I decided to see what was up with this, and getting some stuff out of it.

 

Oh, you mean that I'm supposed to respond that I'm STILL running around in the "tow" program in the '02 automatic at work?

Yes, it is THAT good.

However, the 85 HP calibration has some really funky stuff changed in it that causes an intermittent P1211 code even though there are NO injection pressure problems....just some things are changed for some reason or another that cause self-diagnostic issues while driving. The 110 HP and "tow" programs do not have this programming anomaly.

I'll be taking the "tow" program out at the end of the week and going back to my stuff. I just wanted a good amount of "seat-time" before I went making any snap judgments about it.

 

Wow, I didn't expect that. Thanks for taking the time to evaluate it.


Tom, I have to admit, I saw that pic somewhere else for someone waiting for Bill Cohron to finish a post on the Army, or the Nation... Can't remember. But I thought it fitting for Cody in this circumstance.

 

I think the "Tow" calibration in the Diablosport Predator has taken the place of the "Tow Performance" calibration of the old two-tune 1705 programmer as far as being my favorite is concerned.

That is, short of MY OWN stuff.....

 

It is
I wish I had gauges when I had my superchips, but I really didn't notice much with the tow setting. Except surge!
But, the convenience of switching settings on the fly, plus having a couple of options, makes the custom tunes worth it.
Always good to have someone like Cody to spend time with different setups.
And report!

 

Agreed, and I like his new sig too.

 

One of these days I'll get around to transferring what I have to one or two PCM codes and loading them to a Hydra so I can have switch on the fly capability and road test them all back to back with no reflashing required.

I know my personal "stock truck" base offerings work just fine so I don't need to dink with them anymore; which is the way that tunes for a stock truck work in regard to "custom" tunes and their respective vendors unless ACTUAL custom tuning is needed/requested for particular driving situations or truck modifications. That's when "custom tunes" become "custom".

I agree, chips ARE the way to go with our trucks. If we have the capability to use their superior characteristics, why not? Flash programmers are time consuming to use unless you're like me and use one calibration 99% of the time. My reason for doing all of this is to put into perspective WHY it's unfair to constantly bash tuning that very few people actually get to SEE or TRY but yet these people still just bash and badmouth these products simply because somebody else said that "they don't tune transmissions" or "they just add fuel" or "they kill transmissions" or "they're not as good and don't make as much power".

 

What frustrates me is one tuner will attribute an issue I have to my AIS, then another will say no problem. Talking high egt's, low boost while towing at 6-10k ft. For my part,I am probably at the high end of the recommendation for the tow tune I have.
I do realize it's wrong to put too much in what other's say, but it's hard not to when so many sing the same song. Like the whole issue of canned, etc.
And part of my decisions are made on seeing what others have on their trucks. I usually pm someone for how well something works, but I always try to allow for some wiggle room, just in case things aren't as they appear, or as they say.
It is just very hard to really know the correct path.

 

Just curious if it's time to dig into this part of the discussion a little deeper.

My F450 weighs about 11,000 lbs on a normal day and I have found that the 80P setting is better than any of my tow tunes for daily driving. I don't know the difference between 80P and 80DD but I wonder if I would have been better off ordering the DD version instead.

For reasons unknown to me, my three tow tunes are way more fuel thirsty than the modified stock or 80P calibrations. No matter how conservative I am with the throttle, I just can't get reasonable fuel mileage with any of my tow tunes while unloaded. I guess that makes sense though since they were not designed to be used unloaded...

 

Nope, not ready yet. I am trying to devise a way to get into technical information without getting too technical and giving away proprietary information. There WILL be pictures though.

The run-down is that the 80DD will maintain the same boost-based fuel rate as stock and (pardon me for not looking at your signature or keeping track of your transmission type) stock shift points based on your current PCM strategy. The 80P has an ever-so-slightly increased sensitivity to the accelerator pedal position and has a slightly higher boost-based fuel rate. The upshift speeds will be a little higher than stock but the downshift speeds will remain closer to stock than the towing tunes (which also have a higher-than-stock upshift speed compared to stock). The SOI calculations between the performance and tow calibrations, while not identical, are fairly similar.


I couldn't tell you. I wasn't running the 85 horsepower calibration for any reasons other than "just because" (at this point before I give the rundown on the calibrations themselves). Trying to achieve decent fuel economy from a 17,500+lb. brick that burns taxpayer-funded dyed diesel fuel is a lost cause although there have been a couple times I have gotten 11.8 MPG and I've never calculated less than 9.5 MPG (and that's in the winter during extended idle times). Keep in mind that I can't exceed 62 MPH (self-imposed limit via tuning) and I have a 4 wheel drive 6-speed with 4.88 gears and short tires.

 

Thanks! That helps a lot.
Your explanation makes total sense....I don't know if that is a good thing though.

 

Cody, a question. With a flash programmer like diablo or superchips, does every truck, regardless of year or PCM code, get the same calibration? Or does the programmer recognize the PCM code and choose a calibration accordingly?

I've always thought it was the first, but I guess I could be wrong. It's happened once before.

 

They CANNOT physically get the "same calibration" because using a calibration for a E99 manual truck won't work in a 2002 automatic (or manual). The calibrations are made SPECIFICALLY for the particular PCM family of the truck in which the device is being used.

Now, for the SHOCKER.

Oftentimes, the mapping between the calibrations in two different trucks is the same. For example, if a "performance tune" is used in say, an NVK4 PCM, then it's highly probable that the "performance tune" for a VDH5 truck will have the same mapping when using the same device....

but....

It's no different than what any flavor of "custom tuner" you use when dealing with a stock truck. Yeah buddy! So much for the "one-size-fits-all"
logic that has been bandied about for YEARS. However, to think that it's wrong to do so would be an error because when dealing with stock-ish trucks, what works for one, will pretty much work FOR ALL. Of course, the 95-97 trucks are a bit different.