So who has the BEST tuner for the 99-03 7.3 and what makes it the best? What was your before and after mpg and what's your driving style... Please include any pertinent mods affecting your overall mpg neg or pos... I currently have a superchips cortex tuner that I'm just not happy with... I'm running a 6" lift on 35x12.5x20 and I'm getting a measly 8.7 mpg which did go up to 9.4 with water meth injection on the snow performance mpg max kit... The superchips cortex 1950 performance tune installed... 2003 X... Let me know what u all got going on

 

The best advice will come from those who have used more than one tuner - this experience allows them to know what is different about the tuners. Tuning these engines/transmissions is much more complicated than any gas engine.

I like my current tuning because I get basically ZERO smoke in any of my tunes, it is nearly impossible to get EGT's into the red, I have LOTS of power and acceptable MPG. ICP remains high and stable and IPR Duty Cycle stays below 40%. The engine is smooth and quiet.

Each of those parameters were sub-par with my original chip/hardware.

 

i had a hypertech on my truck when i first got it, it was ok but i wanted more . then i went to the edge evo because i liked the display. did not like the way it made the trans shift at all. not sure of mileage on either of those. i sold the edge and rode stock for awhile and got 17.6. with my dp on 80e im up to 21.8mpg.

i do not drive hard or fast. i set my cruise on 65 on i10 and drove 330 miles. refilled and checked. wasnt believing my numbers so when i came back i checked again. 21.8. no load just me and the kids and our bags

 

I've always been an SCT man myself, but I ALWAYS do custom tunes, never run the canned tunes. For customs I've always gone with Eric at Innovative and he's always treated me good and his tunes are always top notch.

My current setup is 160cc sticks, Adrenaline HPOP, 38r turbo, 4" Turbo back exhaust and a banks air intake setup. The truck pulls like an animal and gets very acceptable MPG as long as I can keep my foot out of the go go pedal.

 

You can see what I have in my signature. Mileage didn't change at all when I tuned it I just got a lot more power. To get that kind of mileage you have something going on with your truck assuming that's not pulling anything.
Tell us more about your truck and I bet we can get the real story of why your getting that kind of mileage.... Like your speedo not being calibrated....

 

What he said. Until you've run more than one, you'll never know what else is out there.

 

I bought the truck from my neighbor who was a veterinarian, It had 300,000 miles on it when i got it, it wouldnt start because the injectors were bad, I installed stage 1 Black Cloud injectors in it cause im just not a stock kind of guy and i knew one day id be pushing the truck a little, I have installed a banks Big Hoss Ram air intake, and like i said i have a Superchips Cortex tuner with the performance tune installed, i also have used the tuner to calibrate for the 35x12.50x20 toyo open country Mud Terrain tires on the 20x12 massi hulk rims. I recently installed a Snow Performance MPG Max water/meth kit from which i almost have been getting another 1mpg with. I also have installed a coolant filtration system from dieselsite along with new water pump and Delo ELC coolant. I also am running a Fitch fuel catalyst system installed. Up front i have F350 snow plow x code springs with 2 inch hangers and a Ranch Hand Legend bumper with extended shackles and extended sway bar links to the Dana 60 front axle, out back I have Moded B code springs with 4 inch F350 blocks and aftermarket rear sway bar. I am getting ready to install a banks turbo back exhaust, wicked wheel 2 (that i am beta testing for diesel site) all new riff raff boots, rebuilding the HPOP and fuel bowl just preventatively and also doing the EGR delete mod, along with a transmission filter kit from dieselsite.

 

I've run more than one tuner and about... uh... 30 to 35 customized tunes and variations of those tunes (I lost track long ago). I was a DP die-hard until I tried another tuner... now I have a DP F6 sitting in a box by my computer and a TS chip in my truck. I made the change when I went to custom injectors.

Wanna buy a used DP F6?

 

So you are running Black cloud stage 1's although they aren't listed on their site, since they are selling Swamps injectors are these 175/146's or AC code 160/0's or something else? Just curious as you might be running single shots on split tuning.

Why not try swamps tuning, since that's what the injectors are....

As to your original question though. The BEST tuner is the one that makes you satisfied in the end. It's a very subjective question, and each person(owner and tuner) and motor are different. I've ran a few, and honestly was satisfied with all of them at the time I ran them, when I tried another tuner(the person) I was even more satisfied, and yet again with my latest, I am more satisfied. For me, it's having someone relatively local that I like. But I still consider trying tuning for myself as well, to continually tweak and experiment.

I agree, even for having a big truck and a bigger lift, your MPG's seem low, as though something else may be contributing.

 

It looks like you have the budget... I think the absolute best investment I made was the AutoEnginuity with the Ford bundle from Riffraff Diesel. I found a whole host of problems with my truck and fixed them all. I sneak up on 20 MPG on long hauls at 65 MPH. I'm not saying a lifted truck will match that, but you can do a lot better.

 

I believe the injectors i installed are stage ones that are no longer listed on black clouds site, they are split shot injectors that are above stock but below the single shot injectors which require a tuner to run from swamps. I think i may contact swamps and see what they have to say. Keep your ideas coming as to what you use and recommend and why. Thanks
Rick

 

Is that superchips tune tailored for the injectors you installed in the truck? If not then there's your whole problem. That explains the low fuel mileage right there.

Get yourself some custom tunes, whether you go DP or any other route, you need tunes specifically tailored to your mods.

Oh and one other thing, I saw you mention an EGR delete.... 7.3's don't have EGR's so do you mean something else?

 

Ok, so maybe stock AD's with a larger nozzle? Like a split stage 2... Still I would like to know if they would be used to the fullest without proper tuning adjusted for them.

There are going to be various reasons as to why a tuner is preferred to another. People have different ideas of what they want from a tuner(person). The reason it is called "tuning" is because it is tweaking/tuning various things to get an end result. Some change for fear of "carnage" Some change for noise, some change for customer support.

For your low MPG's possibly leaking up pipes, boost leaks, do you have gauges?

 

Well, I won't get into the tuner conversation. As far as mileage, it's been shown to drop dramatically when the EBP sensor is not reading properly. You can watch the values from a scan tool like AE or you can just take it out and clean it.

 

Yes sorry i mean the crank case ventilation delete where you flip the little box on the valve cover around and attach a drain line to it and run it out under the truck into a catch can instead of recirculating it back into the system