When I get on it, things are happening so fast that I can barely watch one or two gauges out of the corner of my eye with the road the center of focus. I know more about my rig at sane operation than I do in gofastbeloud mode.

 

Ok, I've been sitting on the bench, just watching from the sidelines for years. Our '01 Excursion has served us well for over a dozen years and now has 330k on her. Years ago I gave her more air to breath (AFE Stage 2) and bigger lungs to get the air back out (4" exhaust). But we've not done any other performance mods. Until now. I've decided to add a Hydra programmer to this stock 7.3 (w/ air & exhaust only). That decision means I should add a few gauges also. We've got 3 tablets, so Tugly's tablet setup has my attention. I'd like to know the details involved (Android or Apple, gauge applications, OBDII cable, etc.), and limitations of such a setup. We aren't interested in spinning tires or blowing smoke. So the programmer is simply to improve an already great truck/engine. We tow a 5,000-7,000 lb trailer more than 80% of the time, and are hoping to get better shift points and MPG with the Hydra. I don't know why I've waited so long to do something like this. But now that we've got her broke-in really good, we're going to give her an energy drink. Any constructive comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Especially info regarding gauges and tablets.

 

Almost forgot - have you considered an Aeroforce Scangauge? Not only does it read PID's from your OBDII port, it will also read & clear trouble codes & run an injector buzz test. Many folks have them & love them.

Here are a couple of links:

Aeroforce Technology Inc | Products - Interceptor

Terminator Engineering Aeroforce Scanguage




SilentlySoaring - The tablet is a great option but for the shifts I would strongly consider a shift kit or valve body for your transmission. I was always told it was better for the transmission to have the shifts adjusted this way instead of increasing the line pressure from tuning.

Sounds like you've got a great Excursion there - you will definitely enjoy towing with some Hydra tunes.

 

SilentlySoaring - welcome to this wing of FTE, let me know if you need to borrow my straight jacket.

OBDII adapters - not to be trifled with. There are a gazillion clones available from our friends in the far East for a pittance of a price. Break out the dice every time you go to use one of these or alter how you use it. Then, there are the OBDII adapters that work on all vehicles, devices, and apps that use a generic adapter. A proper universal OBDII adapter will clear the Buck$Zooka of a round (about $100), so leave the Quarter Caliber in your pocket.

Operating systems - OBDII Bluetooth is universal with everything except iOS. If you want one adapter that will work with everything, the OBDLink MX WiFi is one that I would select. That's not to say there aren't other good products out there, but these guys back their product and my BT version of this has performed very reliably across a wide spectrum of efforts to confound it. The only drawback to WiFi is a slight data lag - but that should have no impact on anybody not on the track.

Apps - I've tried a number of apps with mixed results, but Torque Pro on Android is my favorite. It's cumbersome to program at first - because you have so many options. Once it's set up, it is the most powerful and convenient app I have on the tablet. Unfortunately for iOS owners, BT is not the only thing unavailable - the same goes for Torque Pro. Dash Command is the one pushed for the fruit-flavored portable devices - but it has no IPR available (when last I checked). IPR is a crucial PID for troubleshooting and monitoring an aging 7.3L. My information on iOS capabilities is a little dated, because I gave up trying - but I shared the concerns I have so that others might find a solution. Car Gauge Pro is the most powerful I've found so far, but the user interface is dismal and I put Stinky in a bad mode that had to be cleared with my AutoEnginuity. Car Gauge Pro might have cleared the problem, but I already gave the app a shot with undesirable results - and I wasn't about to give it another.

Torque Pro on Nexus 7 (2013) with Android KitKat, linked through OBDLink MX BT:

 

Looks like the other guys have you covered...

Whose tunes are you considering for your Hydra?

I was in a truck recently that had a Hydra with Gearhead tunes. The truck shifted very smoothly and firmly, I saw no smoke, and ran very quietly and EGT's were very low whilst towing about 8k up a 6* grade for three miles.

 

white Buffalo, thanks for sharing the link but the only think that the aeroforce does different from my edge digital gauge is it can run the injector buzz test, but doesn't have capability for a pyro ( that i noticed, could be wrong). I'm currently on a budget thanks to college tuition.

 

Gentlefolk,
Thank you all (I didn't want to list each of you) for your comments and suggestions. I already had a short list of items to be ordered from Riffraff (FRx, socket, HPx, and AIH delete) before I made my post a few days ago. Your input caused me to consider several more things. I've decided to keep our iPad Mini in the balloon and use our 7" Samsung for gauges (and other things) in the truck. So I downloaded Torque Pro and am looking for a good deal on an OBDlink MX WiFi. (I chose this because wifi does have a faster data transfer rate than Bluetooth.) And I've done a lot more research. I'm still going to order the PHP Hydra, and will probably just stick with their tunes. As stated before, we tow often and all over the country. seldom more than 5-7,000 lbs. So I'll only get a handful of their tunes, but not anything greater than 80 HP. I'll likely get all flavors of each of the HP offerings, a valet tune, and a few of the others. Of course, I'll need to add 2 or 3 gauges for EGT and Fuel Pressure, and may add a Boost gauge (even though it is one of the Torque Pro offerings). Lastly, I've decided to replace my vacuum actuator and get a Turbo-Master Wastegate Controller. At this point, I don't think I'm doing anything that would cause me to fear damaging an already good platform. I hope these things will only improve what we've got and help me to keep a better eye on her as we put another 300,000 miles on the rolling dials.
Thanks again for your insight and contributions for all of us.

 

This is a very common side affect of PMS (Powerstroke Mod Syndrome)