So long time lurker, but I now own 2 excursions with the mighty 7.3 So hopefully you'll forgive my lack of posting, I've been trying to ingest the knowledge from this site

Mine: 2000 Limited, 7.3 230k miles. Mods are 6637 intake and TS6 chip
Hers: 2002 Limited (no boundaries edition), 7.3 310k miles. Current mods are 6637 and Hydra chip. Mods in the garage waiting for warmer weather are WW2, non-epbv pedestal, high flow outlet, 4" diamond eye exhaust, tri-gauge cluster (boost, pyro, trans temp), new fuel lines, some other small things.

So right now, our trucks are pretty much apples to apples for a comparison and my TS6 kicks the hell out of the Hydra tune. I have my TS6 set on the 75hp tune and the Hydra is on the 80hp daily driver. I can drive my truck in normal traffic only using about 25% throttle. Hers needs 50-60% to just get moving and I find myself being more aggressive with hers because it just won't get out of the way.

Have any of you experienced this type of thing before? I'm going to try swapping the chips out (PITA ) tomorrow to see if it is the chips or if there is something else going on with her Ex. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the discussion and hopefully someone can help me figure out what's going on.

 

My ts chip definitely performed much better than my edge cts tunes did. But they were both equipped with standard tunes. The extreme mode on the edge was better than the extreme on the ts.

 

So who's tunes are you running?

If your running what comes out of the box, you may be a little disappointed.

PHP, Tony Wildman, and Gearhead Automotive Performance can write some awesome tunes for you and the Hydra.

 

I'm using the php tunes I got from their online database. Not sure if I need a custom one or not but it's surely different than the ts is.

 

Your codes were compatible with your PCM code correct?

Don't discount the tunes just yet, it's entirely possible there's another underlying issue afoot and that's the source of the troubles. A weaker HPOP for example won't keep up with higher oil demands that a chip wants.

Something else to consider is some tuners tweak the pedal input, so what used to be 1/4 throttle is now read by the PCM as 1/3, etc. When I swapped from DPTuner to Gearhead, I immediately noticed a less-responsive throttle on initial tip in. However it ran better literally everywhere else, with more power that was also smoother in delivery. All I did was email Larz and ask for a tweak to the pedal. A day later, new tunes arrived via email and the throttle response was way better while maintaining excellent characteristics from normal to 'Krazee' driving

 

Yeah I think I'm going to email php and see what they can do. But I still think I'm going to swap out the ts6 and just see how it goes. If it's still slow and lacks power, then I'll look for another underlying issue. But since I have the ability to change it out, might as well try to rule that out.

 

Free troubleshooting is always good!

Just verify PCM codes prior to swapping chips, if they're different it won't do you much good. Excursions came with EBM1, EBM2, and I believe AXD1 and AXD2.

You may know some of this already, but I don't know what you know since you're new to our group of misfits. You know?

 

So it turns out I can't do this swap after all

My 2000 has a ECM code of AXD0 and my 2002 is NQW4.

 

Does this install same as a chip? If it does I would double check the connection, make sure its making good contact.