Ok so 2 weeks ago I just bought a 1997 f250 4x4 CCSB 7.3 with 185k on it. It's the first diesel I've owned myself. It came with a superchip 1705 programmer. I was messing with it this evening and needless to say the piece of $#!t almost caused me really bad problems (error code 127.) But I got everything straightened out and back to normal. After this I'm wanting to get away from the superchip and get a different programmer or chip that won't cause me problems. I don't have a ton of money to spend on one right now so I kinda need something a little on the cheapside but will get the job done and won't cause me problems like the superchip did. Any recommendations?

 

How did you make the Superchips mad? They are not the best tunes but are pretty safe. TS canned tunes are pretty cheap and work pretty well. Custom tunes are the best option but are more pricey. Do you have a budget for tunes?

 

I'm not really sure what I did or didn't do. I plugged it in to change the tune from tow-safe to hi-per just to see if it made any difference in how it drives and it about didn't reinstall the stock program after it failed to install the hi-per tune. It took about 30 minuets to an hour to correct its self. Made me think I fried the ECM So as you can imagine I'm pretty scared of it now. Right now because I just bought the the pickup I am on little bit of a budget until I get a little cushion built back up in my bank account.

 

if i were you, i would wait until i could afford a chip with shift on the fly capabilities and get custom tunes from one of the better tuners out there.

 

that's what I may end up doing as much as I want a chip or programmer for it right now. I'm definitely going to get custom tunes when I can afford them because I've heard to many horror stories about the generic canned tunes ruining engines.

 

If you're patient you can get a TS chip with the canned tunes you need for your truck for about $150. I went this route and ran it for a while and it works well. However, I wouldn't really pay more than that for one because...

For around $325 you can get a Hydra from PHP and dump any tuner's tunes into it from your laptop. It comes with free tunes from PHP and after running them for a while in my truck I am really impressed with them. They're head and shoulders better than the TS tunes and when I install my injectors in a couple days, I can hook up the laptop and dump those tunes into it and run them. It's the best bang for the buck in my opinion.

 

let me ask you this; would it hurt to go ahead and buy, say just for an example an edge evolution to use the gauges to monitor things that the stock in-dash gauges don't monitor?

if I was to get a hydra where and who could i get custom tunes from?

 

I wouldn't touch a Edge Product for these trucks -- not with a ten foot pole. There have been too many documented cases where those "programmers" have fried the PCM. For live monitoring, I use (and would recommend) Torque Pro. It's an Android app that communicates via a bluetooth dongle plugged into the OBD port. It works really well, offers all kinds of custom PIDs to read all sorts of things and you can use it on just about any vehicle with an OBD port. You'll have maybe $30 in getting started if you have a phone or tablet to run it on. App is $5-10 for the full (Pro) version, and the BT dongle will set you back about $25. It works really well. If you search the forum for "torque app" you should see several threads discussing what can be done with it.

I would recommend either buying the Hydra directly from PHP (Power Hungry Performance) unless you need custom tunes. Here's a link to the site. The chip comes with the tunes you need for a stock truck and once you connect the chip to your laptop, you can access all of their tunes through the web. It really is pretty slick. I'm working on a YT video that will kind of review the chip. It's slick!

For custom tunes you can work with a bunch of different people, but PHP or Andrew Arthur would be my suggestions.

Edit: I guess their price is $350, but it's still a great value. I'm not sure what Andrew's price would be if you get it from him but don't order custom tunes at the same time. I think he gives a little price break on the chip if you buy it with custom tunes at at the same time.

 

i will second the edge comment. of course there is one person here that thinks they are the best thing since buttered bread, but not very many people put much stock in his opinion.

 

Who is Andrew Arthur? I would need a e-mail address please. I thinking of a hydra & a new chip system. Friskyjake

 

PM Sent...

 

lots of good info! I'll stay far away for anything EDGE related and save up for a hydra from php then I'll probably just do what you said for live monitoring and get the app and Bluetooth tongle.

 

Hijack / piggyback question - for those who have been running Hydra with their tunes, do the "Daily Driver" tunes help with fuel economy, esp. on a manual truck?

 

I can't answer that one. ^^ Too busy pedaling and listening to the whistle to have checked the fuel mileage yet.

 

I would also like to know this since my powerstroke has a ZF5 in it