I finally have my 2003 Excursion, 7.3L, ready for a tuner or chip. My local diesel shop recommended the Diablo Predator. I have installed the FTVB, valve body, and according to the instructions, I should run a stock transmission program. I should not run any program or chip that increases line pressure. I am looking for the best economy program and have not made up my mind. What are advantages of chips vs. programmers? What chips or programmers are recommended and which ones are horrible??

thanks

 

A lot of us here have gone from a Predator programmer to A DP Tuner chip by Jody Tipton. There is no comparison, Jody's chip wins hands down. The tuner does have diagnostic capabilities which is nice, I still have mine. With a chip, you can just flip through the tunes, takes several minutes with the tuner. Jody writes his tunes for SCT Xcalibrator 2 if you really wanted a tuner. Jody recommends the BTS valve body, yours is probably fine though.Give him a call, he is a really nice guy, I'm sure he will answer all of your questions.

Bottom line, if you go with a chip go with DP Tuner. The Predator and SCT are pretty good tuners, I'm not familiar with others. I don't know of anyone that has gone from a tuner to chip and went back to a tuner. here is a link to DP Tuner site http://www.dp-tuner.com/. Hope this helps, I'm sure you will get some more opinions. Good luck!