Hey guys, so I got my chip back from Gearhead and got it all installed. I was pretty excited because I hear nothing but good things. So, here is my experience.

Start the truck and I immediately notice it's very quiet...almost too quiet. The engine sounds like a common rail Cummins! I am thinking maybe I messed up and it's in Stealth mode, but I don't have a stealth mode. All of my numbers look good as far as parameters, so I go for a test drive. It has PLENTY of power and runs great going down the road, but when idling, it's TERRIBLE. It idles like it constantly cannot find itself. In high idle, it's exaggerated. It's like "baba--purrrr--ba---purr--ba-ba-ba-baaaaa----purrrrrrr" Not sure if that makes sense. I guess my question to anyone in the know...is this normal? You see, more than power, I want longevity and this did not feel like it was good for the motor at all. I have read that if anyone can get a 7.3 idling like a baby's butt, GH can and that isn't the case here. The other thing is that when I get off the throttle when coming to a stoplight, it runs pretty rough and lopes until it finds harmony again. It has never done that. It sort of smooths out, but it's not nice when you first put the clutch in.

I don't think I have time to send it back and get it back before our big trip next week. I pulled it and the truck was immediately back to idling like new.

SOoooooooo, anyone know if this is just GH tuning? Should I send it back or just sell it for cheap to someone else who doesn't care about idling characteristics? Thanks guys. oh, here were the numbers after it was up to operating temp:

IPW--1.5-2.0
IPR--13% and 65% at WOT
ICP--585 idle and 2800ish at WOT

 

Does it behave the same in all forward motion tunes? Not sure what you got from GH, but normally there is a tow/daily, heavy tow, street muscle, etc...

Is it possible to take a video with your phone and post it here and send it to GH?

 

Yeah, I should have done a video. I already pulled the chip but I can redo it. My tunes are:

1) heavy tow
2) high idle
3) tow/economy
4) street muscle
5) street fury
6) all out

It does behave exactly the same in all tunes. I tried them all. Talk about power! But yeah, idle and decel manners are very odd and rough.

 

Also, I am not questioning your ability to clean the PCM contacts, but are you sure you cleaned them well enough and are you sure you didn't clean them too much?

By this I mean are they cleaned enough so that the protective coating is completely gone? I used a toothpick and a magnifying glass to clean mine, took a while.

Second, are you sure you didn't remove too much material off the contacts? Some people get a bit too aggressive with their scrubbing and have to get the contacts retinned.

 

I am pretty sure the contacts are good. When I talked to Bryan, he said copper showing is good and that it wouldn't even start if contacts were not good. So, I guess they are good? I was pretty careful not to get too aggressive. High idle also works which tells me the chip is working.

 

Anyone else? I was told to talk to Matt.

 

Sunday is usually a bit slow until later in the afternoon on the FTE. Matt is difficult to get in touch with, but I am confident GH will help you get it sorted out.

 

I would attempt to talk directly to Matt.

If you should happen to get Kenton, simply ask to speak to someone else. He seems less knowledgeable and is slow to follow up.

Also, ask Matt if he has preserved copies of "HIS" original tunes that "HE" specifically wrote for your configuration that no one else has modified. When troubleshooting, I have noticed that some tunes for the exact same setup are remarkably different when switching chips from truck to truck with the same PCM calibration.

 

I'll definitely do this. I am calling them tomorrow. Hopefully he'll get on the phone. I am a little frustrated that it would be wonky the first go around. I always had the impression they were the genius about tuning the 7.3

 

They are about as close as you can get to "genius" in the commercial world of tuning. Also, Lars has been helpful in the past if you can't get Matt.

Having stated that, my impression is that Matt wrote the original tunes, obviously, and then one of his employees has later modified/edited his tuning to address a specific need for a customer. This NOW modified/edited tune then gets "saved" to be used again as a contiguous line of progression while attempting to solve the issue at hand on that specific engine or for the next customer that comes along with a similar setup. I think this is a perfectly normal and acceptable practice.

However, if this same "saved" tune is mistakenly used again by another employee for a different customer and then it gets modified yet again to address a specific need for this customers' truck and it is saved yet again...well you get the picture. You are then many steps removed from the original tune.

The question is: How and/or are they differentiating between the file names for the now modified tunes. I am certain that they ARE. I just wonder how meticulous each employee is in keeping everything organized.

I have about fifteen different sets of tunes for everything from stock split shots all the way to what I run currently. If I hadn't been very specific with the naming conventions when downloading them to file folders, I would be completely lost at this time.

Now think about all of the different combinations for hardware vs capacity vs nozzle size vs PCM calibration(200+) at the vendor level and now add subsequent modifications. A person could easily become confused very quickly.

Let us know how things turn out. You are not the first to have issues with GH tuning. Proactively keeping Matt informed of issues when they arise is key to helping maintain customer care and quality assurance.

_

 

Hi Byron, hope your trip goes well. The numbers are interesting as as a disclaimer I'm no expert on Chips, so disregard most of this, lol. But we basically have the same E99 so on my stock truck ..

Took truck out to store today and back at home I pulled these numbers, stock of course, no chip. My EOT was only up to 120 when scanned though. And at idle ...

IPW -- 2.2 (maybe why yours was not as noisy?, interesting)
IPR -- 10.5 %
ICP -- 562 (varies a bit)
RPM -- 680 (varies a bit)

 

Thanks Jim and jhl....I talked to Garret. Matt is not there during the week...not sure what that's all about. He asked for operating temp numbers and i sent them to him. When it's cold, it's just OK. It is smooth, but WAY to quiet and sounds too much like a 6.7 Cummins. I hate it. It starts missing ans skipping when it's warm.

Jim, those numbers are close to mine. My IPW is 1.5-2.0 which is supposed to be good from what I have read. He asked me for "Mass Fuel Desired". My Edge does not see that parameter. I didn't even know that was available form our PCMs.

Garret said whatever we need to do to get this right and back to me by Friday will happen. Hopefully we can get it taken care of. If not, not a huge deal. The truck has great power and runs great stock. I'll just deal with it while pulling my trailer.

I'll report back tomorrow.

 

I have the same exact problem and have not been able to resolve it. GH sent me updated files to no avail until i gave up. Around town where there is a lot of stop and go traffic i run on Swamps Tunes then when i hit the freeways i switch to GH tunes.... It is somewhat annoying.!!

My numbers are similar, but my ICP at idle is at the 480 range. And my idle RPM is 760-780. This is also annoying as the truck wants to creep forwards every time you are at a red light.

I wish i was closer to GH for a live tuning session because in all honesty there is a lot more power from their tunes and the truck is a lot more fun to drive. Its just the idling that sucks.....

 

I had the same problem with GH tunes in my truck. Truck was loud idled like ****, called them to retune and ran worse. After so many attempts they basically told me there's nothing they could do for me so I just took the chip out.

Now one I have this chip sitting there after 500 bucks with nothing and stage 2 injectors.

 

I have been on the fence about ordering a DD tune and Tow tune from Gear Head. Everytime I call, I get someone who doesnt know what they are talking about and last time I called they said Matt does not write tunes anymore for the 7.3. Threads like this make me wonder if its worth it or not....