Thread: Any truck owners out there?

Yes, yes I know this an SR2O forum, but I'm hoping some of you might be able assist. First of all, I value the opinions of the members of this forum because we don't blindly accept every new modification out there without real evidence to support the claims. With that in mind, I'd like to ask a question to those of you who own trucks.

Are there any truck programmers, chips, ecu's, etc... that actually work as well as their ads claim? I've searched several truck specific forums, but few if any have actual dyno runs or some other empirical evidence to support their figures. On those other forums it is difficult to wade through the BS and find out the facts.

I've got a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD with the 6.0 liter gas engine. I would like to improve its mpg. I have done a few things already; installed a K&N intake, swapped out heavy steel wheels for aluminum OEM units. I plan to install headers and exhaust later. So far, my modifications have resulted in an improvement of 2-2.5 mpg. Improvements in mpg is one claim of ecu modders. True or just more BS?

TIA,

I dont own a truck but i work on trucks and RV's for a living.

Headers and getting the cats off it is a must

Electric fans can make a good improvement also from what i have heard

As fars as a programer goes the only one i have installed is banks

You also have the option of using HP tuners that is an open source program.

You just have to remember all trucks are tuned from the factory conservatively for reliability. So there is room to improve it by leaning it out a little and a small timing advance. So if you do go open source make sure they truck gets on a dyno with a wide band

Check out bullydog.I have the cheaper "power pup" now in my 05 frontier,and the mileage and performance is noticeably better,even with the 87 oct. tune.
This programmer allows you to raise the rev limiter ,firm up and change shift points with the automatic,and has better fuel maps with advanced timing.
My frontier had a WOT limiter from the factory that didnt let you get 100 throttle when accellerating from a stop.(supposedly to help save the tranny)
This was removed by the bully dog,so now if I nail it from a stop with the traction control off it will launch like a rocket.That was the best feature of the programmer in my case.
I dont have any before and after dynos,but I do have an onboard computer that is showing 1.5-2 mpg better fuel economy since the install.

I plan to upgrade to the top of the line bully dog GT
Triple Dog GT Gas Gauge/Tuner
soon after seeing how good the basic one works.
Only one program is put into the ecu with the power pup and then the programmer is removed.....but the GT has 3 different tunes at the touch of a button,as well as realtime monitoring of the engine,temp,etc. So the programmer and screen stay in the truck for you to tune,or change the tunes from power,to economy,or tow mode.
It also has a gmeter for 0-60,1/4 mile times,HP/Torque measurements for tuning,etc.
And then theres the "driving trainer" that helps you get better fuel economy by monitoring and changing your driving habit...pretty cool and intuitive.

Thanks byronchrisp05. I'm researching that option too.



Thanks eggman. BullyDog's tuners seem promising, but I hadn't read any credible reviews until now.

I have an 07 tundra with the big v8...on its best days it gets about 14-16 mpg. my solution to this problem...a virgin b15 se ..34 mpg ftw lol tundra now spends most of its days sitting unless im using it to tow the classic or in bad weather.

A good friend of mine had a Superchip fuel economy program loaded onto his 5.3L 1500. It would ping under heavy acceleration, the shift points were very early, and the shifts very long/soft. Eventually it caused his transmission to fail. I ended up installing a reman 4L60E from the dealer and putting the stock program back in.

Thanks for heads-up about the Superchip programer.