hello everyone. i am curious to know what kind of chips/programmers that people have used and any success stories or bad issues you have had with them. i have a 99 3.9 2wd and am thinking of upgrading the ecu. any input? thanks in advance!

chris

 

Well ive been researching a long time about chips and programmers for my truck. I have a 5.9L with some major mods. I found out that chips can be good for minor mods like exhuast and intake and things like that, but if you have it camed injected or anything like that programmers are the way to go, they give you more options then chips. Also chips might not be able to tell what you got in the engine. and that might end up with pinging.. and you dont want that.

I recently got a hypertech III programmer and it was very EASY and took about 5 min to do. I would say it added about 17hp and about 21torque, but thats from the deadunit i have in my car and i dont know how "right" that thing is.. so meh. they say it useally avgs about 15-20hp 20-25torque.. or even more, depends on your truck.

Another thing is that chips are great if you reset your battery alot chips never have to be reprogramed, where as programmers do. but programmers are great if you like messing with your truck.

but its up to you. chips you useally have to replace the thermostat, programmers you dont unless you do heavy comp mods.

i found some stage 1 and stage 2 chips on ebay for around 250 or so and programmers for 300, but if you get the thremo also the chip comes out to about the same price, and if you get a programmer you can use it on other cars and charge people maybe 50 bucks to do it.. then you make some money, chips can only be used in your car or you can resell it but then you dont have a chip.

 

I started with a Jet chip stage one which gave noticeable improvement in low end torque and HP. However, I wanted to be able to recalibrate the speedometer for larger tires, plus I wanted to change the RPM and speed limiters. Superchips tuner was my choice and I have been really pleased. You can program several performance levels from running on reqular gas to 92-93 octane. Another plus with the programmer is that it will read and clear OBD codes as well!

 

Hey all new to the site and was really interested in the topic discussed here. I have recently purchased the Bully Dog Triple downloader. I was wondering about your opinions on these modules. Apparently I can get as much as 120Hp and 200Ftlb increases. Anyone actually used one or know someone who has? I know each person will experience different gains, but it just seems to me that this is the way to go versus a chip.

 

I have a feeling that that bully dog programmer is for a diesel. I have never ever heard of a programmer that has that kind of gains for a gas engine.

 

You are correct the Bully Dog is for Diesel trucks, they have them here.

http://www.truckaddons.com/Catalog/s...downloader.htm

 

Turbo... that's the key.


VW 1.8t stock = ~180hp/175lb-ft
APR tuned 1.8t = ~210hp/240lb-ft

And that's out of a 1.8 liter gas 4-banger.

 

I had a jet chip for my 3.9 auto but I used 87 octane so i didnt see to much of a difference

 

Yes it is a diesle...sorry if i did not mention that...i cant wait to see the super gains im gonna get

 

You got a Ram? We don't have diesels in here.