Hey all...

This is an ongoing thread that will review my SCT tuner.
The reason I bought this tuner is to see if I could increase my gas mileage on my ram. I already knew about the power gains others have reported with the tuner Hemifever sets up. But I challenged Sean to build me the ultimate "89 octane" can tune that would give me a boost for towing and a mileage boost while running 87 octane gas.

For the last 3 tanks of gas I have recorded miles driven/gas burned so I could get a mileage baseline. My truck is driven in mostly commute situations but under a variety of speeds ranging fom 30 to 65 mph. In a 10 mile one way trip I may stop as many as 9 times. Low end acceleration is important and my truck lacks this. I also need highway power to keep up with traffic patterns.
My truck is also ran on weekends as my toy. I attend functions for another very active local forum This involves highway and freeway speeds.

BTW, this is meant to be a simple real world test. No ultimate horsepower dyno runs, no trips to the strip. What I want to find is...do tuners really help mileage. or is "the potential for mileage gains" many manuactuers state just a buzz phrase.

So lets start. I've recorded the last 3 tanks of gas I purchased from my local QT. Plain jane 87 octane with a hint of ethanol. There is non ethanol gas availible, but simple math based on mileage claims others state shows there is no cost benefit to running it. In other words you save 2 cents per gallon burned but spend .20 to do so.

So after 3 tanks, my average mpg is 10.45, or 10.5. No onboard computer reading, juts plain old division.

This morning I installed the 89 octane tune from my SCT. Nothing could have been simpler! I decided to get the "wild hairs" off my butt and take it for a spin on a test circle which closely imitates my work route.
Now, this tune didn't turn my truck into a tire smoking superbeast. But I immediatly noticed 3 important things.
1> Less effort needed to accelerate from a dead stop. Doesn't squeal tires, but doesn't fall on its face either. Goodbye torque limiting!
2> Truck doesn't hunt for lockup. Goes into OD at 40 mph. Slight rpm increase (mileage loss?) but if the advance and fuel were leaned up by the tune mileage potential increase.
3> No pinging.

I will continue to report on the mileage, and yes, I will try the 93 tune for giggles...but not for a while.

 

I hate 87 tune , the power from 91 gets me better milage and more power . I still have to lay my foot with the 87 .

 

Thats the reason I didn't bother with(87 tune) it. I'd read a lot of threads on this tuner and was really on the fence with it for a long time.
I also exchanged several e mails with Sean over his tunes and he promised me he'd put an "ultimate 89 tune" in for me. It's even listed as an 89 tune on my tuner.
So far I've driven the truck about another 50 miles today and into a stiff Northern breeze. Before my truck would've lagged big time against the wind. I had no trouble maintaining 65 mph or more without constant downshifting. There used to be flatspot about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle....that is gone.

My truck is more fun to drive again. I can't wait to save my pennies for a gear change.

 

Dude, that's awesome. I'm going to try the same thing on my truck, I need a little more power for highways. What engine do you have?

 

It's a 5.9 V-8. Silly of me, I thought everyone knew that...but it's not listed anywhere.
My bad!

 

Gah, now I'm mad....I have been searching for hours looking for someone that said that diablo made a tune for the 2002 dodge ram 1500 4.7. It looks like they only started doing my engine for 2005-2010 (later 3rd gen). Do you know if this tune will work?

 

2nd Gen rams never had a 4.7 in 'em.

If you are looking for a diablo tuner for your truck, call diablo and ask if they make one for your truck...

 

I don't know, but Hemifever (Sean) also sells the Diablo.

http://www.hemifevertuning.com/Default.asp

 

2002 was the first year for 3rd gen 1500's, and also the first for the 4.7. I'm talking about the 2nd gen of the 3rd gens, where there was a body change and a computer change and such.

 

Never mind.