Been reading about the Thornton performance chip for my 1997 Ram 1500 with 5.2 engine. They claim a 60 horsepower gain, and 5 mpg better gas mileage. Have any of you had any experience with this chip?

 

Sounds like snake oil. I'd be very surprised if it can meet the claims they make in the web advertisements.

 

I was thinking the same, but figured someone here may have tried one.

 

If its the feller that just plugs into the OBDII port, and supposedly 'remaps' your PCM, that is snake oil. It has some nifty bells and whistles, but, 60 hp and 5mpg? Nope. Not happening. If you notice ANY difference, I would be stunned.

 

If you happen to call them to ask specific questions about their device, here are a few questions I'd have:

1. Are you required to use premium fuel to attain the added horsepower and fuel mileage?
2. How exactly does this device interact with the JTEC programming that Dodge uses in their PCMs on the 2nd generation Dodge trucks?
3. Do you have any dyno results that you can share that shows what RPMs the added 60 horsepower shows up when using your device?

 

These blinky light "tuners" have been around for a long time. https://www.performancechipguide.com...view-teardown/ Buy some gas instead

 

Thanks for the help and info. Glad I found out these chips are a scam. Is there anything computer, or electronic tuning that work with these 2nd gen trucks that make much of a performance difference? My truck has Flowmaster exhaust, and a K&N filter, otherwise it is stock with 165,000 miles.

 

Depends on what year your truck is. 95 and old, nope, not much you can do anymore. 96 and up, several companies make tuners for the trucks. You can even buy software to let you do your own tuning.

 

It’s a 1997.

 

This guy several years ago added one or two pieces at a time to a small Magnum 1500 4x4 and dyno'd the results.
Show me anyone else that has done the same, I'll read it. Everything else is just parrots and opinions. Very little data.
https://www.*********.com/threads/lets-dyno-this-truck.464674/