Well I got the hypertech today and I installed it with 87 octane setting and adjusted for tire size 32.75". I turned the truck on and thought I heard a different noise than usual. So I took it out and it did feel a little snapier driving and I think the speedo was in fact fixed because normally when my speedo is at 40 I can let off the gas and it will shift to OD but this time it didn't, did it more towards 44mph. But,

Holy ping batman.

I did hear the noise even when driving normally not even close to WOT. You know the funny part, this is THE SAME EXACT NOISE I'VE BEEN HEARING SINCE I BOUGHT THE TRUCK. When it went into overdrive, it went crazy doing it, so much I let off and only put on little throttle to prevent the noise. So now. I think I know what my problem with the truck is, engine ping. So what choices do I have besides premium fuel, just spark plugs? How would some autolite 3923's work for me? Would that get rid of ping? If it does you think I'd still be able to use the hypertech w/o ping?

Anyway I bought it cheap on ebay $135 shipped with the anticipation of it not working right and reselling it so I'm not shocked, actually I'm quite happy because it confirmed my engine is pinging after being told it wasn't by my the repair shop.

 

180* tstat supposedly gets rid of pinging.

 

yea but I like my heat in the winter :/

 

That's why the installation instructions for the Hypertech specifically say to install a 180 before you install the programmer. So you have to decide, is performance more important then heat? Sacrifices will need to be made.

 

you'll still have heat in the winter... the 180 t-stat is the way to go. couple of other cheep tricks you can do, 1 his to wrap your fuel rails with insulating tape from thermo tec. this will keep the rails from heat soaking. the other is you can yank your crank sensor and slot the mounting holes so you can manually tweek the timing. what you can do is find the threads that deal with the slotting & slot it the other way so you can retard the timing slightly. this will help with pinging.

now the bigger question is how is your plenum gasket? they are generally responsible for pinging problems...

 

Last time I took off the TB I looked into the plenum but that was after using MCCC so that might have cleaned it out. I should have my fastman in a couple of days so I'll have another chance to look.

With the t-stat, is it a noticable loss of heat? What are good kinds to get and would I be able to install myself?

 

Mine is still warm enough to clear the windshield and keep me comfortable at exterior temps in the single digits. I didn't really think it was that much of a difference. If it is very cold out, my truck runs cooler anyway, regardless of the t-stat I have.

 

Alright if having a 180 t stat is np for you in Colorado, should be fine for me. I'll have to look into brands and installation. I hear just any old one from like napa is fine, don't need to use the hypertech one with the programmer do you?

 

napa has always worked best for me...

 

the other thing to mention is while you swap the t-stat, take time to flush your motor and refill it with distilled water instead of tap with your mix. if you have any blockage in the heater core it'll perform like crap. I never had any heat issues with my 180 t-stat installed...