I bought my first dodge with the cummins, it has 4.10 rears, auto trans, has lots of power, but not the best on fuel. Can someone give me some info on chipping, would it give me better fuel economy and which is best chip, seen some on eebay that claims to give real high mpg and only cost 40.00, and some which has several levels and cost as high as 800$ I am sure the 40$ ones has to be a scam! any help be appreciated, and direct reply to my email be ok, cbgeorge2000 (at yahoo dot com)

 

what kind of milage are you getting, city /highway,i get 13mpg city , and 17.5 to 18 mpg high way

 

I have not driven it enough to get a real good idea, just drove it from where I got it to home, 190 miles and filled it there, and now it is on 3/4 tank, so probably take 10 gal to fill back up, so looks like i getting near 19 mpg (still stock with only K&N filter) but that is interstate driving.

 

loose the K&N air filter those are Okay for gas engines not diesel's
I have one and I heard that they do not stop all the dirt. So i took off my tube to the turbo and they are right it don't stop the dirt. My turbo impeller has dirt on it from the filter not getting all the dirt I had a drop in and just got a K&N system put on It is waist of my money.

 

What type of High flow type filter you found best?

 

As Pizzo said, stay away from K&N on the turbo'd vehicles. They just let too much crap through.

Go with either AFE or S&B.

Do you have a K&N intake kit or just a drop in filter?

 

I am thinking myself a S&B part number CR-4780 only because the K&N cold air KIT that I have the S&B filter will fit right on it. Now if you have a drop in filter. I would get a S&B or a AFE those are good products and are good for diesel engines.
Don't get me wrong K&N makes a great filter for gas engines... I have owned one in every vehicle and install them in my neighbors trucks and clean them for everyone.. But with the Turbo sucking Air through them more then what they was designed to do you are liable to get dirt through the filter...

 

as far as the air filter goes, look into a BHAF. I'm running one on my 01 CTD, and it works great, and is a ton cheaper than any of the aftermarket CAI's out there. As far as the chip goes, there are two main concerns that need to be addressed with your truck before ANY chip goes on. I noticed that you mentioned that you have an auto tranny, which on a 2000 CTD, means it's a 47RE, and also I didn't notice any fuel upgrades in your post. I'll address both of these.
The 1998.5-2002 24v trucks have two fuel pumps. One is your low pressure pump, or LP, that pulls fuel from the tank, and feeds your other pump, which is a high pressure injection pump, your VP44, which fuels the injectors. The problem here is twofold. The VP44 is an electronic pump that lubricates using the fuel flow through it. The problem here is that the OEM LP has proven itself time and time again, even brand new, that it cannot deliver the required amount of fuel to keep the VP lubricated, which in turn burns out the VP44. The LP also burns out, because the fuel demand is higher than it can keep up with and when the LP fails, it WILL take out the VP44 with it.
To correct this issue, you need to upgrade your LP. There are a ton of aftermarket LP's out there, but the only two I would recommend are FASS and Airdog, especially if you're looking at chipping the truck. Don't get the FASS DDRP though, it's no better than a stock LP. The FASS and Airdog pumps run 4-500 dollars, but when you consider that a OEM LP can cost up to 300 dollars, and you will end up having to replace it again, the FASS or Airdog become a better investment. Also, a fuel pressure gauge or warning light at a minimum are a must BEFORE attempting to chip the truck. Most warning lights are set to go off when the fuel hits 5 psi, which in reality is too low. These trucks, to keep the VP44 alive, must maintain no lower than 10 psi of fuel at any given time.
Addressing the next major concern, is your transmission. The auto transmissions in the diesels had two major issues. First, the 47RE tranny was the same one used in the gasser V8 and V10's, so they were not designed to handle the added torque of the diesel. Secondly, because the gas engines operated at much higher RPM's, the transmission valvebodies were designed to function with those higher RPMS. Being that it's a diesel, and operates at lower RPMs, the valvebody can't maintain the correct pressure to push the tranny fluid through the transmission, and in turn burns up the tranny. This is happening with a stock transmission. When you start adding chips and programmers into this mix, you're increasing your torque output, and not increasing your fluid transfer, creating a recipe for disaster with your transmission. In order to handle a chip, at the bare minimum, you have to upgrade the torque converter and valvebody, which can cost up to about 3 grand.
AFTER all of this, it becomes safe to consider chipping the truck, even the small, cheap chips, that claim 65 hp max.
Sorry about the long post, but there's a lot of things with these trucks that need to be considered before modifying them, or even for daily driving, that a lot of people might or might not know.

 

The truck did have the tranny rebuilt with heavier duty upgraded guts, the only thing that is Dodge or "Mopar" of the tranny is the shell! It had the bigger torque converter, the guy told me it a 80 hp better converter. and the LP pump was replaced, but not the OEM dodge one, it is direct from cummins, much better LP pump. It does have the larger exhaust pipe, but the turbo and injectors are stock.

 

Ive been doing some research about tuners extensively and what i came up with is that the smarty jr is the best bang for your buck. heres the linkhttp://www.thoroughbreddiesel.com/mads/smarty.htm