programmer/tuner

BPINAZ · Feb 6, 2015

Nope, i didn't search first so go ahead and fire in.

Ok, for our 20th wedding anniversary, my wife and I didn't do traditional gifts. We both got new vehicles. Fortunately, a good friend of mine is the General Manager at a local Chevy dealership and he did an awesome hook up. Also, the owner of the company authorized us to buy through their friends and family program. Basically, we didn't get a deal, we got a mega-hell-of-a-deal.

I got a 2014, fully loaded with EVERYTHING Silverado LTZ Z71 crew cab with a factory installed Pro Comp 6" and 35's.

I know absolutely nothing about programmers. I get awesome mileage and performance out of it, but i read where programmers can improve performance and gas mileage. I've only read about the Diablo Tuner/programmer.

Can anyone with experience with this stuff shed some light for me?

TacomaJD · Feb 6, 2015

You will not see the mileage and performance increase on a gasser like you wish it would be....but you can mess with the shift points and what not, making it more "drivable" and enjoy the enhanced settings. A tuner does not do for a gasser what it does for a diesel. I have a Diablosport Predator tuner on my truck and love it. More power and fuel mileage? Prolly not much if any....changing shift points around and shift pressure = tows much better now and shifting is more optimal for every day driving. Kinda like putting a "shift kit" in an old hot rod.

onepieceatatime · Feb 6, 2015

Re: Re: Re: programmer/tuner

TacomaJD said:
You will not see the mileage and performance increase on a gasser like you wish it would be....but you can mess with the shift points and what not, making it more "drivable" and enjoy the enhanced settings. A tuner does not do for a gasser what it does for a diesel. I have a Diablosport Predator tuner on my truck and love it. More power and fuel mileage? Prolly not much if any....changing shift points around and shift pressure = tows much better now and shifting is more optimal for every day driving. Kinda like putting a "shift kit" in an old hot rod.

Your tuner is pretty outdated these days though. The one I had on my old truck would do custom data logs that I could send to a custom tuner and he could change a lot more parameters with his program. That or you can get a custom tune through someone like BlackBear and they have a reputation for good gains. Been thinkimg about it for my new truck because they say the 8.1 is really held back and a tune could open up 30+hp pretty easy.

TacomaJD · Feb 6, 2015

Re: Re: Re: programmer/tuner

onepieceatatime said:
Your tuner is pretty outdated these days though. The one I had on my old truck would do custom data logs that I could send to a custom tuner and he could change a lot more parameters with his program. That or you can get a custom tune through someone like BlackBear and they have a reputation for good gains. Been thinkimg about it for my new truck because they say the 8.1 is really held back and a tune could open up 30+hp pretty easy.

I understand that it is dated and am familiar with data logging, but a tune is only going to do very little real improvements over what most hope they do. You have to get into performance engine parts in a gasser to get the gains similar to that of tuning a diesel. That was my point. They obviously do improve some in gassers, but not significantly enough like everyone hopes for when they are in the OP's position.. "Like hey man, I just got a new truck and it gets worse fuel mileage than I anticipated and I want more power, can I spend $300 on a tuner and it turn into a super badass monster truck that gets the fuel mileage of a Prius?" The answer is no. molaugh

BPINAZ · Feb 7, 2015

Re: Re: Re: programmer/tuner

TacomaJD said:
I understand that it is dated and am familiar with data logging, but a tune is only going to do very little real improvements over what most hope they do. You have to get into performance engine parts in a gasser to get the gains similar to that of tuning a diesel. That was my point. They obviously do improve some in gassers, but not significantly enough like everyone hopes for when they are in the OP's position.. "Like hey man, I just got a new truck and it gets worse fuel mileage than I anticipated and I want more power, can I spend $300 on a tuner and it turn into a super badass monster truck that gets the fuel mileage of a Prius?" The answer is no.

Actually, it gets better gas mileage than my stock 2013 crew cab Silverado Z71 did because of a redesigned fuel management system that Chevy put in the 2014 and newer 5.3L's. We took the new truck on a trip this week and I was suprised that it did as well as it did on mileage. In fact, it did a lot better than I anticipated. The speed limit in AZ is 75 and I had my cruise control set on 80. Even with driving through significant elevation changes, it did great. In our part of AZ, you're either driving up hill or downhill.

I don't need to improve the truck's performance what so ever, it does great. I was just wondering about the positive effects, if any, that these devices are capable of. I've read about significant increases in overall performance and efficiency, and I've read some horror stories about how the programmers have fried the CPU in certain vehicles.