Posted: 6/8/2007 10:01:47 PM EDT
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Anyone use these things? I had been surfing the Dodge truck forums for a while and alot of the guys have had luck with them so I got one for my '99 Ram 1500 and the results seem good so far, but the Dodges had what was called the "death flash" where the dealerships detuned them, so the results might be exaggerated. I went up about 3mpg on average and there is more power, but dodge trannies can't be electronically adjusted out. Anyone use one on a Chevy? I was thinking if getting one for my wife's 'Burban to stiffen up the shifts etc. |
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I have one for my 96 K1500 truck. Haven't tried the power upgrade option on it because it says to run super unleaded. I don't think so at close to 4 bucks a gallon. I bought it because of my lift kit and bigger tires. I adjusted for tire size and shift firmness. You can also change the shift points and I tried it but it only seemed good if you were going to tow a heavy load or (needed to pull a higher RPM before shifting) as it would constantly fall out of the power band on long uphills so I would have to mash the pedal to get back up to speed. I could tell a differance with the shift firmness. Could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. On one hand it firms up the shifts which should be less clutch slippage and heat but on the other hand maybe a little more shock to all the drive train goodies. But I have had zero tranny problems with mine. I have a B&M extra capacity tranny pan (3 extra qts. plus a drain plug so changing fluid is much easier) and a trans cooler. |
Depends. If you need one to compensate for tires size or gearing changes then yes. Just to try one, hell no. When I put the bigger tires/rims on the anti lock and milage was all off but the programer fixed those. I am not sure if the dealer could have changed it but with thier prices the programmer was probabally cheaper. |
For my Dodge I would say so. I was getting about 13mpg or so, and now I am averaging 17.3 last time I checked, but I had to do alot of highway running the past couple of weeks, more than I did all winter, so that explains some of it, but it never got better than 14 -15 on the highway before. It should pay for itself in less than 10k. I don't know how well they work on Chevy's though. I have a '98 'burban that averages 15 or so in the summer. 18mpg out of that with a similar increase in power would be nice, but the only feedback I have read about so far is with Dodges. That and it says it requires premium fuel and I do not know if the gains in MPG are worth the extra paid for premium. |
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Put one on a 2000 Ford PSD. Got it from ebay for about $125. Great power increase, but no option for changing the shift points on the transmission or for larger tires. For the diesel it was cheap horse power. Also have one for a 98 k1500 gas z71. Felt no different in the amout of horsepower, but did recalibrate the speedo for the large tires and change shift points. Would not spend $300+ for one, but look on ebay and you might find a good deal. |
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I have one for my 99' GMC K-3500 with a 5.7. Do I notice a big power increase? No. Did I use to correct my speedometer when I put on 285x75R16's. Yes. Did I use it to change the transmission shift firmness to prevent unecessary slip and make my tranny last longer? Yes. |
| For auto trannys they are good since you can change shift points and firmness. The performance tune isn't worth a damn. My dad had one for his 4.3L Blazer and the tranny settings make a noticable difference. I later got one for my 6 speed WS.6 Trans AM and other than being able to calibrate the speedo for my 4:10 gears it didn't to jack. Could have calibrated the speedo much cheaper. As for looking for one on E-bay be wary. First off they are year specific. A 99' will only work with a 99' and so forth. Also once a car is tuned with an HPP3 unless the tune was returned to stock on the vehicle that was tuned on the HPP3 it is nothing but a paperweight. Hypertech makes these things so you can't lend them out or use them on another vehicle. They will tune one car and one car only. If you buy one that has not been returned to stock setting you have a useless piece of crap. Hell I still have the one from my Trans Am sitting around somewhere with the tune still in it. |
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It has 3:73s in it running 305/75/16 tires. Using the stock shift points it works fine but didn't like the revised ones set by the reprogrammer. |
| hypertech is junk. plain and simple. if you want any type of luck with a hand held... you need a diablo or even superchips. if, if, you can hold out. hptuners is trying to get support for the other of the big 3 companies. they just release beta support for the 05+ fords. it started with gm, theres a stupid amount of features and you could basically tell the engine/car to do anything you want. |