Not sure if this is where I can ask but can't seem to find alot of hardcore info on who's company to go with. I want tried and true performance numbers. Fuel mileage increases,etc. I have a 2014 gmc Sierra 5.3L. I know most can shut off the cylinder cancel function, trans shift points. Some have downloadable programs, but how do you know what your getting? I'm leaning on diablo sport,edge? Has anyone used one with good results. Price?? I have 63000 miles on so warranty isnt a issue.
My son says find someone with HP Tuners. They come to you and if they’re good, will be worth every penny, vs a canned tuner. They will go over everything that you may want and they’ll read data and make changes accordingly. He had a 5.3L tuned recently that he cammed and put headers on. Came out excellent. Then he had a Dmax tuned by the same guy.
do not waste your $$ on diablo, I bought one , it kicked the voltage up, ended up cooking the batt/ when I asked diablo for help. they said it wouldn't do that. removed it, normal voltage, put it in a buddies truck, same problem. and still diablo refuses to help, oh, and NO noticable improvement.
Hp tuners,...is best I've got a Hypertech on 2010 SS everything functions as it should and has for 90k miles
have a custom tune made, don't buy that generic crap. A good tuner can even add a DPS digital processing switch and have more than one tune like a tow and hot performance tune on the fly.
Dan, I have been tuning the GM vehicles for 15 years now. Looked at and tuned hundreds of cars and trucks and by far the custom tuning is the way to go. A good tuner will make the truck so much more fun to drive. Mileage gains are few and far between though. Turning off the DOD most of the time make little to no difference in mileage and in my opinion it will make the motor last a lot longer. Don't know where you are located at but if you are ever in the SW Michigan area give me a shout. An hour or two with my laptop will make you smile every time you drive it. Mike
I used a tuner on my 2005 Titan back when I still had it. To this day it was (and I would argue still is) the BEST upgrade you can do on modern electronic controlled vehicles. Setting for my example: Initial tuner (purchase 2009 @ $300): - Superchips Cortex Mods: - AEM Brute Force intake, - Magnaflow 20" 2.5" muffler, - custom mandrel bent exhaust with Flowmaster y-pipe. Last tuner (purchase 2013 @ $550 w/ 3 free retunes, Dyno time $650) - Uprev Tuning Suite. Mods same as above plus the following: - 2008 Titan intake manifold - Bored OEM TB from 70mm to 72mm - Magnaflow HiFlow cats - Customer B-pipes w/ secondary cat delete - JBA Shorty headers The Superchips was only canned tunes and I had no custom tunes done at the time. As such there was no real "performance" upgrade with it but rather it removed factory restrictions in the ECU and really just changed the timing. I felt that the restriction removal was the biggest asset. Modern ECUs restrict so much that it makes a powerful car/truck feel like a turd (currently dealing with this on my 2014 Ram 1500). So in that sense the tuner was worth the price at that time with the small mods I had. The Uprev tuning software came about when I upgraded to headers. I knew the Superchips was not able to compensate enough for the increase flow, and was not extracting the most performance from those mods. So I sold it and purchased the Uprev suite. This also removed factory restrictions but allowed for data logging on a multitude of selectable parameters. These logs were then emailed back to Uprev and they built a new custom tune off of real world driving. This was all done via laptop. This was great and really smoothed out the power delivery and got the most out of my mods. The real change then came when I found a chassis dyno locally that had Uprev as well. Once I got my truck on there, it took it to the next level. So I would say get a tuner, but look at the mods you have and what you want to do. If you are keeping it stock, or doing minor mods, then get a lower cost tuner that removes restrictions and can turn off the cylinder deactivation features. If you are going to do some mods that are outside of an intake and catback exhaust, then a tuner with the ability to upload custom tunes is a better purchase. Lastly if you are really going to get crazy, a full software suite and a shop with a chassis dyno is the route you want to go. On my current truck (2014 Ram 1500) I am looking for a tuner currently. I don't plan on any mods until warranty runs out (2021). Even then it will likely be a drop in filter and cat back. On this truck tho the restrictions on the ECU are ridiculous. So I am more concerned with getting a tuner that can turn those off. The other issue is the trans (8HP70) and the shift program in the trans ECU. Issue at current is no one tunes these and hand held tuners don't support this trans. Once I figure that out then a tuner will be my first purchase.
I have 4 trucks with Blackbear tunes. http://www.blackbearperformance.com/autocal.asp Justin and his wife run Blackbear and they are super helpful. I am super happy with the Blackbear tunes on my 03, 05, 12 and 2015 trucks. If you guys are still running stock tunes you are missing out on power and fuel mileage. They use HP tuners to do a custom tune based on ACTUAL driving data logs. NOT pre canned recipes. They sends you the box/programmer which you plug into your truck, it records 20 minutes of driving time. Then you email him that data log and he designs you a custom tune and emails it to you. Then you put that tune onto the box and onto the truck. Then if you make a change to your truck at a later date he will revise your tune free of charge. I went from 35s to 33s and he sent me a new tune to correct my speedo. Same with when I went to 4.56 gears on my 05, free re-tune. A few great things about the setup are: 1. You can go back to stock, just use the box and select stock tune 2. You can use the box to scan for codes, and or clear them 3. You can have high and low octane tunes to switch back and forth 4. If you have an issue with your truck they will help you diagnose the issue by observing a data log. 5. They will make additional changes for FREE if you make more mods down the road. 6. They can tune out your rear 02 sensors so you can remove the cats if you want 7. You can use the box on additional GM Vehicles with a reduced tuning cost 8. Shift firmness and manners are improved. Especially on the 6 speeds that had some crappy programming by GM 9. RPM shift points can be changed 10. torque management can be removed so your tires can get full use of the torque The fuel mileage is noticeably better because the engine is running so much stronger, way less gearing down, less throttle required to hold a speed. BUT its hard not to step on the skinny pedal with the power on tap. with 35s, 3.73 gears, lifted with AT tires the truck can tow my car hauler and Buick down the road at speed in 5th gear without an issue. 4th up most hills. It is impressive. Empty it cruises at 1800 RPM at 72 MPH in 6th gear and gets about 16 MPG which is NOT bad considering stock was worse (7200 pounds with tools and two winches). Here is my 2012 6.0 with header and a mild cam but otherwise stock: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AHrMF_dGaG4
Thanks for the info guys. Keep it coming. I've read about blackbeard. Was thinking about that setup. One of the best that I've researched. I should have mentioned that I'd like to keep it stock. Added a drop in k&n air filter. It pulls a 24 foot enclosed trailer.gets about 10 mph. Like to see more.
My son bought the hp tuners setup to do an sc3800 swap into an 85 fiero. So I bought some credits to do our 99suburban. I'm no tuner by any stretch but I'm learning. We also were able to program the vats out of an 03 cavalier we were having intermittent probs with but that required another pair of credits. I've been watching YouTube vids and listening to podcasts and there is a lot to learn. But I'm having fun and hopefully by the time I'm ready to do a cam swap on the burb I'll have a handle on it.
Depends on the tuner and his skillz with the maps. One of those plug in things, then I would agree with you. The newer computers have mad processing power and maps for all kinds of situations. Wild cam, no problem, exhaust mods, no prob, power adder, no prob with an individual who can do some logs and make the right adjustments. On the other end of that is a guy who "thinks" he knows how to "tune". That can be a disaster and lead to some hard engine parts needing replaced. Get some references and check them out. And don't let them "lock" your computer. It is yours and you are paying them.
Yes the truck was chained to a tree, I just wanted to finish off the tires before the new ones went on. The truck doesn't break stand well, its so heavy and the rear disk brakes hold like crazy. If I just floor it from a stop it will spin the tires as it launches, but I wanted to burn a bit of rubber.
Yes even stock you will see a gain in performance and mileage with a Blackbear (or other good custom tune). The best towing gain I obtained from my 6.o truck was swapping on Speed Engineering headers, cat delete, dual 3" exhaust. Letting it breath really helped the idle to 2200 RPM torque. Plus over 4000 the free flowing exhaust helps the HP. All around, the exhaust was a gain from idle to 6500 with no down side.
I don’t know if you’ll ever gain any significant amount of fuel economy no matter who’s tune you use. When I was researching this years ago for my 03 Sierra 6.0L, seems like the only way to get any sort of tangible mileage improvements was to have a more aggressive timing curve. But, that turned the engine into an octane junky, and the added cost for premium fuel was more than the $ in fuel the tune was supposed to be saving. I had that 03 for 14 years (my son still has it) and I upgraded to a 2018 Sierra Denali L5P. I can loaf along at 1800 rpm @ 75 mph towing whatever and get twice the mileage that the old Sierra gasser got. But, the price of that mileage gain was a little rough on the checkbook. On the largest hills we have around here, towing with the diesel in cruise control the trans doesn’t downshift, doesn’t struggle, and has no rpm change. It’s weird. I think the PCM is varying the turbo vanes, but you can’t hear anything. So there is always that option .
I don’t mind paying for high octane fuel for my 6.0 truck. It gets better mileage with the big octane tune so it ends up not costing much more. But the performance is way better... less gearing down, just runs so much better. At 9.6:1 the timing has to be super conservative to run low octane fuel so it’s really an un efficient setup. I find the same with my 5.3, much better mileage and performance with the high octane tune that’s got aggressive timing curve. It’s like running a hot BBB with 28 degrees of timing to limp it around on low octane fuel. Might as well run high octane fuel and a nice aggressive timing curve.
I was going to say custom tune with HP tuners as well. Looks like it has been said many times over. I would be interested in hearing your results once you decide. I have an '18 with the 5.3, which should be the same as your 14, I believe. I wasn't sure about tuning it, with the direct injection and all. I would definitely look for someone that has experience with that generation motor.
I've been doing some research, it's hard to find anything about this direct injection motor other than the cylinder cancellation stuff. I'm going to give hp tuners and blackbeard a call. I'll post my results.
I too have heard great things about blackbear, though it's second hand as I have no personal experience with them. But a friend of mine big into GM trucks had them do his and seemed very pleased.
