After not being so happy with my 5* tunes and customer support, I decided to try someone else out. I am in no way bashing 5*, their tunes worked for many people and I'm glad for that, it just didn't work out for me I guess so I'm gonna try something else out. I talked to a few companies and Jody at DP Tuner was very helpful. I knew he wrote great tunes for a 7.3 chip style program, but I never heard anyone talk about his tunes on anything newer. My first email to Jody resulted in an immediate, helpful response. I decided to go ahead and spend $155 and try his performance tune for my 6.7. He wrote and emailed my tune back to me same day at 3:45 in the morning. That says something to me, even though when I sent him an email containing my ECU stratigy I told him not to worry about my order until the next business day or when he had some time. He's been very helpful and has stated he's working on converting his tunes over to the EZ Lynk platform.
I am not home at the moment but will be back on Friday. I will load my tune then and give it a go, and report back with my first impressions. I'll then give an update on how everything settled in a couple hundred miles down the road.
So here is my first impressions.
Received tune, 5.3 mb in size. Cool. Loaded it up and flashed it to the truck. Upon first start, I could feel when the engine kicked over it had a good bit more power. Sweet. Ran up the road and all the power was there, right on tap. Throttle sensitivity is comparable to 5* performance tune. Power seems to be at or slightly above 5* performance tune by the seat of my pants. Shifting: it's so nice that the truck actually SHIFTS now!!! The shifts are pretty firm, but Jody says they'll soften up over time once the transmission learns. Cool. I can live with the firm shifts anyway. One thing that surprised me is the 2nd gear tq lockup. It does lock up from time to time, but not every time. Just something to be aware of when you're putting around in a parking lot like I was today.
I am really liking this tune so far. It's supposedly good for 75 HP over stock, and even though 5* was rated for 90 over stock, I think the usability of DP Tuner's tune beats the 5* hands down. Power comes on smooth and quick and not a hint of a shifting issue. I drove about 100 miles on the tune tonight and am seeing about a +1 mpg increase over stock (hand calc--filled up before flash and at end of trip) and it seems to be running hot enough to negate any soot produced, making the DPF seem frozen in its soot GPL or even burning off some. Just like the 5* tune did. Which is a plus...I went almost 1000 miles without a full regen on 5* performance tune. It tried to regen at the 500 mile mark in that tune, like its programmed to do, but my gpl was so low and I was so close to home I didn't even let it heat up and it didn't try to regen again. I think I'll net the same results on this tune. I will update after I let the tune settle in for a while.
If this tune continues to perform to my expectations, I will be ordering a DP-Tuner heavy tow 35hp tune to replace the 5* tow tune.
Another update:
I am REALLY loving these DP tunes. Power is right where it should be, shifts are firm, MILAGE has come up SIGNIFICANTLY. Was getting 11.5 stock, same driving habits and same routine, hand calc 14.1 MPG today. No regens, soot GPL frozen as expected. Runs just hot enough to keep it at bay.
I have noticed between the DP hot tune and the 5* hot tune is, the 5* ran what seemed to be WAY too much timing. I could literally hear each little click as the fuel detonated. Not the case with DP tunes.
Another another update:
Mkay, the tune has settled for about 1500 miles now. Shifts are firm and nice, truck still runs great, and I have no complaints about it. I'm seeing about +1.5-2 mpg over stock with this tune, hand calc. Woohoo!
The performance of this tune is smooth as ever. Granted it is a performance tune, the shifts are a little harder at light throttle, but smooth as stock at half to full throttle. I did contact Jody about the TQ lockup being a little firm, and he said that it is to be expected to hold the power that the tune is making, he doesn't know if it'll slip or not if he makes it a little less firm. Which is fine for me, I've gotten used to it.
Merging with traffic is a breeze, as I can usually surpass the speed of traffic by the end of the on-ramp now. The power is smooth and feels like it should be there. I cannot recommend these tunes enough.
And guess what....NO REGENS. Runs hot enough to reverse the soot collected. Haven't had a single regen except for the 500 mile mark one. Now of course if you run around in town alot you'll see you needing some regens, but doesn't seem like it'll be frequent. But it is nice that it's burning off passively on the freeway now for me. A major plus.
Any questions please feel free to ask. I'm not a sales rep for DP, just writing my experience. I'll edit the post when it's daylight hours to make more sense.
update again...feb 2017:
I have been DD'ing the heavy tow 35 hp for the last 6,000 miles and am loving it. 16 mpg average on the freeway (unless I have a bad headwind), near perfect shifting, nice little powerbump, does not eat DEF much at all, etc. I'm still recommending these tunes from Jody hands down over anything else.
I am not home at the moment but will be back on Friday. I will load my tune then and give it a go, and report back with my first impressions. I'll then give an update on how everything settled in a couple hundred miles down the road.
So here is my first impressions.
Received tune, 5.3 mb in size. Cool. Loaded it up and flashed it to the truck. Upon first start, I could feel when the engine kicked over it had a good bit more power. Sweet. Ran up the road and all the power was there, right on tap. Throttle sensitivity is comparable to 5* performance tune. Power seems to be at or slightly above 5* performance tune by the seat of my pants. Shifting: it's so nice that the truck actually SHIFTS now!!! The shifts are pretty firm, but Jody says they'll soften up over time once the transmission learns. Cool. I can live with the firm shifts anyway. One thing that surprised me is the 2nd gear tq lockup. It does lock up from time to time, but not every time. Just something to be aware of when you're putting around in a parking lot like I was today.
I am really liking this tune so far. It's supposedly good for 75 HP over stock, and even though 5* was rated for 90 over stock, I think the usability of DP Tuner's tune beats the 5* hands down. Power comes on smooth and quick and not a hint of a shifting issue. I drove about 100 miles on the tune tonight and am seeing about a +1 mpg increase over stock (hand calc--filled up before flash and at end of trip) and it seems to be running hot enough to negate any soot produced, making the DPF seem frozen in its soot GPL or even burning off some. Just like the 5* tune did. Which is a plus...I went almost 1000 miles without a full regen on 5* performance tune. It tried to regen at the 500 mile mark in that tune, like its programmed to do, but my gpl was so low and I was so close to home I didn't even let it heat up and it didn't try to regen again. I think I'll net the same results on this tune. I will update after I let the tune settle in for a while.
If this tune continues to perform to my expectations, I will be ordering a DP-Tuner heavy tow 35hp tune to replace the 5* tow tune.
Another update:
I am REALLY loving these DP tunes. Power is right where it should be, shifts are firm, MILAGE has come up SIGNIFICANTLY. Was getting 11.5 stock, same driving habits and same routine, hand calc 14.1 MPG today. No regens, soot GPL frozen as expected. Runs just hot enough to keep it at bay.
I have noticed between the DP hot tune and the 5* hot tune is, the 5* ran what seemed to be WAY too much timing. I could literally hear each little click as the fuel detonated. Not the case with DP tunes.
Another another update:
Mkay, the tune has settled for about 1500 miles now. Shifts are firm and nice, truck still runs great, and I have no complaints about it. I'm seeing about +1.5-2 mpg over stock with this tune, hand calc. Woohoo!
The performance of this tune is smooth as ever. Granted it is a performance tune, the shifts are a little harder at light throttle, but smooth as stock at half to full throttle. I did contact Jody about the TQ lockup being a little firm, and he said that it is to be expected to hold the power that the tune is making, he doesn't know if it'll slip or not if he makes it a little less firm. Which is fine for me, I've gotten used to it.
Merging with traffic is a breeze, as I can usually surpass the speed of traffic by the end of the on-ramp now. The power is smooth and feels like it should be there. I cannot recommend these tunes enough.
And guess what....NO REGENS. Runs hot enough to reverse the soot collected. Haven't had a single regen except for the 500 mile mark one. Now of course if you run around in town alot you'll see you needing some regens, but doesn't seem like it'll be frequent. But it is nice that it's burning off passively on the freeway now for me. A major plus.
Any questions please feel free to ask. I'm not a sales rep for DP, just writing my experience. I'll edit the post when it's daylight hours to make more sense.
update again...feb 2017:
I have been DD'ing the heavy tow 35 hp for the last 6,000 miles and am loving it. 16 mpg average on the freeway (unless I have a bad headwind), near perfect shifting, nice little powerbump, does not eat DEF much at all, etc. I'm still recommending these tunes from Jody hands down over anything else.