Just bought a truck how to tell if it has a chip?

[ken6881]

A week ago I purchased a 2002 f250 with 245000 miles runs and drives very well for its age and should have a lot of life left in it. It currently has a 5in exhaust on it and other than that appears to be stock. With that being said I assumed it had no chip on it but i am beginning to second guess my self. I got home from work today doing my normal walk around making sure no oil starting to leak or anything and noticed the rear of the bed where the exhaust exits has black soot on it. While I personally have not seen it ever black smoke or smoke of any color come out of it has me concerned it may of been tuned in the past.
Basically is there anyway to determine if the truck has been chipped or programed?
I was going to buy a 6 position chip and start playing with it once i get my gauges installed and 6637 intake on it and don't want to cause a problem if I unintentionally put a chip on a pcm that has already been reprogrammed.

thanks

kenneth

[85_305]

All stock trucks will soot some thats normal.

[ken6881]

Okay thanks
I just did not want to cause a problem and kill my truck or the pcm.
I pulled the filter which was DIRTY and did a 6637 filter upgrade.
dirty filter may have been choking the motor some causing some soot.

[ttyR2]

It's a diesel, it smokes :-)

[pwrstrkdsl7.3L]

I agree with tt haha


Sent from my iPod touch using AG Free

[ken6881]

I have no problem with smoke just made me second guess how stock it was. My dads 6.0 never put out a hint of soot but it had a cat witch I am sure had a lot to do with that.

[85_305]

Originally Posted by ken6881

Okay thanks
I just did not want to cause a problem and kill my truck or the pcm.
I pulled the filter which was DIRTY and did a 6637 filter upgrade.
dirty filter may have been choking the motor some causing some soot.

No problem, and your off to a great start. keep researching

Originally Posted by ken6881

I have no problem with smoke just made me second guess how stock it was. My dads 6.0 never put out a hint of soot but it had a cat witch I am sure had a lot to do with that.

Ya the cats are also considered 'soot traps'. OBS 7.3's come with cats and I think SOME super duty's come with cats...

[ken6881]

Oh I will keep researching I have probably put in more hours reading threads than I have been at work this week. I did the first fill up on this truck today and with all city driving, a fuel filter change, dirty filter and a lot of idleing trying to figure out my ac issue it still averaged 17.3 mpg which is alot better than my f 150 ever thought about getting (14.5 was the best tank ever).

[85_305]

Good to see you know how to drive gently. My truck gets 18mpg in the city alllllll day long, and people on here have trouble believing that. They just dont know how to drive properly

[ken6881]

I mean I don't drive like a grandpa and I don't run it wide open from every stop light. But being the first tank it did get some 0 to 55 wot pulls and being 4 wheel drive I was suprized at the mpg it got. I'm making a 328 mile round trip all highway this weekend see how well it does on the highway