Diesel chip

[Sludgy]

Well, I finally broke down and bough a chip from Granatelli Motorsports. They make horsepower chips, just like Banks Engineering, Hypertech, and Quadzilla, but they also make the "Mileage Miser" chip that I put in. They guarantee 3 mpg across the board.

Installation was hellish. The instructions were wrong in several ways, and one of the plugs did not fit correctly at first until I pulled out a plastic adapter. I finally did get it installed on the second day, after 2 phone calls and an email.

I kept pretty good mileage records for a few thousand miles, so I have data to compare the new mileage. I'll post results later.

I have one more reason to hate this F350, though. Now it needs balls joints and shocks after just 48K miles. "Ford tough" really means Ford tough **** for the consumer. Kick me if I ever buy a new Ford again.

[onegammyleg]

Originally Posted by Sludgy

Kick me if I ever buy a new Ford again.

I'll keep my steel capped boots on just in case.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Wow. Yuck. My uncle's a Ford fan and is restoring two F-100s, but even he said he wouldn't buy a new one.

[Matt Timion]

I'm interested in hearing about the chip. My friend chipped his Jetta and noticed a good improvement.

[Ted Hart]

Originally Posted by Sludgy

Well, I finally broke down and bough a chip from Granatelli Motorsports.
but they also make the "Mileage Miser" chip that I put in. They guarantee 3 mpg across the board.

"Ford tough" really means Ford tough **** for the consumer. Kick me if I ever buy a new Ford again.

Mercy! 3 MPG increase? Yet, I suppose if you were getting Ford's MPG to start with...3 more is a fair percentage! 20ish %?
Matt Timion should be getting my initial package info (SASE I requested from him) about my gasoline modifier concept very soon. I guarantee it's cheaper than these chips! LOL! Then he's gonna edit / rewrite & post (where? Hmmm....) this info for all to see! Keep watching! -Ted Hart

[Sludgy]

Originally Posted by Ted Hart

Mercy! 3 MPG increase? Yet, I suppose if you were getting Ford's MPG to start with...3 more is a fair percentage! -Ted Hart

I averaged about 17 mpg in mixed driving and hit 20 mpg on two tanks over long trips. If I can go from 17 to 20 and 20 to 23, I'd be in hog heaven.

[Sludgy]

The first tank results for the Granatelli chip are in: 441.7 miles and 25.4 gallons, for 17.4 mpg. This is worse than the un-chipped mileage. We had a strong tailwind throughout the trip, and thetruck would have topped 19 mpg without the chip.

The chip at first seemed to change the performance beneficially. The transmission upshifted sooner, so the it was always in a higher gear. However, between 50 and 65 mpg under load, the engine misfired badly. Sometimes, in order to climb grades, I had to tromp on the throttle to get over 65, and it of course downshifted. Hills were't often enough to account for the poor mileage. I wonder whether the truck was always misfiring at low throttle settings, but not enough to notice.

I'm going to send the chip back for a refund.

[SVOboy]

Aww, shucks, sorry to hear about the misfortune, but at least it's known to the world now! Well, at least in your case,

[Sludgy]

I spoke with a servive rep at Granatelli motorports, and they are going to send me a replacement module to see if my the truck stops misfiring and gets the promised mileage.

[Sludgy]

I got the replacement module from Granatelli, installed it Friday and drove it Saturday. The mileage got worse, just like before, and the truck still misfired. Actually, I'm not sure it misfired. The tranny may be hunting for the right gear at certain (medium) throttle settings. At any rate, the module has been a big disappointment. I would understand the problem had I modified the truck, but it's bone stock. I'm going to ask for my money back.

[DRW]

In my circle of hot rod/tuner friends I hear about misfires so often I automatically react by asking 'how old are your sparkplugs?" LOL!