Performance Chips For Ford 550

dsgsr · Sep 17, 2009

Anyone familiar with a good performance chip for My 6.4 , I've read up on the Cortex chips By Superchips with mixed reviews. I've heard about a Bully-Dog (sp) chip, but no other info. Any experience. Looking for better fuel mileage, Only getting 7.8 average with 2K miles, been getting worse from New at 9.5 around town. Got 10.5 on a two hour drive at around 1200 miles????

David

jonathan734 · Sep 18, 2009

Hate to say it, but you need to get rid of the emission equipment to really improve the mileage. I have heard of guys getting close to 5mpg more by removing it all. Of course it is illegal, and could void your warranty depending on your dealer, but if you drive a lot it might be worth. FWIW I hear of more stock 6.4s with problems than ones with reasonable tunes and no emission equipment. Try these guys, http://www.spartandieseltech.com/ they seem to be the leaders right now.

bimmer4life2009 · Sep 20, 2009

Don't waste your money on these. I was thinking about getting a performance chip too, but it looks like these things don't do crap. I was reading this article about it, and it looks like these things don't work at all

Steve Frazier · Sep 20, 2009

bimmer4life2009, I read the article you linked and it appears the author is speaking of one particular type of chip, not chips in general as you've posted here. A true performance chip is in actuality a micro-processor, hence the name "chip" and can be custom programmed to the vehicle controlling such items as fuel pressure, injection timing, ignition timing on gas engines and boost pressures on turbo charged engines. They cost in the area of $400+ and do significantly alter the power output of an engine.

I have a "flip chip" on my 7.3 PowerStroke, it has 4 settings, stock, +40, +80 and +120hp and I assure you you can tell when the chip is turned on. dsgsr, I didn't jump in here because I don't know what's available for the 6.4. You might want to take a look at www.thedieselstop.com , it's a site dedicated to the Ford diesels.

texascadillac42 · Sep 20, 2009

Call www.rivercitydiesel.com or http://www.spartandieseltech.com/ They are THE two companies to deal with in 6.4L performance. I have personally seen and witnessed some pretty impressive fuel gains using software from these two companies, as well as mindblowing power increases. Over 500+hp at the rear wheels with a new exhaust and one of the two previously mentioned companies' tuners.

Steve Frazier · Sep 20, 2009

Well folks, I did a little research on bimmer4life2009 and it appears that he has joined us solely to attract attention to a website that I believe he owns with an agenda against performance chips. It looks like he does a search for "performance chip" and puts the exact same post up on any thread on any forum he finds. I've disabled his link.

RonG · Sep 20, 2009

Thanks for stepping in here Steve,this is the type of info that my brother is looking for I am sure.I am not up to date on any of this upgrading a stock engine where a warranty might be involved and I would sure hate to be the one to steer him wrong.LOL.Ron G

willie59 · Sep 20, 2009

Steve Frazier said:
Well folks, I did a little research on bimmer4life2009 and it appears that he has joined us solely to attract attention to a website that I believe he owns with an agenda against performance chips. It looks like he does a search for "performance chip" and puts the exact same post up on any thread on any forum he finds. I've disabled his link.

Wow Steve, you must be part blood hound, didn't take you long to sniff that one out!

LoL...I clicked on his "article" and my Zone Alarm said "unless you trust this site don't download anything..."

As Ace Ventura say's... Looooooozzzer! :tong

d4c24a · Sep 20, 2009

chipping / remap

here in the UK chipping is a big business ,mainly for potential fuel savings
here we have the piggy back plug in boxes ,or a remap where a laptop is connected to your vehicle to access the ecu , and the parameters changed around
a lot of agricultural machines are being chipped ,but i have seen little word of any plant being chipped and wondered if it happens in the U.S at all
cheers graham

heavylift · Sep 20, 2009

we have a 550 horrible mileage.... somewhere in the 5's... it is turbo'ed and has a chip of some kind....
I complained to deaf ears, that it felt like it was running on 2 cylinders...
It went to ford for a recall... said it had two bad injectors.... ran better after that but I don't think the mileage improved.
It's flat out top speed is about 65 mph in overdrive... You can't hit 50 with it off.. Which leads me to believe it's super low geared.

7.3 Rocket · Sep 20, 2009

First pull off all that emissions garbage. Put in a 4" turbo-back exhaust (delete the DPF) put on an intake, and probably a set of gauges (pyrometer, trans temp at least) then I'd look at a Spartan tuner. I've got a buddy with a 450 and he says it really gave the truck some power.

dsgsr · Sep 21, 2009

Thanks All for the replies. Heavylift- Guess mines not as bad as yours, I can get up to 60mph easy loaded but still have stinkin fuel mileage. Towed truck trailer with tractor & 4-implements 10-mile round trip today and got an averaged of 3.4 mpg.

7.3 Rocket- Not looking for any power (right now) and gotta stay in the warranty parameters for now just looking for better fuel mileage.

Thanks again everyone.
David

7.3 Rocket · Sep 21, 2009

Ok well any aftermarket programmer or tuner will void your factory warranty. Sorry. It's just a risk you have to be willing to take. Now once you're out of warranty there's no reason to not go and really play hard.

bolt thrower · Oct 2, 2009

DSGSR, is your truck an automatic or manual? I have a 99 F550 with a 7.3 Powerstroke and my best fuel mileage is 7 MPG. My truck has an automatic 4 speed, and it weighs 16000 lbs. I really think a manual transmission would gain me some MPG's, not to mention save me some brake wear. As far as performance chips go, I'm not convinced they will save you any fuel. Especially the ones that increase power and make your engine smoke like a locomotive. I have been wrong about these things before, and may stand to be corrected. My opinion of V-8 diesels (P/S and duramax) is they are just fuel guzzlers, presumably because of their power curves being at such a high RPM. I think inline 6 engines are the way to go for a diesel. Diesels are made for a longer stroke design. Funny that alot of 18 wheel semi's get 4 or 5 mpg, and weigh 4 times as much, out of a 14 liter engine! Thats only twice the engine displacement of a PSD!

Steve Frazier · Oct 3, 2009

I've got an '01 F-250 with the 7.3 and an auto with 3.73 gears, it gets nearly 16mpg consistently around town. It weighs 7600lbs empty. My '02 F-550 with the 7.3 doesn't do anywhere near as well. It has a 6 speed manual, 4.86 gears and weighs in at 11,500 empty. it gets 9mpg on a good day. I think the combination of the gears and weight really sucks up the fuel. I don't know if there's much your going to do to improve it by a lot. Unless you drive a lot of miles, you would take quite some time to see a return on any expenses put toward improving mileage.

buddfalen · Oct 4, 2009

Steve Frazier said:
bimmer4life2009, I read the article you linked and it appears the author is speaking of one particular type of chip, not chips in general as you've posted here. A true performance chip is in actuality a micro-processor, hence the name "chip" and can be custom programmed to the vehicle controlling such items as fuel pressure, injection timing, ignition timing on gas engines and boost pressures on turbo charged engines. They cost in the area of $400+ and do significantly alter the power output of an engine.

I have a "flip chip" on my 7.3 PowerStroke, it has 4 settings, stock, +40, +80 and +120hp and I assure you you can tell when the chip is turned on. dsgsr, I didn't jump in here because I don't know what's available for the 6.4. You might want to take a look at www.thedieselstop.com , it's a site dedicated to the Ford diesels.

Hello Mr. Founder!
I have two 7.3 power strokes. One has over 200,000 miles and has an auto transmission. The other has about 60,000 with the 6-speed manual transmission. Would chips improve my fuel mileage? Most of my miles are in rural Wyoming going as fast as the govenor allows. Therefore my fuel mileage is poor.

Thanks
fjf

Steve Frazier · Oct 4, 2009

If you're running up against the governor, I don't think there's much that's going to improve your mileage. You need to slow the engine down with a gear change or axillary overdrive unit. I've had four 7.3 PowerStrokes, they seem to be fuel efficient up to about 2200rpm, from that point on fuel economy seems to drop off dramatically. A chip might help some, but only if you've gone to a tuner with your preferences after installing the chip. Getting the engine to turn slower would probably yield more gains. I'd do a real close cost analysis on the cost of a gear/overdrive change to see if it would really pay off.

Steve Frazier · Oct 4, 2009

I meant to add in my earlier post that a tighter torque converter on an auto will probably give you the best bang for your buck in fuel economy as anything, and it can be installed in an afternoon.

willie59 · Oct 4, 2009

Steve Frazier said:
If you're running up against the governor, I don't think there's much that's going to improve your mileage. You need to slow the engine down with a gear change or axillary overdrive unit.

I've experienced what your talking about Steve. Running on a light pedal and mid rpm's, the 7.3 can be relatively fuel efficient. But running high R's with foot on pedal, you can just about watch the fuel hand drop. A couple of years ago, I drove a (then new) 2002 E-350 van cutaway with a 14' van body on the back of it mfg by Supreme bodies. That was my mechanics truck. And that van made a heck of a good mobile shop. It had the air foil on the front to stream the air over the box, and weighed 11,000 lb. If I drove 60 mph on the highway, I could get 12 mpg. If I drove 70...I never did the mileage figure, couldn't afford 70 mph, just ten mph difference. One thing I did when the tires wore out was go to a next size larger diameter tire. That did help by giving me a little more speed for the same rpm. But I agree with ya, you can't get fuel mileage running on the governor no matter what you do to it.

mudmaker · Oct 8, 2009

buddfalen said:
Hello Mr. Founder!
I have two 7.3 power strokes. One has over 200,000 miles and has an auto transmission. The other has about 60,000 with the 6-speed manual transmission. Would chips improve my fuel mileage? Most of my miles are in rural Wyoming going as fast as the govenor allows. Therefore my fuel mileage is poor.

Thanks
fjf

They will improve you economy and an added bonus you will be able to drive faster as you can get rid of the speed limiter you are hitting currently. (not saying that is a good thing, but..) The only thing is, if you are going to get into tuners and chips I would get a cold air intake, 4" exhaust and at least a pyro gauge. JMHO

Here is a good source for 7.3 Info: http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum31/

Performance Chips For Ford 550

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