Thread:

Duramax Programmer Suggestions

Looking for recommendations and or Pros/Cons of putting a programmer on my '09 Duramax. Just turned over 100,000 and I tow a trailer with it 3-4 times per week. It is a 3500 - 4x4 Crew Cab. Also pull a 30' tag trailer during race season.

What increase in mpg should I expect?

Thanks in advance for the info.

Thanks for the tip.

Gary, do it. You will never look back.
My dually (02 crew cab 4 wheel drive) gets about 3 mpg better, up to 4 ish if I drive normal.
So, about 12 to 13 with no programmer, and 17 to 18 with programmer. I get 14+ towing the boat loaded with support stuff.
Duramaxforums has tons of info as does the dieselplace.com
Stick with a reasonable tune, and you are good to go. Go max and your trans will hate you (andyour wallet)
I have had the Banks, superchip maybe and not an edge evolution cts. I like the evolution. It has nice features. I run on level 3 of 4 and it shreds the tires.
So, I'd recommend the evo. 4 levels. Maintenance manager. Allows code retrieval, etc. Some other cool and useless features.
Good luck.
Wags

Oh, add the egt sensor and expansion module thing.
Wags

Thanks wags...

I had an 08 (LMM engine) and used the Edge Evolution with the stock exhaust and really liked it. The biggest plus for me was I could run a really mild tune (30 HP) and see how often it was going to regen, when it was going to regen, and almost every engine paramater that the duramax tech's could see when they pluged in the tech2 programmer at the dealership. Now the "race" version with the CS or CTS (color screen or color touch screen) has the DPF delete option. I would mainly watch soot grams, EGT (probe in the exhaust manifold), Boost, and voltage at all times. Hope this helps.

I got nothing on the DPF regen stuff. Can't afford a truck that new HAHAHA
Wags

Originally Posted by Beer:30

What they said. Just DON'T use a tuner WITH your stock exhaust intact. MAYBE the Banks one, but that's mucho $. The reason being - ANY tune other than stock (and even stock) puts out some more soot - however slight. So, if you up the tune, you will REGEN (use extra fuel to burn the soot out of the DPF) more often. Like, all the time. I got the QuadZilla tuner, because you can switch tunes between WITH DPF and WITHOUT with the same box. There are others like it, but most are either WITH DPF or WITHOUT - but not both.

The other nice thing about the Quad is, you can run the STOCK tune WITHOUT DPF. So, I can see how much the stock tune smokes - which is interesting, by the way. If you are pulling anything and start to pull a hill in 6th - it throws a bunch.....STOCK. I am up a solid 2mpg from stock exhaust. A guy on DieselPlace dyno'd his truck before and after stock exhaust / MBRP, but ran stock tune both times. 40hp and 40tq just to run the exhaust stock. If that wasn't clear - he gained 40hp and 40tq at the wheels by replacing stock exhaust and still running stock tune.

BTW, 2008 C3500 dually (pictured below). MBRP turbo-back exh, Banks intake, QuadZilla tuner.

Where do normally keep yours tuned? I have ran the 50,70 and 90. I like the 70 the best so far. Been running this set up for 2-3 years now. Never tried the stock and economy tunes.


I will add one more thing for the poster:

If you do these mods, invest in a good set of Boost and EGT gauges on the a-pillar.

I rebuild transmission for a living . 99% of failed allisons have an aftermarket controller in the truck . my theroy is that because the trucks main computer uses adaptive learning ,peaple are changing the setting to much & not giving the computer a chance to "learn" . so guy turns it down for mileage, then cranks it up at a light or a hill to race some one or what ever ,than turns it back down again , and so on. the trucks adaptive learning setting are confused. just my opinion. however like i said for ever allison LCT 1000 I do ,I'll bet theres a controler.