Question for Mike Troyer
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From: Buford, GA
Question for Mike Troyer
Mike - I just received a Microtuner for my 2001 SCrew (5.4L) as a gift from my wife. Unfortuneately, she was unaware of the group buy and was unaware to purchase the tuner from your company (I told her before where to order from, but she had forgot). I just noticed that a new tuner is coming out with an 87 octane program. My question is, with the current Microtuner, will it hurt the engine to run 87 octane with the tuner programming (I understand I will not have the full potential of the program)??
Also, do you thing there will be any kind of "trade-up" available for current Microtuner owners?? If I had had this tuner for awhile, I wouldn't worry about it, but considering I just got it, I really wish I had waited on the new (even though I did not know they were changing it).
Thanks again for your help!!
Also, do you thing there will be any kind of "trade-up" available for current Microtuner owners?? If I had had this tuner for awhile, I wouldn't worry about it, but considering I just got it, I really wish I had waited on the new (even though I did not know they were changing it).
Thanks again for your help!!
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Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
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From: Virginia
Hi LC,
You don't know how many times this exact same thing happens, where the wife buys the Micro Tuner for their husband as a gift, only they order it from the "wrong" company because the wife forgot the name and, usually in a panic at that point, finds the first company carrying them & orders it from them. These things happen, just enjoy your Micro Tuner.
No, you cannot use 87 octane fuel with the Micro Tuner. You must always use a good quality premium gasoline of at least 91 octane, and make sure to avoid all the cheap stuff, never buy gas based on price - no off-brands or no-names, and no Exxon, either, as these are generally lower energy fuels that deliver less performance and fuel mileage. Use only the very best quality 93 octane premium gasolines available where you are in GA. Brands like Sunoco (especially if you have access to their Ultra 94) Citgo, Shell, Conoco & Texaco generally do a good job here in the Eastern US.
No, there is generally no official "trade up" program anytime Superchips (or just about any other automotive performance manufacturer) releases a new product.
By the way, just in case you may not be aware of this, the power gains on 87 octane are minimal, it's not like you're going to be able to use an 87 octane performance program and get significant power gains - you're looking at 5-8 HP max, keep that in mind. The real power gains come with the tuning for premium gasoline, and that also gives you your best fuel mileage.
Perhaps the most important point is that unless you drive the vehicle harder after using the Micro Tuner, your fuel mileage with the Superchips tuning is generally going to go up a bit, all else being equal, and that helps to offset a good bit of the additional 20 cent per gallon cost of premium gas (that's the national average, here for us it's only 10 cents a gallon more for premium). Now if you try using cheap fuels, you can shoot that full of holes and end up getting *worse* mpg due to a lower energy content. That's a mistake some people make when switching over to premium fuel and that rarely works out well, either in performance, mpg or actual overall fuel cost to operate.
Worst case scenario, if you drive it like a race car all the time, you *might* be able to spend an additional $100 for each 10,000 miles driven for gasoline. The reality is for most people driving 15K-20K miles per year, they average spending $50-$100 a year more for fuel running the Superchips tuning & using premium gas all the time, as compared to running 87 octane fuel on the factory program. A couple bucks a week. And there are numerous people here who have documented even lower figures, some aren't even spending $50 more a year for gas. This varies depending on your operating conditions of course, how much stop & go traffic, how much towing, how much cruising, etc., along with the quality of fuel used. So chances are it's not going to cost you as much as you may think to use premium gas with the Micro Tuner, and the performance gains are well worth it.
Have fun,
You don't know how many times this exact same thing happens, where the wife buys the Micro Tuner for their husband as a gift, only they order it from the "wrong" company because the wife forgot the name and, usually in a panic at that point, finds the first company carrying them & orders it from them. These things happen, just enjoy your Micro Tuner.
No, you cannot use 87 octane fuel with the Micro Tuner. You must always use a good quality premium gasoline of at least 91 octane, and make sure to avoid all the cheap stuff, never buy gas based on price - no off-brands or no-names, and no Exxon, either, as these are generally lower energy fuels that deliver less performance and fuel mileage. Use only the very best quality 93 octane premium gasolines available where you are in GA. Brands like Sunoco (especially if you have access to their Ultra 94) Citgo, Shell, Conoco & Texaco generally do a good job here in the Eastern US.
No, there is generally no official "trade up" program anytime Superchips (or just about any other automotive performance manufacturer) releases a new product.
By the way, just in case you may not be aware of this, the power gains on 87 octane are minimal, it's not like you're going to be able to use an 87 octane performance program and get significant power gains - you're looking at 5-8 HP max, keep that in mind. The real power gains come with the tuning for premium gasoline, and that also gives you your best fuel mileage.
Perhaps the most important point is that unless you drive the vehicle harder after using the Micro Tuner, your fuel mileage with the Superchips tuning is generally going to go up a bit, all else being equal, and that helps to offset a good bit of the additional 20 cent per gallon cost of premium gas (that's the national average, here for us it's only 10 cents a gallon more for premium). Now if you try using cheap fuels, you can shoot that full of holes and end up getting *worse* mpg due to a lower energy content. That's a mistake some people make when switching over to premium fuel and that rarely works out well, either in performance, mpg or actual overall fuel cost to operate.
Worst case scenario, if you drive it like a race car all the time, you *might* be able to spend an additional $100 for each 10,000 miles driven for gasoline. The reality is for most people driving 15K-20K miles per year, they average spending $50-$100 a year more for fuel running the Superchips tuning & using premium gas all the time, as compared to running 87 octane fuel on the factory program. A couple bucks a week. And there are numerous people here who have documented even lower figures, some aren't even spending $50 more a year for gas. This varies depending on your operating conditions of course, how much stop & go traffic, how much towing, how much cruising, etc., along with the quality of fuel used. So chances are it's not going to cost you as much as you may think to use premium gas with the Micro Tuner, and the performance gains are well worth it.
Have fun,
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Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Buford, GA
Mike - as always, thanks for your excellent support. I will make the wife feel guilty tonight when I tell her what a great help you are.
The reason for the question of 87 octane is that I am averaging around 32K miles/ year. This is mostly driving to and from work. Therefore, to offset some of the additional expense, I figured I might run 87 octane during the week and juice it up on the weekend. But, based on your comments, that is not possible.
Unfortunately I have always had a heavy foot. And you better believe I have been putting this tuner to the test since installing it on Saturday. My first tank of gas I got a little over 12 mpg, but like I said, I was testing it out and that also included some towing of a utility trailer.
Wouldn't you know that as soon as I installed this, gas prices jumped up about $.10/ gallon
I still need to adjust for tire height, so maybe I will see better numbers (gas mileage) after doing that.
Once again, Mike, I do appreciate your help!!!
The reason for the question of 87 octane is that I am averaging around 32K miles/ year. This is mostly driving to and from work. Therefore, to offset some of the additional expense, I figured I might run 87 octane during the week and juice it up on the weekend. But, based on your comments, that is not possible.
Unfortunately I have always had a heavy foot. And you better believe I have been putting this tuner to the test since installing it on Saturday. My first tank of gas I got a little over 12 mpg, but like I said, I was testing it out and that also included some towing of a utility trailer.
Wouldn't you know that as soon as I installed this, gas prices jumped up about $.10/ gallon
I still need to adjust for tire height, so maybe I will see better numbers (gas mileage) after doing that.
Once again, Mike, I do appreciate your help!!!
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi LC,
I hope you don't make your wife feel guilty, we know how those things go, and in most cases the wives *already* feel guilty as it is.
You guys are lucky, those of you whose wives buy you go-fast parts, my wife usually won't do that for me. I guess she figures I probably wouldn't be satisfied with anything I didn't have a hand in either developing or testing thoroughly, so I get few go-fast surprises. But then in all fairness, I have to also point out that I get no grief when I want to do something to increase power/performance, such as the cylinder heads that are about to go on my truck, heh-heh..............
Since you are driving more than average, about 32K miles per year, then worst-case scenario that could potentially mean as much as about $300 a year more for gas, about $6 per week. Realistically, most likely you'll find it's significantly less than that amount. Unless your miles are virtually all stop & go traffic, you should do well in terms of the actual increase in fuel costs once the novelty of having a new go-fast parts wears off a bit.
Have fun!
I hope you don't make your wife feel guilty, we know how those things go, and in most cases the wives *already* feel guilty as it is.
You guys are lucky, those of you whose wives buy you go-fast parts, my wife usually won't do that for me. I guess she figures I probably wouldn't be satisfied with anything I didn't have a hand in either developing or testing thoroughly, so I get few go-fast surprises. But then in all fairness, I have to also point out that I get no grief when I want to do something to increase power/performance, such as the cylinder heads that are about to go on my truck, heh-heh..............
Since you are driving more than average, about 32K miles per year, then worst-case scenario that could potentially mean as much as about $300 a year more for gas, about $6 per week. Realistically, most likely you'll find it's significantly less than that amount. Unless your miles are virtually all stop & go traffic, you should do well in terms of the actual increase in fuel costs once the novelty of having a new go-fast parts wears off a bit.
Have fun!