I have the Superchip power programmer # 1715 from Tryoyer performance and have a queation about the things I can do with it in the "all out perfromance" setting.

We fish the beach alot and allmost every trip I have to pull someone out who is buried in the sand. Some are tougher than others and I am wondering if I can do this safely with the programmer cranked up on the performance setting.

 

I know its probably for a very short period but I almost bet you will find that Mike will say its not advised to do that. I have the Xcalibrator tuned by MT and towing or heavy hauling while in the "Total Performance Tune" is not to be done. Myself, I would not risk taking the chance on damage to my motor. Drop it down to a tow tune and be safe.

 

For the 2 minutes that the truck is pulling someone out I wouldn't worry about it. If the tune were that close to the edge, people would be blowing up motors all the time. If you're going to pull somebody all the way back home an hour away then switch to the tow tune.

 

Hi Toddyman88,

I'm so glad you asked!

The reality is, you might get away with it, and you might not - and then again, you may not know if you "got away with it" for some time, too.

"HamRadio's" response is right on the money - no, we would not advise anyone they can do that on ANY "performance" tune, no matter who tunes the vehicle. Nor would anyone else that actually has profound tuning knowledge of gasoline engines.

The Maximum Performance tune in that 1715 delivers an A/F ratio that is not even remotely pushing the engine to the ragged edge, but that is beside the point - it's a matter of what type of tuning is appropriate for what type of use, and no "performance" tune is appropriate for us to pull stuck vehicles out of sand, mud, etc.

Gasoline engines tend to operate at a little bit higher EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) than the typical turbo diesel does at heavy throttle, generally speaking - and the EGT's can potentially skyrocket under that type of load. Yes, the PCM does have an EGT model that would, ideally, hopefully, cause the PCM to dump in a slug of extra fuel to cool off the cats - but you cannot ever count on that, and their time constants also vary widely in all the various different PCM revisions & various model years in these trucks.

I would consider that type of use to be "severe" and at least as hard as towing - maybe even harder. You've got 2 vehicles operating in sand, which causes higher engine loads than operating on pavement - and one of those vehicles is stuck, at that. That can *potentially* cause more load on the motor and thus potentially higher EGT's than say, towing 5000 lbs out on "normal" pavement - even if it's for a short period, that still is not acceptable or advisable, IMHO.

You don't know in advance if you can get a vehicle out in 5 seconds, or if it's going to take several minutes - it's just not worth taking a chance. I would advise loading up the towing tune to do something like that - and that just doesn't take long enough to be a concern, only a few minutes. (Perhaps now is also a good time to remind that in general, we think it's a good idea to have your tuning device on hand inside your vehicle - just in case you ever have a need to change programs while you're away from home. )

Without an EGT gauge, I'd say don't take the chance of doing that on a "performance" tune no matter whose tune it is - that would never be advised by a competent tuner, IMHO. So load up the towing tune & help them out to your heart's content!

Thanks *very* much for asking, & good luck!

 

Ok, thanks a bunch Mike. A couple of other questions pop to mind with your response.

1. Will the heat inside the cab of the truck hurt the tuner for a few (4-6) days while on the beach? It does get hot here on the Texas coast in the summer.

2. In relation to the normal driving in sand (if there is such a thing) should I just tune down to the tow mode for all sand driving or just when pulling? I really dont want to hurt the truck but the driving is so much nicer in the performance mode so I want to keep it there as much as possable.

Somewhere during the time while reading your response I realized why I bought from you.....service AFTER the sale. Thanks again....... Gordon

 

Hi Gordon,

Heat inside the cabin can potentially be an issue in summertime/direct sunlight with no ventilation, so I keep the tuner in the glove compartment (I would also be concerned with humidity). The main reason I like to have the tuner on hand in the cabin is simply in case I get a bad tank of gas somewhere and need to drop back to a more conservative or lower octane tune, or if I needed to tow unexpectedly, etc. So I'd say just use your own judgment on that - I'm not concerned with the unit being in the glovebox if the cabin temp hits 100 degrees (F) - it's another matter of those in-cabin temps hit 140-160, though, so use your own judgment on that. Observe it's operating temperature range **when actually flashing the PCM**, too - I.E., flash only when the vehicle's cabin, PCM and the tuner are all at temps within the range of about 34 (F) to 100 (F).

No, I don't think just driving on sand is reason enough to drop back to a towing mode, unless you get badly stuck and really have to hot-foot it & rock it a lot, etc. I'd drop back to a towing program to tow, or pull someone out who is stuck. Now I'm probably going to regret saying this, but I'll say it anyway - if you have an EGT gauge installed on the hottest cylinder (#5), you actually put more load on the motor as long as the EGT's remain at safe levels. But since almost nobody uses (unfortunately) an EGT gauge on gasoline engines, just dropping back to a towing program is the safest thing to do.

Have fun,

 

Mike, I have the 1715, and I have a question related to this topic. I tow a trailer about once a month, using the Performance Tow mode. I switch back to the Performance mode when I'm finished towing.

What's the difference between the Performance and Performance Tow modes, and what would be the impact of driving the truck on the highway in Performance Tow mode versus Performance mode?

Just curious...

 

Hi TeLablanc,

First - Just FYI so you'll know for future reference - any time you have a question, use the SEARCH feature here to look answers up first. It's much quicker, and cuts down on repetitive posts & responses asking & answering the same questions over & over, as this is a highly popular web site, as you know. Virtually anything you could want to know has already been discussed here many times before - like your question, for example, we've covered that literally hundreds of times before here. The SEARCH icon is in the upper right portion of your screen here, and it's provided so anyone can look up posts on any topic that has ever been discussed here, and get quick answers. Get used to using it's excellent search filters & you'll have virtually instant access to anything you could want to know - just FYI.

Now on to your question (briefly) ----

Unless you're towing (or in some other heavy-load scenario - like we were discussing above in this same thread, where you're pulling a badly stuck vehicle out just for example), you can use the "performance" tuning all the time - daily driving, highway cruising, etc. That is exactly what we do - use the higher performance tune unless something is going on that actually causes a need to drop back to a towing-compatible tune. The docs that came with your Micro Tuner tell you what program to use for what type of vehicle use, so just follow them & you'll be fine.

In general, you'll get the most power and the best MPG using the "performance" tuning compared to towing-compatible tunes, as the tuning has to be more conservative in numerous aspects (timing, fueling & a number of other areas) of powertrain control for the vastly increased loading that comes from something like towing.

I hope that info helps & thanks for your post,