My friend has a 2002 F250 four door, 8' bed, 4x4,diesel. He is interested in a chip and knows nothing about them. I told him to stick with superchip, but don't know much more about the diesel. I have read on this board that there is MUCH room for improvement with these engines, I also recall something about gages to monitor exhaust gas temp etc. How much can he get out of the chip with out going to any extremes such as having to add additional gages and such. I will relay any information to him and help him with his decision to buy. Thanks for any and everything that you can tell me about it. -- Martin

 

I would recommend the Superchip for that. I had a 99 F250 Powerstroke and had the off-road version of their chip installed which was about 80 H.P. and 150 Lbs. of Torque better than stock and it really helped the trans and response. He can get the Handheld Tuner from Superchips now which has 2 programs on it the Standard and Off-road. The difference is how much power he wants and whether he is towing or not. I wouldn't tow with the off-road mode without an EGT gauge period and if he tow's more than 4k then you would want the EGT gauge now matter which chip you use. Diesel's are just backward of gas motor's, the more fuel you put in a diesel the hotter it runs. My MPG stayed about the same but I couldn't keep my foot out of it.

I have always gotten great service from Diesel Injection Service(DIS) in Texas. After I totalled my Super Duty off a 375 foot canyon I got a 98 5.4 Lariat and they were willing to reflash my diesel chip for free to work in my gas motor, works great. You don't have to know the computer code for the tuner.

With my off-road chip in I could smoke both my 35's for 100 feet in the diesel, pretty impressive for such a heavy truck.

 

Hi MW,

Actually, there have been some changes in the program nomenclature, what we used to call the "Off Road" program is now CARB-approved as well, so you can run either the +60 hp or the +80 hp program and still be emissions compliant in all 50 states.

There is no need for an EGT gauge with the Superchips tuning in the +60 hp program (though we do like to see an EGT gauge in *any* turbo-diesel). You can tow right up to your full rating up the side of a mountain, and your EGT's will stay in line with the +60 hp program. With the +80 hp program, we do say it's mandatory to use an EGT gauge if you're going to be towing anything more than 4000 lbs. In the vast majority of cases at even higher towed weights the EGT's still stay in line with that +80 hp program, but it is pushing the motor more, and it's just a prudent & smart thing to do anyway. Again, we like to see EGT's in all turbo-diesels, even bone stock units, but here we're talking about what *has* to be, to answer what you actually asked.

What we recommend using is the newer Superchips Micro Tuner, as that is extremely easy to install, it has *both* programs in it, and it also has a built-in OBD-II code scanner as well, that was just very recently added to those units. We can of course still supply the traditional Superchip module as well, but the Micro Tuner is a far better value and easier to install, so that's the route I'd take.

Please feel free to give us a call (or have your friend call us), and we'll be happy to go over any of this in more detail.