I received my Superchip yesterday, and put it in this morning (played hookey for 2 hours...don't tell anyone). I have a 2001 Supercab 2WD 4.2L V6 automatic.

I had prepped the truck by filling it up with 93 octane and ran about 1/2 a tank through it before installing the chip. As per the directions, I disconnected the battery (actually removed it because it is just easier to get to the 10mm bolt on the harness), and then turned the ignition switch on for the duration of the installation.

I was a bit surprised, as I have installed these before (in 4.6 V8's) and had very little problem...the computer box in the V6 did not have a removable plastic plug, but rather a tab that had to be snapped off...different.

Also, I intended to remove the circuit board from the computer's box, and I had to bend four metal tabs to get it apart...not too bad, but different than I had seen before. Once I took the cover off the computer box, I could NOT get the circuit board out...it is actually glued to the metal box, as well as screwed in four places. I attempted to pry it loose, but opted not to as the board started to bend a bit...woah!!!

I cleaned off the terminals I could get to with a screw driver and alcohol...not a problem. Then, I turned the board over and carefully scraped the "hard to reach" side of the terminals...I finished up with a fine sandpaper wrapped around the end of my small screwdriver...finally, I swabbed both sides down with alcohol as recommended by Mike's instruction sheet.

Finally got it back together, turned off the ignition and removed the keys, hooked up the battery and held my breath as I first tried to start the truck...WOW...it came to life immediately!

I took a short test drive and noted that the shifting was much firmer or sharper, but not hard...felt good. Then, I drove to work, which is over 20 highway miles. Seemed stronger immediately, shifted crisper through all the gears, and did not tend to downshift on hills where it normally does. Did it jam me into the seat with the extreme excess of power??? Aboslutely NOT>>> it did make the truck more DRIVEABLE almost immediately...at least a noticable difference...I anticipate it will get a little better with some mileage on it.

The only PROBLEM I noted was in the transmission shifting pattern...the shift from 1st to 2nd is super. The shift from 2nd to 3rd is goofy, but not all the time. When pulling away from a traffic light, it shifts fine 1st to 2nd and 2nd and into 3rd, and immediately downshifts back to second and then shifts to 3rd a second time...it did this 3 times in 20 miles, and I want to drive it a couple of hundred miles to see exactly what happens. I am hoping it is going to take a little time to "seat itself in" so to speak.

Overall, I am very happy with the chip and look forward to a lot more driving pleasure...

 

Congrats on the purchase. I've had my chip in for four years or so. On the commute I used to have, I would go up a moderate grade on the freeway. Withouth the chip, the truck would not maintain 70 mph in OD, and would downshift to 3rd and sometimes to 2nd. With the chip in, it would pull the hill in OD no problem.

Last year, I took the chip out for a few tanks. My mileage with the chip was approx. 10% better, but premium fuel cost about 10% more, so there was no $ savings with the chip. However, the truck was so much more fun to drive - the chip adds a lot of power in the rpm range where you normally drive - 1,800 - 3000 rpm in my case. It takes noticeably less throttle to maintain freeway speed with the chip in my truck.

FWIW, this winter my truck strarted doing the funny 2nd/3rd/back to 2nd shift with the chip in. It has never done this beofre. On mine, it only happens in cold weather and when the tranny fluid is cold. Not sure why it started doing this recently, but it goes away within 1 mile of leaving home.