My SCT tuner thread

[Okiespaniels]

Hey all...

This is an ongoing thread that will review my SCT tuner.
The reason I bought this tuner is to see if I could increase my gas mileage on my ram. I already knew about the power gains others have reported witht the tuner Hemifever sets up. But I challenged Sean to build me the ultimate "89 octane" can tune that would give me a boost for towing and a mileage boost while running 87 octane gas.

For the last 3 tanks of gas I have recorded miles driven/gas burned so I could get a mileage baseline. My truck is driven in mostly commute situations but under a variety of speeds ranging fom 30 to 65 mph. In a 10 mile one way trip I may stop as many as 9 times. Low end acceleration is important and my truck lacks this. I also need highway power to keep up with traffic patterns.
My truck is also ran on weekends as my toy. I attend functions for another very active local forum This involves highway and freeway speeds.

BTW, this is meant to be a simple real world test. No ultimate horsepower dyno runs, no trips to the strip. What I want to find is...do tuners really help mileage. or is "the potential for mileage gains" many manuactuers state just a buzz phrase.

So lets start. I've recorded the last 3 tanks of gas I purchased from my local QT. Plain jane 87 octane with a hint of ethanol. There is non ethanol gas availible, but simple math based on mileage claims others state shows there is no cost benefit to running it. In other words you save 2 cents per gallon burned but spend .20 to do so.

So after 3 tanks, my average mpg is 10.45, or 10.5. No onboard computer reading, juts plain old division.

This morning I installed the 89 octane tune from my SCT. Nothing could have been simpler! I decided to get the "wild hairs" off my butt and take it for a spin on a test circle which closely imitates my work route.
Now, this tune didn't turn my truck into a tire smoking superbeast. But I immediatly noticed 3 important things.
1> Less effort needed to accelerate from a dead stop. Doesn't squeal tires, but doesn't fall on its face either. Goodbye torque limiting!
2> Truck doesn't hunt for lockup. Goes into OD at 40 mph. Slight rpm increase (mileage loss?) but if the advance and fuel were leaned up by the tune mileage potential increase.
3> No pinging.

I will continue to report on the mileage, and yes, I will try the 93 tune for giggles...but not for a while.

[ramthis9501]

Gonna be a great thread. I just got a Superchips 3815 for my truck. Running the 87 octane tune as well, immediately noticed the same differences you did. It was alot easier climbing hills as well. I'll be watching this one, keep us updated!

[Okiespaniels]

Gonna be a great thread. I just got a Superchips 3815 for my truck. Running the 87 octane tune as well, immediately noticed the same differences you did. It was alot easier climbing hills as well. I'll be watching this one, keep us updated!

I'd thought about getting the Superchips as well, simply because it allows you to reset the BCM for different tire sizes. But I wanted the ultimate in downloadability and performance, and Superchips is basicly a piggyback tuner while the SCT removes the entire factory tune and replaces it.

[OklaHemi]

Good stuff Al

[Okiespaniels]

Well I filled up today...mileage is only up to 10.7 mpg.

And I'm worried about my transmission. The new shifts seem to heat things up quite a bit. Much more than I'm used to seeing.
I'm going to adjust my TV cable this weekend and see if that helps. Otherwise I may have to remove the tune.
I know there's a tranny issue. It shifts late into 2nd and 3rd (at low speeds) and not into OD now until I lift the pedal. I had this issue before but the SCT exacerbates it...the truck wants to be driven harder. The shifting issue is a mileage and tranny killer for sure.
So I can't blame the SCT...and as far as power goes, the difference from stock, especially on the highway against the ever present Oklahoma wind is amazing.

[Okiespaniels]

Okay...adjusted the TV cable...and it was WAY off! Tranny shifts much better now, and I expect mileage to go up and based on a long test drive the heat to stay down.

Will post on this thread when I fill up again.

[ramthis9501]

Havent had any problems with mine on shifting, seems to be doing much better. Economy tune helps a little with fuel and a little on power. Still havent put 91 octane in yet so I can test the perfromance tune. It will be soon though...

[Okiespaniels]

I've run through 2 more tanks of gas recording 10.1 mpg and with this last tank 10.7.

Will load the 93 tune after I run this tank out.

[ramthis9501]

Performance tune did some amazing changes for mine, better mileage and more power!

[Okiespaniels]

Performance tune did some amazing changes for mine, better mileage and more power!

How much of a mileage gain did you get?

[ramthis9501]

I havent calculated it any but I've noticed the change just watching the gauge. The reason I can say Im getting better mileage is because with the tune, the gauge isnt moving as far to the left as it did without the tune going to and from some of my normal trips. For example it took an 1/8 of a tank to go to east side Norman and back before, now its only taking about half that with the tune. I'll hand calculate it one of these days

[Okiespaniels]

I havent calculated it any but I've noticed the change just watching the gauge. The reason I can say Im getting better mileage is because with the tune, the gauge isnt moving as far to the left as it did without the tune going to and from some of my normal trips. For example it took an 1/8 of a tank to go to east side Norman and back before, now its only taking about half that with the tune. I'll hand calculate it one of these days

I can watch my guage too Colton, and while it doesn't move as quickly either, the miles recorded vs fuel used never lies. Dodge gas guages are hideously inaccurate especially in the first 1/2 tank.
You need to run about 3 tanks down to the beeper fill them till they burp at least once and record the appropriate data.
I'll give you a perfect example...on this very last tank I just recorded, I had went over 130 miles and had not used a half tank of gas. Since I have a 26 gallon tank it would be easy to surmize I was getting better mileage....like 13 mpg!
But the fillup doesn't lie...20.4 gals and 218 miles. 10.7 mpg and thats rounded up.

[Okiespaniels]

Today was rather interesting....

I went and filled my tank with 91 octane, which is pretty much what you can get for premium in this area.

I noted that my mileage had JUMPED on the last tank. I recorded an IMPRESSIVE 11.4 mpg! Fluke? Or did removing my bug shield drop my drag co efficient?

Anyway, after putting over 21 gallons of hi test in, I loaded in my 93 tune and took and took a test drive.
And then came home and loaded the 89 tune back in. Reason being the dam motor pinged like a &8^%&76798y%%4! So much for that. It may have had a bit more uummmfff down low, but not enough to warrant keeping the tune.

It seemed like the tune was set for about 40 degrees advance that was right now. Not what I would've have done with an old school mechanical distributor.

However, I would be estatic about a consistent 11.4 mpg city mileage, almost a full mpg over my baseline.

[Okiespaniels]

I've recorded 11.5 mpg on my last two tanks and thats probably where the mileage will stay. I am happy with the results and know that I could pay for the tuner in about a year based on the mileage savings. If I'd gotten anywhere around 12mpg I'd be estatic.

This summer I'll be taking the Ram to Minnesota and back with a a detour through my old stomping grounds of Eastern Iowa. I will post up with the good, the bad and the average, and then let the thread close.

I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.

[Okiespaniels]

Well, I finally got down to crunching numbers tonight from my roadtrip.

This was a 9 day adventure up to Minnesota, down to Eastern Iowa, and then home to Okiehoma. Technicaly we were in Illinois for about 40 minutes.
Speeds averaged around 63 mph, the weather was mostly hot and humid so the AC was on. It seems we were always bucking a headwind.

Anyway, the truck survived even if I was a bit stressed. We traveled 1673 miles and burned 130.7 gallons of either 87 regular or 89 ethanol gas.
This averages about 12.8 mpg
GF....the family keeper of records....tells me this is about 1.5 mpg better than the last trip we took in the ram...when gas was also in the 4.10 a gallon range!

She also tells me this was still cheaper then renting an SUV the cost of which would have offset the mileage it wouldv'e gotten.


This was to be my final post, but I may add one more. I exchanged some pms with Sean when I discovered he'd signed on with RF and he ended up sending me a new tune. This tune is still an 89 octane one but is supposed to change the shift point for OD. I believe its supposed to shift sooner. This should improve my "suburban" mileage.

BTW I can't fault Sean for his help and service. He tolerates my dumbest questions and tells me what I need to know.

[Okiespaniels]

Update:

After discussing OD lockup speeds, Sean sent me a tune that locks up the OD about 40/45 mph. This is similar to factory program.
He also tweaked the tune, and whatever he did increased low end torque to where I can actually spin the tires from a dead stop.
I'm hoping he'll offer this tune as an option or canned version. It's supposed to be hotter than the 87 tune but I'm still running 87 octane gas!