The Tuners probably work a bit differently between mfg's, but they have the same basic functionality. Plug it in near your left knee, it reads the current settings and saves them as your 'stock tune'. Then you choose the new performance setting you want to input. Like for 87 octane gas, or 91 octane, or Max MPG's, or Towing, or Offroad, whatever that particular mfg has set up as far as available tunes.

To change to a different tune is the same procedure. Plug it in, let it read the settings, choose the new tune, wait while it loads.

Some may let you adjust individual parameters yourself, but I have only used the canned tunes provided. And some may let you keep the tuner plugged in all the time to use other features, just depends. But from my experience, no, not an on-the-fly kinda thing. More of a stop-and-wait kinda thing while the tunes load.

 

Thanks, like I said I dont have a clue. How long does it take to load a new tune? Are the tunes stored on the unit or do you need wifi or something? Are chips specific to makes and models or does one size fit all? Thanks again

 

Depends on the programmer/tuner, and the mfg. For the Superchips Flashpaq and the DiabloSport InTune that I have used, I downloaded a program to my computer, then plugged the unit into the computer to update the software on it. From that point, all tunes for my vehicle were in the unit, but I would still need to plug into the computer to download future updates.

Each unit should have a big list of vehicles in their database across multiple vehicle manufacteres, but since it gets VIN-locked to 'YOUR' specific vehicle, you can't lend it to a friend or use it on the wife's car if hers happens to be on the list.

Loading a tune took maybe 5-10 minutes. Ish. Sometimes quite a bit longer if I ran into a problem. From my experience, Superchips flashpaq was very flaky with downloads/updates and getting stuck on the install, and their tech support sucked. DiabloSport was better, but unfortunately that tuner reached end-of-life and they stopped supporting it. (and I didn't want to pony up for the new version they offered)

 

So a PC or a laptop is essential, smart phone or tablet won't cut the mustard? Best, OK, stay away from recommendations? Costs? Do you get a bang for the buck?

 

I haven't tried to stay up to date with these things, so hopefully you'll get some more replies on what's new and great with tuners these days.

From my experience with the various tunes on the two Tuners I used, while I could feel a bit of extra seat-of-the-pants power, it felt nothing like the 20-25 HP they were claiming on the box. (More like 6 or 8 hp.) So these days I pretty much just use the AEV ProCal (programmer only, no performance tunes) to adjust the non-engine settings like tire size and gear ratio and whatnot.

There is a newer smart-phone app that does a bunch of the Programming features, but I don't recall reading that it has Tuner capability. Had to look it up again, the name is J-Scan. Quite a few on this forum are using it, so there should be some good info to be found.

 

Stay away from the BullyDog, it's just a headache. I've played around with various tunes. IMO they're not worthwhile. It's way more important to just have the programming functionality to fix tire size, gears, etc....along with a few little things like tire pressure alerts, cooling fan hi/low and stuff. Anything you have to have a computer to do downloads with will have future headaches. A lot of people have had success with the Jscan app that uses a BT dongle to your OBDII port. I think I might be the only one it didn't work great for. Nice thing about that is you get a pretty dynamic diagnostics set up as well.

 

Thanks guys, sorry it took a little longer to reply. My tractor decided I needed lessons in diesel engine trouble shooting. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I think I have learned enough to understand the concept but ore importantly the marketing. Have a great week!

 

Just to add, I'm happy with the DiabloSport intune I3. It offers that little bit of help when needed for passing and take-offs.

 

Thanks for the heads up