HighSierra86
Active Member
Hey guys, just installed Heath's tow tune in my 96' after wanting to do so for years. I ran the GL4 program in my 95 and was very happy with it. Cant say the same with this reflash however.
Ive had it in the truck for several days now using it around town, on the highway, both unloaded, and towing our Bobcat skid steer. First thing I noticed is how nice the extended glow time is. Truck starts much easier with almost zero smoke "puff". The dead pedal is gone and the engine pulls much smoother down low.
Now my biggest complaint is the smoke. With and empty truck or trailer, as soon as the truck lugs down, or before the boost catches up, I find myself dumping alot of smoke out the tailpipe. And im not talking a haze, but rather a solid cloud that will gradually clear up. Granted the truck is a 5 speed manual, there is a big loss of boost between shifts. But trying to drive the truck without creating clouds of soot becomes quite the challenge. Put a loaded trailer behind the truck and this thing smokes like a friggen freight train. It really looks bad. I looks like im driving an old nutless n/a diesel again. Now im no tree hugger, and dont mind a little smoke, but its stuff like this that gives diesel a bad name.
Other thing I noticed is that my coolant temps were easily 20-25 deg hotter when towing. Ive never had a problem or even had to worry about this before, but now I find myself having to drive with a very close eye on the guage. I was assured that the tune had nothing to do with this but im not buying that at all. EGT's are up a bit as well, but that was expected. And from a seat of the pants dyno, I dont think I gained much towing power. So in a nutshell Im not that impressed.
I called and spoke to Bill about my concerns and he was very helpful as unsual. He offered for me to send it back for them to tweak it until I was happy. First thing he had suggested was that I raise my boost pressures. I have been running a max of about 11psi which he wanted me to increase to 14. Idea behind that made sence being that they designed the tune based around that number. He checked everything over and didnt notice anything else out of the ordinary. Only other suggestion was that my tired old gm5 had worn compressor blades making it too slow to build boost like it should. I have taken a picture and emailed it to him awaiting a reply. I have since raised the boost pressures with little change.
At this point in time, I am really leaning towards returning the computer and putting my stock one back in. The truck always did what I needed it to do with almost zero smoke. I really havent seen enough of a gain to make the reflash worth it so far. Id rather spend the money on some brake upgrades. The old girl can pull, but cant stop!
Just to make it clear, Im not here to give a bad name to anyone or their products. Bill has been very helpful and I will continue to work with him to try and figure this out. I have always been very happy with his service and his products. What im trying to gain here is some input from members and see what you guys think. Thanks
-Nick
Ive had it in the truck for several days now using it around town, on the highway, both unloaded, and towing our Bobcat skid steer. First thing I noticed is how nice the extended glow time is. Truck starts much easier with almost zero smoke "puff". The dead pedal is gone and the engine pulls much smoother down low.
Now my biggest complaint is the smoke. With and empty truck or trailer, as soon as the truck lugs down, or before the boost catches up, I find myself dumping alot of smoke out the tailpipe. And im not talking a haze, but rather a solid cloud that will gradually clear up. Granted the truck is a 5 speed manual, there is a big loss of boost between shifts. But trying to drive the truck without creating clouds of soot becomes quite the challenge. Put a loaded trailer behind the truck and this thing smokes like a friggen freight train. It really looks bad. I looks like im driving an old nutless n/a diesel again. Now im no tree hugger, and dont mind a little smoke, but its stuff like this that gives diesel a bad name.
Other thing I noticed is that my coolant temps were easily 20-25 deg hotter when towing. Ive never had a problem or even had to worry about this before, but now I find myself having to drive with a very close eye on the guage. I was assured that the tune had nothing to do with this but im not buying that at all. EGT's are up a bit as well, but that was expected. And from a seat of the pants dyno, I dont think I gained much towing power. So in a nutshell Im not that impressed.
I called and spoke to Bill about my concerns and he was very helpful as unsual. He offered for me to send it back for them to tweak it until I was happy. First thing he had suggested was that I raise my boost pressures. I have been running a max of about 11psi which he wanted me to increase to 14. Idea behind that made sence being that they designed the tune based around that number. He checked everything over and didnt notice anything else out of the ordinary. Only other suggestion was that my tired old gm5 had worn compressor blades making it too slow to build boost like it should. I have taken a picture and emailed it to him awaiting a reply. I have since raised the boost pressures with little change.
At this point in time, I am really leaning towards returning the computer and putting my stock one back in. The truck always did what I needed it to do with almost zero smoke. I really havent seen enough of a gain to make the reflash worth it so far. Id rather spend the money on some brake upgrades. The old girl can pull, but cant stop!
Just to make it clear, Im not here to give a bad name to anyone or their products. Bill has been very helpful and I will continue to work with him to try and figure this out. I have always been very happy with his service and his products. What im trying to gain here is some input from members and see what you guys think. Thanks
-Nick
