whats aftermarket tuner makes a good economy tune for getting better mpg's on the highway?

DP TUNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saying you have some trans work done, gauges, air intake, and at least a straight pipe exhaust?

there's always injections too..a buddy of mine has a 97 f-250 x-cab 4x4 with a zf 5 speed 4.10 gears and 38's...he gets 26 mpg.....he's also got propane injection and a custom burned chip.......

I recommend Power Hungry Performance out of Georgia for all tuning needs.

Power Hungry Performance

Bill Cohron is a pioneer in the industry.

Here is a bit of his bio from his website:

Bill, a calibration and software engineer, has a history in the automotive performance industry that spans more than 20 years. Along with Steve Cole, he was one of the first 7.3L calibration engineers and created many of the files still in use today! He has worked for Superchips in Orlando, FL and was recruited by Edge Products in Ogden, UT in late 2003 to be their "Ford Guy". Along with an outstanding team of engineers, Bill is responsible for much of the development of Edge's Evolution Programmer, from initial concept and design to firmware and calibrations.

Over the past 11 years, Bill has custom tuned hundreds of vehicles ranging from mild street racers to wild, twin turbo monsters. He has worked with many of the top names in performance such as Steeda, Paxton, Vortech, Magnusson, and Panoz. Recently, Bill was asked by ShoNuff Customs to program a truck for Fast & Furious. He has also shared his wealth of tuning knowledge with others in the industry and has trained other popular tuners.

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Dont forget you need the other mods first! Unless you wanna spend even more money for a new trans and such...

My vote is DP tuner. We have TS performance on ours rite now and i wish it had the DP. I have not seen one person yet to not like their performance from DP.

That is a good point. If you are going to custom tunes then you are best to do your "other" mods first as a custom tune is just that, made specifically for the mods you have in place. If you want a tuner now and mods later then stick with the canned tunes.

Even with the "safe" Tuners like superchips or edge i would still have the safe mods first. On any performance tunes these diesel heat up REAL quick.. Gotta keep an eye on temps. Plus last time i was at the local diesel shop i saw a whole pile of transmissions with broken input shafts. Not a pretty site to see.

I agree. Make sure you plan out your mods so you always have the highest chance for success. One wrong mod could be catastrophic.

Tony Wildman at TDP is also a well respected custom tuner for the 7.3.

Here's a link to their site: http://www.totaldieselperformance.com/

Whatever way you decide to go, here's another vote for the supporting mods, too - a better flowing intake such as the 6637 or similar, for gauges at least an EGT (post turbo) and boost gauge. Tranny temp would be nice too.

A nice MBRP exhaust to help keep those EGT's down.

OK - I'm done spending your money........

Bricks When going to napa, is that all you tell them is that part number for the filter? I wanna get that K&N Crap filter off my dads truck and put one of those on..

That's it

OK, let's backup for a second. The OP (original poster) was asking about a tuner that gave him better gas mileage. One of the cool things about diesels is you can pretty much dial up almost any amount of power you want (within reason)- just a question of how much fuel you want to run through it.

Some good suggestions for kicking up the power of a 7.3- but I think all of 'em are going to result in a truck that'll get significantly less mpg than the stock setup.

If he drives it easy he'll see improved fuel mileage with custom tuning.

That's a big "if", though....

Very true.. Depends on how much you baby it. With our chip its nothing to get almost or at least 20 MPG highway. Any chip will really offer better gas mileage.

Bricks said:

If he drives it easy he'll see improved fuel mileage with custom tuning.

That's a big "if", though....

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According to a guy I know that designs them (the motor's, not the tuners), that can be true in a gasser... but not a diesel. In a diesel (pre- '07 clean air variety), power is strictly a function of how much fuel you want to run through it. Increased turbo boost is necessary only to accommodate the increased fuel flow, nothing else. Cliffs Notes, there are programs that increase power, and programs that increase mileage- but they aren't the same programs.

On gassers, there are many more variables that the computer controls. Generally speaking, the more "efficient" a gas engine is, the better power and fuel mileage it'll produce. Because of current fuel efficiency standards, most manufacturers are walking a fine line between the best efficiency, while still staying legal for all EPA regulations, and ensuring the expected durability/reliability implied by the warranty.

That's the wrinkle with programmers- while they may increase power and/or fuel mileage, there's usually a trade-off that either involves engine durability/reliability or EPA issues. In some cases it could be something simple like compromising the 100,000 mile spark plug change.

Bricks said:

for gauges at least an EGT (post turbo) and boost gauge.

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I'd like to correct an error here . I should have said pre turbo for the pyrometer probe.

Yup drilling in the Up pipe on the DS seams to be the place to put the probe