DO TUNERS/PROGRAMMERS REALLY GIVE YOUR TRUCK BETTER GAS MILEAGE?

welcome guys.  today i’ve got a little bit of a follow-up topic a little over a year ago, i did what i thought was just a pretty quick article showing me install diablo programmer on my 2014 chevrolet silverado. It’S actually been my most popular topic over like the past five years, so i’ve been pretty impressed with how well received it was, and i’ve actually gotten lots and lots of follow-up questions on that topic about specifically uh does this programmer improve gas mileage? Now i think it’s pretty well established that programming the computer in your vehicle, whether it be a car truck whatever, and for whatever application, you’re choosing it for is designed for performance.

 

There are definitely horsepower and torque gains to be had, but lots of people maybe aren’t even interested in that part of it they’re interested in better gas mileage all of these websites. I’Ve actually gone back this morning and just searched different programmer websites to see how do they advertise the gas mileage and pretty much all of them advertise better efficiency, better gas mileage. So i’ve formed my own speculation on this. I’Ve been programming vehicles for a little over 20 years, first vehicle that i ever programmed was my 1997 ford f-150. I had a super chip in that back in the day when you actually plugged a chip into the ecu down in the floorboard on the passenger side, and you know i did that, then i actually had to get a custom program when i supercharged that truck the Next vehicle i had was a 2005 ford ranger.

I had a superchips programmer for that. One next vehicle was a 2013 f-150 with a 5.0 liter coyote. I had a superchips programmer for that vehicle and now we have my 2014 silverado and i chose to go with the diablo intune programmer for this vehicle. So i did this about a little over a year ago, so i have a year of experience with this programmer and, like i said, i’ve been doing this for years and i know what i’ve noticed as far as gas mileage changes before and after the programmer.

 

But to more specifically – and i guess, to actually offer some data to people that ask what i’ve decided to do, um is i’m gon na reprogram, my vehicle now with the factory base tune, i’m gon na go back to stock and run the truck drive it for About a week you know just normal day-to-day driving and i’m going to record what i get and i know what it should be, and i remember what it was before i got this programmer and then i’m going to put the uh the performance tune. The 93 diablo flex tune on here um and i’m gon na also drive it for about a week. You know possibly longer just depending on what my schedule is like, and i’m gon na put the results on here and let you guys formulate your own opinions like. I said i’ve i’ve pretty much made up my own opinion about fuel efficiency on programs um, but you know, like i said it’s very specific. Like a canned tune, you know just a typical generic tune from the factory is going to get pretty much what they advertise.

Give or take a little bit a custom tune done with a dyno or specifically one-on-one support between you and a custom. Tuner can probably get you a lot better results so anyway buckle up over the next. You know 15-20 minutes we’re gon na drive this truck. I’M gon na show you what i’m doing with the programmer at the end, we’ll talk about it and see what we get. Okay, let’s go so.

 

This is average after about two weeks on the factory tune with dod in place and a good solid, probably tank and a half of gas [ Music ] all right. We got a fresh tank at 93 octane gon na go in here and go back to our diabolo flex, tune and we’ll reset our gas mileage and see what we got. Let’S go to advanced tune flex, tune, firm shift on the tcm [ Music ] and apply the old tune. [ Music ] tuning complete all right, i’m heading out on a little road trip. I’Ve been driving it on the 93 octane diablo tune for like six days.

I’Ve burned about a third of a tank of gas, so i’ll, probably top it off right here, got about a three hour drive already this week. Now this is all just city driving, but um you can see. Average is about 15 miles per gallon. That’S that’s already. Three miles per gallon better than the stock factory tune, so take that for what you will, but anyway, we’re going to see what it’ll do with a little bit of a road trip involved.

 

Numbers should get better. So let’s do it ! So this is really my best average gas mileage. This is pretty much strictly highway driving.

You know. Over these past few days, i’ve been driving 65 70 miles an hour cruise control, and you know 21 about the best that i’ve gotten i’ve averaged honestly about 20 and truly that really is not all that different than some of the best numbers i used to see Before the programmer i mean i typically have seen some 22s before so there’s really not a lot gained there, [ Music ] honestly. So you know, after doing this sort of mini study over about a week to a week and a half, i think it really kind of supports what i’ve been thinking all along. You know for the past 15, 20 years, if you’re buying a programmer for your vehicle. You know your car, your truck, there’s really, there’s really no point in doing it for the gas mileage, because you’re just not going to realize the uh the benefit for the investment that you put in.

 

You know you’re spending, four or five hundred bucks up front on the actual device with the program and then you’re gon na spend an extra 10 to 15 bucks. Every time you fill up the gas tank uh, you know when i filled up the other day. Premium was 70 cents more a gallon than regular grade 87. So you know it’s it’s just a it’s a push. As far as gas mileage um, you know i did notice a little bit of difference driving around town yeah i mean i got like two to three more miles per gallon with stop and go driving with a little bit of highway driving mixed in um.

You know 12 miles per gallon is pretty much what i’ve averaged in this truck over the past four years, with no program in a week of putting the performance program on here with the 93 octane gas yeah, i was hitting 16 

 

So that looks good on paper, but when you’re doing highway driving you know, maybe the fuel maps really are pretty ideal from the factory for highway driving. You know, there’s just really not a lot of change there in the program you know from the performance program. Maybe it’s all underneath the curve, maybe it’s all in the lower rpms. You know for wide open throttle driving. You know that’s my hypothesis, that really the performance benefit and i 100 wholeheartedly agree that there’s absolutely a reason to program your vehicle for the performance game.

Maybe it’s all down there and, if you’re really trying to get the best gas mileage out of your vehicle and you’re, trying to not really apply a lot of throttle use your cruise control highway driving, there’s just not not a lot of gain there. So moral of the story uh, if you’re looking at a programmer for the gas mileage benefits, i honestly would suggest just don’t do it if you want it to pull, if you want it to tow, if you want it for better quarter mile, you know better horsepower And torque numbers 100, i believe in them i’ve been doing it a really long time on multiple vehicles, and i believe that computer tuning absolutely is some of the best bang for the buck for your car truck. So once again, this is mack. I hope you enjoyed this follow-up topic. I had a great response to my original article, which i did about a year ago, and a lot of people wanted to know about the gas mileage.

 

So i finally had some time do the test and that’s what i found so if you haven’t already uh subscribe, click that little red button down in the corner and check out some of my other article. I i’ve turned this channel really into a mixed bag. We got all sorts of cool outdoor stuff here on this channel, so check some of my other articles out and stick around hope to see you next time. Once again, this is mac. Take it easy.