Tuning dilemma

[nwsewell]

I've reached a bit of a dilemma.
I want to tune my truck ('19 Classic 5.7) but I've only got 13k on the odometer, and the stealership talked me into purchasing an extended warranty when I made the deal on my truck.
Ive already done a couple modifications that could (in theory) negate my extended warranty if I dont return to stock prior to taking the truck in to the dealer (vararam and carven competitor)
I've been trying to hold off on any of the more major modifications until I get out of warranty (about 2.5 years from now at the rate that ive been racking up miles)

My question is: should I say "F the warranty" and do the PCM swap/hemifever engine/trans tune? Or should I do the "sneaky" method and buy the Pulsar Edge?

If there were any guarantee that the Pulsar will actually support custom tuning in the future, I wouldn't second guess it. But I dont want to drop $500, just to eventually spend another $1,000 getting it done proper.

Also, before anyone suggests it, i am already running the pedal commander. I like the sensitivity, but i want more power.

Any and all opinions are welcome

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[Burla]

Did u get the 3.92's?

 

[nwsewell]

Did u get the 3.92's?

Im running 3.21s, and am plenty happy with them. Im currently running the 0-60 in 6 seconds flat

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[Burla]

Well, you said all opinions you wanted to hear, I'd get 4,10's. Maybe higher if you don't go too fast on highway. If you would have got 3.92's, I might have said go in another direcction. good luck either way...

 

[nwsewell]

Well, you said all opinions you wanted to hear, I'd get 4,10's. Maybe higher if you don't go too fast on highway. If you would have got 3.92's, I might have said go in another direcction. good luck either way...

I appreciate the input. I'm planning on keeping my current gear ratio, I actually chose the 3.21s because I prefer the way they accelerate at higher speeds.

Eventually, once the warranty runs out, I'm going to do longtubes, cam and non-MDS lifters.
Right now I'm just torn between the Pulsar Edge, or going all out with the PCM swap, i3 and Hemifever tune.

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[Gone]

I say FU it ... I have less than 10k miles on my 18 i have a diablo unlocked pcm diablo bypass cable and tuning with hptuners.. diablo has a better pcm and bypass cable hptuners has better tuning

 

[Jho93]

just posted a thread on this but diablo does not plan on providing custom tuning for pulsar

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...share_tid=149455&share_fid=17770&share_type=t

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[nwsewell]

just posted a thread on this but diablo does not plan on providing custom tuning for pulsar

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...share_tid=149455&share_fid=17770&share_type=t

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Thank you for the insight!
I had read much earlier that custom tuning would eventually become available for the pulsar. Its a shame that they aren't planning to stick true to that.

With that new information in mind, I think my choice has been made for me. It does not make sense to spend $500+ now, just to spend another $700+ later to have it done right.

Now the question is: do i ride out the warranty untuned and add a few more supporting mods (throttle body, v6 fan) while i wait? Or should i just say **** my warranty and get the hemifever tune and start on the meatier mods (long tubes, lifters, cam)

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[Jho93]

I would say that if you prefer to have the warranty i would wait for the factory warranty to expire then tune it. the extended warranties are always more money for them than it costs or they wouldn't offer it. that being said it has its uses but if you want to tune it then you should cancel it now you can actually get a refund applied to your monthly payments and end up with no payments for several months like I did with my last car

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[nwsewell]

I would say that if you prefer to have the warranty i would wait for the factory warranty to expire then tune it. the extended warranties are always more money for them than it costs or they wouldn't offer it. that being said it has its uses but if you want to tune it then you should cancel it now you can actually get a refund applied to your monthly payments and end up with no payments for several months like I did with my last car

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Who did you contact to get rid of the extended warranty? I might just do that, I don't want to keep paying for something that isnt going to get used lol

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[Pull Ya]

Lots of people have the same dilemma that you are wrestling with--warranty vs. tuner. These are some things you might want to consider; if you get a tuner you are taking a gamble that nothing associated with the engine or drive train is going to go wrong because if it does, the dealer will surely blame it on the tuner and you are going to be stuck paying the bill. If you have other problems that are not associated with the tuner the dealer should fix those problems without question. The 2 bolt on mod's that have the best performance gains are a custom tune and a set of long tube headers(excluding a pro charger or supercharger or lower gears). The other common mod's are sort of a "supporting cast" to your tuner and headers ie; throttle body, CAI, etc. and freer flowing muffler. A lot of people say if they have problems they will just take the tuner off and the dealer will never know. I see two problems with that, one is that the PCM records your mileage as does the odometer. If the case of an expensive warranty claim I think the dealer, either on their own or maybe being told to by FCA, will compare the mileage recorded, and if there is a discrepancy I think you will have problems. The other problem has to do with personal integrity--people taking responsibility for what they do to their truck. If you put a tuner on it--tell the truth. I gambled, and got a tuner soon after I bought my truck, and lucky I haven't had any problems with the truck, but knowing that if I did, and it was caused by the tuner, it was going to be on my dime. Either way you decide-Good luck!
Jay

 

[Jho93]

I called the company my warranty was through and told them I wanted to cancel. they sent notification to the dealership I purchased through then I had to go to the dealership so they could record the mileage I canceled at and they prorated my refund based on time or miles whichever was more but I got like 3200$ back out of my 4k warranty. I then called the warranty company to confirm they sent a refund to my finance company since I didnt own it out right, so i called the finance company told them the refund would be coming and asked them to apply it to monthly payments rather than principal and had no payments for like 11 months

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[nwsewell]

Well guys, i think I'm about to bite the bullet.
I just emailed Matt at Moe's Performance to answer a few questions about compatibility with my truck (since its a '19 Classic) and some other things.
With any luck, i will be getting hemifever tuned within a week

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[Pull Ya]

IMHO you went to the right place for accurate information.
Jay

 

[nwsewell]

IMHO you went to the right place for accurate information.
Jay

Between everyone on these forums, and Matt, I feel like I'm getting the best information available lol.

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[Jho93]

so the only other question I would ask is if that pcm is engine and trans tune or just engine because the engine tunes will give you a lot but from what I read the trans tune will really push it to the next level! the other thing is did you get a controller to match or just an already unlocked and tuned pcm, because my understanding is while stock it's pretty straightforward tuning, once you start changing bolt ons and getting deeper in it you can have your handheld data log and send the files to hemifever for tweaking and I believe this is free for most bolt ons until you start getting into boost or cams they will upcharge. everyone seems to be split 50/50 about who's the best tuner for our engines and most people agree it's either hemifever or jay greene so you'll definitely get a quality product and Moe's seems to be the right place to ask those questions and get a setup for our truck. from what I've seen your preferred tune is just going to be personal experience and preference, congrats on pulling the trigger! I'm still a little too gunshy to do it yet, but I think I'll run through my factory warranty within another 6-8 months and do it then. I bought my truck with 14k in march and have 25k now lll so might as well wait.

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[Jho93]

Lots of people have the same dilemma that you are wrestling with--warranty vs. tuner. These are some things you might want to consider; if you get a tuner you are taking a gamble that nothing associated with the engine or drive train is going to go wrong because if it does, the dealer will surely blame it on the tuner and you are going to be stuck paying the bill. If you have other problems that are not associated with the tuner the dealer should fix those problems without question. The 2 bolt on mod's that have the best performance gains are a custom tune and a set of long tube headers(excluding a pro charger or supercharger or lower gears). The other common mod's are sort of a "supporting cast" to your tuner and headers ie; throttle body, CAI, etc. and freer flowing muffler. A lot of people say if they have problems they will just take the tuner off and the dealer will never know. I see two problems with that, one is that the PCM records your mileage as does the odometer. If the case of an expensive warranty claim I think the dealer, either on their own or maybe being told to by FCA, will compare the mileage recorded, and if there is a discrepancy I think you will have problems. The other problem has to do with personal integrity--people taking responsibility for what they do to their truck. If you put a tuner on it--tell the truth. I gambled, and got a tuner soon after I bought my truck, and lucky I haven't had any problems with the truck, but knowing that if I did, and it was caused by the tuner, it was going to be on my dime. Either way you decide-Good luck!
Jay

I can tell you it's really not something FCA gets involved with too much unless it's something extremely abnormal. I worked at a dodge dealership for 2 years doing mostly complex diag, trans rebuilds and engine rebuilds and the only time we really got FCA involved was if it was something that was just unreasonably complex like a wiring issues where the pcm printed circuit board ended up shorting to another circuit or something of that nature that would require a star case. with most warranty claims physical damage and pictures of it were emailed but I dont think I ever had to submit data logs of mileage for comparison with the odometer. there were a few guys we even worked with to pull their tunes before updating software and reloading them because of heavy mods. I doubt we would have honored warranty for cam and lifters on the ones with comp cams or boost but they never did have any major failures either. I'm a strong believer that our eco mode is the worst thing for the hemi and the obnoxiously thin oil fca recommends.

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[nwsewell]

so the only other question I would ask is if that pcm is engine and trans tune or just engine because the engine tunes will give you a lot but from what I read the trans tune will really push it to the next level! the other thing is did you get a controller to match or just an already unlocked and tuned pcm, because my understanding is while stock it's pretty straightforward tuning, once you start changing bolt ons and getting deeper in it you can have your handheld data log and send the files to hemifever for tweaking and I believe this is free for most bolt ons until you start getting into boost or cams they will upcharge. everyone seems to be split 50/50 about who's the best tuner for our engines and most people agree it's either hemifever or jay greene so you'll definitely get a quality product and Moe's seems to be the right place to ask those questions and get a setup for our truck. from what I've seen your preferred tune is just going to be personal experience and preference, congrats on pulling the trigger! I'm still a little too gunshy to do it yet, but I think I'll run through my factory warranty within another 6-8 months and do it then. I bought my truck with 14k in march and have 25k now lll so might as well wait.

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I haven't ordered yet, but i was definitely planning on getting engine & trans tune. Theres no sense in only doing it halfway for the small difference in cost lol.
I will be ordering the unlocked PCM swap with the I3 handheld, and will try to work with hemifever to get the tune perfect.
The way I see it, I know I'm going to do these mods eventually one way or another so I might as well bite the bullet and do it now.

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[nwsewell]

Well, you said all opinions you wanted to hear, I'd get 4,10's. Maybe higher if you don't go too fast on highway. If you would have got 3.92's, I might have said go in another direcction. good luck either way...

Man, I really was happy with my 3.21's but now you actually have me strongly considering doing a gear swap. I dont see myself ever needing or wanting to do more than 120-130mph (on a track, not on the highway). But I think most of where I want or use my power would be in the acceleration from a stop.
Im going to see how the truck responds to the tune before I make any decisions about swapping the gears or choosing a ratio.

Thank you for the suggestion.

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[Pull Ya]

Matt also has the gear sets and the install kit. You can talk to him about changing gears and see what his opinion is. I would recommend 3.92's. I think you will find a significant difference in the performance of your truck after the engine and trans tune. I think with the tune, long tube headers, and the gears you will find a big difference in your 6 sec 0-60 times.
Jay