Ping with 87 octane Hypertech PP III

[Porch40]

A couple of nights ago I installed the 87 octane program from my new Hypertech Power Programmer III. During the installation it came up with one DTC - P1000 which I read is a self diagnostic code that can occur when you change batteries which I have recently done. Installation went fine. The next morning's commute was killer. Improved acceleration and very smooth running over all rpms. On the return trip I thought I'd check for detonation on a couple of hills that always brought the condition on when the truck wasn't running right - MAF needed cleaning. I hit the middle of the hill with the AC on and floored it. Yikes, good amount of PING. I called Hypertech back and spoke with one of the techs and told him the following :

No ping before installation of program
63k miles on truck
Fuel injectors cleaned 2k ago
MAF cleaned 1 week ago
Coolant replaced 25k ago & up to required level
No engine codes
Truck is 100% stock

He said that the truck should not ping on 87 with stock equipment. His thought was that there may be be carbon build up on the pistons/valves and suggested Sea Foam through the brake booster line.

I had seen this operation before on youtube and thought yikes, but maybe. So I grabbed a can and did it early this morning. I did NOT let the truck die when adding the sea foam. I let it sit for 20 mins then fired it up. A little smoke came out but nothing like the fog on youtube. I then took the truck for a highway ride keeping the rpm at 2500-3500. Upon hard acceleration it still pinged. So, thinking maybe I needed to dump so much in and cause it to die I repeated this procedure actually trying to get the engine to choke. Nope, no choke & die. Again, upon startup there was some smoke but no fog. I took this to mean my engine is relatively clean. Anyway, back out to the highway for another rip. Still pinged. Accelaration was great but that's not right. I checked for DTC codes when I got home, P1000 again and that's it. I figure if any sensor was going it would throw some sort of code. I figure I have a couple options, run 89 octane or higher to see if it goes away or deprogram it and send the programmer back. I don't really want to run higher octane. The driveability of the truck IS much improved, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra 20-40cents per gallon IF 89-93 octane would solve this problem. Without it throwing any codes I think it would take a dealership a lot of work to figure out what is causing it to ping since you have to deprogram the vehicle for them to perform diagnostics and then it doesn't ping.

Has anyone had probems after user the hypertech, superchips, or diablo ?

Thanks for your help.

[Porch40]

Well, I went ahead and removed the PP III programming and went for another highway spin. Only 1 instant of slight ping and I was running it quite a bit harder than this morning as far as load goes. This morning it was cool, little wind, and I was running OUT of overdrive. I wanted to keep the RPMs high to clean things out This afternoon I left it in overdrive, turned on the AC, and faced about a 30-35mph headwind. I went in and out of overdrive multiple times.

So ... unless the hypertech guy has some magic other than saying try a lower temp thermostat I think I will be sending the programmer back which is a shame because it really does run smoother when programmed. I don't think there is anything wrong with the hypertech programming. I figure one of my sensors is probably slightly off. Not enough to throw a code but just enough to prevent optimum operation.

I didn't mention before, I'm using Chevron 87 & altitude here is 620ft.

I hate ping