Dp Tuner F5 Chip in E350 Van - Review

[SirVive]

I have a '99 E350 12 passenger van with 7.3 powerstroke. It is 100% stock besides the chip. Got and installed an F5 16 Position Chip from DP Tuner in early June 2012. A 1300 RPM high idle, 60 Hp Econo, and 60 Hp Towing, as well as Stock. Been using it for 5 months/nearly 10k miles now so here is my review.


Power – Drastic improvement! Went from 16-17 sec 0-60 (Yea, I know :-P It had a lot of lag time waiting for the turbo to wind up.) down to 10-11 sec in the tow setting and 14-15 in the econo. I haven't really used the tow setting much yet on the road so I can't say how it handles with a heavy load - only that it left my poor sister in a cloud of flying gravel and black smoke the first time I tried putting my foot into it : ) The econo setting has better acceleration all around, especially kicking it up to pass at cruising speeds without having to downshift. Cruising at 60 it will shoot right up to 75-80 in nothing flat.


Fuel Economy – Also good improvements. This was the primary reason I got this in the first place and although I was a little unsure at first I am now a believer. I commute with this van and 8-10 passengers over 250 miles a week; about 75% highway at 60. We also end up going on a couple of 1-2k mile road trips/year also. Almost always (80%) the same driver and always set the cruise dead at 60 when on the highway. The first month or more it was all over the map mileage wise, now I'm wondering if it just took that long to relearn all the computer stuff.
Before the chip I was pretty consistently getting 16-16.5 mpg, never much more than that. I checked the mileage the right way (top off tank and reset the odometer) but I didn't keep all of my records!! I had just been checking for my own interest but now I wish I had kept them all for the sake of this review. To begin with I would get as much as 19.5 mpg from one tank and back down to 16 on the next one with no apparent reason. It has now evened out at 18-20 fairly consistently. I consider an average of nearly 20% gain pretty good.


Here are a few I did have saved in my phone.
7/2/12 - 18.8 mpg One of the better of the initial readings from commuting.
7/16/12 - 17.9 mpg This is from a 1,200 mile road trip from Vancouver, WA to central Idaho, all highway mostly @ 65-75 mph.
7/16/12 tank #2 - 19.7 mpg Also coming back from Idaho on I-84, a fair amount of downhill/flat and slight tail wind.



One nitpick that I have just worked around – In the econo setting it had extremely hard shifting between the lower gears, so much so I was afraid of breaking something. In the upper gears there is no problem at all so I have always just left it in the stock tune for running around town and switched to the econo once I was up to speed on the highway. I'm sure if I wanted to pull it back out and send it in they could fix it for me. I want to do some more testing on it though because a few weeks ago I left it in the econo setting when I came off the freeway and it wasn't nearly as hard as I remembered when I started out from the light. Maybe it has somewhat corrected itself along with the whole relearning process? Maybe someone else knows more about this?


One question, I installed an EGT gauge into the main exhaust pipe just before it turns down behind the engine. I put it there instead of into the manifold because on these vans the 'dog house' comes off giving you full access to the back of the engine but getting to any of the rest of it is a royal pain. Just wondering how much cooling will happen before this point and thus what a reasonable max temp limit should be with this setup.

[444-4D]

Originally Posted by SirVive

One question, I installed an EGT gauge into the main exhaust pipe just before it turns down behind the engine. I put it there instead of into the manifold because on these vans the 'dog house' comes off giving you full access to the back of the engine but getting to any of the rest of it is a royal pain. Just wondering how much cooling will happen before this point and thus what a reasonable max temp limit should be with this setup.

Banks Power | Why EGT is Important

[bucklee00]

Glad to hear you like it. We have a 99 superduty van and it is so sluggish just to get it moving up to speed in the stock form. It seems like the only time I can actually use the turbo is on the highway. Do the vans have a weaker tune than the trucks stock? My 5 Spd obs feels like has much more power than our 99 SD van. Both are stock


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[Jacob@DP-Tuner]

Thanks for the review, we always like to get feedback from our customers. As for the hard shifting, you're more than welcome to send it in so we can soften those up if needed.

As for your EGT probe, we've seen as much as a 300-degree difference between the exhaust manifold and the down pipe. So 950-1000 should be your max for sustained times with your probe location. I would suggest getting this moved to a location as close to the combustion chamber as possible if you can though. Better safe than sorry. EGT's should be a real issue for your tune version and driving situations though.

Do the vans have a weaker tune than the trucks stock? My 5 Spd obs feels like has much more power than our 99 SD van. Both are stock

There are some differences between the two, while the SD van will have larger injectors and a different turbo, the lack of an intercooler really affects how much power can be made 'safely'. Ford was very conservative with the Van tuning. Let us know if we can help liven it up for you...

[SirVive]

I don't know whether there is a difference in the stock tune or not but you do have a fair amount more weight with the van even empty. Maybe that makes enough difference to notice.

[SirVive]

Originally Posted by Jacob@DP-Tuner

As for your EGT probe, we've seen as much as a 300-degree difference between the exhaust manifold and the down pipe. So 950-1000 should be your max for sustained times with your probe location. I would suggest getting this moved to a location as close to the combustion chamber as possible if you can though. Better safe than sorry. EGT's should be a real issue for your tune version and driving situations though.



There are some differences between the two, while the SD van will have larger injectors and a different turbo, the lack of an intercooler really affects how much power can be made 'safely'. Ford was very conservative with the Van tuning. Let us know if we can help liven it up for you...

As for the EGT I told the others who were driving it to keep it under 9 and most of the time it is only running in the 6 range so as long as they keep that up I should be in the clear. As to the turbo, the van doesn't have the same wastegate setup either but I don't know what if any difference that makes.

[SirVive]

Originally Posted by 444-4D

Banks Power | Why EGT is Important

Excellent article, Thanks.

[Anderson0]

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[gbono2]

I have a 2001 Excursion that's running a DP Tuner. For the most part we like his tunes. The performance is great. Yes, we have about a 2mpg increase.

Now for the bad side w/his tunes. It makes the accelerator pedal so stiff that taking off from a complete is hard to do smoothly. Most of the time the resistance will cause the X to lurch. The other down side is the transmission shift. At 45 mph, the upshift & downshift is pretty noticeable. Also, when using factory setting in 1, there is such a loss of power it will barely do 70 mph on the highway.

Would I do another DP Tuner? Probably not. I think I'd be better off to try another brand. I know my wife would be happier.

[HoneyShucks]

(It makes the accelerator pedal so stiff that taking off from a complete is hard to do smoothly. Most of the time the resistance will cause the X to lurch. )

gbono2, please explain how your chip effects accelerator pedal?

[RT]

HoneyShucks - the whole truck is fly by wire. The accelerator pedal is just a potentiometer that translates foot position to the computer. The DP-Tune has a more linear response to accelerator position. Imagine pushing the pedal 1/4 of the way down gets you 1/4 increase in engine response. 1/2 down gets 1/2 increase. With the stock tune, the response is a delayed curve. 1/4 way down may only get you 1/8 engine response, 1/2 down a 1/3 response. That allows for very precise control in the range you usually drive in whereas with the DP-Tune, you get more response.

Hope that explains it ok - it takes a little getting used to, but I had no problems with it after a day driving. They will reburn that aspect of the tune for you if it bothers you.

[trollthe6.9lover]

I have the same tuner in my 2000 f350 psd. I wish I could gain this kind of fuel economy I only get 14mpg, if I am real light in the throttle, in fact 14 is my best... (all highway 1800 ish rpm set at my
Econo tune) so congrats. I still have a few bugs to figure out with my truck I guess

[Justin@DP-Tuner]

Originally Posted by trollthe6.9lover

I have the same tuner in my 2000 f350 psd. I wish I could gain this kind of fuel economy I only get 14mpg, if I am real light in the throttle, in fact 14 is my best... (all highway 1800 ish rpm set at my
Econo tune) so congrats. I still have a few bugs to figure out with my truck I guess

Your lowered fuel economy may step from other things such as worn injectors, a boost leak, etc.

Have you done any diagnostics to look for the problem?

[Bamaman1]

If your accelerator is too touchy coming off an idle, Jody has another version of your tune that is less touchy. Call them.

My 03 7.3 crew cab F250 went from 18 mpg to 20 mpg on the open road with 80 hp econo. With diesel @ $.79 more than gasoline, I've only seen one full tank of fuel in the last year--and try not to drive my truck daily.

My truck would barely squeak the tires when new, and now it'll squall the tires on dry ground. All of these trucks corner like whales, and you better keep your suspension, shocks and brakes up to 100% or you will find yourself in a heap of trouble on a dry or wet road.

It's best to keep really good tires on your truck, and I'm not talking about 36" M/T tires driven on the street. If you're a mudder, you need 2 sets of tires to be safe.

Jody and all the tuners have stayed away from tuning the later model Powerstrokes and other brand diesels. The 7.3 and 6.0's are not going to last forever, and they need to find other vehicles to perform their magic on. Surely a tuner can make great improvements to the F150 Ecoboost's, and Ford autos' 4 cylinder Ecoboost's, and there are many times more of those vehicles running the highways than old diesel pickups.

[sedonasunrider]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the info on the DP tuner SirVive, I too have a '99 E350 Powerstroke, but mine is a 14' box van, (like a ryder truck, with a roll up rear door).

I have an early model 60hp/100 lb. Superchip that I put in it when it was practically new, which does help the turbo lag immensely. I haven't been able to break 11mpg since they messed with the diesel fuel years ago and took the sulphur out. (only got an occasional 12-13mpg before though, usually lower) I have a 4.10/4.11 rear for towing, so I cruise @ only 60mph.

I'm really intrigued about a tuner that can actually give better fuel economy, since at typically 9-10.? mpg on the high side I can't afford to drive it.

It's got a Jasper rebuilt powerstroke with only about 30K miles on it, along with Jasper's heaviest transmission rebuild for towing. I had hoped when I put in the new engine that the mileage would increase, but no such luck.

I hear mentions of powerstrokes actually getting better mpg's than a farm tractor, but unfortunately I haven't been able to personally verify that..

Does anyone know if there is a tuner that is specifically designed to increase fuel economy? Or, which ones are especially good for that?

I don't tow anymore, and I've got so much invested in it that I'll never come out if I sell it, so I'd LOVE to be able to find a way to afford to drive it if possible... Any hints or tips are VERY appreciated!