how bad are these programmers

 

I have one on my 03 silverado 1500. As soon as I put it on I noticed a drastic change in power. The main reason I got it was for the monitoring ability. For example a month or so ago my check engine light came on and all i had to do was hook up the programmer. It showed me the code the computer in my truck was putting out.I thenlooked the code up on the internet and then fixed the problem that was wrong. The gas cap had rattled loose and it set the sensor off. But I will say that now I can pretty much spin tires all the way through 70. thats with nothing but the programmer on it

 

I support a custom tune over a programmer. But, if you're under warranty,, you might catch all kinds of hell from the dealer with the custom tune. But, the programmers do offer the diagnostic trouble code ability... Depends on what you want... If you don't care about the warranty thing, I'd say go with a custom tune after you do all the other mods. Makes much more power than you'll ever get with a programmer.

 

I agree MrLM7 get a custom tune from somebody, it just depends on your plans for the truck as which is better to go with you can spend $250 or less on a tune but it will cost $50 or more plus shipping from other programmers for updates on added mods. Also I am not positive about other programmers but the dealership cannot tell our tunes are there other than the truck runs considerably better and over 98mph, even if you tell them its there it will not void the warranty, in the US we have laws to protect us from this (Magnuson Moss Warranty Act). They might try to fight you on this but your best bet is to just not tell them about it. I am not saying the cheaper tunes are bad because even the cheapest custom tune out there is better than a hand held programmer but custom programming is like anything else you get what you pay for.