I have an '03 Sierra with the 4.8L. I am looking into buying the Hypertech controller to give me some extra pulling power but I wanted to see what everyone's opinion of it was. Anybody have some actual hands on experience with it or any other ECU tuner/module? Thanks for any input.

 

You will only get minamal hp gain from a plug in tuner. It will help some, but not as much as you would think... The best thing is a complete reprogram which requires you to send in your pcm, but the gains great. pcmforless.com try that one, and there are many more, im just not sure of the sites. pm mrlm7 or smoke20, and they can probably tell you more.

 

PCMforLess is okay...
Wheatley Tuning is great... Excellentprices andcustomer service, too!!!
Wait4Me has mixed results...
Black Bear is good...
Ed Wright isn't bad...
Nelson Performance Tune hasawesome results,but customer service leaves something to be desired (sucks)...
Westers has mixed results...

I would say if you want it fast and done correctly, go with Wheatley Tuning. If you can wait a while and have some more money, go with Nelson.

In all honesty, Nelson might give you a couple (like 2) hp more than Wheatley, but it will cost you like another $100... I'd only use them if I was running some czazy-*** setup... Electric fans give you 12-17 hp and are cheaper than that... And Charlie Wheatley will give you his cell phone #, no bull****!!!

 

Well I am not racing the thing. I just need some extra pulling power for a trailer I pull for my business. It pulls it fine but going up hills at highway speeds it's droppen gears and running 4000+RPM all the way uphill and it's killing the gas mileage. I am planning on doing an aftermarket exhaust but I don't expect it'll help much. Just doing basically catback exhaust with stock catalyst and the Super 44 Flowmaster with duals after the muffler. I was just gonna spend $230 on the Jet Stage 1 chip but someone told me those don't hardly help at all and that I should go ahead and get an actual controller for $300-$400 but sending my ECU off to be recalibrated for racing is a bit more than I was looking to do.

SO.... do you guys recommend a different approach or will the Hypertech controller help me with gaining an extra 15-20HP?

 

bump

 

The exhaust you are planning will help a good bit, and I would do a custom tune instead of the programmer. You will see much better gains with the tune.

 

Nelson Performance sends you a PCM that is already tuned, and you send in your core within the next 15 days... If not, they charge you like $150...