Fuel management gizmo for pickups

[cornchuck]

I have been seeing these gizmos on Facebook that you plug into your car/truck's OBD/Diagnostic port that will increase fuel mileage, boost preformance, etc. I have a 2014 GMC Sierra 1500 4wd 5.3L that I would like to get better fuel mileage. Now I get 17-19 mpg. Does these things work? If so, which one should a guy get?

Jason

 

[displacedtexan]

Anything under $4-500 won't do anything.

 

[Verdehunter]

Don’t waste your money.

 

[49ereric]

Colder set of spark plugs and open the gap to the high end of specs.
high gas mileage tires next time you buy.
drive slower If practical.

 

[TheHammer]

Having a stock truck retuned can have its benefits. But after the added power wears the fun factor off some then you might see some type of increase in mpgs. But how much do you drive the truck? You can buy a good amount of gas before seeing 500$ back. What do you all use the truck for?

 

[logan123]

If it were that easy or that cheap, don’t you think they would’ve just included it?

Scam

 

[Yoder]

The only time a chip will do anything is if you have a turbo diesel and can adjust the boost.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

A good quality tune, preferably custom tuned by someone very familiar with your specific motor and transmission, doe have good benefits.

Between the parts needed and cost of then you are looking at $3,000+ An out of the box plug in tuner does next to nothing unless you get a really
good quality diesel tuner with heads up screen ($1,000 minimum).

 

[Weldor]

You can purchase a tuner specifically for your rig, they are updatable and do work. That said they are not the cheap ones. I can tell you from first hand experience the Diablo tune I put in my JKU made a huge difference. 20 mpg city 3.6 v6 33's 2-1/2 lift auto. It increase low end torque and shift points and you can control your cooling fan for better crawling on those forest service roads and trails.

 

[SWOHTR]

I’m not much help on this front so I’ll just offer some thoughts:

1. Pickups don’t get good MPG. Accept it and move on.
2. Be wary of going outside of factory specs.

Not trying to be crass, I’ve modified vehicles but it’s with the above two in mind. Good luck to what you do!

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

You can purchase a tuner specifically for your rig, they are updatable and do work. That said they are not the cheap ones. I can tell you from first hand experience the Diablo tune I put in my JKU made a huge difference. 20 mpg city 3.6 v6 33's 2-1/2 lift auto. It increase low end torque and shift points and you can control your cooling fan for better crawling on those forest service roads and trails.

I’d love to get 20 out of my JKU. Not sure it’s doable with 35’s and 3” lift. How much did the Diablo tune set you back?

 

[Tjdeerslayer37]

no way youre getting 17-19 out of a 5.3. is that hand calculated or are you reading the lie-o-meter?

 

[CRJR45]

Yeah , ...NO ! LOL . I bought the Diablo tuner and it did nothing . Or nothing worth mentioning , IMO

 

[Weldor]

I’d love to get 20 out of my JKU. Not sure it’s doable with 35’s and 3” lift. How much did the Diablo tune set you back, I got it on sale $499 and it is updatable. 35's might be a stretch.

 

[Weldor]

Yeah , ...NO ! LOL . I bought the Diablo tuner and it did nothing . Or nothing worth mentioning , IMO

Call them up, they'll help you out.

 

[browning2480]

I have a Blackbear Perfomance tune on my 03 Chevy Tahoe. It makes a world of difference. I bought the Autocal so I can load different tunes for the type of gas I using. You use the Autocal to record data from your vehicle and then send that to Justin at Blackbear and he builds a tune specific to your vehicle. Transmission shift points and all that are adjusted. 330,000 miles on mine and going strong.

 

[displacedtexan]

I have a Blackbear Perfomance tune on my 03 Chevy Tahoe. It makes a world of difference. I bought the Autocal so I can load different tunes for the type of gas I using. You use the Autocal to record data from your vehicle and then send that to Justin at Blackbear and he builds a tune specific to your vehicle. Transmission shift points and all that are adjusted. 330,000 miles on mine and going strong.

Good custom tuning is the only way to go.

 

[Banded_spooney]

no way youre getting 17-19 out of a 5.3. is that hand calculated or are you reading the lie-o-meter?

seriously I have the same truck as listed but a 13... I'd kill for 17-19

 

[dboone3]

The car manufacturers have to meet various MPG metrics per government regulation, if something could be tweaked to squeeze our more MPG it would have been done already.

 

[Tjdeerslayer37]

The car manufacturers have to meet various MPG metrics per government regulation, if something could be tweaked to squeeze our more MPG it would have been done already.

yes and no, they also have to conform to epa emission regs, which often hurts mpgs as a result. from the factory, theyre generally as efficient as they can be, AND satisfy the epa.