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Want More Horsepower, Torque & Better Fuel Economy – Just Chip It!

As turbo diesel technology has evolved, diesel performance chips have evolved with them, and where ten years ago a diesel performance chip was literally a chip that connected to your ECM, today the meaning of the word chip has evolved. Now a chip can be a diesel performance downloader, tuner, programmer, module or even just a good old fashioned chip. Let’s take a look at the basic differences between each of these diesel power upgrades.

Traditional diesel performance chips are just what they sound like. They look somewhat like an older computer video card or sound card, and are designed to plug directly into your diesel’s computer. Highly reliable, today’s chips are used mainly for Ford 7.3L Powerstroke-equipped diesel trucks and vans. They provide excellent gains in fuel economy, often between 2-4 more miles per gallon of diesel fuel. Horsepower gains are anywhere from 50 to 140 horsepower or more, and they definitely make a difference in drive-ability and towing performance. Diesel performance chips are also sometimes used as a power upgrade for some turbo diesel cars.

The words “diesel tuner,” “diesel downloader,” and “diesel programmer” are all used interchangeably too, although they can be quite different animals. Usually a diesel performance tuner does exactly what it sounds like – it can “tune” your vehicle. This means you are able to re-program on-board controllers and customize the parameters of your engine and transmission. The applications for a real tuner like the EFI-LIVE tuner for GM vehicles, for example, are almost limitless. Any changes or performance upgrades you make to your diesel vehicle can be accounted for and adjusted using a tuner. Performance diesel enthusiasts are always making changes to their rides, and a tuner lets you factor in any performance upgrades and fine tune those enhancements to get the best results. Whether you’ve installed a new turbo or injectors, upgraded your injection or lift pump, or even if you’re running nitrous, using a tuner can help you get the most out of your investments in your performance diesel.

By far the most popular and widely used of all the diesel performance “chips,” diesel programmers or downloaders plug in to your vehicle’s diagnostic port and you download a pre-loaded “tune” or a “program” to your computer which tells it what to do. The reasons for diesel performance programmer’s popularity vary, but by far the main reason is their ease of use. You don’t have to be a tuning expert to take advantage of all the performance and economy gains your diesel can achieve using a programmer. Manufacturers like Banks, Edge Products, MADS Smarty, BullyDog, SCT, H&S Performance and SuperChips do all the custom tuning work for you and your particular diesel application, and within minutes you can turn your stock diesel into a screaming machine. Want better fuel economy? The engineers and tuners at companies like HyperTech, Quadzilla, Diablosport and PPE include tunes that are designed specifically to increase your miles per gallon. It’s pretty dang cool that you can make more power and save at the fuel pump, all with a simple programmer.

Modules are another type of diesel performance “chip” that is widely used in the diesel performance marketplace today. Rather than talk to your diesel’s computer via the diagnostic port, diesel performance modules typically install using in-line wiring harnesses into sensors near the engine itself. The results can be quite similar to a diesel performance programmer,with increases in torque and horsepower along with impressive fuel economy gains being the norm. TS Performance makes an impressive line of diesel power modules. Particularly with common rail diesels, modules are prolific and there is a module for almost every application. Some product lines like the Diesel Power brand of modules, will work with almost every common rail diesel vehicle imaginable. Whether you drive a Class 8 for a living, need a module for a tractor or medium duty work truck, or want more performance out of your diesel Mercedes Benz or Volkswagen TDI, we’ve got a diesel performance module for you.