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Most vehicles built in the late nineties and newer come equipped with programmable computers, instead of replacing the computer chip in the ECM in these vehicles, you can re-program the parameters directly to the ECM, all you need is an automotive computer programmer, companies like Edge products, Superchips, BANKS, Hypertech, Bully dog, among others offer computer programmers for most makes and models.

What can you expect from a "flash tuner" aka automotive computer programmer? Most automotive computer programmers have similar features, they will allow you to re-program the ECM in your vehicle, you can increase ignition timing,inject more fuel, turn the cooling fans sooner, delay transmission shifts, correct speedometer after a tire size change or a differential gear ratio change, eliminate rev limiter, increase vehicle top speed among other features.

You have to realize that auto manufacturers build their vehicles to operate under any driving conditions while at the same time allowing you to use the cheapest fuel without damaging the engine. Most auto enthusiasts want more than just an average car or truck, and they are willing to use premium fuels in order to get all the benefits from re-programming the ECM in their vehicles with a computer programmer.

How much horsepower can you gain after re-tuning the ECM with a computer programmer? Vehicles equipped with gasoline engines can expect gains anywhere from 15 to 25 horsepower and 20 to 30 ft pounds of torque, depending on the make, model and engine size, turbocharged or supercharged engines can expect slightly higher hp gains. The vehicles that benefit the most are cars and trucks equipped with turbocharged diesel engines, the gains in these vehicles is very dramatic, it can be as high as 150 to 200 hp and 200 to 300 ft pounds of torque, specially if a complete diesel controller is installed. It turns a regular work truck in to a super truck, it is not uncommon to be sitting at a stop light and witness a work truck with a lumber rack beat camaros or even corvettes in a street race.

Edge products, Bully dog and BANKS power have the most complete diesel controller systems for these cars and trucks equipped with turbocharged diesel engines; like Duramax engines in GM trucks, Powerstroke engines in Ford trucks, Cummins engines in Dodge trucks; These diesel controller systems are plug and play devices, they have their own wiring harness that plugs in between the ECM and the vehicle's OEM harness, they have their own microprocessor and in most cases a digital screen that allows you to see in real life engine temp, boost level, exhaust temp, speed, rpm and more, monitoring the exhaust temperature is the most crucial part in a turbocharged diesel engine equipped with an aftermarket diesel controller, due to the fact that a diesel engine is like a furnace, the more fuel you add to it, the stronger the fire will be, but, without being able to monitor the exhaust temperature, your engine would get so hot, that it would melt!!. BANKS, Edge, Bullydog and other brands include a thermocouple to be installed in the exhaust manifold near the turbocharger, it requires drilling and tapping a hole where the thermocouple will be located, but the extra efforth is so crucial that it can make the difference between a melted engine or a healthy one. if you want to see your four wheel drive truck do a burn out with all four wheels, you want to install a complete system from any of these brands, BANKS even makes a complete exhaust system to give your truck a meaner sound while allowing your engine to breathe better. These diesel controllers designed by these companies allow you to make adjustments on the fly, you can select 3 to 5 different parameters depending on the brand you choose, level one for mild power gains, level two for towing and so forth, you can choose the level you feel comfortable with, if you all the sudden encounter someone in a tunner car acting all bad, you can change the setting to level 5 and leave him behind a cloud of smoke. The possibilities are great.