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goldmember · Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 15 Location: gainesville,fl

I have a Dodge Dakota 5.9 gas truck that will be getting turbocharged soon. I already have a Fast system on my street/strip car but am nervous about taking that step on my daily driver truck. I do have an SCT unit and the tuner that sold it to me seems to think he can send me tunes and with data logs can get my tune in good shape. Any problems or things I need to know before jumping in with this plan? Thanks

Ellis · Joined: 26 Mar 2011 Posts: 30

I'll start by saying I have no personal experience with SCT, but I've read plenty of posts from people who lost PCMs because an SCT write killed the PROM. SCT reverse-engineered the write routines and got zero support from Chrysler, who sourced the PCM components from the cheapest vendors and didn't design them for multiple rewrites. There was no rhyme or reason for which PROMs went bad, or when. The failures were across the range of serial numbers and chip numbers, so that tells me it could happen again and without warning.

I know SCT has gotten past that initial failure issue but I still don't trust it. I know a lot of people are using it on NA motors with success, and I'm glad its available for that, but I definitely wouldn't use it on a boosted app or a spray motor. I understand it has problems dealing with anything over 2 bar. Even so, there are people who have pieced together solutions for using it on such things. I wouldn't.

I think that rewriting the stock PCM was something that the Dodge people needed about 13 years ago, and it would have helped their performance market immensely. Still, better late than never. I just wouldn't use SCT. I would wait for HPTune to release their Dodge tuning software. I spoke with HPT's Greg Lovato back in December at PRI, and he showed me the entire feature set for the pre-release version of the software. Its real, it works. It was supposed to be out by this month, so I guess you should contact them and see whats up. I would rather use HPT than SCT any day of the week.

10sec_rx7 · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Sydney Australia

HPT has promised dodge for years.. just like ford.. took them 4 years to get that out,

i had to bite the bullet and get diablo for the dodge as i couldnt wait any longer to do the dodge cars..

Ellis · Joined: 26 Mar 2011 Posts: 30

I would agree with you on this, except I saw the software, up and running. It is pretty close to release. I'll check with Greg on Monday and see where its at.

10sec_rx7 · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Sydney Australia

they had pics of a 300c on the dyno over 2 years ago now,

even with there ford software i still had to buy SCT to get the jobs done,

i only just purchased the CMR diablo software after waiting for too long so it will be good to compare,

one thing i have found tho is work has doubled and profits have gone up since purchasing SCT as you dont have to pay a licence per car and most people have there own boxes..

Ellis · Joined: 26 Mar 2011 Posts: 30

I agree the credit thing is a real pain. That is what has kept me from picking up their software for the LS motor. At one of their tuning classes last year it was said (by whom I have no idea) that HPT will be moving away from the credit idea. The problem is the shops that have already purchased unlimited licenses and would pitch a huge fit over that loss of cash. I don't think theres any way to properly resolve that, so they're probably stuck in the "Do we artificially restrict our sales or do we p.o. our existing tuners?" quandary.

BTW, that 300C belongs to the owner of HPT. He bought the car outright to get the tuning software done. From what I heard from someone else in the industry, the 5.7 PCM is giving them and everyone else fits. The 6.1 and V6 PCMs will hold a tune, but the 5.7 will revert back to stock after a few days/starts.

10sec_rx7 · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Sydney Australia

i use there software for the LS motors as for the gen 4's it is by far the best soultion bar none,

i can do the 5.7's with diablo Smile

Ellis · Joined: 26 Mar 2011 Posts: 30

Thats odd... I haven't messed with the 5.7 yet, but one of the engine builders that sends me work told me that the 5.7 was tunable but it reverted after a few days. I'll have to ask him what software he was talking about.

10sec_rx7 · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Sydney Australia

did a 5.7 with diablo this week, worked perfectly, did everything it was told to do...

dkGoodrich dot com · Joined: 18 May 2010 Posts: 159 Location: Frankfort KY

How are the diablo sport setups with forced induction? I have a customer that needs a tune on his newer supercharged mustang.

I just thought it was hand held limited junk and am afraid to tie my name to the car without proper management.
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El Verdugo · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 502 Location: New Orleans

Good thread, in for more info on the systems out there that you experienced guys recommend.
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10sec_rx7 · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Sydney Australia

Hugh · Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 423 Location: Scotland

I have a friend that has just supercharged his 1996 Gen 1.5 Viper.

It is uses a Paxton Supercharger supplied by DC Performance in LA, it comes with an ECU piggyback that presumably has an additional boost map.

I am looking for a low cost tuning solution for him.

I am not familiar with SCT, but have struggled to find how you get access to the ignition and fuel maps.

He also has an AEM wideband that came with the kit that has a wire that can feed true AFR back to the ECU, not sure if it is wired to the ECU though.

Can anyone let me know if SCT provides access to the map point in use to understand how to modify the correct map?

Is there a manual for the SCT software that shows you how it works?

Thanks

Hugh
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matth125 · Joined: 01 Sep 2011 Posts: 3

Great info in this thread. I've been doing some research on both the SCT and Diablo systems. I'm going to be checking them out at SEMA as well. The above post which mentioned that SCT can take out a PCM is certainly interesting. Any recommendations on what I should be looking at specifically?

Tomak · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:14 pm Post subject:

I have SCT for Dodge, and have used it for Ford.

I have Diablo CMR for Dodge, Ford and Chevy,

In reference to Dodge.... Diablo has it. Their stuff datalogs, SCT does not.

the Hemi stuff with electronic throttle with either system is not something you want to just jump into with a forced induction vehicle. LOTS of hanging throttle issues, lightning bolts etc.

You cannot compare a FULLY tunable factory ecu with a stand alone. THey make stand alones look like childs play. Especially the Newer Ford stuff. It is super complex.

Quite a few of my customers, friends etc have run into the 8's on factory ECU's with MAF sensors even.
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Tomak · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:16 pm Post subject:

Tomak · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:23 pm Post subject:

Bugermass · Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 32

I've done a lot of cars with the 3 majors, SCT, Diablo Sport, and HpTuners.

Diablo does Dodge best in my opinion,
SCT does ford best,
and Hp Tuners does GM best.

I havn't had a chance to use EFILive but I've heard its better than HPTuners for GM stuff.

you CAN do ford with HpTuners, but i feel that SCT just has a lot more to offer for ford currently, and their value file system is GREAT for getting cars done quickly. Diablo sport does ford fairly well also, especially the older chip based ECUs. Still if I had a choice, SCT for ford..

I would never use diablo to tune GM because HPTuners does it so well and the tools in the software are a lot better in my opinion. HpTuners just has a better overall workflow than SCT or Diablo.

As far as DCX goes.. I tell other tuners that are trying to get into it, that honestly, if your gonna start tuning those cars, be prepared for huge learning curve and lots of frustration. Those ECUs are just plain finicky, especially in boosted applications.

If your gonna spend the money to turbo that truck, then do yourself a favor, get you a Haltech Platinum series ECU, do it once and do it right. There are a lot of other ECUs that can do the job as well, but for that particular application I feel a Platinum Sport ECU would be a perfect match.

If any of your guy have any other specific question about any of the 3 softwares, I have a lot of experience with them all I'd be glad to anser what I can.