Is HP Tuners better for gas engines than EFI Live?

[Texas Edition]

Hey guys, I have a 2008 GMC Sierra 2WD Crew Cab SLE2 Texas Edition 5.3l LMG 5.3l Flex Fuel truck. I have read on other forums that people with gas engines tend to run HP Tuners more than EFI Live. I'd love to have a Diesel and my next truck will be the exact same truck that I have now, but a 4wd Diesel.

So is this true? Is HP Tuners better for gas engines than EFI Live? If so, is it because of the price or something else?

[minytrker]

To answer your question NO! hpt isnt better than efi on gas engines! I have and use both HPT and EFI Live. They both have there pro's and con's, neither one is 100% perfect. For your truck I prefer EFI Live since its a E38. With EFI you can tune and log the virtual VE without any other outside programs. The person doing the tune is the limiting factor not the software.
EFI may cost more upfront but you have to also look at all the features the V2 gives you compared to HPT. There are alot of big company's in the LS world that use EFI over HPT all tuning gas vehicles.

[Texas Edition]

Thanks for the reply and the info. I too believe that EFI Live is best tuner programmer out there, because of its features and the ability to tune more in depth. Where I got the info about HPT being better for gas engines than EFI Live was on a Duramax forum. They were saying that more people use HPT rather than EFI Live on gas engines.

I have been a member on the board for a while and have read alot over the years. I have read much more than I have posted. So now that I have read quite a bit, I guess I'm ready for some questions related to my truck. What kind of performance gains should I expect? What kind of fuel economy gains should I expect? I know I can adjust numerous things such as removing the Governor, Torque Management System, Transmission Management System, increase line pressure in the transmission, increase throttle response, able to change tunes with the Tow/Haul Mode button being a way to switch to a different tune.

This is what I want to do to my truck.

Remove roughly 80% of the Torque Management System
Remove roughly 80% of the Transmission Management System
For these two, would removing 80% of these two management systems be too much?

Increase Throttle Response
Remove the Governor
Increase Fuel Economy
Increase Performance
With having the Tow/Haul Mode button off, I want a tune that is for pure Economy
With having the Tow/Haul Mode Button on, I want it to be for pure performance - would I still be able to tow a boat with this on with my performance tune activated? That would include having the Torque and Tranny Management System mostly removed.
Firmer shifts
Increased line pressure in the transmission - guess this falls into the same catagory for firmer shifts. I read there is a way to have the shifts vary depending on the throttle. WOT would have the firmest shifts and normal acceleration would have smooth shifts and everything in the middle would have different shifts
Adjust for having a performance exhaust - I changed out my Flowmaster 40 Series single in dual out to an actual performance non- restricted muffler; Spintech ProStreet 6000 single in Dual out. Everything else is stock including the air intake except that I have a drop in K&N filter


I know on the Duramax Diesels, you can add a selector switch from 0-6 to change tunes from stock to mild to aggressive tunes. Is this a possibility with my gas 5.3l gas engine?
Are there any adjustments you can do to improve the Active Fuel Management System?
Lastly, is there anything we can do to these dang 5.3l engines to keep it from kicking down a gear when going uphill? 315 stock horsepower, but I believe I have 320hp with my K&N drop in filter and my low restricted Spintech Prostreet 6000 performance muffler. I don't understand why these trucks have to drop down a gear to maintain speed going uphill. The engine has plenty of power. The F-150, Dodge Ram, Tundra, etc... doesnt have an issue doing that. It really makes me miss my Nisssan Titan. That truck had so much power and never had any issues maintaining speed. With all of these issues regarding restricted power, makes me regret getting this truck. I totalled the Titan and when I went to get a new truck, I really loved the look of the 2008+ GMC Sierra Crew Cab's. The other reason why I didnt get another Titan was because of gas mileage. The Titan's still haven't improved their gas mileage. My next truck will either be a Titan or a new Tundra. But the truck that is #1 on my list is a truck exactly like mine, but a 2500HD Duramax Diesel. I know with EFI Live, I could really wake that Duramax up! Plus, I am regretting opting for getting a fully loaded 2WD Sierra. Now I wish I would have left out some of the options and got a 4WD Sierra or spent a little extra money and got a slightly used 4WD Duramax Diesel, but I couldnt afford it as this truck I have, I bought it new, was already over my budget. MSRP was a little over $38k, but got $7500 off with GMC's incentives at the time so I got it for $32,998 after rolling over $1000 of negative equity from my 2003 extended cab Silverado Z-71 with a stepside bed and $800 down payment. That was a sharp truck and loved it, especially after I bought some 33" aggressive A/T tires. I'll never buy a 2WD truck ever again! Especially since I like to lift my pickups like I did with my Titan with a 6 1/2" lift kit and bad ass 35" A/T tires.

Also, are people willing to give away their tunes on this site so that I can load a tune on my truck and then compare the stock tune to their tune so I can learn? Specifically for my truck.

Wow, this post is a bit longer than I wanted it to be. I apologize for the long post. I know I have alot of unrelated stuff in here, but I guess Im just venting about the 5.3l engine that is suppose to be such a great engine and I know I have alot of questions. I dont have alot of questions answered as alot of people on here have LS1 and Diesels.

[joecar]

TE,

There are many questions in your post, these will require some careful analysis...

try this: locate your year/model/vehicle under GM Stock Tune at www.tunefiledepot.com and download the ECM file and TCM file;

then download the V7 software from the downloads page at www.efilive.com (see V7 build 211), and install it;

now you can use the V7 tunetool to open the ECM and TCM files so you can play with them to see what can be modified.

[joecar]

Diesel engines can take increased fuel for a given air volume to produce more torque until the mechanical/thermal limits are reached (exhaust manifold melts down).

Gasoline engines require a very narrow range of air:fuel with also a very narrow range of ignition timing to produce optimal torque without detonating;

[ diesel engines seem to function by detonating (at least that's how it seems to us gassers), but gasoline engines literally die in a short time when they detonate ]

To gain efficiency in a gasoline engine, you improve the airflow/airmass from intake to exhaust over the operating range, you supply the correct amount of fuel to match the airflow/airmass, and then you find the best timing over the operating range (this has the effect of optimizing torque thru-out the operating range)

[ operating range is a two-dimension array of RPM x MAP or RPM x cylinder airmass or RPM x load ]

[ torque follows cylinder airmass, horsepower follows mass airflow ]

[ for NA/un-boosted applications, low load AFR is 14.7 (good for 5 gas emissions); high load AFR is 12.6 (produces torque, cools combustion chamber) ]

Whereas diesels can use multiple tunes for multiple purposes (this is what DSP switch does for diesels flashed with V2), gasoline engine require only a single tune in which torque has been optimized (i.e. air, fuel, spark are positioned to produce the best mean torque without running into detonation).


There is a lot to it (this topic is a major in the ME degree).