One of the best aftermarket modifiers you can get for your truck is a tuner. These tuners connect with the electronic control unit (ECU) on your truck and change some different operating parameters so you can get optimal performance out of your truck. While you can’t directly change how much horsepower the tuner adds to your truck, you can make some changes that get you the horsepower boost you’ve always wanted.
To first understand how much horsepower the tuner will add to your truck, you need to understand what horsepower is. Your tuner doesn’t directly influence horsepower because horsepower isn’t programmable. Rather, horsepower is your engine’s power, the rate at which your engine does work. One horsepower unit refers to the ability to lift 550 pounds in 1 foot in 1 second. Essentially, the qualifier refers to how quickly your engine can produce the energy necessary to move your heavy truck.
Typically, you can get about a 10–15 percent horsepower boost when you use a tuner on your engine. Still, it varies by truck and engine because you’re not changing your horsepower directly. Instead, you are tweaking some other parameters with the ECU, such as the following:
By enhancing all these operating parameters, you are fundamentally changing how your truck drives and consequently boosting your horsepower. Each minor change adds up to a much beefier horsepower, but what if you want to take things even further?
While you can only see a 10–15 percent horsepower boost with just a tuner, there are additional ways you can boost your engine’s performance and horsepower. With the right accessories and equipment—such as a cold air intake, exhaust tip, or turbocharger—you can get your horsepower to increase by 50 percent!
However, implementing so many modifications means pushing your truck and engine to the limit. You may get a lot more horsepower, but those improvements come at a cost to the lifespan of your truck and engine.
A tuner will add a lot of horsepower to your truck, but you must remember that each engine requires a different tuner. If you have a Dodge Ram 6.7L engine and are unsure where to find the right tuner, don’t worry—Norcal Diesel Performance has you covered. We’ve got the perfect diesel programmers for Cummins engines so you can get the power and efficiency you’ve always wanted out of your truck.
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