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2013 Tahoe 5.3 AFM disable

J

jimmy88

1/2 ton status
Joined
Feb 17, 2002
Posts
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Location
Detroit, MI area
Stock 5.3 with 180K miles. It will see mostly highway miles with some towing. Which way to go: HP Tuners or Diablo sport 8245? HP tuners costs $502 with 2 credits. Diablo costs $420 and can be custom tuned later if desired. HP Tuners with a custom Blackbear tune costs $700.

I'm tired of driving around in manual 5th gear and mainly just want to disable the AFM to get 6th gear back. The ability to use the programmer as a diagnostic tool is a plus. Having to learn a bunch of software to use it is a minus. The plug in AFM delete battery killer thing is a no go. Not sending the ECM out either.

So what say the experts?
 
I bought the HP tuner to use on my 8.1, the learning curve for me has been steep.
 
Have you looked for a dyno shop or other local tuner? If they specialize in these, they may have a batch license and can do it cheap. If you have to buy the credits it's just $200 + their time.

That being said, whether it's you doing it or someone else, it's a good time to fix up the shift calibration and tweak torque management. Lots of improvements to be had, as in typical GM Powertrain fashion the nice hardware is crippled by poor calibration. I keep meaning to buy credits for my 6-speed XL for this reason.
 
If you're looking to tune, the hptuners is gonna be a learning curve. If you're only looking to do things like a quick turn off/on something, it's pretty simple.

You can download the hp tuners software and run it w/o buying the dongle if you want to check it out. They even have some default factory save files on many vehicles you can look at and play with.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Wes Harden said:
I bought the HP tuner to use on my 8.1, the learning curve for me has been steep.
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How did you like the scanner part of the HP tuners program? It looked pretty straight forward. Can you turn things on and off to test them, like commanding a window to open or close? Does the scanner work with other vehicles or is it vin locked to the one vehicle?

Its that snowball rolling down the hill: $200 for someone else to tune out AFM and then have to pay more for any changes and still have to buy yet another scan tool for this vehicle. Might as well spend some more to be able to switch tunes and read trouble codes. Spend even more and get a full diagnostic suite with data logging.......
 
Scanning, trouble codes and data logging are very easy. You can be running on Torque for $20. Keep in mind HP Tuners only interfaces with the PCM and can't give you things like ABS and airbag codes or ABS bleed actuation, which are things the $100 BlueDriver can do. I think you can use the HP Tuners scanner/logger without buying the whole package. The editor is a separate application for editing and writing to the PCM, which is what they get money for. The scanner requires no credits and therefore is not locked to any vehicle.

EDIT: I was wrong about BlueDriver. It is not bi-directional. It also doesn't give Airbag information in any of my vehicles.
 
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I've scanned a bunch of cars over the years. Works pretty good for a non-make specific scanner. Can choose the pids you want to look at. Set up a dash if you desire.
 
Good catch Blue85. I was naively thinking the HP Tuners diagnostic software could replace a Tech 2 clone or high end scanner, which it cannot. Ok HP is out. No response yet from a local tune shop. (Why do businesses have contact forms on their website if they never respond to them???) Probably just go with the Diablo and get a Autel or Tech 2 clone.
 
For $200+ the price is high enough for the ODB things that I rather spend a little more to have a programmer. If it was $50 and made by a well known company I'd probably give it a try. There have also been complaints that if you forget to unplug it and the car sits for too long it drains the battery. Either it has a relatively high power draw all the time or it keeps the car modules awake all the time, neither of which I want since the Tahoe can sit for a while between uses.
 
British Slave said:
I would send you a PM, but I don't find a way to send one.
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You're not labeled as paid member, so your mailbox fills up quickly. You might have to delete some messages to be able to send more.

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I'm not sure where the rule is drawn for selling stuff in the Garage.
 
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