programmers/ reflash worth the money for hp increase?

[troller71]

I see a ton of ads for hp increases with different programmers and or reflash units. Are they worth the money?

[REW]

I always wonder a bit, why folks want to do something to their engines that may go for $20-$50K that is not certified by the engine manufacturer and likely voids the warranty.

These engines have been developed at significant cost to be the best engine possible to meet a wide variety of needs and an overall excellent balance in operation.

Normally power comes from an increase in RPM. Will the additional RPM of a chipped engine shorten the life of the engine? Of course a Chipped engine is likely to cost fuel economy, if that is important to you. The only way to get more power from an engine is to pump in more fuel and air to get more hp from the engine.

But, that is the wonderful thing about this country. Every one can purchase whatever they wish if they have the wherewithal and enjoy the benefits or the costs of such a purchase.

Enjoy your choices, whatever they may be.

Have a happy snow day.

[Northwoodswalleye]

Originally Posted by troller71

I see a ton of ads for hp increases with different programmers and or reflash units. Are they worth the money?

Simon is a reputable ecu tuner. I tuned my pro xs and it runs great. Was told by dealer that mercury cannot tell whether it was tuned or not as long as stock tune is in motor when they look at it. Rpm stays the same as stock-more power is made by opening the drive by wire throttle more

[Wrktfsh]

Originally Posted by REW

I always wonder a bit, why folks want to do something to their engines that may go for $20-$50K that is not certified by the engine manufacturer and likely voids the warranty.

These engines have been developed at significant cost to be the best engine possible to meet a wide variety of needs and an overall excellent balance in operation.

Normally power comes from an increase in RPM. Will the additional RPM of a chipped engine shorten the life of the engine? Of course a Chipped engine is likely to cost fuel economy, if that is important to you. The only way to get more power from an engine is to pump in more fuel and air to get more hp from the engine.

But, that is the wonderful thing about this country. Every one can purchase whatever they wish if they have the wherewithal and enjoy the benefits or the costs of such a purchase.

Enjoy your choices, whatever they may be.

Have a happy snow day.

Same reason folks tinker with their cars. Some just like to build em and tweak em to get a little or a lot more out of them......new or used

[egladding]

Is it worth it? I don't know about you but if you buy a new Mercury V8 ProXS 200hp motor you can buy the kit to tune it from your own laptop for around $1300. Then you can tune it back to stock whenever you want. The tune takes it to 330+hp. It basically gives you the tune of a 300 ProXs. $10+/- per HP gain is a pretty good deal.


Take the new 2020 ZV20 Nitro has coming out. If you order that boat with a 300hp ProXs it costs an extra $4200 over the 225 ProXs that is comes with. So if you sent your ecm from that 225 to Simon's they could do it for you for under $1000. You then essentially end up with a 300 ProXs. If you look at all the Pro Xs v8"s the specs are all 100% the same including max RPM's. The only differences are the tunes.


I have buddies that have new Yamaha Sidewinder Turbo snowmobiles. They are about 180hp stock. With almost nothing but a tune they can put out over 300hp. Some of these guys have almost 20,000 miles on these sled motors that have been tuned and have had no engine issues. If you have a motor that was built in a family of motors or a series like the old Verado L6 motors or the new Pro Xs V8's then you aren't really abusing the smaller motors by tuning them to the max hp of that family of motors. They are all virtually the same motor besides tuning.


If my boat sells I will be looking for a new boat and will definitely be getting a tune done. The other expense you need to think about is a new prop for the new tune. That could be expensive to get it dialed in unless you have a prop shop nearby that will allow you to try before you buy.

[x4flatfish]

Originally Posted by troller71

I see a ton of ads for hp increases with different programmers and or reflash units. Are they worth the money?

Wrong forum to ask this question. Go to Bass Boat Central, More informed users over there...

[x4flatfish]

Originally Posted by Northwoodswalleye

Simon is a reputable ecu tuner. I tuned my pro xs and it runs great. Was told by dealer that mercury cannot tell whether it was tuned or not as long as stock tune is in motor when they look at it. Rpm stays the same as stock-more power is made by opening the drive by wire throttle more

This makes no sense. More hp by opening the throttle more, with no increase in rpm...I call BS...The way the tune is changed is fuel mapping and timing...I have no opinion on if it works on an outboard, but can work on an automobile....

[Wkndbum]

Had it done on a Verado & would do it again.

[peter8]

Wkndbum, A few questions if you don't mind, What hp Verado did you program, hp gain, results in speed and fuel consumption, and cost. Thanks for sharing

[EasternWashingtonBoater]

Originally Posted by x4flatfish

This makes no sense. More hp by opening the throttle more, with no increase in rpm...I call BS...The way the tune is changed is fuel mapping and timing...I have no opinion on if it works on an outboard, but can work on an automobile....

I know about tuning a diesel so here's a little on how it works for diesels; basically, tuning relaxes the air-before-fuel requirement that diesel ECMs use to reduce visible emissions. As the turbo spins up, more air is sensed, and more fuel is allowed to be injected - these are done with complicated maps and computations.

With the air-before-fuel requirement relaxed, a diesel becomes more akin to fuel-by-wire and will inject more fuel into the cylinder than can be burnt causing the "coal" to roll (big dark black clouds of soot). But it also provides much more HP/Torque particularly in the case of a diesel which isn't reliant on combustion, but heat expansion - one can dump in as much as they'd like and any left over is just pushed out - unlike with gasoline which would cause detonation issues. Diesel tuners can play with these air/fuel ratios to match up with a driving style as well. It really makes a difference - the diesel becomes a rocket!

My Dodge Cummins RAM with 325hp/600lbs can be tuned, without any other modification, to output close to 500HP. Doing so, however, will drastically reduce the life of the transmission so I leave mine stock. Besides, it's the only legal way to have it. There's those add turbo capacity, upgrade to bigger injectors and fuel pump(s), and obtain out 1000HP - enough to smoke all four wheels at 70mph!

What I would be careful with, when tuning an outboard from 200 HP to 300 HP is question what's going to get wrecked? I wouldn't be surprised if the gearing in the 200HP engine is not as strong as that in the 300HP. There's got to be some differences. What's the weight difference?