AK RAM

Curious if anyone has sent their Bully Dog Power Pup back for the updated program that is suppose to get rid of the flat spot. I put my truck back to stock tonight so I could play with some other power mods and I'm think'n about sending mine in for the update. Anyone do it? Results?

midwestdually

never noticed a flat spot...can you elaborate??

AK RAM

Quit a few complained about it when the pup was first released. I'll try to explain it as Bully Dog explained it to me when I called to complain. The flat spot occurs right at the end of a fueling map that is determined by some factor. The particular map that generates the flat spot will not always be used. It depends on what you are doing with the truck that tells the computer which map to use. The flat spot occurs, for me at least, during moderate acceleration. If I take off from a stoplight and put the RPMs at 1800, it will pull pretty good all the way up to cruising speed. If I do the same thing, but put the RPMs at 1900 or 2000, it will pull pretty good for a couple of seconds, then kind of fall flat and revert to stock-like acceleration. If I do the same thing and roll easy into the throttle, it will accelerate pretty good until the RPMs get to 1900, then kind of takes it easy until it punches through 2200, then takes off again. If I go instant WOT, no flat spot detected. During cruise it is totally different. No flat spot detected at all. I can be cruising at say 65mph and about 1600 to 1700 RPMs and roll into the throttle to pass someone or climb a mountain and it is just steady acceleration.

When I complained about it Bully Dog said it has proven to be a bear to fix given how it is generated, but they thought they had it nailed and would release an update soon. That was about a month ago. I see rumors that they have released a new program that is suppose to fix it. You can send in your pup and they will reflash it and ship it back at no cost to you, except the shipping to get it to them. That's the thing. Only UPS 2-Day from up here so this will be a $20 reflash for me. Just want to make sure it works.

CTDHokie

Out of curiousity what is your boost reading during this flat spot?

AK RAM

Don't recall the actual numbers, but somewhere between 10 and 15 lbs.

AK RAM

Well, I just talked to them and they said it would take care of the flat spot with no other adverse effects, so I boxed it up and am sending it in.

hoot

I sent my Monitor and Downloader back too. Only for a refund.
The extreme setting on mine sucked. I was told it was a bad program for my truck. The monitor was dissapointing to say the least. Had a real hard time getting my money back. Took all kinds of calls to BD and the vendor. Even after they agreed to refund they drug their heels for a couple weeks and made me start calling and threatening action. Very bad experience. The vendor was the real problem. Although i was not happy with the Bullydog product, they did back me up and helped me get my money back from the vendor. They also told me no matter what, they would take care of it.

TST on the way from a different vendor.

Berak

Hoot,

I am interested in the Downloader and have a 2003.5 with the 305/555 motor. Are you saying the downloader is not working well with these engines?? From every other report I've seen, they are generaly pretty pleased with it.

AK RAM

There have been several reports in other forums from folks with the 04 HO (305/555) getting dismal dyno numbers on the extreme setting. We are talking about gains of only 30hp. From what I have heard, it seems to be confined to early release models of the pup and only on 04 (maybe 03.5?) 305/555 motors. BullyDog claims to have provided a fix with updated software several weeks ago to anyone who asks for it. I haven't seen anyone with a 305/555 that had the low numbers post that they tried the new program and was happy. Actually, haven't seen anything from them at all, so you may want to call BullyDog to confirm before you commit your money. I would also be cautious of purchasing from someone with older models sitting on the shelf. You will want to ensure you get the very latest software as it supposedly provides a couple of fixes for different things. It won't be as cheap, but you can purchase it directly from BullyDog's site.

Lightman

or you could wait 'just another month' for the edge juice

Berak

I don't like the idea of adding hardware when it isn't needed. With the downloaders, your reusing the stock hardware which is all in place and sufficient to crank out more horsepower and torque than the drivetrain can take.

Why place an intrusive parasitic redundant system in place that increases the complexity of the entire system with it's interception and altering of signals?? All designed to get the software to do what you wanted in the first place. Seems like a bad idea to me if you can change the software directly. From a systems point of view, the downloaders are much more elegant.

I'm waiting to here some reports on the 270HP downloader that's just coming out. I like it's features.