More hp by flashing the memory?

[TSoul]

While I was getting service done at Martinsburg RV one of the dealer owners was talking to me. He mentioned that he was driving a new Crescendo with a 350HP Cat motor at 70-75 mph and he was getting 7 to 7.5mpg. I said I wish mine would do that. He told me I could (or they could) take it to frieghtliner and have the memory flashed and reprogramed to be a 350. He said that the 300 and 350 where in fact the same engine and that all I had to do was get the flash done (for $1800.00). I am talking about the 300 cat c7 engine with the 6 speed allison transmission.

I have four questions for the forum. 1. Has anyone heard of this? 2. Is it true? 3. Has anyone done this? 4. and for $1800.00 is 50hp more worth it?

The guy told me that the engine would not have to work as hard and I would get more mpg. I am currently getting about 6.5mpg right now with 1000 miles on the motorhome. I know it will get better as the engine breaks in but if I could add .5 to 2mpg on top of that it would be great.

Now if I had 50hp more I would probably use it for getting on the interstates faster and maybe a little more throttle from light to light. I still would travel around 60mph as I usually do. I though I would ask here first. Then I plan to call frietliner, cat and allison and find out if it is true and safe to do this. I will post those answers next week after I make the calls.

Thanks for your time and replies. Happy Camping

 

[RV Wizard]

While it is true that you can easily bump up the electronic engines to a higher HP & torque; usually the fuel milage does not improve drastically. As you have already stated you would probably us it to get from ligh to light faster and to get onto the interstate. We tend to use up the gained hp and so the fuel milage stays about the same. Now if you needed the extra HP to get you up a grade for the load or weight that you have then you would appreciate the boost in HP & torque. If you were to be gentle and not ask for all the engine can deliver you could gain in mpg.

 

[TSoul]

That information is right on target with what I was thinking. I think I can be gentle on the pedal and probably gain some MPG. I will have to talk the wife into it. After I get the ok I will do more research on it. It may take me to next year to get the go ahead for this project since I just spent a bundle on the inverter and extra batteries . Thanks for your input. Happy Camping.