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Any of yall using a Range AFM?

1K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Slim-N-None 
#1 ·
I'm tired of the stupid 4 cyl mode on my Silverado and always feeling like it's bogged down between the 8 cyl kicking in. I've heard good things about the Range module back when I had my camaro so I took the plunge and got one for the truck. I'm planning on documenting what I'm seeing from today and about 500 miles from now since I have a good trip record over the last 500 miles with a healthy mix of open and heavy city driving as well as highway . For anyone that doesn't know what it is, it's a small module that plugs into yuour odbii port and disables the active fuel management. It claims that Chevy can not track it since you are not modifying the computer in any shape of form. Hope I never have to find out, but if I do, and I remember to update I will definitely post up results. As you can see, the truck has aboit 5k on the odometer, and alot more soot on the exhaust pipe than it should.
 

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#3 ·
My wife drives a 14 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3 and loves the truck but does not like the way it shifts due to the in and out of the AFM. She drives in M5 most of the time which is the same as what the Range does but has to remember to do it each time she fires it up. I have been looking at getting a Range for her truck. I assume once you plug it in it works each time you start the truck? You don't have to remove each time you turn it off do you?

We have found that even running hers in M5 so it can't go into 4 cylinder mode it still gets within 1 mpg of what it does engaged on the highway. Not enough difference compared to having the truck shift and perform better.
 
#6 ·
Yeah, according to their website and all the stuff I read on the camaro forums GM can't detect it.

Yes you can leave it plugged in full time, but they reccomend unplugging it if the vehicle is gonna be parked for a long time. There is one warning they give that you may get an error on the dash, but all you have to do is unplug it and turn the vehicle off and back on. It is due to the data transfer on the system, but doesn't cause any harm. After the first 100 miles in Pearland to Houston traffic I haven't seen a huge change in my fuel mileage but being able to hammer down and move in traffic is a night and day difference. The test 500 miles had a chunk of high way driving so after I get a good run in I'll have a better idea.
 

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#8 · (Edited)
So for the first real update since I've had it installed for a couple of weeks and put about 450 miles on it, I experienced the check engine light this morning that they mentioned on their webpage. I switched the truck into auto 4wd mode in the downpour as I was leaving my house which seemed to be the cause. The said it would do it if the system got overloaded. Between the 4wd, and the Bluetooth, and navigation booting up, I'm sure it was rocking in there. It took a little more than just turning it off and back on to get rid of the light, but that may have been because I didn't have enough time to wait. I just disconnected the battery real quick and problem solved. it wasn't anything serious as far as I could tell, but I don't have a programmer or reader to see if there's a code in the memory. It had to have been running on reduced power since I could definitely tell it was not at 100%. This far I'm getting 16.5 mpg based on the computer in the dash. My next update will have the 500ish mile update.
 
#9 ·
Looks like my mileage was unaffected by the range afm based on the computer unless you count a slight improvement. I can't tell a difference on the soot on the tail pipe but it may be just the residual in the exhaust being blow out. I'll keep updating as I remember.
 

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#11 ·
Mine is the 5.3, but the module works on the 6.2 as well. If your on the fence about it, I plan on posting the good bad and ugly that I am seeing. I'm not real happy with the check engine light issue, but I have just started unplugging it when I'm not driving and reinstalling when I'm leaving in the morning. The reason I'm doing that is because I think I read the truck needs 6-8 clean driving cycles to clear the code from the memory and that would have been yesterday. I'm going to leave it plugged in starting again today and see if it kicks the check engine light code again. If it does I'll either send it back to where I got it, or see if range can do the updated module in case they have new firmware.
 
#12 ·
So after unplugging it when I parked it and plugging it back in when I was ready to go to make sure the computer cleared the memory according to the info I found online, I had my brother run his scan tool on it this past weekend and there was no record that he could find. I have been leaving it plugged in full time since then and have not had a light come back on.
 
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