Canadian Hummer Club Forums

Hey whats goin on ppl im new on here, own 2008 H3 Alpha, just thinkin about a chip, I Contacted GM and they say its at own risk when dealing with the warrenty. But I'd like some advice from anyone who's done some upgrades. Is it worth chippin my alpha? And if so what kind of chip is recommended? Like i said im new on here just bought my H3 a few weeks back. Its got 40,00km and really mint, i love it. will be posting pics shortly.

Everything i have read in regards to performance chips for the H3 is it is not worth it . The gains of reprogramming the timing is so marginal . It is not worth the money and threat of lose of warranty . High flow cat, plus exhaust . Air intake , throttle body spacer . Will most likely give you what you are looking for . Also welcome , you will have fun here . Where are you from ?

No first hand experience in the mechanics business but I do have some friends who work the shop at dealerships. As far as warranty goes and modifications, it depends on a number of factors believe it or not...



One is the quality of the dealership, when a dealership has a good reputation with their corporate parent then they can often warranty 'questionable' repairs on behalf of their customer when they can say in good faith that the modification didn't cause the root issue. Since a number of expenses can be/are expensed back to the corporate parent there are those dealerships that may abuse the opportunity, if they are caught doing so then naturally that has consequences! Essentially you the customer get caught in between the politics of business!



Also to keep in mind, many vehicles have common problems, while on the other hand there are certain components that rarely fail when within the warranty period. If you have a problem with the H3 that wouldn't classify as 'common' and you've modified the vehicle then they'll be looking at the modifications to deny you warranty work. Whereas on a stock vehicle with no signs of abuse there's no reason to deny the warranty work. General feeling I get is that legit warranty work is not an issue at most dealerships, but the dealership is also accountable not to warranty things that VOID the warranty. If I brought a lifted truck in for warranty work and it needed a new coolant sensor or something... unrelated components so you'd probably get warranty, bring the same lifter truck in for driveline vibrations - related to the lift or not, not going to have so much luck!



Changes are probably good you would not have any issues with warranty if you got a tuner for the H3... but you take that risk!!

I used To have an H3 Alpha before I switched to an H2...

I would strongly rec commend not tuning the alpha as I know from experience that Shaw gmc here in Calgary would instantly deny any warranty work. There are ways for them to track if there has been any tampering with the PCM so really in my opinion... Not worth it as you have lots of warranty left...

What some people have done is order a tuned PCM and pay full price and keep their core... That way if you ever need any warranty work done, they swap modules before taking it to the dealer...

In the end.... A good magnaflow will do wonders and a cold air intake will also help. Keep in mind that there in no box anymore so if you go off roading...it's a good idea to get a pre filter to keep the water out..

Nephew told us not to chip our H3 alpha as any good dealer will check chip program and update it as required .

i am considering that right now for my Alpha and i just recently installed the Air-Doc system on my truck but its gains are minimal so far and fuel economy seems to have improved and i keep covering the same distance. i keep off roading and i still have the stock box. anyone know of a box filter similar to stock that will give me a big gain in sound while maintaining an air-box to block off water. and also a little more details about throttle body spacing as i know very little about it. i want my truck to be a Hummer while gaining more performance. thanks in advance

In the end I learned to be content... There isn't too much that can be done to the 5.3 without voiding the warranty so it comes down to personal choice.

So I simply did the high flow filter (K&N) as I wanted to keep the box, and a magnaflow exhaust. You don't get loads of more power and fuel economy but you do get some and I feel it is worth it. Gas mileage isn't too bad in the H3 as it's a lighter body but you do get some and the engine I felt ran a bit better.

From there is into drastic changes to the motor.... New cam shaft is supposed to help a lot, new headers and the most effective change is a supercharger. Getting into serious bucks now so I would recommend the high flow air filter and the exhaust and leave it at that... O, and also swap the stock catastrophic converters for performance high flow ones.... Gm makes a horrible one that is known the get blocked up later on which sends messages to the computer... I never did play around with throttle body spacers or mass air flow sensors as I was told they don't do anything but again, i don't have first hand experience with them...

[quote name='Khamul' timestamp='1320939288' post='32474']

In the end I learned to be content... There isn't too much that can be done to the 5.3 without voiding the warranty so it comes down to personal choice.

So I simply did the high flow filter (K&N) as I wanted to keep the box, and a magnaflow exhaust. You don't get loads of more power and fuel economy but you do get some and I feel it is worth it. Gas mileage isn't too bad in the H3 as it's a lighter body but you do get some and the engine I felt ran a bit better.

From there is into drastic changes to the motor.... New cam shaft is supposed to help a lot, new headers and the most effective change is a supercharger. Getting into serious bucks now so I would recommend the high flow air filter and the exhaust and leave it at that... O, and also swap the stock catastrophic converters for performance high flow ones.... Gm makes a horrible one that is known the get blocked up later on which sends messages to the computer... I never did play around with throttle body spacers or mass air flow sensors as I was told they don't do anything but again, i don't have first hand experience with them...

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thank you so much!! is there any way you can link me to the K&N air filter you mentioned so i can order it? i

[quote name='Khamul' timestamp='1320939288' post='32474']

In the end I learned to be content... There isn't too much that can be done to the 5.3 without voiding the warranty so it comes down to personal choice.

So I simply did the high flow filter (K&N) as I wanted to keep the box, and a magnaflow exhaust. You don't get loads of more power and fuel economy but you do get some and I feel it is worth it. Gas mileage isn't too bad in the H3 as it's a lighter body but you do get some and the engine I felt ran a bit better.

From there is into drastic changes to the motor.... New cam shaft is supposed to help a lot, new headers and the most effective change is a supercharger. Getting into serious bucks now so I would recommend the high flow air filter and the exhaust and leave it at that... O, and also swap the stock catastrophic converters for performance high flow ones.... Gm makes a horrible one that is known the get blocked up later on which sends messages to the computer... I never did play around with throttle body spacers or mass air flow sensors as I was told they don't do anything but again, i don't have first hand experience with them...

[/quote]



also some after market exhausts. thank you in advance <img src='http://www.canadianhummerclub.com/forum ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

On the topic of power... I've had 'basic' mods on pretty much every car I've ever owned which is intake, exhaust and a tuner. You will get very minimal power and economy improvements with these items!! Realistically speaking, the time it would take for these mods to pay for themselves in fuel saving on ANY vehicle totally outweights any 'practical' benefits as the time to payout would be decades. Still that said, I bought all that stuff for my H2 and have no regrets! You'd don't do it because it's practical you do it cause you want to... good enough reason to do anything if you ask me!



If you want a real power increase the best bang for your buck in my opinion is a supercharger. I ran a supercharged H2 in my Mustang (which is also supercharged) and walked the H2 like it was standing still so understand that even with some serious horsepower improvements these will never be 'fast' vehicles by any stretch. Just the unfortunate reality of driving an SUV!! To put it into perspective, if you supercharged your Alpha you'd still be beaten (badly) by a late model V6 Honda Accord in a straight line... And so would my H2!! So is it really worth the expense?? To put it into even more perspective... for the price of a supercharger and professional installation (think in the neighbourhood of $10k) you could buy an older Mustang or Camaro and not get walked by a Honda... Just my 2 cents!!!! At the track I raced a Ram 1500 SRT (the one with the 500hp Viper motor) and again the Stang out ran the truck no problem. Keeping in mind this is an OLD Mustang that does not even have 400hp!!!!!! Fun to drive but hardly a speed demon, so long story short these big vehicles need insane amounts of power to keep up even with the old rust buckets!!