Performance chips for cars

[Hugh 0ne]

So, do performance chips that claim to improve horsepower and gas efficiency really work? If they do work, are there any potential future problems they may cause? Do they void the manufacturer's warranty? Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

[Caveman_Nick]

So, do performance chips that claim to improve horsepower and gas efficiency really work? If they do work, are there any potential future problems they may cause? Do they void the manufacturer's warranty? Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

 

My Dad put a program into his F-250 Super Duty.

 

He claimed it gave him a big increase in gas mileage with no decrease in power.

 

He had to uninstall the program whenever he went in for service because he said it would void his warranty.

[Yukon Cornelius]

My Dad put a program into his F-250 Super Duty.

 

He claimed it gave him a big increase in gas mileage with no decrease in power.

 

He had to uninstall the program whenever he went in for service because he said it would void his warranty.

when my warranty runs out i will put one in my 350.

[Azazello1313]

So, do performance chips that claim to improve horsepower and gas efficiency really work?

 

I think you are usually getting one at the expense of the other. if you ARE getting both, I would assume it comes at the expense of something else.

[Caveman_Nick]

I think you are usually getting one at the expense of the other. if you ARE getting both, I would assume it comes at the expense of something else.

 

Not necessarily. For instance, increasing your air intake and adding a performance exhaust system can accomplish both increased HP and gas mileage.

 

A program or chip can change the fuel mapping and make some other changes. It's not a good assumption that the factory vehicle has optimum fuel mapping, etc. That is especially true if you start monkeying with exhaust and air intake.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Caveman_Nick

[Bier Meister]

not positive.. i have a chip but it's function was not to increase hp. mine increased my rev limit, remove the top speed governor, and increased throttle response (decreased throttle delay). hard to gauge increase or decrease in mpg due to me getting it close to when i got it back to the states. in europe i got better gas mileage, but they have higher octane. i was also doing more freeway driving over there.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Bier Meister

[Perchoutofwater]

I'm in the process of buying a business that sells aftermarket truck and car accessories. One of the items they sell are programers or chips. They really do work. They increase both horsepower and fuel economy. They also almost in all cases void the factory warranty. Having said that, some dealerships will over look the fact that you have them on there if you take them off prior to bringing them in. There are some companies selling chips that are supposedly untraceable, but if it is a new car I can almost guarantee they are traceable. The only real exception to this might, and I emphasize might, be the Spartan Phalanx chip. I would not recommend putting a chip on a vehicle that is still under warranty. I would not hesitate putting one on a vehicle that is no longer under warranty. Additionally to maximize the benefit of the chips you typically need to rework the exhaust.

 

When my F250 goes past it's warranty I'll be putting a programmer on it. I'll also be reworking the exhaust and getting rid of the DEF BS, which also kills fuel economy.

[Seattle LawDawg]

I'm in the process of buying a business that sells aftermarket truck and car accessories. One of the items they sell are programers or chips. They really do work. They increase both horsepower and fuel economy. They also almost in all cases void the factory warranty. Having said that, some dealerships will over look the fact that you have them on there if you take them off prior to bringing them in. There are some companies selling chips that are supposedly untraceable, but if it is a new car I can almost guarantee they are traceable. The only real exception to this might, and I emphasize might, be the Spartan Phalanx chip. I would not recommend putting a chip on a vehicle that is still under warranty. I would not hesitate putting one on a vehicle that is no longer under warranty. Additionally to maximize the benefit of the chips you typically need to rework the exhaust.

 

When my F250 goes past it's warranty I'll be putting a programmer on it. I'll also be reworking the exhaust and getting rid of the DEF BS, which also kills fuel economy.

 

I had a superchip in my tahoe. It improved mileage and horsepower (especially noticed when pulling my boat). Didn't put it in until after the warranty had expired though.

[Puddy]

I hear they cost more than beef.

[Caveman_Nick]

I hear they cost more than beef.

 

And they don't change tires.

[Bier Meister]

I hear they cost more than beef.

 

but less than potato chips

[Hugh 0ne]

I :heart: the huddle. Great info guys, thanks.

 

My car isn't quite 2 years old yet and still under warranty so I'll wait until I'm out of warranty to install one.

 

Thanks again.

[Square]

Unrelated to performace chips, but I saw this today and thought it was pretty cool.

 

Heads up display wins top navigation prize in Munich.

[Double Agent]

Not sure you'll notice any difference unless you've added other upgrades (exhaust, intake, etc.) I know on my Hemi that I can reprogram it to run more efficient but it requires 93 octane after the upgrade.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Another Yea on chips, but after opening up the air flow on both ends. If you haven't upgraded your intake and exhaust, start there.

[paulzale]

Chips definitely help more when intake and exhaust changes are made. They help less on high performance cars already tuned to max hp. (if you already are getting near 100 hp per liter of displacement) I had one on a turbo car that made a large difference by increasing the boost. Did this while under warranty, but swapped the chip out when taking vehicle in for service.

[TimC]

Here's a thought for you ricers. Buy a car made in the USofA with 8 cylinders and enough horsepower that you don't have to be a poser so you don't need a fartpipe and a Honda sticker to think yer a badass.

[Delicious_bass]

Here's a thought for you ricers. Buy a car made in the USofA with 8 cylinders and enough horsepower that you don't have to be a poser so you don't need a fartpipe and a Honda sticker to think yer a badass.

[westvirginia]

I'm in the process of buying a business that sells aftermarket truck and car accessories. One of the items they sell are programers or chips. They really do work. They increase both horsepower and fuel economy. They also almost in all cases void the factory warranty. Having said that, some dealerships will over look the fact that you have them on there if you take them off prior to bringing them in. There are some companies selling chips that are supposedly untraceable, but if it is a new car I can almost guarantee they are traceable. The only real exception to this might, and I emphasize might, be the Spartan Phalanx chip. I would not recommend putting a chip on a vehicle that is still under warranty. I would not hesitate putting one on a vehicle that is no longer under warranty. Additionally to maximize the benefit of the chips you typically need to rework the exhaust.

 

When my F250 goes past it's warranty I'll be putting a programmer on it. I'll also be reworking the exhaust and getting rid of the DEF BS, which also kills fuel economy.

 

Yes...

 

Another Yea on chips, but after opening up the air flow on both ends. If you haven't upgraded your intake and exhaust, start there.

 

yes...

 

Here's a thought for you ricers. Buy a car made in the USofA with 8 cylinders and enough horsepower that you don't have to be a poser so you don't need a fartpipe and a Honda sticker to think yer a badass.

 

and oh hell yes.

 

Remember your basic physics here. For combustion, one needs fuel, heat and oxygen. Of those, the air you can get into and out of the cylinders in your car is by FAR the biggest determiner of performance. So that makes the engine just a big air pump, right? It pulls air (O2) in, ads a little fuel (usually the air/fuel ratio is something like 14-1, newer cars sometimes run much leaner to meet emissions), so the more air you can suck into the cylinders, the more fuel will be sprayed into that air (newer cars adjust fuel to the amount of air by using things like the throttle position sensor, mass air meter, MAP sensor to determine how much air is being sucked into the manifold). Likewise, if you're pulling more air in, you need to push it out. The same engine processes that compress the air/fuel mixture for explosion push the exhaust gasses out. So if you open that up, it makes it easier to get those gasses out and requires less of your torque, thus less of your HP, giving you more with which to pull the car.

 

Now, with the above understanding, and we've put high-flow air intake and exhaust goodies on, right? Now the chip. What the chip does is gives you the ability to "tune" many facets of the car. You used to be able to adjust shift points on a transmission fairly easily, but hell, changing the air/fuel ratio required only a small flat screwdriver. The chip allows you to do this. Diesel engines are especially tuneable due to emissions laws. They run WAY to lean. This affects power and performance, and FUEL MILEAGE because it requires more throttle to do the job for the engine than if the damn thing was tuned properly. You can get big gains on those things. Gas engines aren't as amenable but the big gain is in driveability, and even engine life. Ever climb a hill in your car and give it a little extra gas? Hear the "spark knock"? It's called "detonation" in the business and the motor companies will all tell you it's normal. It's normal because the timing is so far advanced that the spark plug is detonating BEFORE the intake valve is closed. That noise you hear is your intake valve being slammed shut by the explosion in the cylinder. It's only normal because that's the only way they can meet emissions. That's hard on a valve train and will break stuff eventually. You can adjust your timing with one of these chips so the spark doesn't happen until after that valve is closed. That means the valve doesn't get banged, and none of the explosion goes out the valve. You get the entire explosion forcing the piston down, thus more torque, thus more HP.

 

So Az is right, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. You can get increased power AND fuel mileage, but it comes at the price of emissions. But I saw a magazine test a while back (like ten years - it was Hot Rod mag, IIRC) that showed the tailpipe emissions was still within spec on a properly tuned 4.6 Mustang and 7.3L F-250. And those were Kalifornia figures.

[The Irish Doggy]

Here's a thought for you ricers. Buy a car made in the USofA with 8 cylinders and enough horsepower that you don't have to be a poser so you don't need a fartpipe and a Honda sticker to think yer a badass.

 

 

So, I should buy expensive aftermarket parts to void the warranty and make my defective American car run as it should off the lot? This is normal for you all?

[bushwacked]

So, I should buy expensive aftermarket parts to void the warranty and make my defective American car run as it should off the lot? This is normal for you all?

 

[Azazello1313]

Not necessarily. For instance, increasing your air intake and adding a performance exhaust system can accomplish both increased HP and gas mileage.

 

A program or chip can change the fuel mapping and make some other changes. It's not a good assumption that the factory vehicle has optimum fuel mapping, etc. That is especially true if you start monkeying with exhaust and air intake.

 

my point was that it comes at the expense of something else. maybe you have to buy higher octane gas. maybe it decreases engine life. maybe it requires more frequent tune-ups. if, say, honda could get more horsepower and better mileage out of their own engine without any fall-off in some other area by simply changing the fuel ratio and such, I am pretty sure they would have the expertise to do so. they would have enormous market incentives. is the factory programming "optimal"? I am sure that depends on your priorities, but I am certain it reflects a considered balancing of various trade-offs.

Edited October 31, 2011 by Azazello1313

[Caveman_Nick]

I am sure that depends on your priorities, but I am certain it reflects a considered balancing of various trade-offs regulatory requirements.

 

fixed.

[TimC]

So, I should buy expensive aftermarket parts to void the warranty and make my defective American car run as it should off the lot? This is normal for you all?

 

I can hold as many children in my trunk as you do.

[Perchoutofwater]

Just ordered my H&S Mini Maxx (up to 150 hp though I'll probably keep it on the +50hp setting unless I"m feeling chippy), and an AFE Stage 2 intake (an additional 26 hp). Add that to the stock 400 hp the 6.7 gets, and you get 576 hp. I'm also getting rid of the DPF and DEF, and will run some new pipes. I haven't decided on which pipes to run. I'll probably make that decision tomorrow. The H&S Mini Maxx has several automatic safety backdowns, adjustable by EGT, boost, trans. temp, and coolant temp. So even If I decide to be stupid, it won't let me. I'll probably have it all installed by the end of the week. I'll let you know what kind of jump I get in fuel economy.