How does a chip upgrade work

RiaX

RiaX

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as the title.

I hear people talking about how chips can give up to 30 kW and blah blah blah. How is this possible ? surely there must be a catch.
 
No catch. Chips have carbohydrates, helps conserve energy and release it when you need a boost.
No sure about 30kw increase, I guess it would depend on the fitness of the individual.
 
Your cars ecu contains things like timing and fuel maps where they can configure all sorts of things.
When configuring these maps its always a choice between many factors like fuel econemy, power, drive ability etc.
Petrol burns most efficiently at stoich which is arround 14 to 1 but you get the most power closer to 13 to 1.

A chip is an interception device where they intercept the data the cars sensors are sending the ecu and modify it so as to lie to the cars ecu and by doing so changing things like the timing or fuel ratio or boost pressure etc thereby increasing the power or fuel efficiency depending on what the goal is.
These days they can also remap the ecu directly and change the manufacturers maps and settings directly.
Typing on my phone so it was quite summarised.
 
Haldex said:
No catch. Chips have carbohydrates, helps conserve energy and release it when you need a boost.
No sure about 30kw increase, I guess it would depend on the fitness of the individual.
Click to expand...
:D
 
You won't get an extra 30 kW out of a naturally aspirated motor but you could from a turbocharged one by increasing the boost and using more aggressive timing and fueling maps
 
Would it affect the motorplan or warranty on cars?
 
Inviter said:
Would it affect the motorplan or warranty on cars?
Click to expand...
Yes it would. Although they are not easy to detect, if found it could void your warranty.
I've had all my cars mapped from the day I bought them. I never had any warranty claim refuted.
 
I've been threatning to do mine with a dump valve and ECU mapping - then I realised that I'm poor :/
 
Inviter said:
Would it affect the motorplan or warranty on cars?
Click to expand...

without a doubt. For example, the latest Audis have an ECU write flag, that keeps track of whether a map has been written to the ECU. As soon as they detect this, Audi will void your warranty.

Note that there is a difference between chipping and remapping.

The former usually entails soldering/cutting wires to add a physical chip to the ECU board, which then intercepts signals between the ECU and the engine and changes these. Chipping is generally a BAD idea, because in most cases all it does is overfuel the vehicle, which is just plain bad for reliability in the long run. For example, places like SAC and Dastek.

Remapping is the better route: this is where the tool reads the engine map from your ECU, then the tuner changes the map according to your needs. This tuned map is then written into the ECU and, if done properly, your vehicle get more power, better consumption, etc. For example, two years I got a BAS remap for my Defender. It goes like the clappers and fuel consumption is much lower. EGTs are also lower and every time I needed to take it to the dealer, I would switch back to the factory map. I paid around R5500 for the remap in 2011 and since then it has already paid itself off in fuel savings.

If you have a turbo car, get a remap from a reputable tuner. If you have an N/A car, you are driving the wrong kind of car ;)
 
Naks said:
without a doubt. For example, the latest Audis have an ECU write flag, that keeps track of whether a map has been written to the ECU. As soon as they detect this, Audi will void your warranty.

Note that there is a difference between chipping and remapping.

The former usually entails soldering/cutting wires to add a physical chip to the ECU board, which then intercepts signals between the ECU and the engine and changes these. Chipping is generally a BAD idea, because in most cases all it does is overfuel the vehicle, which is just plain bad for reliability in the long run. For example, places like SAC and Dastek.

Remapping is the better route: this is where the tool reads the engine map from your ECU, then the tuner changes the map according to your needs. This tuned map is then written into the ECU and, if done properly, your vehicle get more power, better consumption, etc. For example, two years I got a BAS remap for my Defender. It goes like the clappers and fuel consumption is much lower. EGTs are also lower and every time I needed to take it to the dealer, I would switch back to the factory map. I paid around R5500 for the remap in 2011 and since then it has already paid itself off in fuel savings.

If you have a turbo car, get a remap from a reputable tuner. If you have an N/A car, you are driving the wrong kind of car ;)
Click to expand...


Any reputable remapping Gus around?
Also would I have reset it all the time before taking it to the agents?
 
Does it tune the kw or torque figs on the car? Should I go ahead with it on a jetta 4 tdi?
 
Inviter said:
Does it tune the kw or torque figs on the car? Should I go ahead with it on a jetta 4 tdi?
Click to expand...


On a TDi, definitely. With a VW, your best tuners are FRC and Revo, they are VAG experts.

The remap will give you more kW and more Nm, but it all depends how far you want to push it. I wouldn't go for more than Stage 1 remap.

And if your Jetta has a cat, remove it
 
Inviter said:
What's a cat? ( sounding stupid) anyone in durban that does it ?
Click to expand...

Cat = Catalytic converter
i.e. The anti-polution device for petrol engines that filters the exhaust gases but at the same time is a form of restriction in the exhaust pipe.
Removing it usually nets a small increase in power and the hassle and expense of replacing them when they fail.
Removing a catalytic convertor is often referred to as a "decat".

Diesels use something similar called a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) although I wouldn't personally remove one.
 
Revo has branches all over the country.
They the best when it comes to VAG, Ford, Mini and Porsche.
 
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