Performance upgrade chip?

[PeterKK]

Anyone seen the performance upgrade chips as sold on ebay. It claims it is "a resistor chip that will modify your air/fuel ratio and advance your engine timing to run stronger" at a cost of approx £5

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2416762940&category=10398

Anyone tried it? How does it compare to a full "chip"? How does it affect engine (life etc)

 

[Spike]

Dont go there.. its a plain old 60p resistor.

See http://194.154.162.24/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1309&highlight=resistor

 

[shayes]

performance chip

Curious to know if you went ahead and bid for the chip and tried it?
I got one the other day for 99p total cost delivered, and may see if it makes a difference, sometime.

 

[Renegade1127]

Yes they do work.
No, it's not a 'chip'.
Yes, it is a resistor - 4.7k ohms to be precise.

It is fitted in the plug that connects to the air intake temperature sensor, which is then left un-connected.

All it does is make the ECU think the incoming air is cold, so that it automatically increases the amount of fuel injected in to the engine, and slightly advances the ignition timing. It cannot harm your engine as it is only doing what the ECU would do in cold weather.

I don't sell them myself, but had one fitted to a Vectra Automatic and it made it much more 'lively'.

Don't bother with the ones on eBay - go to Tandy/Maplins etc and get one for pennies.
:twisted:

 

[mpkayeuk]

Didn't you wonder why the engine needs to know whether ambient air temperature is cool or warm? By fooling the engine into thinking it is permanently cold outside and advancing the ignition falsely you seriously run the risk of introducing detonation in warm weather.

I'm sure I don't need to impress upon you how destructive detonation is... It can literally destroy an engine in seconds.

Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near any kind of 'power enhancement' that wasn't ECU based.