Tricking air-temp sensor?(hunt for power)

[mattstar]

A mate was telling me he plugged his lappie into his VR commodore and got the resistance coming from the sensor, he then soldered in a diode of the same resistance, and Bingo 20% more power.
Aparently the ecu thinks the engine is getting optimium temp air (colder) into the engine so fuels up accordingly. Now aparently because it only makes the engine run at max. factory performance settings in doesn't damage your motor.
With diesels I realise that with an increase in fuel the pyro temps will go up and so will exhaust smoke, but if it's just peak factory settings, will it damage the motor long term?

I am thinking about doing it to my 2.8GU

[mattstar]

I have seen this done to a VR, I know it works on petrol but to all those Guru's out there, will it work on an electronic diesel motor?

[mavzilla]

no as its not electronically injected

[mavzilla]

oh just read more i take it back but would guess at no would up temp maybe/also add it gives you an extra 6 hp not as stated 20

[mattstar]

Thanks for the "guess"
I didn't say 20hp, I "stated" 20%, And uping the sensor reading wasn't the issue, it was exhaust temps etc.

[tweak'e]

its a crude way of doing it but it works.

downside is it makes the motor run on the cold map longer when its warming up so you will chew through a bit more fuel. also any other devices that run off the temp sensor also get affected. auto gearboxes, fans, air con etc (depending on setup of course).

[mattstar]

thank you, I wasn't tooo worried about extra fuel usage as it's only a 2.8, I was however curious about other mentioned items. I have found however that they run of a coolant temp sensor, so the only inssue's I can think of is exhaust smoke increase, pyro temp increase and fuel usage, but if it's only running at peak factory settings it should be deadly to the motor should it?

[HotFourOk]

thank you, I wasn't tooo worried about extra fuel usage as it's only a 2.8, I was however curious about other mentioned items. I have found however that they run of a coolant temp sensor, so the only inssue's I can think of is exhaust smoke increase, pyro temp increase and fuel usage, but if it's only running at peak factory settings it should be deadly to the motor should it?

Well you gotta think it's only meant to run like that when it's COLD, not at running temperature.

Same deal is, your car is designed to rev at say up to 4000rpm... does this mean you can do it all the time??

Yes, it's only 'factory' settings... but some are designed to be temporary.

You will get a EGT increase, but it only usually occurs when the motor is cold, so it is of no concern. When you are doing this at running temp it may be a different story.

If you want more power, get an exhaust done, pump turned up and get it tuned by a shop, don't try to cheap it. Or you're better off doing nothing than breaking something.

As you said, it's only a 2.8.....

[mattstar]

thanks for the advice everyone