Would like opinions on this eBay item

[cliff]

Hi all,

As the title says, I'm chasing opinions from those that are in the know about whether this thing will work.

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Performance-Chip ... 2a0b265196" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some feedback/advice would be great.

Seems like a cheap way to gain some horses.

[dogbreath_48]

If, during development of the 350z, Nissan could have increased output by 52hp and decreased the fuel consumption at the same time by including a $25 home made 'chip', they would have

It may add some power and/or improve consumption but something else will be compromised.

[DamTriton]

Don't go anywhere near it. Think about it = if it was that cheap to get such remarkable results, don't you think the vehicle manufacturers would be onto it like a shot???


BTW all they are is a 3 position switch and two resistors that are set up to fool the MAF sensor. Old school effect of running a carbie rich or lean. Well known to have med-long term adverse effects on Lambda sensors (exh gas O2 sensors) that will cost you several hundred dollars to fix.

[joeblow]

If, during development of the 350z, Nissan could have increased output by 52hp and decreased the fuel consumption at the same time by including a $25 home made 'chip', they would have

It may add some power and/or improve consumption but something else will be compromised.

what he said.

[BadMav]

Just go buy a Hiclone or 2

[-Scott-]

Does he say what species of snake the oil comes from?

[joeblow]

will not void warranty!..............



but is easy to install....remove....and re-install if needed!.............

[MightyMouse]

What everyone else says....... DAMKIA could you explain why you believe fitting such a device would damage a lambda sensor ?

[DamTriton]

What everyone else says....... DAMKIA could you explain why you believe fitting such a device would damage a lambda sensor ?

First of all a correction, they usually place them on Inlet air temp sensors (IAT), there are other fudges for MAF's as some of the V8 guys know (MAFless tune)

Often they will trigger an error code and sometimes a Check Engine Light from the apparently "out of range" IAT (too "hot" or too "cold"). It pushes the ECU into open loop mode (warm up mode) keeping the mixture too rich. This is a fail safe mode that does not tune the vehicle on the run, uses basic ignition and fuel maps without incorporating the feedback loop that the Lambda sensor is a part of. The Lambda sensor gets a hard carbon deposit on it from the "sooty" burn. Given the fragile nature of the sensor it is impossible after a while to clean the sensor without breaking it. It can take 20-40 thousand km for the problems to occur.

[chimpboy]

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/anythin ... -chip.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[oldmate]

Don't go anywhere near it. Think about it = if it was that cheap to get such remarkable results, don't you think the vehicle manufacturers would be onto it like a shot???

I think the item looks dodgy, but I don't buy that reasoning. Most jap car performance seems to be limited by design, I assume for reliability and also support for a wider range of fuel quality. I'm no electronic wizard, but I do have a hard time beliving there is anywhere near the 1000-1500 dollars worth of electronic parts in the other performance chip products.

[DamTriton]

Don't go anywhere near it. Think about it = if it was that cheap to get such remarkable results, don't you think the vehicle manufacturers would be onto it like a shot???

I think the item looks dodgy, but I don't buy that reasoning. Most jap car performance seems to be limited by design, I assume for reliability and also support for a wider range of fuel quality. I'm no electronic wizard, but I do have a hard time beliving there is anywhere near the 1000-1500 dollars worth of electronic parts in the other performance chip products.

Limited by coding in their ECU's and the fact that they run 87 RON fuel as standard, the mechanical design is basically unchanged throughout the manufacturing life of that particular series of engine.

There are companies here that reflash ECU to our 91 RON and can give extra performance that way. You are correct in as much as there isn't $1000-1500 dollars of components but there is certainly some reverse engineering of the ECU software in order to work out what needs adjustment, then redo a CRC checksum and find where the OEM has found to keep that in several hundred KB to MB of code. The OEM's do not make it easy to tinker, and there is a considerable amount of time required to even "unlock" the software to look at it.

There are a few instances of engines intentionally "hobbled" by mechanical means (restrictor plates, etc), but not as many as you think and are easy to get around and therefore become non-compliant with emission regs. This is why the software approach is used.

As for the piggynack units, all of the above applies, but they also have to tweak the sensors to get them all to behave in the desired way. Tweaking one sensor alone is a recipe for failure as the whole system is designed to work in harmony together. They do have their own ECU that operates "over the top" of the OEM ECU.

[Harb]

Brought to you from the good people at Hyclone and polariser performance........... you really have to be kidding..... I can't even believe that there are actually people out there that would be sucker enough to buy this sort of crap.

[jimmy087]

hey hey hey the polariser must have worked but i bet he didnt have one in that last hybrid he was driving

[MightyMouse]

What everyone else says....... DAMKIA could you explain why you believe fitting such a device would damage a lambda sensor ?

First of all a correction, they usually place them on Inlet air temp sensors (IAT), there are other fudges for MAF's as some of the V8 guys know (MAFless tune)

Often they will trigger an error code and sometimes a Check Engine Light from the apparently "out of range" IAT (too "hot" or too "cold"). It pushes the ECU into open loop mode (warm up mode) keeping the mixture too rich. This is a fail safe mode that does not tune the vehicle on the run, uses basic ignition and fuel maps without incorporating the feedback loop that the Lambda sensor is a part of. The Lambda sensor gets a hard carbon deposit on it from the "sooty" burn. Given the fragile nature of the sensor it is impossible after a while to clean the sensor without breaking it. It can take 20-40 thousand km for the problems to occur.

So in reality the lambda sensor is not a concern - an engine running that rich ( limp mode ) is unlikely to be driven for the time required to damage the sensor with a MIL on - by anyone but a complete
moron - and they would find a way of damaging things in any circumstance If it didn't go into limp then the system would simply correct for the "adjusted" sensor as it would be still capable of operating
in closed loop. The mechanical wear created by bore washing would be of greater concern IF it was driven for an extended period in limp, and the economy wouldn't be acceptable.

The potential "assuming no fault code" gain would be under acceleration as the ECU will be out of closed loop mode and would potentially deliver a richer mixture which could show up as a power gain.
However "steady state - closed loop" it would just get trimmed out.

[chimpboy]

Perhaps cats are a bigger concern than O2 sensors.

I don't see the value in a device like this; at any rate even if it did produce some power gains by running the engine richer they surely wouldn't be on the scale advertised would they?