Chipper about your car?

[Botnst]

Here's a NY Times article about chipping.

http://nytimes.com/2004/02/13/automobiles/13CHIP.html

I copied the first few paragraphs.

Altering Your Engine With New Chips


By JIM MOTAVALLI

Published: February 13, 2004

Yoon S. Byun for The New York Times

WHEN Scott Farrell, a Coast Guard instructor in Newport News, Va., wanted a big power boost for his 1998 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, he didn't lower the suspension, install a hot camshaft or add a free-flow exhaust. Instead, he had a business-card size electronic part installed — a so-called "performance chip" designed to reprogram the car's engine control module to provide more horsepower. "It was a night-and-day difference," he said.

Mr. Farrell is just one of an increasing number of car owners using computer chips or software downloads to get better performance from their cars. E-mechanics are reprogramming systems to overwrite factory settings and take advantage of higher-octane gasoline. That allows advanced timing, increased power, sometimes even better mileage. Steve Dinan, founder of Dinan Engineering, a maker of high-performance parts for BMW's, said he now sells more than $1 million worth of chips annually — a significant share of what he estimates is a $20 million market.

But hacking your car's electronic brain isn't always as easy as it sounds. Installing a new chip can be a daunting job for the owner who tries to do it himself. Garage operators across the country say they are seeing more cars with burned-out engines, partly because reprogrammed chips sometimes supply too much fuel and allow turbo pressure to exceed recommended limits. And even if the engine seems to be running better, it could be running dirtier and might not pass some states' emissions tests.

Spencer Cox, the owner of Speedsport Tuning in Norwalk, Conn., said that he had recently towed in a Porsche 944 Turbo with $7,000 in engine damage. The owner had "bought a chip and other performance goodies online and installed them himself," Mr. Cox said. "For a week he had a big smile on his face because he gained 40 horsepower. But then it all blew up. It happens all the time." And in many cases, hacking the engine can void the warranty, leaving owners to pay for expensive repairs on their own.

[Kestas]

The article makes sense. I really doubt that chip manufacturers do all the extensive dyno and life testing necessary to evaluate the side effects and what effect the chips have on engine life. It would easily raise the cost of their product tenfold.

Hot rodders want more horsepower. Chip manufacturers meet that demand. When the engine blows it can be explained away easily by attributing the failure to some other condition.

I urge people to be extremely careful when reengineering a car. There are always tradeoffs. That's what engineering is all about - compromise and choices, not always making things "better". This appllies not only to engines but suspensions and brakes as well.

[The Warden]

I would assume that the chip manufacturers are taking it for granted that the people who are hot-rodding their engines are installing proper instrumentation. That said, I would also assuem that most of the "average Joe" hot-rodders don't know a thing abou the proper gauges they need on a hot-rodded vehicle, or if they do, they don't know how to read them.

IMHO hot-rodding a vehicle is perfectly safe, if along with the modifications, an exhaust gas temperature gauge is installed and religiously monitored (and never allowed to exceed certain temperatures). The problem is that too few people do this.

Just my $.02...