Any thoughts on this performance chip?

[sirmudge]

So i stumbled upon this performance chip that touts gains from just plugging it in, but i'm rather dubious as to the validity of these claims. So i am asking you guys what you think / have heard about it or things like it. If its not a lie then it would be a very cost effective power boost, but if it is then its just a waste of money.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-Mazda-Protege-OBD-Performance-Flash-Chip-/320563924512

 

[tweety2300]

I'd be skeptical that it can tune the msp and NA models

But it doesn't look like the iat ones

 

[jdwk]

If anyone has cracked the Protege PCM this is the first I've heard of it.

Even if you could crack it, I doubt there are even rewritable parameters for setting open/closed loop operation. I think this is why Mazda allowed our cars to run closed loop under boost, because they simply couldn't change it without creating an entirely new unit.

Although someone claimed that their P5 tripped into open loop at full throttle at any RPM, but that seems hard to believe.

The install is strange, it is simply tapping into the OBDII lines permanently. You would do this to monitor signals on the bus and I suppose you could overwrite them, but I am not sure what good that would do since all the sensors go into the PCM directly and then the data is converted and sent out on the bus. I wouldn't think the PCM would convert it, send it out to the bus, and then re-read the data from the bus to look up timing and fuel trims.

The description makes it sound like it is actually modifying the tables, but again that makes no sense. I can't imagine the PCM reads the tables, puts the values out onto the bus, then reads them back in before sending the actual signals to the injectors and coils.

However, this seems like to much effort to put together to do absolutely nothing, so I am morbidly curious. If it wasn't $90, I'd be tempted to just power it up and connect it to an OBDII scanner and see what exactly it is doing.

 

[tweety2300]

Glad some one knows more about it than me, my biggest concern is that the same unit can remap the regular protgs both 2.0 and 1.6 and the msp. I just don't see that happening.

Ill search through some Honda forums, I'm sure some body has tried this and figured out what it does

 

[tweety2300]

Here's one, actually read the whole thread

http://www.acuraworld.com/forums/f66/volo-performance-chip-wow-95352/

But further googling shows a lot of people noticing a small difference, from better gas milage to slightly more power. Almost every description I've read has said it made the cars louder, not sure how. And not just Hondas it ranges from tundras to lancers. But I only saw one before and after dyno

Aparently its 4 wires and it won't power up unless its hooked up right. First things that come to mind that would be there is o2 sensor and maf sensor. I'd like to know what it plugs into, regardless it can't be doing much with 4 wires considering 2 have to be power and ground.

In the end since the protgs have a learning ecu it will figure out its there eventually and ignore or bypass it. Hell they have learned around actual piggy backs

My personal guess is its a really fancy iat resistor taken to the next level and making china more money

 

[jdwk]

All cars since the invention of the O2 sensor have a learning ECU, it is called closed loop. Good idea on checking the other forums. The person that posted that copied the description from the ebay ad verbatim, and only has a total of 8 posts, sounds like a plant. I guess it is total bulls***, they just decided to make it elaborate enough that people would spend the $90 to try it out.

I often wish I didn't have a conscience. It would be so easy to take money from people.

BTW, the bus only needs two wires, all the data is serial. In fact, older cars only had one.

 

[tweety2300]

I sai read all of it, there's a post copied from BMW forum showing the dyno results, which is the only one I found.

I said learning because the ecu in the protgs are notorious for learning around things like piggy backs

 

[Spiced MSP]

I would stick to what's known to work with our cars before there is a thread on here about a blown motor. I wouldn't trust this "chip" at all. All of the piggybacks for our cars are all tuneable by the end user with the exception of Unichip which has to be sent in for a new tune. This thing you are posting about is a waste of time. Of course people are going to say they see gains with it. But the gains are not worth the money spent on it. This reminds me of a friend of mine who went and order some "G-Force" chip for his VW.(look it up really!! G Force chip) He spent $70 on it and asked me to help him install it. I get to his house to check it out and realize it only had a few wires coming out of it. It had no ports on it to plug in to a laptop for tuning or anything. For s**** and giggles, I opened the housing and it was a single resisistor worth only a buck or two at a local electronics store. Now, it looked nice on the outside. It had a nice aluminum case with the G Force logo laser etched in it. With that being said, there is no way in hell, you are going to splice this thing in and "calibrate it" and all of a sudden...BAM!! You have more power, better gas mileage and whatever other jazz people claim these things to give them. Just remember the well known saying, You have to pay to play. and you get what you pay for. Spend the money on a legit piggyback or some bolt ons

 

[hornsfan10609]

You can't change the data the ECU reads through the OBD port, you can only read it. Don't waste your money, get an SSAFC if you want to tune your MSP.

 

[tweety2300]

Doesn't unichip plug into the obd port?

 

[Spiced MSP]

no, it plugs in to the ECU