My engine chipping experience so far

[bigCake Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close bigCake]

I'm running default tune 5.

[Chip It Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chip It]

Mate if I had that answer I would be a very very happy man ... not to mention the company would have an easier time.

To be honest I am not sure and boy does it get up out goat.

The ONLY other car to have these issues, in fact it was the ONLY one to have starting issues when we moved across to the newly improved 5v chip, was/is the 70 Series Cruiser .... funny that the 200 Series uses the same ECU and has the same engine etc as the 70 series and the 200 series has no problems. Go figure!

However the work around is the relay for those that are experiencing this. Also, just to lay the playing field square, I was told by a dealer that has come across to using our chip that DP chip has the same starting issue on a 150 Prado (giggle) (sorry)

[Chip It Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chip It]

I believe the instruction do say to change the tunes, have the ignition ON, but engine OFF. No REAL ISSUE however ... just brings an engine check light on for first 40 - 50 kms ... then goes away. BUT YES, to flash tunes WITHOUT any CEL flash the new tunes with IGNITION in the "ON" position whilst engine is NOT running.

Prado owners can safety go to tune 7 - 9 but somewhere around 8 or 9 the fuel limiter will come off its seat and bring up a CEL (Check Engine Light) when under hard acceleration. If this occurs just reflash to one tune lower or until the problem no longer occurs.

Yes tune 6 does give more herbs than tune 5 ... as do all subsequent tunes.

Enjoy the new power guys.

BTW, Forum discount of 10% will only occur from now on when folks contact me directly on [email protected]

Cheers

[snappy666 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close snappy666]

Disconnecting the Chipit earth on my car did not fix the starting issue and resulted in a CEL (check engine light).
Reading the posts here has enlightened me as to why now.
Putting an earth relay in seemed to make the starting issue worse but I had no CEL.
I was running tune 8 and when the car started it went like a beast possessed (no EGT for the same reasons other didn't fit it).

The newly fitted Chipit chips I'm running are on tune 4 out of 5 (can only be set by Chipit) and go just as strong. They have been in the car for several weeks now and the car starts first time every time.

I guess it's as others have eluded to; how can you fix a problem when two identical cars produce two different results. At least the Chipit guys are trying, its better than denying there's a problem as some other brands do.

[BNEGXL Member Find all posts View Profile Close BNEGXL]

I fitted the Chip It Module on Saturday. Car has done about 600k's since.

Pro's,
Relatively easy to fit, the fuel rail connection is tight to get to. Not a Chip It issue.
Chip says it's on Tune 5, runs well, don't need anywhere as much accelerator to get moving, very strong when accelerating, noticed a significant reduction in fuel use on highway trip (it's a trip I do about every 4 weeks so I have a strong baseline for comparison) and highway overtaking is much improved.
No starting or CEL issues.

All in all, a success.

The "not too sure abouts"
1/ Shake the chip and it rattles, that doesn't impress me.
2/ Strong warning not to get chip wet, no warranty for a wet chip. For the engine bay of a 4wd? Really?
We use our car on the beach a lot and always give it an underbody wash, is that ok?
The Warning doesn't say if it's water resistant, just a strong warning not to "mount chip horizontal" as water ingress is possible and not covered under warranty.
You get a draw string bag to water proof it.
This and the rattle are poor compared to factory under bonnet equipment and the Steinbauer, I'm not familiar with any other chips.
3/This quote from the instructions,
"Any engine warranty is provisional on the chip and its components being removed prior to seeing the dealer"
and this
"If you the customer have not removed the chip prior to seeing the Dealer, the customer expressly forgoes the implied warranty".
From the website it's a bit different,
"OWNERS OBLIGATIONS
WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND,AND IN FACT ISSIST THAT THE OWNER COMPLETELY REMOVE THE CHIP IT SYSTEM BEFORE TAKING THE VEHICLE BACK DEALER FOR FAULT DIAGNOSYS, TESTING OR SERVICING!"
I only read the website T's & C's after I bought the chip and even then only because of the prominence of the warning.

4/ So I have to remove the chip to have the car serviced?

[Sambo150 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sambo150]

Just when I think it is time to re-consider chipping, one of these pop up.

Thx for posting BNE!

[bigCake Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close bigCake]

Hi BNEGXL,

Where did you connect the earth to?

thanks

[BNEGXL Member Find all posts View Profile Close BNEGXL]

bigCake,

on my first trial I fitted directly to the battery,

on the final fit up I have connected it to the bonnet gas strut mount, not ideal but working.

I will probably extend it and hook it back up to the battery, no rush though it's working fine.

Sambo,

I agree, it's not an easy decision, I fitted a Beaudesert Exhaust at 1,500 k, (30,000 k's ago) it was a hell of an improvement with no secondary issues.

I don't have to remove it before servicing either, thankfully!

Having said that, the chip works well, very well in fact it does everything I was looking for, it's smoother, more responsive, more powerful and seems to use less fuel, it's just the quality of finish and the terms that concern me.

[Chip It Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chip It]

Yes please remove the chip for servicing ... so that you don't have an argument with the dealer over warranty.

Its just not worth it. Otherwise if they give you a hard time saying the chip will void warranty, tell them to put that in writing. They soon back away from their statement. But its just better not to have a toe to toe.

Re the warranty... we would require a letter from the dealer to state the chip was the cause of the failure ... that's the point of the warning above

Re Water porrf. NO THE CHIP IS NOT WATER PROOF. IE dip in water the thing will fail. We supply a weatherproof bag so that splashes or traversing a low stream is handled but if you are going in over the top of the wheels may I encourage you to fit the loop back plug that came with the chip before you cross. This way the chip is out of the way for the crossing.

Re the rattle. Its not a problem especially when the draw strings are holding the harness and the chip is in vertical position. If you are concerned, pop in ... we can fit a cardboard filler on the bottom.... or just fit a business card under the chip ... dont shoot me down for saying this ... its just an option BTW... Since we make it ourselves we have no issue in you opening up the chip to fit a spacer under the board. Most dont wont you to open the case as they have the name of the manufacturer on the case. BTW the loose chip inside the case applies ONLY to the common rail chip. Not the 120 pre common rail.

We are designing a new case and water proof plug in the coming months. But again, it adds to the cost of the chip. It is in train however.

Hope this helps.



1

I fitted the Chip It Module on Saturday. Car has done about 600k's since.

Pro's,
Relatively easy to fit, the fuel rail connection is tight to get to. Not a Chip It issue.
Chip says it's on Tune 5, runs well, don't need anywhere as much accelerator to get moving, very strong when accelerating, noticed a significant reduction in fuel use on highway trip (it's a trip I do about every 4 weeks so I have a strong baseline for comparison) and highway overtaking is much improved.
No starting or CEL issues.

All in all, a success.

The "not too sure abouts"
1/ Shake the chip and it rattles, that doesn't impress me.
2/ Strong warning not to get chip wet, no warranty for a wet chip. For the engine bay of a 4wd? Really?
We use our car on the beach a lot and always give it an underbody wash, is that ok?
The Warning doesn't say if it's water resistant, just a strong warning not to "mount chip horizontal" as water ingress is possible and not covered under warranty.
You get a draw string bag to water proof it.
This and the rattle are poor compared to factory under bonnet equipment and the Steinbauer, I'm not familiar with any other chips.
3/This quote from the instructions,
"Any engine warranty is provisional on the chip and its components being removed prior to seeing the dealer"
and this
"If you the customer have not removed the chip prior to seeing the Dealer, the customer expressly forgoes the implied warranty".
From the website it's a bit different,
"OWNERS OBLIGATIONS
WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND,AND IN FACT ISSIST THAT THE OWNER COMPLETELY REMOVE THE CHIP IT SYSTEM BEFORE TAKING THE VEHICLE BACK DEALER FOR FAULT DIAGNOSYS, TESTING OR SERVICING!"
I only read the website T's & C's after I bought the chip and even then only because of the prominence of the warning.

4/ So I have to remove the chip to have the car serviced?

[Chip It Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chip It]

PS. we think it best to add strong warning about getting it wet. Better than having customers complain that there was no warning right?

[puregeek Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close puregeek]

I have had the chip in my car for about a week now. I did have the engine starting problem but since removing the earth cable it has started first go everytime. I am running tune 6 and am very happy with the performance. At first i thought it didnt make a difference until i met up with another mate with a 150 and we quickly drove each others cars. I returned with... "gee is that how slow it used to be". He came back with "wow... you dont have any lag and it just takes off the line".

I will installing the EGT gauge over the next few weeks. Has anyone done this fitting themselves?

[Chip It Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chip It]

yes when you compare to a stocka or remove the chip after driving car WITH the chip for a while you soon get that ... "boy it does make a huge difference" feeling again.

[snewby Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close snewby]

Problems: sometimes needs two or three goes to start, sometimes starts straight off, circuit board is loose in the box, broken insulation on the harnes wire into the Fuel sensor plug.
I have had one of the newer "plug and Play" ChipITs installed by a company in Northern Sydney. It did all I wanted on its 5 level. (Note it came marked level 5 150 Prado - even though I have a 120 Prado). Good torque from startup and a bit more power across the band ... wonderful.
BUT. Late one night in pouring rain it lost power and threw up an Engine Check Light (don't know the code as I have no OBD11 reader- yet).
I noticed that there was a crack on the insulation on the white lead into the Fuel rail plug with a bit of the copper wire showing .. I pushed this towards the plug and rattled the chip box, and presto it all started and got me home.
The installer has since put some insulation tape around the wire and some silicone sealer around the Chip plug to stop it rattling and make it more water proof. (Where was no moisture in the chip... I looked).
The wire seems to have split the insulation because it is a tight turn as it feeds up to the Fuel rail plug and was cable tied to a fuel pipe close below.
I note with interest, mention that a new water proof box and sealed plug assembly may be coming along. With the amount of vibration and damp running around the engine bay of a 4WD, these add ons need to be bomb-proof. If it turns out to be unreliable then it is best to rip it off and run standard. At least you will get here and back.
I am still worried about the insulation in the harness and really expected a replacement one.
I would advise anyone doing their own install to spend a bit of time and some insulation tape to tape up the ends and T junctions on the harness just to make it a bit more secure and waterproof. And try to keep the Fuel sensor plug and cable protected from splashes tucked in behing the front bits of the engine.

[puregeek Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close puregeek]

So after 2 weeks and 500km of having the chip in my car these are my thoughts.

Great power increase, very noticeable. I am very happy with the chip but it made the car too noisy. It made a rattling noise from 1700-2000rpm. At first i thought it was just a "diesel" but after removing the chip the car didnt rattle anymore. At first i thought i could put up with the rattle but in the end it just annoyed me too much. I had the chip permanantly removed. Does everyone else with the chip installed have a noiser engine aswell? Is it injector noise?

[barryswanson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close barryswanson]

Mines actually quiter.