chip tuned for mpg
anyone ever try the performance chip, and have it de-tuned/programmed for mpg? seems like this should be good for a couple mpg.
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Snake oil, forget it.
One night after a few golden libations, a pal was telling me about his Chevy Suburban with a "performance" chip in the computer. Hauling butt in the mountains with 4 chums on a fishing trip and suddenly the carpet under his passengers feet was smoldering. Seems the performance chip caused the cat to run really hot and started to burn through the floor. :stupid:
One night after a few golden libations, a pal was telling me about his Chevy Suburban with a "performance" chip in the computer. Hauling butt in the mountains with 4 chums on a fishing trip and suddenly the carpet under his passengers feet was smoldering. Seems the performance chip caused the cat to run really hot and started to burn through the floor. :stupid:
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It depends on the vehicle, but I've seen the chips produce great results. It's a really good way to tune the vehicle to run correctly.
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Would it be possible for me to get 10....maybe even 11mpg with a chip
If you put it on a dyno and could see the air fuel ratio, there may be some room to lean it out safetly. Typically the stock maps run rich to be safe. Would require a dyno session though. That would probably set you back 300-500. The fuel savings would never offset this cost.mjody said:Maybe on a diesel. Explain how on an Ody it would improve. You would need to lean out the mixture, which is bad.
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Unichip makes a very good product but unfortunately not for Honda vehicles.
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WW I really want to come and visit your Ody. I'm sure with a new O2 sensor and some intake manifold service you'd start getting 14 mpg city. I used to be in the same boat with you until I fixed all the defects causing me bad mpg.wild willy said:Would it be possible for me to get 10....maybe even 11mpg with a chip
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You cannot "chip" Programmed Fuel Injection
well, you could chip it I guess since it's "programmed" but I wouldn't want to mess with it.
Think of the difference between programmed fuel injection and every other fuel injection model as the difference between analog TV channels and digital TV.
OR more plainly, old and stupid or new and smart.
If you want to get programmed fuel injection to give you better mpg you need to make all of the mechanical aspects of your vehicle as close to perfect as possible and educate yourself on how the PGM FI works and drive for optimum mpg.
Other FI models can be "chipped" for better performance or mpg because they are already so stupid that adding intelligence improvements fixes some of their inherent design flaws. IMO
well, you could chip it I guess since it's "programmed" but I wouldn't want to mess with it.
Think of the difference between programmed fuel injection and every other fuel injection model as the difference between analog TV channels and digital TV.
OR more plainly, old and stupid or new and smart.
If you want to get programmed fuel injection to give you better mpg you need to make all of the mechanical aspects of your vehicle as close to perfect as possible and educate yourself on how the PGM FI works and drive for optimum mpg.
Other FI models can be "chipped" for better performance or mpg because they are already so stupid that adding intelligence improvements fixes some of their inherent design flaws. IMO
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If you come, you have to take it with youpvandegriff said:WW I really want to come and visit your Ody. I'm sure with a new O2 sensor and some intake manifold service you'd start getting 14 mpg city. I used to be in the same boat with you until I fixed all the defects causing me bad mpg.
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No more that KBB
I don't think you can get much better mileage when doing general cruising since the ECU is in closed loop and using the O2 sensor to maintain the "ideal" air/fuel ratio. That sensor (on the Ody) is not accurate enough to allow you to run the car leaner than it currently does. There were certain cars (I believe one of the Civics) that had a wide band type O2 sensor and they could run leaner in closed loop under certain conditions.
However, factory settings under open loop (accelerating) are usually run rather rich to protect the engine and account for things like bad gas, hot weather, towing, poor maintenance, etc. You could tune the car leaner so that it would get better mileage when accelerating (ECU in open loop and not using the O2 sensor for feedback). In the case of people towing, there may be enough load on the engine that the car is running open loop and the "re-chipping" could be tuned to run leaner in those conditions. This would lead to better gas mileage and power when towing. The flip side is you're more likely to melt a piston.
However, factory settings under open loop (accelerating) are usually run rather rich to protect the engine and account for things like bad gas, hot weather, towing, poor maintenance, etc. You could tune the car leaner so that it would get better mileage when accelerating (ECU in open loop and not using the O2 sensor for feedback). In the case of people towing, there may be enough load on the engine that the car is running open loop and the "re-chipping" could be tuned to run leaner in those conditions. This would lead to better gas mileage and power when towing. The flip side is you're more likely to melt a piston.
I didn't say that leaner was always better mpg and power -- I was talking about versus stock tuning AT FULL THROTTLE conditions. My experience is with Mitusbishi turbocharged engines, but should be relevant to normally aspirated.
The manufacturer makes the engine overly rich at full throttle to protect the engine. Ideal ratio is 14.7 to 1 for air to fuel. However, the stock tuning maybe around 12 to 1 or maybe 11 to 1 on some of the turbo engines with a stock tune during open loop/full throttle. This means that a portion of this fuel is used to cool the charge and doesn't actually get burned for power since you're only combusting the 14.7 to 1 ratio part of the mix. You can't burn all the fuel because there's not enough air in the mix.
If you make the mixture leaner then you can burn more of the fuel and produce more power -- until you make it too lean and it gets too hot and you burn a hole in the piston. Since you've made the mixture leaner you are also using less fuel so you get better gas mileage.
However, we are talking about full throttle so it's not that big a component of daily driving so I doubt you'd see any real world mileage gain unless it was something like towing in hill country or some other type of heavy load.
I have a 1970 Cutlass with a big block so yes, I've sniffed a fair share of muscle car exhaust. However, I'd venture that most of these cars run rich because:
1) most people don't bother to tune a carb
2) they don't care about the tune at idle, heck a lumpy idle is a sign of pride, not embarrassment
3) the cylinder head design and materials required much richer mixtures for cooling
4) no catalytic converters
But either way, any of these so called chips aren't going to improve your gas mileage as far as daily driving.
Well, I just remembered, there was one exception on the Mitsubishi Diamond Star Motors (Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Plymouth Laser) cars -- at around 85 or 90 mph the car would go into open loop mode and run fairly rich, even though you might be "cruising" along as opposed to accelerating. Some people raised that limit so that they could stay in closed loop mode while cruising at 100mph. Supposedly this gave a marked increase in gas mileage for anyone who routinely cruised at those speeds.
The manufacturer makes the engine overly rich at full throttle to protect the engine. Ideal ratio is 14.7 to 1 for air to fuel. However, the stock tuning maybe around 12 to 1 or maybe 11 to 1 on some of the turbo engines with a stock tune during open loop/full throttle. This means that a portion of this fuel is used to cool the charge and doesn't actually get burned for power since you're only combusting the 14.7 to 1 ratio part of the mix. You can't burn all the fuel because there's not enough air in the mix.
If you make the mixture leaner then you can burn more of the fuel and produce more power -- until you make it too lean and it gets too hot and you burn a hole in the piston. Since you've made the mixture leaner you are also using less fuel so you get better gas mileage.
However, we are talking about full throttle so it's not that big a component of daily driving so I doubt you'd see any real world mileage gain unless it was something like towing in hill country or some other type of heavy load.
I have a 1970 Cutlass with a big block so yes, I've sniffed a fair share of muscle car exhaust. However, I'd venture that most of these cars run rich because:
1) most people don't bother to tune a carb
2) they don't care about the tune at idle, heck a lumpy idle is a sign of pride, not embarrassment
3) the cylinder head design and materials required much richer mixtures for cooling
4) no catalytic converters
But either way, any of these so called chips aren't going to improve your gas mileage as far as daily driving.
Well, I just remembered, there was one exception on the Mitsubishi Diamond Star Motors (Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Plymouth Laser) cars -- at around 85 or 90 mph the car would go into open loop mode and run fairly rich, even though you might be "cruising" along as opposed to accelerating. Some people raised that limit so that they could stay in closed loop mode while cruising at 100mph. Supposedly this gave a marked increase in gas mileage for anyone who routinely cruised at those speeds.
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yeahhh, joec showing some spunk.
I understand what you are getting at. But to buy a chip for a 4000lb minivan is silly to me. Make sure you plugs and coils work. Air filter clean. Tires pumped to 35 psi. Drive smart. This will yield better results than some a magic chip. ymmv :stupid:
I understand what you are getting at. But to buy a chip for a 4000lb minivan is silly to me. Make sure you plugs and coils work. Air filter clean. Tires pumped to 35 psi. Drive smart. This will yield better results than some a magic chip. ymmv :stupid:
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