Chipping instead of Flashing?

[123nickd]

Hi,

This may sound stupid but, if flashing is detectable why arnt people using plug and play chips? For example micro chiptuning; Chiptuning VW Polo
I've been advised this is not detectable if you detach with similar results.
Any advice/knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

[VWplo]

correct me if im wrong, but im fairly sure the ECUs history will show that at one point in time it was running differently to stock. i may be wrong

[Lucas_R]

why arnt people using plug and play chips?

Several reasons i think you will find:
1) they are a pretty crude way to trick the ECU into altering boost / timing etc.
2) they dont offer much of a power increase
3) no local support for them

And personally i would prefer a remap that is developed and tested specifically for my new and expensive car.

Depending on which model Polo you have, i would consider the following options:
77TSI = DNA Tuning
66TDI = DNA Tuning
GTI = APR

[123nickd]

I have the 6R GTI and having local support does make sense. But I'm just unsure as to why this method has not been looked at in Aus and am just after a few neg/pos so far looks neg as local
support is a issue this doesn't mean it isn't possible.
Does tricking the ecu actually damage the car or is it just old technology as far as remapping is concerned.
If the Ecu does not look flashed but is running different from stock
how could VAG prove it was chipped.
As for power gains I've looked at different chips through Europe and they all claim similar results to
flashing and are car specific.

[gavs]

Tricking the ecu with a chip is the digital equivalent of putting washers behind a waste gate actuator to get more boost out of a turbo. By saying "tricking" the ecu, the chip will block signals from specific sensors that tell the ecu how the engine is operating like boost and fuel pressure/injector cycle etc. this makes the ecu think it the car isn't running how it should so it over compensates. The reason we say it is crude is because it is. Steienbauer are a classic example. You splice into specific wires to interrupt the signal back to the ecu from those wires which include boost, spark, fuel etc then the scientific way that the system is adjusted? A screwdriver in a potentiometer. I know of ine vehicle running the steinbauer setup that is a diesel and in 10,000kms it went through 3, yes 3 sets of injectors because of the steinbauer box causing the ecu to overfuel the injection system to get more power. With a reflash, the tuning companies spend weeks if not months writing code to take into account all the variables of the engine, like what should the inlet cam shaft be doing at x rpm with y load an z boost? What if y load becomes y2 load, then how does the spark fire with inlet cam at retardation/advancement p3 and exhaust cam at p7 along with inlet temperature T, supercharger boost at b2 and turbo boost at b6 to limit excess torque into gearbox Nm.....Etc

Soldering in chips is old tech for old ecus that don't have the same control over how the vehicle operates as now. While it was effective on a Mk 4 Golf GTI, proper rewritten coded tunes are showing how much more effective they are in retaining drivability and reliability of the motor car. Simple fact, if you over stress a component into a parameter it wasn't designed for, you will decrease it's lifespan dramatically.

Oh, by soldering in a chip that interrupts how the ecu reads signals, then they will be able to tell that something isn't right by a) seeing that the ecu has been opened and b) that the readouts of what the engine is doing is incorrect, might even throw fault codes. Plug in chips however, I am still yet to be shown one that lives up to its claim in regards to power and torque and that doesn't in someway bastardise the way the engine operates.

Trust me, if VAG want to find out if the car is tuned, they pull out the ECU and plug it into the computer that talks back to HQ and it will show them easily enough. Like I said, the only way to put in a chip is to open the ecu and they will see that it has been opened.

[123nickd]

Thanks Gavs,

That is what I was after and I'm gathering the plug and play and ecu chips are all crude methods.

I will flash the car soon makes sense now.

Thanks again,

Nick