My experiences with PowerChip
08-25-2004, 01:46 PM
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Re: Clearing Out the Shed
About a month and a half ago I decided to get PowerChip to upgrade/reprogram my ECU. Several people have asked me to do a write up of my experiences and since there is a poll on a possible group buy for these things I figured I better get off my butt and do one.
Right off the top though I want to point out that my experience with PowerChip is still ongoing, I'll cover that in a bit though.
The other reason I haven't wanted to do a write up is that I haven't done an after dyno yet. And I probably won't until I resolve all my issues. I will be doing it though and I'll post the before and after here, but don't expect it for awhile (maybe a month or more).
On to the experience:
The PowerChip upgrade. Basically they take your old ECU, replace the ROM chip with another one that they have programmed. The programming seems to just be advancing the ignition timing. Which explains the need for higher grade fuel. I got the PowerChip Gold 93 version, which is their highest. It requires 93 octane (R+M)/2 or higher gasonline and claims to add about 16 hp and 15 lb-ft of torque. I can't confirm this yet as I haven't got the dyno to compare. Seat of the pants though it feels like it added something.
The pain of course is you have to remove your ECU, send it to them (they provide packaging, pre-paid FedEx overnight, and instructions to remove the ECU), they will reprogram it the day they receive it and send it back overnight. So all things going well you would only be down 2 to 3 days.
Of course things didn't all go well with me. For starters the instructions they sent me were all wrong. They said they were for a TIburon, but not for an RD that's for sure. They said to look behind the passenger side glove box for the ECU. Well I thought my ECU was under the left hand driver side dash. So unless the ECU is still on the left side in a right hand drive car (say a European model) the instructions are totally useless.
For me they were obviously useless. I phoned them and said that's not where it was located, they told me to look under my car by my transmission?? At this point I posted here and asked if anyone knew where it was, response was quick that it was where I had originally thought it was. Left hand side under the drivers dash. So I ignored the PowerChip guys, and yanked the ECU.
Next problem. I live in Canada. So the guaranteed overnight shipping is actually FedEx International Priority. Which may or may not get there next day. It did, there was a delay in them reprogramming the chip so it didn't get out til the day after they received it. However inevitably it got stuck in customs for days. Which on a tangent story led me into lots of stupidity involving FedEx at this point which is irrelevant to a review of PowerChip.
With reprogrammed ECU in hand I put it back into my car. Now I have an autotragic, so I had to remove the TCU to get to the ECU. After putting it all back in I discovered something horribly wrong. My tranny was stuck in 3rd gear.
After extensive troubleshooting it seemed that the TCU was faulty. On a suggestion from you guys here I took a chance and found another TCU from a 99 Elantra at a wreckers. Put it in and it fixed that problem (and actually makes my auto work so much better, my suspicion is the TCU has been on the fritz for the last couple years, it just decided to outright die now).
So, finally back up and running I took it for a test drive, it seemed like it was a bit more responsive and peppy, but that could just be in my mind.
However starting about two weeks ago my CEL started coming on. I hooked my laptop up and pulled the following error:
"P0605: Internal Control Module Read Only Memory (ROM) error"
That sounded kind of bad, and yet the car was still working fine. I cleared the code the first time. About a week later on a long highway drive it happened again. I did some searching on this error and what I read seemed to indicate that the system will retry until it suceeds. Since there was only one of these alerts posted after many hours of driving I figured it's just intermittent. Better phone the PowerChip guys though. Due to serious lack of free time right now and a personal tendency to procrastinate I didn't get around to that.
This past weekend though I took a drive to my parents (1.5 hour highway trip) and sure enough the CEL came on. On arrival I hooked the laptop up and found 24 of the errors piled up. And now as soon as I turn the car on, and just at idle, the CEL will come on and several of these errors will be generated.
The current status is I've informed PowerChip and they are trying to figure out what in their new code could be causing this. I suspect though I will probably have to yank the ECU and send it back to them but it hasn't come to that yet.
The car seems to have no problems despite these errors, but it's really annoying driving around with the CEL on.
So, current summary is that due to the trouble I've had with this (which is not yet resolved) I think I would have been better off to go with a more proven method (i.e. SAFC or eManage and some shop tuning). I may revise this thought depending on the response of PowerChip on my current problem and the results of a dyno (after said problem is resolved). But I doubt it.
If I were to ever do it again though I would pick up another ECU from a wreckers so that the car wasn't sitting there uselessly. It's not my daily driver and sometimes there's a week or two between times it does get used. But sure enough if it's down that's the time I need it.
Right off the top though I want to point out that my experience with PowerChip is still ongoing, I'll cover that in a bit though.
The other reason I haven't wanted to do a write up is that I haven't done an after dyno yet. And I probably won't until I resolve all my issues. I will be doing it though and I'll post the before and after here, but don't expect it for awhile (maybe a month or more).
On to the experience:
The PowerChip upgrade. Basically they take your old ECU, replace the ROM chip with another one that they have programmed. The programming seems to just be advancing the ignition timing. Which explains the need for higher grade fuel. I got the PowerChip Gold 93 version, which is their highest. It requires 93 octane (R+M)/2 or higher gasonline and claims to add about 16 hp and 15 lb-ft of torque. I can't confirm this yet as I haven't got the dyno to compare. Seat of the pants though it feels like it added something.
The pain of course is you have to remove your ECU, send it to them (they provide packaging, pre-paid FedEx overnight, and instructions to remove the ECU), they will reprogram it the day they receive it and send it back overnight. So all things going well you would only be down 2 to 3 days.
Of course things didn't all go well with me. For starters the instructions they sent me were all wrong. They said they were for a TIburon, but not for an RD that's for sure. They said to look behind the passenger side glove box for the ECU. Well I thought my ECU was under the left hand driver side dash. So unless the ECU is still on the left side in a right hand drive car (say a European model) the instructions are totally useless.
For me they were obviously useless. I phoned them and said that's not where it was located, they told me to look under my car by my transmission?? At this point I posted here and asked if anyone knew where it was, response was quick that it was where I had originally thought it was. Left hand side under the drivers dash. So I ignored the PowerChip guys, and yanked the ECU.
Next problem. I live in Canada. So the guaranteed overnight shipping is actually FedEx International Priority. Which may or may not get there next day. It did, there was a delay in them reprogramming the chip so it didn't get out til the day after they received it. However inevitably it got stuck in customs for days. Which on a tangent story led me into lots of stupidity involving FedEx at this point which is irrelevant to a review of PowerChip.
With reprogrammed ECU in hand I put it back into my car. Now I have an autotragic, so I had to remove the TCU to get to the ECU. After putting it all back in I discovered something horribly wrong. My tranny was stuck in 3rd gear.
After extensive troubleshooting it seemed that the TCU was faulty. On a suggestion from you guys here I took a chance and found another TCU from a 99 Elantra at a wreckers. Put it in and it fixed that problem (and actually makes my auto work so much better, my suspicion is the TCU has been on the fritz for the last couple years, it just decided to outright die now).
So, finally back up and running I took it for a test drive, it seemed like it was a bit more responsive and peppy, but that could just be in my mind.
However starting about two weeks ago my CEL started coming on. I hooked my laptop up and pulled the following error:
"P0605: Internal Control Module Read Only Memory (ROM) error"
That sounded kind of bad, and yet the car was still working fine. I cleared the code the first time. About a week later on a long highway drive it happened again. I did some searching on this error and what I read seemed to indicate that the system will retry until it suceeds. Since there was only one of these alerts posted after many hours of driving I figured it's just intermittent. Better phone the PowerChip guys though. Due to serious lack of free time right now and a personal tendency to procrastinate I didn't get around to that.
This past weekend though I took a drive to my parents (1.5 hour highway trip) and sure enough the CEL came on. On arrival I hooked the laptop up and found 24 of the errors piled up. And now as soon as I turn the car on, and just at idle, the CEL will come on and several of these errors will be generated.
The current status is I've informed PowerChip and they are trying to figure out what in their new code could be causing this. I suspect though I will probably have to yank the ECU and send it back to them but it hasn't come to that yet.
The car seems to have no problems despite these errors, but it's really annoying driving around with the CEL on.
So, current summary is that due to the trouble I've had with this (which is not yet resolved) I think I would have been better off to go with a more proven method (i.e. SAFC or eManage and some shop tuning). I may revise this thought depending on the response of PowerChip on my current problem and the results of a dyno (after said problem is resolved). But I doubt it.
If I were to ever do it again though I would pick up another ECU from a wreckers so that the car wasn't sitting there uselessly. It's not my daily driver and sometimes there's a week or two between times it does get used. But sure enough if it's down that's the time I need it.
08-25-2004, 04:21 PM
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Re: white smoke
Man am I glad I didn't buy that thing, I almost did but something didn't feel right about it. Now, after reading your post, I'm know I did the right thing-sorry about your problem leadfoot.
08-25-2004, 04:51 PM
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Re: My experiences with PowerChip
i was looking into these over a year ago and decided not to do it. It just didnt make sense to me. Anyways I hope everything gets resolved Leadfoot.
08-26-2004, 08:24 AM
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Re: Speeblind, RD1 "The Old Image"
yep you will always get that error even after you get your ecu back without the reprogrammed chip in it. If you don't you got lucky. That error won't cause anything other than a cel. From what was explained to me the ecu runs a check between two sets of memory when something mismatch it throws that error. AI while back Alpine and Real tried just reflashing my ecu to work with the s/c kit. Well it worked for a little bit but problems shortly came. Even though the ecu was reprogrammed to run more fuel differant maps it would still go to factory defaults. Everytime I went into Alpine and threw it up on the dyno there was a loss of hp. In the long run had to go get a new used ecu so the error was gone and went back too the unichip. The RD ecu sucks balls. The GK's came with a much smarter and better ECU.
08-26-2004, 10:13 AM
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Re: car audio CRAP!!!!
Well, the PowerChip guys have nothing for me yet. I suspect though they will eventually ask me to send the ECU back to them. So I'm looking for another ECU from a wreckers that I can use if they do.
Anyone know if an ECU from a 2000/2001 tib would work in a 99?
Anyone know if an ECU from a 2000/2001 tib would work in a 99?
08-26-2004, 11:08 AM
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Re: Wont start... *sigh*
Yeah, I snagged an ECU from a 2000 Tib that was in my local junk yard.So one of these days I may try this ECU upgrade thing and my car won't be down.
I don't know if a gen2 ecu will work on a gen1 If the engines are the same,seems like it'd be fine.
Isn't there some one else besides PowerChip that offers an EProm upgrade? I know there is,but I can't think of the company right now.
I don't know if a gen2 ecu will work on a gen1 If the engines are the same,seems like it'd be fine.
Isn't there some one else besides PowerChip that offers an EProm upgrade? I know there is,but I can't think of the company right now.
09-12-2004, 12:20 AM
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Re: VHR Xtreme Super Single & Race Twin Systems
Well a bit of an update to this.
PowerChip called me on thursday and said they think they found the problem and they have a new code release to try.
So I got the 2001 Tib ECU from the wreckers and slapped it in my car, it works fine as you would expect. So I can conclusively say gen2 ECU works just fine in a gen1.
Monday I'll ship my Powerchip ECU back for them to reprogram. I'll update again once I get it back and try it.
PowerChip called me on thursday and said they think they found the problem and they have a new code release to try.
So I got the 2001 Tib ECU from the wreckers and slapped it in my car, it works fine as you would expect. So I can conclusively say gen2 ECU works just fine in a gen1.
Monday I'll ship my Powerchip ECU back for them to reprogram. I'll update again once I get it back and try it.