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If you are Considering a Chip - READ THIS!

Hello fellow Bimmerheads,

This message is not intended to start a flame, nor is it intended to 
put down any company in particular.

Many of us have always wanted to increase the power of our engines, not 
necessarily because it would get us to work/vacation place/home any faster, 
but simply because of the concept "More is Better".  Whether or not it is 
justifiable, many of us have at least considered investing in a chip.  
Then the questions pop up:

	1. Is the chip going to make a difference?
	2. Will the chip "hurt" the control system?
	3. Which chip is better?

...and many more....

Because of my background and my work, I tend not to believe everything I 
hear/read until I can test it myself.  Although I have performed a lot of 
dyno tests, I have never had the opportunity to actually perform a 
controlled, un-biassed, dyno test on a "chipped" BMW.  Therefore, I could 
never double check the claims.  In fact I wonder exactly how many people 
have actually conducted a dyno test on their BMWs?

I have to admit that I too have purchased a chip -just like many of you- 
based on a superficial understanding of the effects of it.  After 
installing it, I couldn't really notice much change at all, at least not 
measurable with a stop watch on several 0-60 tests.  I then thought I was 
not able to have repeatable tests, and therefore not able to measure 
improvements.  Calling the company did little good, since they seem to be 
convinced that I was the only one unhappy with it, and the rest of the 
world just loved it.  So I kept the chip....

A while later the car start running rich.  At times it would stall in the 
traffic, with little hope of restarting it.  I have -intuitively- 
directed my suspicions towards the chip, almost immediately.  However, 
changing the chip with the original one did not change anything....

I will spare you for the agony that I went through for many months.  I have
changed quite a few sensors and such.  That didn't really help, but the 
parts probably had to be changed sooner or later anyway since the car has 
over 100K.

LAST WEEKEND I finally got my baby to work the way it did before the chip.
The car couldn't start, so I decided to take the spark plugs out, clean them,
and installing them the next day since it was getting late.  I then got this
idea about disconnecting the battery, and installing the original chip.
Now, for those of you that don't know what this does to the control 
system (I was aware of it, but somehow never did it), it zeroes the 
memory, resetting everything to a default setting.  This means that all 
the data accumulated over the past few days (in my case a screwed up 
controlled system) is zeroed.

After doing the above, I started the car and it ran like a dream.  Ever
since (about 10 days ago) it's been running fine, and I hope it'll stay 
that way.

Conclusion:  If you want to change the chip, it is entirely up to you, but
	     don't expect too big of an improvement, and DON'T THROW THE 
	     ORIGINAL CHIP AWAY!

NOTE:	     IF people on the list would also list their bad experiences 
	     with the chips....

Just my $0.02 cents worth.


 -- 

	Cornelius.

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*									     *
*	Cornelius N. Opris		Michigan Technological University    *
*	  PhD Candidate			1400 Townsend Drive, ME-EM 	     *
*	Diesel Emissions, CFD		Houghton, MI 49931-1275, USA	     *
*									     *
*       ph: (906) 487-2431    fax: (906) 487-2822   email: [email protected]   *
*		http://www.me.mtu.edu/~cnopris/				     *
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