What does everyone here think about those performance enhancing chips that are being sold on ebay. I am interested in purchasing one of those chips for my car?

 

I wouldn't buy a chip from ebay. Most of thoes things are scams.

 

where would u even put a 'chip'???

 

If the cobalt uses the same OBDII ecu from the cav then it can't be 'chipped' from what I know.

 

well for my car (Escort ZX2) the chip goes on the ECU were the plug goes into it. u pull the plug out and the chip goes in tht spot and the plug goes into the back of the chip. but ths for my car.

 

but if you put a chip into the ss will it void the warenty?

 

not sure on tht one you might have to ask the dealer

 

as far as chip actual chip from 96 gm cars can't be chipped, the ecu can be reprogrammed by gm or other companies that offer programs, but look at 400+ bucks. dont buy ebay chips theyre all crap and do harm to the car.

 

I dunno don't trust summit lol partly my fault i called them up to see if one was made for my 04 cavalier ls sport coupe (didnt no it couldnt be done). They said the chip would fit the 04 and i installed it and found out the hard way that the 04 is unchipable. Unless you have a big V-8 truck they dont do much cheap ones dump in more fuel. Ruining gas mileage i think there are better ways for hp just my opinion.

 

it can probably be flashed...no companies do that for this car yet though...

 

Unless a chip is an actual Hypertech/J.E.T./Diablo most other ones sold on Ebay are 100% useless crap.

Alot of them are $.04 resitors with a $.10 plug. They go in between your incoming air temperature sensor and the computer. The resistor tricks the computer into thinking the air temp is lower therefore it adds more fuel. Needless to say richer doesn't equal faster.

 

GM is not about to release ECU codes out to the world for chips, mods or anything else. Your looking at scams.

 

putting any type of computer chip on ur car will VOID your warranty. i was told any modification done to the ECU will void the warranty and dont think they wont know it was installed...the ECU will read anything and even any check engine light that has came on.

 

except the revo chip it is completely undetectable cuz it can be set for normal. but on an escort the chip actually does increase horsepower and torque but doesnt make it run richer. it all depends on if the car is made for a chip or not.

 

When dealing with performance chips, it is best to get it from a reputable dealer. They try to sell anything on ebay, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

 

^^^^

What he said.

 

If your gonna go that way make sure you know that chips for your car are just like Lays BETCHA JUST CANT HAVE ONE.... once you do the chip then you realize it works best with an exuast system... intake... ect., ect.

 

aftermarket tuning will not void your warranty....99% of all dealers will be unable to tell you had any tuning done unless of course your using one of those addon controllers....a reflash of the PCM is virtually undetectable at the dealer level, also one of the first things that will get done if you have some odd problem caused by the tuning that cant be traced to a hard failure will be the dealer will reflash your car with the current GM program....9 times out of 10 this will fix the problem....if it does your tuning is gone, and noone at the dealer will probably ever think that you had a tune unless your car shows other evidence of mods/abuse......the worst case scenario and the only real way you could actually get caught is if the GM reflash doesnt work and a new PCM is installed.....since its warranty GM may request the dealer send the PCM into the engineering group to have it evaluated.....if this happens....then your screwed...you will have to pay for all the work the dealer did, diagnosis, reflash, and installing the new PCM as well as pay for the PCM....again though your warranty is not VOIDED...its just that it didnt cover the mods you made and the failure they caused.....it is very difficult to have your warranty VOIDED....meaning absolutely no coverage for any repair...it is possible, it does happen, but you need to be a real ass and have caused serious damage to the car or performed VERY obvious, and poorly engineered mods to the vehicle....

Also once a DTC(diagnostic trouble code) is cleared from the PCM via a scan tool or ithe PCM's own trouble code clearing routine, it cannot be retreived...and there will be no record of it...this doesnt mean once the lights out the code is gone, but if the code is CLEARED with a tool or by the PCM it gone.