MyE28.com

For those searching for concrete data on the value of the Ebay performance chips;

Cylinder head;


Piston;


Cost of Ebay chip;
$25.00 USD.

Cost of used replacement motor;
~$400.00 USD
(+~$15.00 in ibuprophen)

Thats strange -- I used one of the ebay performance chips for way over a year and had no problems.

The thing is you really roll the dice with these chips.
There is no way to know what you are getting.

TJ - Took a little more than a year to explode. Good luck.

Oh it's ok -- I don't have the chip anymore w/ the turbo. Crazy that a little chip could do that!

A chip made a valve fall out? Or did it remove the safe rev limit on old springs and somebody had a bit too much fun driving it? I could see if they leaned it out too much and something melted or it detonated so bad it dropped the valve, but it prob. wouldn't have lasted a year then.

Not defending E-bay chips, MD will be helping me with my tuning, but it makes me wonder.

[QUOTE="itruns"]A chip made a valve fall out? Or did it remove the safe rev limit on old springs and somebody had a bit too much fun driving it? I could see if they leaned it out too much and something melted or it detonated so bad it dropped the valve, but it prob. wouldn't have lasted a year then.

Not defending E-bay chips, MD will be helping me with my tuning, but it makes me wonder.[/QUOTE]

Most likely it advanced the timing BAFR*.

*Beyond all F*ing Recognition

D'sylva had a look at the eprom - I sent it to him - he said the timing was "scary beyond belief".
Folks can make their own decisions. This was posted on RF and the idiots there are already on the case. I'm pretty well convinced that the chip was the culprit.

Nope, Y'all naysayers are all wrong -- Buttholetron says so in this Roachfly thread! %)

Didn't you hear the detonation? My car has detonated many many many times and the valve never dropped. The chip might have had too much timing in D'Sylva's opinion but I think it is highly unlikely that it caused the failure. Did you over rev it?

Don't blame the chip. The chip didn't install itself!

Todd


[Edit by TCD on [TIME]1108091017[/TIME]]

[QUOTE="Shawn D."]Nope, Y'all naysayers are all wrong -- Buttholetron says so in this Roachfly thread! %) [/QUOTE]

Forget it Shawn, as you well know youth is wasted on the young and stupid. I don't think he even knows what detonation is, and we certainly know what his ethical standards are.

[QUOTE="TCD"]Didn't you hear the detonation? My car has detonated many many many times and the valve never dropped. The chip might have had too much timing in D'Sylva's opinion but I think it is highly unlikely that it caused the failure. Did you over rev it?

Don't blame the chip. The chip didn't install itself!

Todd

[Edit by TCD on [TIME]1108091017[/TIME]][/QUOTE]

Certain forms of detonation and lesser preignition events aren't audible, but can cause valve edge heating and that's probably lead to the failure. Some things in engines are just one thing or nothing, there's many bad fuel-air burn situations. MANY.

Chips don't harm engines, People harm engines.....

Pullleeeze.....

Low octane + performance chip = *Boom*??

Perhaps?

[QUOTE="TCD"]Didn't you hear the detonation? My car has detonated many many many times and the valve never dropped. The chip might have had too much timing in D'Sylva's opinion but I think it is highly unlikely that it caused the failure. Did you over rev it?

Don't blame the chip. The chip didn't install itself!

Todd

[Edit by TCD on [TIME]1108091017[/TIME]][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE="fastpat"]Certain forms of detonation and lesser preignition events aren't audible, but can cause valve edge heating and that's probably lead to the failure. Some things in engines are just one thing or nothing, there's many bad fuel-air burn situations. MANY.[/QUOTE]

Sorry, it's not that easy to destroy a m20 or m30. If that were the case , I would have gone through ten or so engines in both the 325i and 535i.

Todd

Lots of Banter back and forth. Here is my opinion, I do not have a chip yet. I will buy a chip someday soon.

I have had a valve job on my old E34, it was very $$$ expensive. When it was all said and done it cost $2000 including the peripheral stuff that goes w/ it, like parts you replace while your at it. It ran like brand new after but I wish I had that $2K back.

$100 Ebay chip = $2000 valve job < Which = NOT WORTH THE RISK

Hey DGM!
I think You and I running the same chip. I made two round trips to CA = 7K miles + all the local driving for over a year. No problems. I have my idle high right now, but I don't care as I am buiding a new motor. Never noticed any detonations. You did get me scared though, so when I open up this motor I look at the pistons. What else I should look for to verify your suspision?

I'll jump in with my WAG of the failure.

Everyone is looking at the valve and speculating how did the chip do this. IMO, the valve head broke off when the piston started to disintegrate. Over the years I've seen pics and also seen pistons from Euro ///M engines that had failed due to lean mixtures from the federalization process. In most cases the piston erodes around the upper ring land. If your lucky, the cylinder loses compression and you end up with a dead cylinder and minimal damage. If unlucky and the piston comes apart who knows what kind of mayhem you'll see inside the engine.

In DGM case I believe his piston started to come apart and the debris caused the head of the valve to break off.

Just my $.02

Rich

TJ could you PLEASE shoot that new avatar and put it out of it's misery. The gay lawnmower guy was better than that one.... She drive me nuts.
:~

Hahaha -- I think the fat little kid is funny -- I got it from here:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/shakeass.html

Just shake that ass

Yes avatars in motion are cute, interesting, helpful, nice only once. After that they are a distraction.

It must be funny - I seen it on TEE VEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (best Jethro Clampet voice).

I have a hard time believing only a chip could do something like that. How many miles on the engine? How was it driven? Did he hear and ignore detonation?

There are soooo many variables you can't just point to one thing like that.

That said, you get what you pay for.

Well, thanks to this thread, I have now purchased an 061 ecu for the L-block. Since installing the motor in October, I have been using a chipped 059 (w/ebay chip), and even used a chipped 059 (w/different ebay chip) for over a year with my previous 8:1 motor. Never had a problem with either ebay chip and never heard detonation, but then again the exhaust is so damn loud that it could be drowning out some pinging.

While we're on this subject, whats the difference between the different ECU's, which ones are which, and why is one better than another? Can they all be used in an E28?