What does a chip acutally do

[gonie]

Hey,

Im new to this site and wouldn't be too well up on all the tech talk!
I have a golf mk4 gti and its been chipped before i got it and i am just wondering what exactly this would do to the running of the engine.

Thanks for anyone's help
Ger

[Col]

Hey,

Im new to this site and wouldn't be too well up on all the tech talk!
I have a golf mk4 gti and its been chipped before i got it and i am just wondering what exactly this would do to the running of the engine.

Thanks for anyone's help
Ger

In two words a chip will make the car; "Much faster".

Chips were used in the old days where a chip would be physically removed and replaced on the ecu circuit board.

These days the more common term is "Mapped" or "Re-mapped", this is done via the cars diagnostic port whereby modified software is downloaded to the ecu.

What a map / chip does is; alter the fuelling, turbo boost and ignition timing to optimum settings so as to allow the engine to run more efficiently, the by-product of this is more power and torque.

[gonie]

Thanks,

That explains it a bit better. I brought the car in from Japan. Now seemingly the are car mad over there. The tuning guy i took it to wasn't familar with the software on the car.
The engine management light come on even after resetting, and the error that appears is "max turbo pressure reached".
Any ideas how dangerous it is to leave it like this
Whats the worst case senario?

Thanks

[Captain Answer]

Whats the worst case senario?

You become a rolling fireball???

[gonie]

Not good

Is it a major job to get it re-mapped to normal settings.
And would i be better off going to a vw garage rather than a back street mechanic.

thanks for the help