Is this chip thing for real??

[vibe_raider]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...&category=33557Does this chip thing really work? Seems a little good to be true

[wicked1981]

Fake. I think someone here said you can get the same parts at radio Shack for a couple bucks.

[Smokin' Rubber]

yeah simple radio shack resistor which shifts your fuel curve so that it will pump out more gas (I wouldn't recommed that unless you get a new fuel pump unless you want to put alot of stress on the stock one)

[joatmon]

i don't remember anyone here ever trying one of those in the vibe. my guess is that this one decalibrates your fuel/air mixture, there are others that supposedly advance your timing. I figure if the mod would really give you +15 HP and was some reputable product, then there would be dyno charts available to show that the power gain has been tested and actually measured.I also think the car is too valuable to be risk messing it up with unknown stuff like this from ebay. Sure would suck to get +15HP for a month, and then have to replace the MAF, the cat, or some other expensive part.

[Vibration]

The following is from the descirtion of why the seller claims it works.Quote » Most people say they have noticed that their car performs better on colder days. This is because the intake is receiving cooler air. This intake sensor mod uses a resistor to “trick” your engine into thinking that it is taking in cool air all the time. Somehow I don't doubt if my Vibe "thinks" that the air is cooler than it really is it will preform better. The Seller seems to miss the point that the car performs better on a colder day because the air is more dense and that if there is more air in the cylender then thier can be a bigger exposion. "Thinking" the air is denser will not make it so.

[AJ_'04 Vibe]

Anything you do to "trick" the engine into thinking the air it's injesting is cooler (which is what this thing does) is supposed to increase the air/fuel ratio (i.e. make it run richer).While this is hot rodders gospel (running rich, up to 12.7:1), EFI engines normally only run ~13.5:1 in PE mode (power enrichment). Any more than that and the engine just won't be as effecient and you'll actually loose power.The down side to this is while that little resistor does change the air/fuel ratio at WOT, it doesn't always increase power (see above.) And when you're not at WOT the resistor is telling the computer the air temp is "x" degrees and the ECM is trying to obtain a 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio based on the cooler air. At the same time, the O2 sensor senses that the mixture is too rich and over-rides what the resistor is telling the ECM.Now the poor ECM is confused and a SES light could result.A friend of mine tried this to his '00 Cavalier at the dragstrip on an 80* day and actually added .2 seconds to his ET. Not exactly what he was hoping for.