Jim w

I have a 1993 olds cutlass Supreme with the 3.4 V6. I don,t know if I can say the brand, but are thechips that say 50 hp 50 torque and better milage something to consider or is it a gimmick?? Also are they as ez to install as the claim??

Redog

Scam

Jim w

Thanks I consider myse;f warned

joe_padavano

Here's a reality check. Automakers spend many millions of dollars every year to improve mileage. If it were really that easy, don't you think the automakers would have already used that chip?

snowballs442

Are you back from vacation? You have alot of posts to read

Jim w

Yea, if it sounds too good to be true...

rustyroger

If all the claims were to be believed engines would routinely make 5000 horsepower and fuel tanks would need to be drained rather than filled.
It's the laws of physics, to make power you have to burn fuel, modern engines make a pretty good job of meeting power/economy/longevity/emissions/cost compromises.
If you have specific requirements such as all out power for the drag strip or lots of low end torque for towing then maybe modifying your engine is the way to go but generally I think the design engineers know best.

Indy_68_S

I will agree in this case, BUT....
In some cases you can 'unlock' hidden potential in a factory engine with a chip. I don't know about a '93 GM 3.4, 50/50 increase sounds a bit much for a N/A version of that engine.

Mfgr's will introduce an engine with say 200HP. The next year it has 'improved' performance of 205...& the next year, 210. The 210 was there all along. It was just dumbed down for introduction.

I know this from the VW world when the 1.8L Turbo came out. It had like 150HP. With just a chip, you could gain 20+ because of the hidden potential. Limit yourself to 93 octane and just the chip could push it close to a 40HP gain.

Eventually (& slowly) VW raised the power advertised by doing nothing more than updating the software.....

I know the LS crowd is big on chips. Modern engines have an amazing amount of tunability via software....

rustyroger

Virtually all engines can be made to produce more power, it's just not a free lunch. To take it to an extreme a top fuel dragster engine might make 6500 bhp, only trouble is after a few seconds of full power it needs a rebuild. On the other hand industrial diesels might have been making small amounts of power relative to their size for many thousands of hours.
As materials and technology progress so do engine outputs increase relative to their size as well as their expected service life. Nowadays anyone buying a new car can expect 250000 miles of useful service if they keep up with maintenance, 50 or 60 years ago taking the cylinder head off and decoking it and lapping the valves in after 50000 miles or so was commonplace. topping up with oil every time you filled up with gas was routine as well.
But it costs more and engines are much more complex to attain these improvements. I dare say VW (and most other auto makers) give their engines some leeway when they introduce them.
If you factor in the R&D costs to bring modern cars (or TVs, computers, or any complex machine come to that) to todays standards, that is why I contend that "chipping" an engine to release more power is not a cost free option, in that particular case engine life may be shortened. Of course a petrolhead may not have a problem with that, and if the extra power isn't used it may make no difference.