Buying Chips on Ebay
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Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 229
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From: Northern Virginia
Buying Chips on Ebay
Some people sell there used ones from regular 5.4 engines. Will used chips work on my L? Are they worth getting? Do I have to take it to a shop to get it calibrated or coded right then dynoed to figure out max performance?Easy to install or should shop do it.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 198
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From: Raleigh NC
You can buy it but you will have to have it reburned for your truck. It is VERY easy to install. Any tuner can reburn it for you. I have used Mike T. at Performance Products for both of my chips and my reburn.
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Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 229
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From: Northern Virginia
So it can just be a 5.4 liter chip? Doesn't have to be a Lightning chip. Some people have 2 chips and send one out to be reburned. Why would I need it reburned after the 1st time.
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Joined: Mar 1998
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From: Virginia
Hi Ogie,
There are times when buying a used Superchip can be a good bargain and a safe thing to do, if certain conditions are met. I'd *never* do that with a Lightning or 2002 Harley model because they are supercharged engines, and you never really know what's going on inside the program of used Superchips for those models. There are so many different programs out there for those models and the sticker on the back of the Superchip may or may not identify the program well enough to know whether it's safe to use or not. Also, many of the owners of those types of vehicles have numerous program changes made as they do different types of modifications, etc, and the sticker may not get updated at all. For any number of reasons, I'd want to have a new Superchip for a Lightning or '02 HD model, both of which have the supercharged 5.4 motors.
There are always people selling their used chips when they trade in their vehicles, and that can be OK to pick up a bargain, *if* the program in that chip already matches the exact computer code of your vehicle, so that you don't have to pay for it to be reprogrammed. The deal is, by the time you pay to have a used Superchip reprogrammed correctly for your vehicle, you could have had a brand new Superchip with a Lifetime warranty and all the other benefits of ownership such as Tech Support, etc., for about the same cost or a little bit more.
If you have a non-supercharged F-150 model with no modifications, or only an air filter kit and a cat-back exhaust on it that doesn't have an H-pipe or X-pipe, and if the used Superchip has a sticker on the back of it identifying it as having the exact same computer code as your F-150, *then* buying it used can be a bargain.
If a used Superchip is going to be reprogrammed for use on another vehicle, the used Superchip doesn't have to have come from another F-150 with the same engine; it could be from an F-150 with any engine, or it could be from a Mustang, or a Lincoln, or any other FoMoCo vehicle *except* something with either the V-10 gasoline engine or the Powerstroke diesel engine, as those two engines take a completely different Superchip module.
The easiest thing to do would be to give us a call when you get a chance, and we can go over all of this in detail with you. It's a lot of information, too much to type out, and this can be very confusing sometimes, especially when you're not familiar with this & trying to make sure you don't make a mistake, or make sure that it's actually a bargain, etc. If you like, we can go over the info on your vehicle and any modifications you have done or are going to do, how you are using the vehicle, etc., and based on all of that, let you know if it makes good sense in your situaiton to look for a used Superchip and if so, what to look for and what to ask specifically, etc.
If you'd like to touch base with us, our contact info is just below.
Best of luck with your truck,
There are times when buying a used Superchip can be a good bargain and a safe thing to do, if certain conditions are met. I'd *never* do that with a Lightning or 2002 Harley model because they are supercharged engines, and you never really know what's going on inside the program of used Superchips for those models. There are so many different programs out there for those models and the sticker on the back of the Superchip may or may not identify the program well enough to know whether it's safe to use or not. Also, many of the owners of those types of vehicles have numerous program changes made as they do different types of modifications, etc, and the sticker may not get updated at all. For any number of reasons, I'd want to have a new Superchip for a Lightning or '02 HD model, both of which have the supercharged 5.4 motors.
There are always people selling their used chips when they trade in their vehicles, and that can be OK to pick up a bargain, *if* the program in that chip already matches the exact computer code of your vehicle, so that you don't have to pay for it to be reprogrammed. The deal is, by the time you pay to have a used Superchip reprogrammed correctly for your vehicle, you could have had a brand new Superchip with a Lifetime warranty and all the other benefits of ownership such as Tech Support, etc., for about the same cost or a little bit more.
If you have a non-supercharged F-150 model with no modifications, or only an air filter kit and a cat-back exhaust on it that doesn't have an H-pipe or X-pipe, and if the used Superchip has a sticker on the back of it identifying it as having the exact same computer code as your F-150, *then* buying it used can be a bargain.
If a used Superchip is going to be reprogrammed for use on another vehicle, the used Superchip doesn't have to have come from another F-150 with the same engine; it could be from an F-150 with any engine, or it could be from a Mustang, or a Lincoln, or any other FoMoCo vehicle *except* something with either the V-10 gasoline engine or the Powerstroke diesel engine, as those two engines take a completely different Superchip module.
The easiest thing to do would be to give us a call when you get a chance, and we can go over all of this in detail with you. It's a lot of information, too much to type out, and this can be very confusing sometimes, especially when you're not familiar with this & trying to make sure you don't make a mistake, or make sure that it's actually a bargain, etc. If you like, we can go over the info on your vehicle and any modifications you have done or are going to do, how you are using the vehicle, etc., and based on all of that, let you know if it makes good sense in your situaiton to look for a used Superchip and if so, what to look for and what to ask specifically, etc.
If you'd like to touch base with us, our contact info is just below.
Best of luck with your truck,