Well, it's probably only me but.....

Easy installation my a$$!!!!! It took me close to 30 minutes just to unbolt the ECU from the wire harness. They don't tell you that. Then, I didn't have the 2 mm screw driver to get the cover off in order to clean the connectors properly. So I had to stick my finger in the little access area. I probably sanded all the contact metal right off!!! To make matters worse, I have no idea how I'm gonna hook my ECU back up to the wire harness. It's like trying to throw a ring around a Coke bottle at a carnival. You can get lucky on the first shot, or you can be out there all day tring to succeed. There's no rhyme or reason to it. I can't seem to get the connectors to hook back up and the screw back into the hole.

So I'd just love to tell you if the chip was worth all the trouble but by truck is brain dead at the moment. I have two finals tomorrow so I'm not going to stress myself out anymore over this until afterwards. If I can get the harness hooked back up, I think I'll be lucky if the truck even starts. I'm pretty much regretting the whole thing right about now.

 

P.S. This is why I don't work on my daily driver!!! Stuff like this always happens to me. Nothing seems to ever go as smoothly as the directions would indicate. I guess I just wasn't made to turn a wrench. So if anyone can screw up on installing a superchip, that would be me!!!! :o

 

lol.... sorry i don't mean to laugh . sounds like my luck . and i turn wrenches for a living ....lol...you got it easy tho . i gotta pull my ecm to find my code . put it back in . order the chip . remove it again and put the chip in then reinstall it . twice aaaaaagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhagggggghagahagahhaga hagahhhgahgaahhhhhhhhhggahga

 

Macgyver,

You shouldn't have to pull the ecm to get the code. It should be on the sticker that faces you. I just had to remove the driver's side kick panel, and the bracket that holds the ecm in place. Only for installation did I have to actually unplug the ecm. I'm thinking that removing the e-brake lever isn't such a bad idea. There is such little space to get the ecm in there, I keep banging it up trying to fit it in the space, then taking it out to locate the screw hole, then putting it back in, taking it out, etc, etc, etc I thing I'm gonna give them a call tomorrow if I can't figure it out. Maybe there's a trick to it I don't know about .

 

TF,

Time to step back and count to 10. Sometimes when these things are a PITA it's better to walk away, calm down, and regroup.

Sounds like me tracking down my "buzz". I finally got worried enough that I took off my torque converter inspection plate. Turnned the truck over my hand, checked all the converter bolts and drain.

Then, I decided to check the exhaust one more time. Mysteriously, a loose converter shield bolt finally let me find it. I got it fixed just as the sun set.

 

Well, I decided that if I wanted my truck to run again, I better take a different approach. It worked and I got eveything hooked up. The result.....

Less throttle response.....that's about it.

Basically, everything good that my pulleys did for me was negated by the superchip. My truck felt a little faster than before, the pulleys/chip, but it diffinately felt slower than with just the pulleys. I couldn't rev as high, and my tranny hardly downshifts anymore. Not worth $285 that's for sure!

I gotta say, though, I'm really disappointed. I've wanted a chip for over 2 1/2 years and I finally got it just yesterday, only to find that I'm a member of the "didn't do squat for me" crowd, rather than the "boy what a difference this thing makes!" crowd. I followed the intructions to every last word-- bottom line, these chips really don't do much for my generation of trucks. I honestly believe that the VAST majority of people who are really happy with their superchips are people who have late model vehicles.

From now on, I'm gonna stick to the basics-- throttle body, intake manifold, cylinder heads. It may be expensive, but the proof is in the power, not the hype.

It's funny, I expected the chip to have the same effect I got from the pulleys and the pulleys to have the same effect from the chip (ie, I didn't expect much from the pulleys and only got them as an afterthought but I expected good things from the chip, but it turned out to be exactly the opposite). I'm kinda sad right now, I don't mean to bash superchips, I'm sure they make great products and I was really hoping to feel the "extra 10% of motor" so many people describe. Oh well. I think I'll go order a throttle body from Jeg's after I return the chip.

 

lol yea you sound like me TF. I had a hell of a time just changeing my spark plugs. This all seems to have gotten worse as ive got older. I ended up pulling a back muscle and my knees where killing me while i leaned over the truck for 45 min.

 

TF,
Thanks for the honest truth. I guess we'll have to be one of the old fasioned guys..." them chips don't do a dam thing except burn a hole in yer wallet." I'm not going to get a chip. I'll stick with basics, exhuast, heads, gears, The usual horse power builders.

 

TF
my sticker isn't on the front of the ecm . but from the sounds of it . i won't be taking it out and spending the $ . i hear all this hype bout superchips . you are the first honest opinion i've heard and i will take it as how things are . no need for all us to go through the same thing . Thanx :-) besides i can think of better things to spend $300 on ......lol

 

Hey TF..what brand is the chip?
I've got a 96 regcab and I have a budy with the same truck same year and same 4.9 engine.Only difference is he has a jetchip, I feel a big difference driving my truck and driving his..PKRWUD said after he took his jetchip out and put the stock back in and it felt like he was pulling a small car...thats exactly how my truck feels after driving his...might just be the engine and the model..I know my 96 has a lot more computer crap then a 90....good luck with your other mods TF..

 

Sorry about your troubles. I gave up on removing the computer right away and removed the emergency brake. I can do it now in about 30 minutes, I have had practice taking it in and out when it goes to the dealership. I am not trying to convince you to keep it or anything like that, just some additional info. After I installed mine I disconnected the battery and turned on the headlights for about an hour to "empty" the computer. My chip did not turn my 5.0 into a fire-breathing monster, but there was a difference in performance and shifting, and I was skeptical about the whole thing. I do agree the difference may be greater on the newer engines. I might also be more satisfied because I only spent $150 on a used chip. Sorry about all your wasted time. -- Martin

PS -- You have me interested in pulleys though

 

I've kinda got the hang of installing and removing the ecm now. I've figured it's easier to shove the ecm through the slot and plug it in from the engine bay then shoving the harness through the slot and trying to match the ecm up to the wire harness. Does that make sense?

Also, I heard that some people disconnect the battery and drain the capacitors for a while by turning on their head lights in order to reset their computer. I was wondering if I was supposed to do this, maybe this would give better results. But, it never said anything about that in the instructions and I wanted to follow the instructions strictly to avoid voiding the warranty. It says, not following the instructions properly will void the warranty.

But another problem I had which was the key factor in my decision to take out the chip was that it was not plugging in all the way. The directions say it is supposed to be flush with the ecm. I wiggled, pushed, and jammed almost as hard as I could but could not get the chip to go down all the way. so there was maybe a 1/3" gap between the back panel of the chip and the ecm box. This made it impossible to reposition the ecm box properly and hold it in place with the stock bracket since the chip was hitting a corner of a wall. I don't know if this is the reason I didn't feel any performance gains, but it was obviously plugged in enough to start the engine and keep my truck from revving as high, so I don't know. I didn't want any rinky dink solutions like taping the ecm box with tape to the sidewall just to keep it in place so I could have 10 extra tq, less top end and now have to go out and get a shift kit just to feel the difference my pulleys made.

All in all, it felt like I had a tad extra low end tq, but way less top end. Basically, I think I could achieve the same results if I were to remove my high flow cat., 3" piping and flowmater and put my stock exhaust back on. I guess chips work on stock vehicles, but they sure don't work well with other mods., like exhaust and pulleys.

By the way, the brand of chip I used was Superchips, supposedly the most reliable and trustworthy brand. Everytime I think about what happened I get disappointed all over again because I was looking forward to this for so long. I mean I really wanted this to work, I wasn't at all skeptical about chips before this. I saw the difference they made on my friend's Powerstroke diesel and my co-workers '98 Chevy Blazer. But both are late model vehicles. Even the '96 Fords have the E4OD tranny, wish the shifting is improved by the Superchip. I guess our computers just weren't mean to be screwed with.

 

theres no way u can call them up and sak for a refund or something? i mean, you are the customer and you are not satisfied, and it would probably be nice to have those 300 dollars back to use towards other mods.

 

Donate54,

Actually, they have a 30 day money back guarentee. So luckily, I can get the $265 for the chip back, but I'm out the shipping charges. Fair enough. So I will send it back and get a thottle body instead. I was gonna do the throttle body at the same time as the intake manifold, but now I know to do mods. seperately so I can tell which one is more effective, and which one actually does nothing (or hurts performance!).

The reason why this sucks is because now I have one less mod. available to me. My goal was to have at least 200hp at the rear wheels so this will make it just a little tougher to reach that goal. I don't know, maybe I can have a custom chip made that will react differently with my mods. There's gotta be a chip somewhere that will help my truck's performance. All I know is that it's not the one sitting on my dressor right now.

 

STOP!!!!!!!

You MUST reset the ECM as well as go through the re-learn process before any gains will be noticed! I'm surprised the instructions didn't state this. Before returning it, install it (the easiest way is by pulling the e-brake pedal assembly). Screw it, forget their instructions, follow mine:

1) Disconnect the negative battery cable.
2) Remove the three nuts that hold the e-brake pedal in place, and set the pedal to the side.
3) Remove the access cover on the end of the ECM.
4) Install the chip.
Don't worry about replacing the access cover, it can't be done.
5) Install the e-brake pedal assembly.
6) Turn on the headlights for 10 minutes.
7) Turn the headlights off, and reconnect the battery cable.
8) Start the engine, and let it idle for 1 minute.
9) Raise the rpm's to 2000 for 1 minute.
10) Shut off the engine for 10 seconds.
11) Restart the engine and turn on every load you can (a/c with fan on high, high beam headlights, etc.).
12) Idle like this for 1 minute.
13) Raise the rpm's to 2000 for 1 minute.
14) Shut off all the loads you turned on, and shut off the engine.
15) Wait 10 seconds.
16) Restart the engine, and go for a 10-15 minute test drive. Drive it aggressively.
17) Shut off engine, and wait 10 seconds.
18) Restart engine, and verify the idle is correct.

That's it. Now go out and drive it and see if there is an improvement. There should be. If you aren't happy, then return it.

Take care,
-Chris

P.S. Actually, yours is a '90, so the way to access the cover in order to install the chip may be different. If so, do it your way for steps 2-5, but once it's installed, resume at step 6. Make sure the negative cable is disconnected from the battery first!