black f150 offroad, Ford cannot void your warranty as they have to first prove that the chip is causing a problem. Which it doesn't. Any aftermarket part,chip, exhaust, what ever can not void your warranty unless proven. It is a law to protect the consumer.


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Red '97 F-150 SC 4x4 off-road, 16" rims instead of factory 17"'s(borrowed from old '97 reg cab), BFG 265/75 16 all terrain T/A, K&N filter with modified air box, Flowmaster 40 with duals out back, Expedition center console, 3" rear seat lift, after market stereo seen at HTTP://members.sounddomain.com/red97,

 

Mike, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with your comments about card-edge connectors being reliable, because they simply aren't. And please don't accuse me of not knowing how the Superchip works, because while I may no nothing of the programming in the chip, I've got years of experience working with ROM chips under my belt. I work at a local TV station wearing 2 hats, one as the IS/IT Director, and the other as a maintenance engineer responsible for fixing the broadcast equipment. I've encounted dozens of different connectors, and the ones that fail the most are the card-edge type that are not gold-plated. There is nothing special about the electrical properties of the Superchip, it is nothing more than a ROM chip on a small circuit board with a card-edge connector soldered to it in a metal case filled with epoxy.

Yeah, PC's still use card-edge connectors? And how reliable are computers? Ever heard of a computer that hasn't crashed, locked up, or otherwise died?? For one thing, the good old ISA connectors have been around since 1981 when the PC spec was first released. Second, in the case of the space shuttles use of the card-edge connectors, you're right, they absolutely do use them... And they're still used in other application too, however it's become very uncommon practice now, with few exceptions, like PCI and AGP slots in PC's in which the contacts are gold-plated, not silver/tin plated. Plus when they are used, a positive retention mechanism such as a screw or latch is employed to prevent the connection from moving. I've never, ever heard of using duct tape to secure electrical components.

Communication problems are bound to happen under these conditions, especially in a moving vehical where vibrations and severe jarring of the connections can and do occur. If card-edge connectors are so reliable, then why doesn't Ford use them in other places?? Why isn't the OBD-II connector card-edge? Why is Intel getting away from Slot 1 and 2 card-edge style connectors on their newer CPUs? The answer is mechanical reliability!

Mike, please take note that I'm not attacking the quality of the Superchip itself, just pointing out that it's method of implementaion is not infallable. Why in my case was I having the random failure that the original poster mentioned?

At one point you accused me of not cleaning the contacts enough, so guess what I did, scraped them down to the copper, removing all of the silver. I then re-tinned each connection building them up about 2mm higher than stock. The chip had a nice tight feeling when I insterted it, and I even sawed the lip off on the CPU mounting bracket to eliminate the possibilty of the bracket pushing on the chip. Yet, after doing all of that the problem still occured. That leaves only one possible cause, communication failure between chip and ECU caused by either the physical connection, or defective chip. I'm gonna put my money on the connection.

Mike please don't take this as a personal attack either, as I wouldn't go so far as to consider all of your information unbiased, but let me explain... You are in business to sell the chips, which you make money off of, right? And anyone in business knows that you refrain from saying anyting about your product that might hurt the bottom line.

That is strictly my opinion though...

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2000 F-150 XLT, Reg Cab/Long Box, Styleside, Oxford White, Dark Graphite Int., 4x4, 4.6L, 3.55 L/S, Off-Road pkg (Skid Plates, Cab Steps, Heavy Duty Shock Absorbers, LT265/70R17SL), Class III Towing pkg with Heavy Duty Cooling pkg, 4 wheel disk ABS, Overhead Console, Factory In-Dash CD, Remote Keyless Entry, and Sliding Rear Window, Cabin Air Filtration, Ventvisors, Ford Bug Deflector, Ford Bedliner.

Currently Forsale: K&N FIPK, Superchip Code: XJB1

2000 Polaris Sportsman 500, Camo Green, 4x4, 499cc 4-stroke, independent suspension, shaft drive, 4 wheel disc brakes, etc.


[This message has been edited by Y2K OffRoad (edited 09-14-2000).]

 

I had the same thing happen, but I don't have a superchip. I has only died once, but I was going down the road and just died. It started right back up and no problems since.

Just some info.

Rick

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2001 Super Crew XLT 4x4,Toredo Red/Harvest Gold, Tan Interior, 4.6l, Keyless Entry,Towing Package,Captain Chairs, Line-X Bed liner, Limited Slip,3.55 axle,Skids,and Slider

 

Y2K,

Just so we're clear, whether you choose to categorize your comments as an attack on me or the product matters not to me, but I thank you for taking the time & effort to tell me that.

However, we do NOT make money on these and therefore not tell the truth due to monetary considerations as is your direct assertion, and regardless of how you phrased your statement or how you choose to categorize your comments, that part of what you said *was* in effect an "attack" on our basic credibility and honesty.

You probably don't know this, but we donate all profits to charity, and always have here at Performance. We pay no salaries to ourselves, etc., it all goes to charity (except for the money we use to support this web site), as we are devoted to helping those less fortunate for the rest of our lives. From start to finish, from how we conduct business, to the fact that we give away every dime from the sales of this product, our company is deliberately situated to be in a position to *not* be influenced by monetary factors that unfortunately some others allow themselves to be influenced by. You may disagree with me and that is your right, but don't call into question our veracity, honesty, or integrity.

With regards to the edge connectors in this automotive application, Dunbarton's comment about thermal expansion & contraction can indeed sometimes be a factor, as can the actual thickness of the edge connector which started to varty a bit in some 1999 models, and that is also one of the reasons why we changed the design of the contacts in the slot of the module, so that this is not a factor, as long as *all* of the clear conformal coating is properly removed. This change was just made a few months ago, by the way. There are literally thousands of people whose Superchips have never had so much as a hiccup for 130,000 miles and longer. That couldn't possibly happen if your basic assertion were fact, that all edge connectors are unreliable, nor is the basic inherent tendency of edge connectors the reason wny PCs hang up, etc. Actually, it's primarily the lack of proper memory control due to drivers and/or operating system problems. It might interest you to know that our computer company was the first company in the world to deliver FCC-B certified Pentium-based computers, in March of 1993. IBM, Compaq, & HP had trial units before then, but we had the first FCC-B certified (meaning legal for sale to business or home use) ever available, so this is something we have real direct knowledge of from a manufacturing standpoint. I have no doubt that you have the experience you claim, no doubt at all, but it doesn't tranfer over to every other field or application where any type of edge connector is used to the point that you can correctly make some of the assertions you have, such as PC's being unreliable due to edge connectors, etc.

While I respect your right to your own opinion, I stand by my response 100%, and wish you all the best.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 09-15-2000).]

 

Y2K said:

2mm? Most pc cards are something like 1mm thick. You tripled the thickness of the card when you built up the contacts with solder? Isn't that a bit much?

 

Never had this happen in my truck but had it happen in a Dodge car before. I had the pickup coil or pickup cord as it is sometimes called replaced and it never happened again. It did it once then got more and more frequent until a few months later when it started happening every 20 miles. Had a new chip installed and it worked fine for a few weeks, then started doing it again. Finally someone told me it could be the p/u coil and had it replaced. Havent had it stall since then, been 4 years.

 

Dennis my apologies, I was a little ambiguous with that part of my post wasn't I. The thickness of my PCM's PCB is exactly 1.5mm, I built up each solder pad by about 1mm, thus adding an additional 2mm of thickness beyond spec. I believe PC expansion cards are supposed to be 1.25mm, but don't hold me to that.

Yeah, it is certainly a little obnoxious to raise the pads so much, but I was desperate to find the cause of the problem. And actually the chip seats very comfortably now, that is when I was using it.

I do plan on re-installing my chip one of these days in the near future since I haven't had a buyer for it yet. But before I do, I'm going to try to fabricate some kind of bracket to hold in the chip so I don't have to rely on duct tape.

If I have any luck I'll post the results!

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2000 F-150 XLT, Reg Cab/Long Box, Styleside, Oxford White, Dark Graphite Int., 4x4, 4.6L, 3.55 L/S, Off-Road pkg (Skid Plates, Cab Steps, Heavy Duty Shock Absorbers, LT265/70R17SL), Class III Towing pkg with Heavy Duty Cooling pkg, 4 wheel disk ABS, Overhead Console, Factory In-Dash CD, Remote Keyless Entry, and Sliding Rear Window, Cabin Air Filtration, Ventvisors, Ford Bug Deflector, Ford Bedliner.

Currently Forsale: K&N FIPK, Superchip Code: XJB1

2000 Polaris Sportsman 500, Camo Green, 4x4, 499cc 4-stroke, independent suspension, shaft drive, 4 wheel disc brakes, etc.

 

It doesn't seem like Duct tape is a very intelligent was to secure this type of product. I remember reading in a post somewhere on Chip installation, where the guy was asking the manufacturers to make a bracket kit to avoid the "ducktape".

The adhesive on Duct tape is nasty, thick, gooey and has a tendency to spread-out all over anything it's stuck to. No wonder the contacts fail. Granted not everyone experinces this, but obviously some guys have. If I HAD to use tape to secure a chip, (about the only thing stopping me from getting one, that and the 92 octane thing), I'd use 3M long mask. It doesn't goop up everything and bleed schmutz everywhere. It's that $6 a roll 2" blue masking tape they sell in home depot.

If and chip makers are listening. When is the 87 octane option chip coming out for ford? They have a 87/92 octane performance chip for Chevys. What gives?

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97 XLT SC w/62k mi. 3:55, 4.6L, 2" Fabtech lift, Tow package, CD, Auto, avg. 17.2 MPG w/ Goodyear GA 255/75/16's
future mods: BFG 285/75/16's, 3" fabtech coils, K&N air filter,
80-90k mi. mods: 3" spindles, centerline rims with 35's
creativepen@yahoo.com

 

Y2K OffRoad,

If you reinstall your chip, make sure to remove the computer mounting bracket and flatten out the top part of the rolled up edge (that pushes against the Superchip). The first time I installed a Superchip, I did not do this..and the engine would not run the next day.

I installed the chip and the truck ran fine all day..I put about 100 miles on the truck...all was good. Went out the next morning..it would turn over..but not fire. Long story short..I pushed on the chip and it then fired up just fine. I assumed the bracket had pushed on the chip just enough to break the contact. I re-did the installation to flatten the edge and never had a problem after that. The edge of the bracket tends to push on the chip and as in my case, it dislodged the chip just enough to cause it not to function.

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On this truck, I removed the bracket, flattened the top edge (next to the chip)and used silver air conditioning ducting tape from Lowes (like tin foil). It is not gooey and holds the chip in place like regular duct tape. I have not had a single problem since installation.

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2000 F-150 XLT, 4x2, 5.4L Supercab, Superchip, Styleside, Black with silver two-tone, 3.55 rear, class III towing package with heavy duty cooling package, Heavy duty shocks, 4 wheel disk ABS, overhead console, sliding rear window, keyless entry, dark graphite interior, in dash CD, factory leather wrapped steering wheel, FORD bedliner, FORD black tubular cab steps, K&N air filter, mar-hyde rubberized undercoating, Modine climate filtration system, Bugflector II, Mobil 1 oil and filter

 

Just to let you know, the reason Intel dropped it's slot 1 (or edge type processors) in favor of sockets (again) is cost. Much less wafer area is used to make the new CPUs. They had to use the slot 1 to fit the cache chips next to the CPU. Now the cache is on-die and the chips can be much smaller. Processors are locked into the slots/sockets anyways so they don't come loose.

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2000 F150 XLT 4x4 Short Bed. Amazon Green, 5.4L, SuperCab, ORP, Tow Package, Sliding Rear Window, Electronic Shift, Keyless Entry, LT265-70-17 Tires, Clarion Pro Audio, Herculiner Bedliner, Air Silencer Removed.

1994 SVT Mustang Cobra. #1032 of 6009. Black coupe with black leather int., 3.73 rear, Bassani Exhaust, Aluminum D/S, Bridgestone RE-71 255-45-ZR17

My Home Page

 

That's a good tip Dustoff, but the lip isn't a problem because it's gone! That was suggested after the first failure, wo I bent the lip. When that didn't work, removed the whole mounting bracket, which was a pain in the back, and used a cut-off wheel to remove the lip from the bracket where it could get in the way of the chip.

In defense of Superchips, I can see how fabricating a bracket is going to be a little tough. I took a look at it today to see what I could do, and decided it's not going to be as easy as I thought.

Actually I was just think of taking some of the 3m Trim Adhesive tape, the same stuff that the Ventvisors use, and using it to secure an L-bracked against the chip. The 3M tape is less prone to movement than duct tape, so it might now move as much. The trouble is it makes taking the chip out a little tough. I'm going to keep working on some other ideas first.

 

Y2K OffRoad,

Way back in 1997 I had problems with my chip seating properly. The truck would run fine and suddenly just go the H*ll. It would not idle, if I gave it some gas to help it it would sputter and floored it would not go over 3000 rpm. Well it turned out to be a contact thing. The solution at the time was to bend the lip. What lip? Mike asked. Mike is corect in that a 4x4 sees more vibration than a car and taping is a fairly good solution. I had looked in vain for a connector identical to the one used on the end of the chip. I even went as far as to look on my JET chip and found the name of the Manufacturer of the connector. I had the idea of making an extention that would use an end connector like the chip, connect it to the edge connector of the PCM and a ribbon cable and at the other end an other connector to go into the chip. The problem is the weight of the chip causes the connector to move so in theory the weight of only an end connector and ribbon cable would not cause the movement. What I was trying to reproduce was like the way a Hard drive inside a computer is connected to the Mother Board. Both are firmly attached and if you shook the sh*t out of them only the ribbne would flop around. Well to make a long story short I could not find the connectors. BTW the Superchip had better performance but the JET chip held on a lot better until I bent the lip. If you know what I am getting at and can get the connectors please contact me.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

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00 F-150 XLT SC Flairside 4x4 4.6 w/5spd 3.55LSD
Warn XD9000i, skid plates, Draw tite class III,
Rancho RSX Reflex shocks,
Borla Cat Back, Headman Headers,
Modified Air Cleaner Outlet Tube
and air box, Shortened MAF sensor tower,
K&N air filter,
Superchips