chip suggestions

[the caveman]

I am taking care of the 98 Jetta AHU that i sold to a friend. When I had it, i had 205 nozzles and the ECU is chipped. I took out the nozzles and want to put them into my new TDI/GLX.
The guy who did the chip for told me it cost him less than $100 and as far as i'm concerned did the trick. Can anyone suggest who or which chip would work without having to spend hundreds of dollars. The AHU has a drop in chip, so easily done.

[RadoTD]

I seem to remember someone "chipping" a car by putting a resistor to change the signal coming from the lambda sensor or something similar. Basically tricking the ECU into thinking less fuel is being injected. Maybe it had something along those lines?

[the caveman]

No it was an actual chip . I watched him change in front of me

[4wheeler]

The cost of socketing the ECU if it already isn`t and buying a chip are pretty cheap.
The reason it costs hundereds of dollars usually is teh fact that the programer charges for his time.
Supply and demand warrants the costs being around $300 for a fully custom chip.
the actual cost in parts is $50 maybe. The tools to do it are more however. So the programmer has to recoup that money.
After that, it s a gravy train for him.

[catlin_cava]

If I'm mistaken, mk3 ecus have a chip inside you can just replace, Thr ALH gen up to 2000 needed the chip socket installed, and 2001 and up is a flash thru the VAG port

[BigVWman]

I have cracked open probably a half dozen mk3 ecu's and 4 were socketed 2 were soldered, so both exist. The parts(chips) to do it are next to nothing but i would not say its gravy for the chip tuner as there is a very steep learning curve on chip tuning. It takes a lot of knowledge and skill to do it right. You do have some hustlers just throwing one size fits all tunes on chips but a skilled programmer who can get in and modify the directives, maps and info to suit your application and know what he is modifying is worth his weight in gold- while maybe silver at these prices!

[catlin_cava]

I have cracked open probably a half dozen mk3 ecu's and 4 were socketed 2 were soldered, so both exist. The parts(chips) to do it are next to nothing but i would not say its gravy for the chip tuner as there is a very steep learning curve on chip tuning. It takes a lot of knowledge and skill to do it right. You do have some hustlers just throwing one size fits all tunes on chips but a skilled programmer who can get in and modify the directives, maps and info to suit your application and know what he is modifying is worth his weight in gold- while maybe silver at these prices!

That's completely true,

[the caveman]

Mine seems to be a drop in. Anyways,I got mine from Malone in the mail today. I'll be dropping them in as soon as i get the injectors out. May be an issue as it's real possible they have never been out in 430,000 kms

[the caveman]

Just as I thought, #1 cylinder injector is not budging . Will modify a small slide hammer i have and do another attempt tomorrow

[catlin_cava]

Just as I thought, #1 cylinder injector is not budging . Will modify a small slide hammer i have and do another attempt tomorrow

what injectors are you going with?

[the caveman]

I believe they are 205's. I managed to get the injectors out and replaced yesterday, but only then drove it around the block. Definitely has one injector noisy though. Will drive it more today to see how it's running

[vanagonturbo]

I have cracked open probably a half dozen mk3 ecu's and 4 were socketed 2 were soldered, so both exist. The parts(chips) to do it are next to nothing but i would not say its gravy for the chip tuner as there is a very steep learning curve on chip tuning. It takes a lot of knowledge and skill to do it right. You do have some hustlers just throwing one size fits all tunes on chips but a skilled programmer who can get in and modify the directives, maps and info to suit your application and know what he is modifying is worth his weight in gold- while maybe silver at these prices!

How many of the soldered in ECUs were TDI? FWIW, I have chipped over 100 AHU/1Z cars and have yet to see a soldered TDI board. I have seen gasser MKIIIs with soldered boards, but not TDIs.

My software guy that I like is TDtuning. Super helpful dude and good pricing. RC is really hard to get a hold of and I havent dealt with Malone. Take that for what its worth.

[malone]

How many of the soldered in ECUs were TDI? FWIW, I have chipped over 100 AHU/1Z cars and have yet to see a soldered TDI board. I have seen gasser MKIIIs with soldered boards, but not TDIs.

All pre-2000 MK4/Beetle TDIs in North America have soldered chips and requires solder work every time. I posted pictures of the MK4 '99.5 TDI ECU chipping procedure here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.250781394938270.79741.115095405173537&type=1



Lots more pictures in the link above.

(Virtually) all MK3 TDIs in Europe require the same soldering procedure. All MK3 TDI ECUs (AHU etc.) in North America are socketed by the factory, like you indicated, so it's pretty straightforward.

Cheers,
Mark

[vanagonturbo]

Thats why I was careful to mention 1z/AHU in my post