does chipping work with our camrys?

[CROYCE992]

so i was on ebay looking around and found a seller that sells a chipping utility that promises to increase horsepower by like 5 in the case of my auto 95 i4 sedan but also promises to increase fuel economy. i have been tracking my fuel economy lately which is around 22 with a little bit of mixed and improving it would be nice. i am worried however that it would hurt my engine in the long run to deviate from stock oem programming. any thoughts?

here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/REAL-...Q5fAccessories

my car idles fine for the most part but sometimes i start it and it dies unless i start it with some gas...?

[Luckynumber5]

No, those are a scam. There are no chips available for older Toyotas, and you might need a tuneup.

[uuuuu]

Here's my theory:

A lot of chips will simply trick the ECM (electronic control module) into thinking that it doesn't need to put as much fuel into the cylinders as usual. This makes the engine run lean. Running lean does several things: increases engine power, runs hotter and uses less fuel. The increase in engine power comes from the Otto cycle in that a higher combustion temperature allows for more energy to be released. It may be dangerous to run too much hotter because the hot path components may be damaged (valves, spark plugs, even as far downstream as catalytic converters and O2 sensors). The increase in fuel economy is because, well, there is less fuel being pumped to the cylinders.

A big problem with these devices is that the car's O2 sensors (among others) can sense some problems with exhaust composition and try to affect the ECM's fuel delivery. Thus, your car will be working against the chip. Check engine light illumination is very common.

[DxElite]

It's a scam, overpaying for a resistor, that's in a hobby box. I remember looking up some info on those so called performance chips when I first got my camry looking for upgrades. I recall finding a blog about a guy that bought a few and opened them up to prove it was just a resistor in a box.

uuuuu is right, box just tricks the ecu to run at different fuel/air ratio. I remember reading somewhere that it'll get you power but in the long run it'll start to cause damage to the engine.

[SexieWASD]

There are real solutions that are not just a resistor in a box, but you can see there is a wee bitty bit of a price difference between the two, AEM Fuel / Ignition Controller.



EDIT: I found this funny "A car's computer costs on average 3500$ to replace."