Chipped or not?

[NigelStu]

Newbie who just picked up an '87 es 5-spd. Spent most of the last 2 weeks searching/reading a few of the E30 forums (luckily work has been slow :D ) but haven't been able to find a full answer to one perplexing questions on the new ride...

How can I tell if I have a chipped ecu?

Before anyone says 'check the label' - already did that and it doesn't help... There is a white sticker about the size of the chip, with nothing written on it (or whatever was on it has been wiped off).

Is there a way by just looking at a chip if it is stock or aftermarket? Do any of the aftermarket ones have some tell-tale indicator on it or something that is not found on the stock ones?? Country of manufacture? (my chip says 'made in Philippines on the bottom).



Some conflicting info to add to the confusion:

Points to no chip-

• ecu (027 variety) had a paint mark on one of the screw heads which was unbroken, so it appears as though the cover has never been removed.
• Put my data acquisition in the car (This will be a fun project car, had to do a baseline to see how much improvement was had...), best 0-60 mph time was 11 seconds. Half tank of gas, no extra crap. Yes, car is in need of a good tune up.

Points to chip -

• Revs up just past 5k on the tach. That is even after I replaced the SI batteries.

Any help on this one? If anyone has a picture of both stock and after-market for the 027 ecu and can show/explain differences, that might be best.


Thank in advance
noob-Ben

[eugeman]

Take a pic of the said chip and post it up. I should be able to tell by looking at it.

[NigelStu]

Will do tomorrow, or possibly tonight (I DD the car now)

In the mean time, anyone have pictures or can take pics of both stock and ebay/aftermarket chips so I can see what the difference looks like?

[accident]

all of the stock ECUs i've taken apart have had a generic brown chip in them with some numbers written directly on the chip, never a sticker.

[NigelStu]

Here the pics be...

I guess there is something on the sticker... for some reason I missed that number on there the other night...



Guessing that this is a stock chip, is there a reason why the RPMs will go to 5000+ on the tach?

[Adrian_Visser]

I thought es's had a higher limiter like 5500 or something? Maybe someone swapped the cluster out already?

[accident]

yeah that's probably stock. my eta's RPM guage would tap 5000, the redline is like 4800 or some shit stock

[Kershaw]

my 87 eta revs to 4k and stops.

but my engine is kaput.

[lennon]

deleted post. didn't think before i posted.

however, it's been a long time since i ran an eta motor, let alone stock with stock chip and all, but i'm 90% sure they wont r3v to 5,000rpm+ with a stock chip. i seem to remember the stock limiter being right before 5, and most chips bring that up 500rpm or so. 1988 "super" eta's had a higher limiter, but that's a whole different story.

[NigelStu]

Could the tach itself just be a bit off?

On the street, 2nd gear it will bounce at about 5000 RPM. I don't like doing it, but I revved it in neutral in the garage and it looked like it went just past 5000 before the needle will bounce. In both cases, its not what I would call a 'soft' limiter that most of the aftermarket chips say they have.

Side note, my tach does seem to move a bit jerky under normal driving conditions.


Anyone have pics of an ebay chip for a 027 ecu?

eugeman? can you tell what it is from my pics?

[lennon]

I'm looking right at 3 different chips for an m20b27 on my desk. That is a stock eta chip you have. 100% identical to the one I have, except mine says "Malay" instead of Philippines. Same sticker, same number.

[NigelStu]

Thank you for the confirmation.

Now I can add a chip to my wish list and start the tune-up / mod process!


IGN, fuel pump and valves this weekend. I love new projects!