Performance chips came with car
 

Hi all,

another in my barrage of questions for this patient bunch, concerning my newly acquired 1987 S4.

The PO was happy to provide me with a little sealed static shield bag containing what he described as "the chips" which could add performance.

Now these could be worth hundreds brand new, but all I see is two chips stuck in a foam square, one says 87-91 Porsche LH and the other says 87-91 Porsche EZH.

So all I'm sure of is that the year is correct. This car is heading to the shop for tons of fun on Wednesday---should I ask them to play with these, or skip this mess for now, or for good?


Sean

Make sure the car is running well (i.e. all work done already) before changing the ECU chips.

The chips you have are likely junk anyway - the Autothority chips advance timing a *lot*, more than can be compensated for by the knock sensing system, so they increase the risk of detonation and damage to your engine compared to the stock chips. Their "fix" for the detonation is to run a lot richer, which is hardly ideal. I wouldn't use them in any of my S4's.

If you want a decent tune, a Sharktuner and dyno session will give you a better and safer result than the Autothority chips. But for now, simply having a properly running stock S4 will be a big improvement.

Yeah, I'll probably just keep them as a curiosity.

The owner of the Porsche shop I use has been around since back in the shark's prime, and he remembers working on this very car after it was purchased new. So at least I have some expertise available. He will probably laugh at the idea of sticking these chips in.