Just installed my new chip from 911chips.com and my C4 turns over but does not start. There is an unusual clicking from the rear right of the car whilst the ignition was turned on but not in the start position. I just ordered the stock 95RON chip for cars outside US.

I made sure the chip notch was lined up correctly.

Nothing seemed to go wrong with the install and every step was straightforward.

Any quick ideas? I need to drive the car tomorrow to work.

I might pull the box back out and try the previous chip.

 

Unfortunately I am becoming super-quick at chip change-outs.

In a quick 10 mins, I reinstalled the old chip and the car started straight away. At least I can get to work tomorrow.

 

First thing to check with the new chip is, do you have spark and fuel at the engine? 2 essential prerequesists to having an internal combustion engine run?

 

hi darth,

checking for spark and fuel will be testing my mechanical skills at this stage.

if the original (non-OEM) chip still runs fine, then would it be safe to assume the new chip is the problem?

i will contact steve wong and see what he says.

 

I agree something is amiss with the new chip or installation, just thought you might want to further diagnose the problem. Checking for spark is fairly easy, just pull a spark plug wire, put a spark plug in it and lay it on a metal part of the engine or chassis so that the sparkplug case is grounded and crank the engine while looking for spark at the tip. Fuel can be determined by removing the air filter and detecting the scent of fuel at the intake.

 

I just tried again ... I removed the older chip and reinstalled the new chip. I checked that the chip was seated correctly and the harness connector plug was fitted correctly. When I turned the key to 'position 2' (i think) with all the red lights there is an abnormal clicking from the rear right of the car. Moved key to crank engine and car didn't start. Not even close.

Pulled out new chip & reinstalled old chip. No strange clicking sound and the car started perfectly.

Getting late, so hopefully I will hear from Steve W tonight and might try the spark & fuel check tomorrow.

 

Only thing I can suggest is to check that no pins are bent back (i.e. there tiny and hard to see) and that the chip is oriented correctly. The notch on one end indicates pin 1 is at bottom left corner viewing the chip from the top or a dot/dimple maybe located right next to pin 1. I like to look down the row of pins and make sure they're all in line with one another and if not, bend the offending pin carefully which is not in line with the majority. Also bending them all out slightly from the chip so that they are putting pressure on the outside of the socket and making good contact.

 

Send it back. If you put it correctly with the notch in the right position and it doesn't start, the chip is bad. I wouldn't want a bad chip in there not knowing what it may do to the DME.

Steve is a pretty good guy. I ordered and rx a wrong chip, he sent out a new one right away.

 

I heard back from Steve overnight and he is sending out a new chip.

 

Replacement chip arrived from Steve W.

New chip installed.

Prior to starting, I heard that familiar relay clicking type noise from the rear similar to my last attempt with the Steve W chip.

Not surprisingly then, the car would not start.

Replaced with existing chip and car was fine & started.

I think we could say the problem is not a badly burnt chip.

Any ideas? I was hesitant to leave the car clicking away for too long in case it could cause damage. The noise from the rear of the car probably in the engine bay.

I'll drop Steve an email, but any ideas from the rennlist team would be appreciated! :-)

 

Just to close out this thread in case anybody else has the same problem.

Well it was all my fault even after being given correct advice by Steve W ... which I just misread.

There was an adapter underneath the old aftermarket chip. Steve sent a few photos suggesting this is likely to be the problem, but I misinterpreted his email and thought all was ok .. but there was a dodgy adapter being used afterall.

Here is a few pics of the dodgy adpater and dodgy aftermarket chip ...
https://rennlist.com/forums/964-foru...-headache.html

So I pulled off the adapter board, install the Steve Wong chip. After a few gurgles and false starts, she fired-up!

Quick feedback ...

a) still had dipping when coming to idle when engine was cold but hopefully a little 'adaptation time' will resolve !?

b) engine sounds so much smoother ... possibly similar power to my previous aftermarket chip but no pinging which is great ... and it sounds so much smoother which presumably is good news! Awesome!

 

Don't feel bad. I installed a SW chip and everything ran great for a couple months...then the car started to randomly stall and die while driving. Soon it was doing it during every drive. I thought I tracked down the problem and was just about to change my fuel pump...I was under the car taking the panel off when I stopped. It just didn't feel right...

I graciously gave in and had it towed the the shop. They scratched their heads for a while and finally found that I didn't correctly seat the chip. I took months and many road bumps later to finally lose contact and stall the car. Another good learning experience for me...at least I'm glad I didn't go ahead and change the fuel pump!

 

Jetta, that looks very similar to me.. now my car is in the shop.
Hope my problem is exactly the same with you.
so worried about the chip would cause damage to the engine ..

my question is how could this happen since the pins are quite evenly distributed , and I've pressed the chip to the board before folding the ECU back.