jakfrost

Just got off the phone with Steve at 911 Chips. He said there are 2 software versions of the chip I have and he is not sure which one I have, so I am sending the chip back and he will see if he can rectify the 'oscillation/surging' problem.

Starting a cold engine is fine, no surging and the idle settles down immediately at 900rpm. And, no stalling problems anymore. However starting a warm engine results in about 8-10 oscillations from 200-300rpm up to 1600-1800rpm.

Probably take 10-14 days to get the 're-configured' chip back into the car...I'll report back then.

I'm going to have to figure out a new way to keep the DME cover on soon, the little tabs are starting to break off from repeated flexing during the remove/replace cycle...

Jim

nile13

Jim, sorry for asking, but could you please send a pic of the Autothority chip label if you have not already stuffed it back into your DME?

jakfrost

No problem Mike, I won't have time to change the chips until Friday. And bummer, I have a 7 hr drive on Saturday, back on Sunday...big wedding. Be nice to have at least one chip that worked well. But I'll take the 'low idle' AutoThority over the surging Steve Wong...for now anyway.



Jim

nile13

Thanks again, Jim!

I'm really surprised to see LWFW written on Autothority chip. Wonder if it was massaged for LFW by someone?

PS. 7 hours fro East Ontario? I hope it's Quebec, not Detroit

matt777

I've got the 911 chip and the surging bugs me too. If I turn the AC on its fine. I hope there is a fix. I'll probably get the timing bumped back at 3-4K too as I have light pinging occasionally with 91 octane.

jakfrost

Chip update...had a wedding weekend which involved 1000 mile round trip over 3 days so I thought I would leave the Steve W. Chip in for the drive just to confirm the issues I was having, like the occasional oscillation cycle and slightly higher idle rpm.

Well by the time I got home the 'oscillation' issue had seemed to lessen to an acceptable level but to my surprise the engine had stalled unexpectedly at least 4 times. Twice while trying to do a u-turn thanks to Mr. Garmin, grrrr.

So I removed the Steve chip and replaced it with the AutoThority Chip to do a 'A vs B' test back to back, and I like the AutoThority chip better. At least I expect that chip to allow some stalling and so adjust my driving to accommodate it. And no oscillations. Plus normal idle speed.

As far as 'performance' or 'fuel economy' I can't comment, the former is pretty subjective and the latter needs time to calculate, beside I don't really care...all that much. You drive a Porsche, you buy gas, you enjoy.

So I spoke to Steve on the phone, and he asked me to send the chip back to him and he will see if he can 'massage' it to do a better job for me, not sure how but what the heck, if he can solve the stalling and oscillation issues I'm a happy camper!

Jim

guardsredcab

Interesting thread. Have both a LWFW and Steve Wong chip installed in the last few months. Love the free revving allowed by LWFW. But, even with Steve's chip, I've had stalling problems. No surging issues though. The stalling seems to happen only when I have the AC on. Hoping that it "learns" to stop stalling soon!

michel j

I have the Steve Wong chip for LWF. There is a performance improvement, no doubt, especially in the midrange. No surging issues but it does stall occasionally with AC and sometimes just with headlights on. It seems to happen only for a slight engine temp range, not cold, not hot, somewhere in between.

jakfrost

I wasn't able to narrow the parameters of the stalling issue down that close...but I must say coming back to the AutoThority chip gave me some new perspective on the differences between the two.

The 'surging' or 'oscillations' I experienced with the Steve Wong chip seemed to be waning after 2 or 3 days of driving, even though I followed the 'learning' instructions to the letter, so perhaps there was still some 'adjustments' going on...

The AutoThority chip starts a cold engine with just the one 'whoop' up to like 1500rpm then settles back to just under 1000rpm for a minute or so then gradually the idle lowers to about 700 in the next minute. After that there is never a hint of oscillation or surging, no matter what temp range the engine is in. The stalling is random and easily controlled with careful heel and toe coming up to a full stop for example.

I must say the Steve W. chip seems to be more even in the 'off idle' fuel feed as you move forward from a full stop. There was no hesitation and no need to slip the clutch to overcome the tendency the AutoThority chip has to 'buck' or 'shudder' away from a stop if you are not very careful with the clutch engagement.

Hard call, but I'm anxious to see what Mr. Wong comes back with...

Jim

jakfrost

OK, update...after a little over 2 weeks of driving with the AutoThority chip back in the car while the SW chip was returned to '911 Chips' for possible 'update' by Mr. Wong, I have decides to keep the AT chip in the car. I have learned to live with the little 'quirks' it brings to the drivability, i.e., your full attention when engaging the clutch in 1st gear and the very occasional tendency to stall if I ignore the engine rpm and just disengage the clutch approaching a full stop...a little 'heel and toe' solves this every time, plus it is good practice for that difficult 3rd to 2nd downshift, turn in and apex acceleration!

So I called Steve and told him my decision and without hesitation he refunded my cost of the chip and shipping. He mentioned that there was an 'upgrade' to his chip which would raise the idle rpm another 100-150 to compensate for the stalling tendencies of the LFW modded cars. Honestly that was one of the 'features' of his chip that I didn't particularly like, but I must say it did have the benefit of 'smoothing' out the 1st gear engagement, which can be a little tricky with the LWF and clutch mod.

Jim