Dastek Unichip

[edwardio]

Has anybody had a Unichip fitted to their VVTI? or VVTLI?

If you have how much and what gain did you get?

[GTForbes]

if you value your engine i wouldn't fit one, i know too many people that have had to re-build or replace after a uni-chip was fitted

[edwardio]

I know of someone who's got a unichip, piggy backing a fully remapped chip on a fiat coupe, and they've had no problems.

What is it that the Unichip did to the engine?

[cfc1]

I've just had mine removed from my Roadster, never had any problems with it (I removed as I have had a turbo conversion) I think the gain was around the 15bhp mark.

I got it supplied fitted and mapped @ Dastek in Dalgety Bay for £500 or there abouts.

[GTForbes]

well it could have been the mapping of the chips that caused the engine damages, piston rings gone, signs of det on the pistons however the chips themselves aren't stable, the first person i knew to get a uni-chip got stuck a number of times a couple of them up at crail, the chip it's self was then re-placed and the new chip never caused the engine to cut out however it did cause damage to the engine. the car was in dastek repeatedly to get re-mapped as they couldn't get it to run properly, once we took it out the owner couldn't believe how much better the car felt, unfortunately it was short lived as the damage was already done.

[edwardio]

Did the owner have any other mods on the car?

[GTForbes]

yeah, they had the uni-chip boost module as well as an Apexi intake an HKS back box, nothing over the top.

[edwardio]

They had no problems before having it fitted?

I've been doing search after search on reviews on the Unichip. Apart from what you've sold me, the only negative thing I've heard is that the effect wear off over time as your stock ECU learns to control around it!

[GTForbes]

well i'm not sure about the VVTi and VVTLi ECU's but the 3S-GTE ECU runs a closed loop when off boost and when on boost it's in open loop, basically the ECU may adapt and probably will adapt very quickly whilst in closed loop but in open loop i doubt it would. if you were to get a E-Manage ultimate you can force constant open loop which means the ECU wouldn't adapt but like i said i don't know what systems the ECU you have will use.

they had no problems that i was aware off

[GTForbes]

just posted on another forum i use

The buggers, they've only gone and fried ma E.C.U.

Got a unichip and remap done in december, all went well until a few weeks later when the car would have starting problems when cold, thought at first it was just the crank sensor or something stupid, couple of weeks ago it died completely,

now its at a mate garage on diagnostics equipment and turns out the ecu has lost all the immobiliser codes and it won't accept them to get re-programmed.

gonna have to rip out the uni-chip and get the ecu re-mapped from a reliable company. A new one is gonna be about a grand, hope it doesn't come to that

found out that the wiring job dastek had done was shambolic, there were wires jammed and chaffing, sounds to be quite cowboy-ish,

kinda speaks volumes

[Big_Sid]

well i'm not sure about the VVTi and VVTLi ECU's but the 3S-GTE ECU runs a closed loop when off boost and when on boost it's in open loop, basically the ECU may adapt and probably will adapt very quickly whilst in closed loop but in open loop i doubt it would. if you were to get a E-Manage ultimate you can force constant open loop which means the ECU wouldn't adapt but like i said i don't know what systems the ECU you have will use.

they had no problems that i was aware off

At the risk of sounding noobish, I've heard this before, and wondered what is meant by "closed loop" and "open loop"???

[GTForbes]

closed loop means that the fueling is controlled by a cetain sset of numbers in the ECU, i.e. at 'X' rev's and 'Y' throttle position the engine needs 'Z' amount of fuel and timing. open loop means that the ECU reacts to variables such as boost pressure which isn't always constant due to air temps etc so it stops using certain sensors and relies more on others such as boost sensor and knock sensor. like i said, not sure what the newer and no turbo engine ECU's use so can give you any definate answers to questions regarding them