Does this (ebay product) really work?

[BlackJack]

(Will someone sticky this please?)

Lately, many of you, especially the new guys, keep asking the same tired old questions such as "I found this (insert rediculous item here) on ebay, does it work?"

Usually this question is asked without performing a search, which is what really pisses me off.

The other thing that tweaks me is that sometimes the search terms are so vague that no hits are returned. So for all you that are concerned about products and their validity, here it is....

Popular Mechanics magazine article on testing most of these products.

and for those of you that hate reading lengthy articles, here's the "Cliff's Notes" if you will.

"Performance Chip or Fuel Saving Module" - there is no such thing as a "performance chip" for the Alero. There are resistor modules that plug in to the MAF or IAT and trick your computer into adding or reducing fuel by changing the voltage or frequency of signal sent. Your computer is programmed to run at optimal settings, dont try to change this, it will only do damage in one way or another. "performance" adds fuel, fouls plugs, screws the O2 sensor, and clogs the cat. Is it worth adverse effects over the long run for about $10 worth of placebo? Nah. "fuel saving" reduces fuel, causes you to run lean with excessive heat as a result, burns plugs, cooks the O2 sensor, warps heads, etc. Nuff said?

"Tornado, Vortex, Atomizer" - claims to cause your air flow to "swirl" through an insert in your intake plumbing and says it optimizes atomization to get a more thorough burn - whatever. Yeah, it swirls it, then the remainder of your intake path, plenum and runners, straighten it back out again, so you have no effect other than to restrict your air flow at the device. Yes, this is backed up by independent tests where consecutively over several runs, the item caused 1-15hp LOSS on a dyno.

Other "Fuel Savers" - magnets, Ionizers, etc. Geez, people are taken advantage of at every turn. Guess P.T. Barnum was right "there's a sucker born every minute". Strap this block of wood around your fuel line, and you can improve H.P. - Gimme a break.

For anything I might not have covered here, I'll update as I go along. But for now, here's some good reading found by our friends Daytona and AlbinoMonkeyRat, that I think will answer most of the "does this really work?" questions.

Electric Supercharger, or "Supercharge any car!!" - hahaha....can you think of any electric fan small enough to fit on an intake that could possibly generate enough velocity to overtake the vacuum? Didn't think so, this one answered itself. No boost will be produced, and more than likely, it will cause a restriction because the fan will not keep up with the intake velocity, and will therefore slow it down. Horsepower LOSS.

[alerocar01]

at first i thought you BJ was asking this question, but yeah good idea on putting this up so hopefully the question about this stuff will stop.

[BlackJack]

One can only hope. They're still going to ask without searching, but we can link them here without lengthy discussion on it.

[jackal2000]

good write up

[Redog]

The funniest thing is that when the g/f brother wanted to buy the "Torando" for his Mustang becuase it can "Supercharge any car for $69.95" (this was before gas was $2.50 a gallon) I told him straight out that it's a scam. It doesn't work, and how does something that you put inside your intake increase horsepower?

I said this in front of thier mother, and my answer pissed her off. Pissed her off more when they found out I was right

See that, the dumb, unionized, blue collar guy from Philly knew something thier rich ass white collar know it all didn't

BTW not trying to start a debate, but the g/f parents hate me because I am a blue collar worker, in the union, and raised in the city, and I'm not a high class, rich ahoe driving a non American car (Yes another reason they don't like me is because I own an American car )

[SweetNLow]

^^^ but you did have the tps "chip"

[Twiz]

Whenever you see one of those "super devices" just ask yourself questions like:
1) But my fuel injectors are not upgraded and they top out at this much HP, how's that possible?
2) This thing changes my air/fuel ratio but it's not connected to my ECU and wait my ECU is not reprogrammed to accept the new values.
3) Where's the turbo kit?!

...trust me all you're going to get from these "super power gizmos" is a CEL.

[steve-o]

if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

[sharphintofemo]

wonderful...now i can send that crap back and get my money back. glad i didn't put it in though and yes i dont know jack and im stupid for buying some of those gimmicks...but now i know.

[jturkey69]

I agree on all except the electric supercharger, I'm sure those on e-bay are worthless, however I have watched videos for laughs at leaf blower conversions, and of course also read all about the e-ram, and knights of performance, with their m62 set-up...so there IS some that do work

[NickAlero2000]

Then how do I remove the speed limiter on my car?

[[ion] C2]

When your car is able to go that fast in the quarter mile, you'll know how. Til then, it's you being retarded wanting to go faster than 108 on public roads with tires that will shred at not much higher.

[NickAlero2000]

lol over the summer im renting a landing strip at the airport i live near, thats why i want the limiter out.
i want to smoke some civics, and so no one gets the wrong idea, this IS being done legally.

edit:
the strip is 2 miles long, i figure i can break 100 in two miles if i can get close in the quarter.

[[ion] C2]

lol mmk. i think it's against the rules to post how to, so check your PMs.

[BlackJack]

for the 3400, the simple answer is, there is no limiter device to be removed. It requires that you change the programming in the computer and "raise" the MPH data that tells the computer when to cut fuel/spark.

Limiter can be "removed" by buying a programmed DHP 1.0 computer, cost....about $90 plus core.

[CBLOHM3400]

the chip that ebay sells for like 24$ well i bought one way before i found this site if everybody thinks it would be a good idea i can take the unit apart to let people see whats inside
i know that i am going to catch hell for this