I have seen on ebay these chips that claim increased gas mileage and a 20 horsepower increase. Are these safe? They are cheap and i was wondering if anyone has tried one? i think they run between 5 and 20$. The cheap ones say that it is a resistor chip to modify the ECU power output. Others change the air/fuel ration and increases timing. If you have tried one, is there a noticeable difference in power and mileage? I have a 2000 F 150 4.2 4x4 XL

 

You get what you pay for. If it was so easy to add mpg and power, the OEMs would use it, as poor MPG is one area that full-size trucks get poor marks for in buyer surveys.

If I'm not mistaken, the resistor tricks your truck into running open-loop, like if it was not warmed-up. This makes your truck run rich. So you get worse fuel economy.

Air/fuel ratio and timing are likely results of the ECU trying to figure things out.

 

Exactly, you do get what you pay for no matter what you're buying. All those $25 and $40 chips you see on ebay do, is trick the engine into dumping more fuel into the cylinders. That's it. It doesn't really do anything with the Fuel and timing curve. Like pronstar said, in the end, you end up wasting more fuel while idling or sometimes even driving. Just by having a quick look at some of the known performance companies, it doesn't seem like many people tune for the 4.2L V6. Jet seems to be the only reputable company that tunes for everyone. Check them out here

 

Jet is the only reputable company that tunes for everyone? Huh? Ever heard of Superchips? Diablo? Hypertech? SCT?

 

Oops! Sorry, I should have been a little more clear. I did a quick (not thorough) check of the big dogs like Diablo, Hypertech, Superchips, and SCT. None of them seem to make a tuner for his 2000 F-150 with the 4.2 V6. I checked Jet's website and they were only one's that (that I found) had a chip for his truck. Am I wrong about this? You're a dealer so you have a better understanding about chips and who makes what. What exactly do those ebay chips do?

 

MotorHaven is right. The Superchips 1100 is made for the 4.2L. I only wish a diesel chip was that cheap lol.

 

The Superchips 1100 is not a good choice and I don't recommend them. It's a one bank chip that can't adjust all the parameters available in the engine. Additionally, the vehicle won't start if the computer has been reflashed and the PCM code mismatches the code the chip was programmed for. We stopped selling them years ago. You need a four bank chip such as the SCT 6600 or Diablo Sport Delta chip. We charge the same price for a diesel SCT 6600 that we do for gas chips.

For tuners the SCT Xcalibrator2 can be custom tuned by us and we also have the SCT SF which is preloaded with tunes from SCT for the 4.2L. If you need more information we'll be happy to answer them.

 

But Toreador is correct in noticing that Jet really covers all the obscure stuff from the 80's to current. We have sold some General Motors Jet chips and had heard good things from customers about the power and economy results. One was a guy from New Mexico running 38's on a 92 K-1500 with a 6" lift and 3" body lift and he absolutely raved about what the jet chip did for his old Chevy that has over 200K on the original engine. He said that he hauls 4 ATV's on a trailer and before the Jet chip it would barely do 65 with the trailer, now he can cruise comfortably at 75 and still have throttle left over. I'm not aware of any tuner company that can match the wide coverage of JET. MotorHaven Guy is corect about that application...there are choices.

Chill onward guys!