So I bought the PHP hydra. I put a PHP chip on my 96 and it was damn near plug and play. I can not get this POS to work. I polished the terminals on the PCM to the point where I paid $130 to get it "re-tinned". Still nothing. I have an Edge CTS Insight. When I have the chip plugged in it wont start and the Insight doesn't power up. When I remove it, everything is fine. I'm to the point where I am wondering if I can have the CTS programmed. I have the correct PCM code. I've checked it a thousand time. PHP told me I had to turn the key on, put the bright *** display on 3 and then turn the key off and on several times and dance on my head. Still nothing. When the chip is in it flashes the PHP display, then the number it is set on.

Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm sick of this thing running like a dog. I need a chip that works.

 

1st, you posted this in the 1999+ section, so prob not going to be a lot of exp in this section for you, with regards to a 1996.

2, you military? We used to say "WTF, over" all the time... fond memories. I've never heard a civilian say it.

Anyways, I went Diablosport. They were the only ones that just pluged into the OBD2 port and reprogrammed the computer instead of plugging a chip in. Good luck.

 

While not all of us do the OBS trucks, many of us do Hydras on a PCM... and that's the problem here.

Do you have a laptop designated for your truck? I can suggest you have the Hydra plugged into the PCM, laptop ready to go and linked to the Hydra, and call PHP. They can walk you through a few things on the phone, and they can link into your laptop to see for themselves what is going on.

For those that worry about crap on your computer, they use an extremely safe and non-invasive method to remote in... I am very familiar with the software they use.

 

Sorry, I haven't changed my photo since I got home. I sold my 96 and picked up a 99. Keger, I just got home from Afghanistan and picked this truck up as soon as I got home.
Tugly, I will give them another call and see what they say. I'm not too worried about someone remoting into my computer, especially if they can help get this thing going.

 

Very nice. I love my 99. Hated Afganistan. If your plug in tuner doesn't work out, the Diablosport is amazing. I have one on my turbo PT Cruiser as well. The improvement is amazing. Good luck, sir and welcome home. Thanks for your service.

 

This is absolutely not true. Superchips works this way as does Bully Dog. However, you will not get anywhere near the same performance you can get from a custom tuner and a chip.

 

To the OP - when my Hydra is pushed all the way onto the PCM until it bottoms out, it doesn't work. I bottom it out, then wiggle it ever so slightly out, and it works perfectly. Give that a shot.

 

I read your post a little late Steve. I called PHP yesterday and told them what was going on. They had me ship it back to them to see if there was any other problem. Hopefully that is the case. I will keep you tip in mind when I get it back.

If you are backing it off ever so slightly, how are you securing it?

 

Thought I would update this post. First I want to go against the grain and comment on PHP's customer service. While I have read a thousand times they are impossible to contact, that was not my experience. I did not get any response from them on the forums but someone answered the phone call promptly every time I called.

I got the chip back yesterday and installed it when I got home from work. It was late so I did not take it for a ride. But I did this morning! It runs a lot more like I think it should. It still doesn't have the pull my 96 PSD did though. The 96 had 4.10's while I have 3.73's now, but the 96 had bigger tires on it.

It made a clear difference, I don't feel like I have to push the pedal to the floor to get it to move anymore. Getting a little more black smoke from the exhaust as well. Honestly I was hoping for more. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a big improvement, I was just expecting more. I think I will start saving for bigger injectors now.

Thanks for the help.