programmer vs chip

[rseals]

have heard some horror stories of chip going bad and ruining the pcm. Some have told me that it is better to go with the programmer. Most on here I think will say to go with a good chip. Just wandering if anyone has had much trouble with their chips. I no of like 4 local trucks that have had troubles.
thanks

[kramarj]

I installed the chip in my dad's truck about a year and a half ago. First time I ever installed a chip and have had absolutely no issues so far(knock on wood). My uncle has a superchips or hypertech programmer and he said to change the tune you have to plug it in and re set it to what you want, don't know if this is true, just what he told me. With a 6 pos. chip all you have to do is switch it, very simple. The high idle is great for cold weather, just turn it on. Another thing is all of the different people who can burn the chip to the mods you have done to your truck. I would go with the chip over the programmer any day.

[351fifty]

I've chipped and programmed my rig, I say chip. You can shift positions and tune anytime you feel, with the programmer you have to turn it off, reset your pcm, then turn it on, its a 5 minute process to change tunes, with the chip its just turn the knob. That and I can not report any bad things about tranny temps on the chip, programmer put my last one up to 210 cruising a lot, and had my crew cab hitting 180, chip I have yet to get over 170 and I do boosted launches just for a bit of fun.

[rseals]

the draw back that I have heard of is they get to making bad connections at the pcm and ruin it. Or they just go haywire and cause problems. There are alot more people on here that use them so I was looking for better information

[JSchuricht]

The most important things to remember when installing a chip are
1) don't do it while the key is in the truck
2) clean the connections well but don't scrub them till there is nothing left
3) secure the chip with some duct tape

Failure to obey rule #1 will result in a dead PCM. Failure to obey rule #2 or rule #3 will result in a bad connection and general weirdness.

My favorite method for getting a good connection is re tinning the leads on the PCM but do not try this unless you have sufficient experience reworking PCB's. I suppose if I ever start having a connection issue I will just solder the chip to the PCM but that has it's own drawbacks. Most people don't have these issues, what you see is the minority of people that have issues and post asking for help.

[sputnik801]

All good arguements but remember with programming you have the programmer to read any codes that may come up in the future......

[351fifty]

In my experience, the programmer makes it throw codes, the least they could do is help you clear them

[kramarj]

I would rather spend money on something like a Snap On scanner where you could find the code and do buzz tests and find out a lot more diagnostics.

[rseals]

Thanks for the information. I wish that was all I had to with my truck right now, but I think I have other problems. It has a miss of somekind I have to find.

[Fordman247365]

check the wiring around and under the valve covers, 90% of misses will be found on a bad wire or valve cover gasket