New Chip seems to have caused smoke

hughett · 01-22-2006, 05:17 PM

Today I installed a new Racer-X performance chip and for the first few minutes the car put out a smokescreen like a car with broken oil rings. I freaked out...even at idle it put out a LOT of smoke. I had made no other changes other than the chip.

However, having first disconnected my battery, and knowing that the brains need a minute or so to “reset” I took the car for a 10 mile spin. Boy did it perform well! I'm ever a skeptic but I'm sure it was running noticeable more responsive than before. When I parked, no smoke at all.

However, after an hour I cranked it up again and there was "some smoke but not much" coming from the exhaust but not anything remotely close to what was there when I first installed the chip. So something changed. Maybe the ECU resetting on startup with the new chip's instructions?

Frankly, I love the apparent enhancement in performance this chip gave..pretty steady across the curve. However, the question remains....does the chip cause some smoking exhaust? If so, why? Does this mean I will need to change plugs more often? More carboning? Or will it eventually go away as the pipes clean out? Or is this just a characteristic of the chip?

When I chipped my 928 (Autoauthority) I didn't notice smoke but I did notice a slight increase in the smell of unburned gasoline at idle. But...on the track..the car performs like a champion. And there was no decrease in gas mileage.

I'll drive it a while and see if the smoke dissapates and check the gas mileage, otherwise I may have gotten a defective chip.

One thing is for sure though...the apparent improvement in performance is obvious. I hate to mess with that if I don't have to. Just wondering what your guys experience has been. I'm letting it sit and will crank tomorrow and see it the problem has resolved itself. If not, you're going to have a hard time convinicing me it wasn't related to the chip change.

Harvey

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

If your car is not 100% mechanically sound, adding a performance chip can sometimes exaggerate existing problems, even if you didn't realize you had any problems

Razorback1980 · Razorback1980's Garage

Was the smoke blue or black? Blue smoke - oil and the chip had nothing to do with that or at least I don't see how. Black smoke- gasoline causing too rich of a fuel mixture.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

White smoke - coolant mixing in with the gas/oil

hughett · 01-23-2006, 05:56 AM

I let it sit 24 hours and cranked it this morning and it act normal. Am I going crazy? Wonder what happened? I'm thinking that the new chip Motronic combo took a minute to adjust to each other and it must have squirte way too much gas into the engine or something. Seems to be working normal now. Odd?! I'll put a 100 miles on it and check the mileage, then the leaddown again. That should tell if somethings changed. Other than it runs nicer with the chip.

Harvey

Brando · Brando's Garage

Sure the smoke wasn't from tires?

As stated above... a car that is not 100% up to spec will not be better with a chip, ehnaces problems, etc.

hughett · 02-03-2006, 06:32 PM

Followup Note: As you know, I bought the RacerX chip, disconnected the battery, and installed it in my '94 968, grounded, careful install, etc. Then when I started the engine it sputtered for several seconds, a couple of small backfires, and then it smoked like a banshee for nearly a minute. Then the smoke cleared out...and smoked less and less for the first 10 miles. I've driven it about 300 miles now. For a while there was some brownish smoke on startup in the mornings but no smoke once warm.

Today, I had a thorough leak-down test done and all's tight as a drum....3-5% deviation. Also, no smoke on startup now. And the car seems to run stronger with the chip.

I have a stock chip and a proven Weltmeister chip that I was going to substitute in and compare with the RacerX but it's running great right now and no smoke so I'm leaving it as is. 26.5mpg.

What happened? I don't think it was coincidental. I think that the Motronic must have gotten sideways somehow with the new chip and it took a minute to adjust itself. Probably confused the injectors or something. Don't know why it took 300 miles to clear it all out though. I'm crossing my fingers that it will keep running fine. Sure ran well today. When it hits about 4400 rpm it really comes alive.

Harvey