Well, I am new to the forums and have searched and looked and all that fun stuff on this subject but have yet to find a satisfactory answers. I have a 01 Edge with a completely stock 4.0 and have been wondering about installing a bamachip but I still have a few questions. My biggest one is how/if installing a chip affects the life of the engine. I have always been under the impression (however correct) that chipping a motor noticeably decreases the life of a motor.

Second, from what I have read most people seem to lean towards installing a intake and exhaust before installing a chip. Is this simply because those are two of the more common power mods or is that what it takes to really get your money out of a bama chip?

Third, how hard/expensive is it to replace the MAF and what is the benefits of doing this on a stock or mostly stock Ranger. I don't need a how-to post, just some general information.

Fourth, now lets say the heavens were to open up and money was rained down on me and I was actually able to put an intake, exhaust and all those other lovely things on my truck. How adversely is this going to affect my gas mileage. Now I understand there are a million variables that go into that and that there are no concrete answers. I know the concept of more power, more gas used.........but at the same time Bamachips claims that alot of users see an increase in mileage along with performance. I realize I will get some conflicting opinions and/or answers on this but I still want them.

Any answers,thoughts, and opinions are greatly appreciated

 

ok with the Bamachip programmer it acully refines your motor and trans(auto) and helps the motor acully perform better then the stock program would. Doug is a good guy and spent many hours figuring out what is the best way to tune a ranger. another thing get in DIRECT contact with DOUG and he can answer your questions alot better.

 

Do the programmer from Doug at Bamachips that is the best thing I have ever bought makes it feel like a new engine.

 

well ive always been told that the more power you put into an engine... the shorter the life of the engine. but that could just be my dad thinkin he knows everything. lol

 

It depends on what you have the chip do, if you ahve it so its programed to push the truck to every limit and keep it there, then yes, its going to ware your engine down... But over the years its been shown that having a chip to get that extra power out of your motor isnt harmful to an extent, I mean, it might take a few miles of the top, but so does alot of things

Reason i see for that, is Bama will give you a custom tune for your truck, so if you ahve the intake and exhaust BEFORE the chip, they can program it to use it to its full potential. If you add the intake and exhaust after the chip and its not programmed knowing its there, you lose the chance for more gain...Basically any engine mod you do, you want your chip to be programmed knowing which you have to it can work best towards your engine

its not hard, the MAF is just bolted to the airbox and clamped to the intake tube, more aftermarket MAFs are in the 150-250 range. Benifts? More air flow, they are bigger then stock, to allow more flow and also keep your truck running, I mean anyone can swap a bigger MAF, but then the computer is going to have problems knowing how much fuel to add because the readings are off, so thats why they have Exact replacements for your truck and year

well, more power doenst always mean more gas used, only reason why more power means more gas, is because when you add the power, you add the urge to ahve that Lead foot. i.e. adding a supercharger or turbocharger should in theory, gain MPG, because its now taking less gas to push the truck around, however most people when putting those on, they get that lead foot and cant help putting the petal to the ground. However if you do all those mods and drive the EXACT same way you do with a stock truck, you should see more gain to the MPG, because it will take less time to get up to speed and you dont have to keep adding on the gas to get there





Hope that works for you, and if anyone has more to add, or something to correct me on, feel free, cause im no know-it-all, i just play one on tv

ScottG

 

You aren't really putting a power adder to the engine such as a turbo or NOS. (Those would shorten engine life). The programmer just releases power that is already there....just hidden away from you by the stock computer program.

 

the only input i can offer is related to your PCM. My dad is a Ford Tech and I have friends who are Ford Engineers. I cannot even begin to stress to you how sensitive your PCM is. This thing sees and feels everything. On 4.0 engine alone there are 212 sensors/inputs to the PCM. Anything you do to affect the inputs the PCM will see and your truck will suffer from it w/o proper programming.

Cases in point, i put 265/75/16's on my truck and my ABS acted up, and my tranny acted up until my dad hooked it up to WDS and changed my programming to match the new tires. He also pulled some codes that only WDS can see that showed where i had my truck off-road and hit some unusual RPM's. That thing is truly insane.

 

i disagree somewhat. You are unleashing power that is there, yes, but they hid that power for a reason. They hid it because the drivetrain/powertrain won't last with all that power to their full life. Well they might if you drove like a grandma and never got above 55mph and 2500rpm.

 

The main reason is reliability, gas milage and emissions. Althought with the right programming, I'm sure Doug can improve upon all that. Of course if you got a constant lead foot, don't expect to see 150,000 miles with nary a problem.