During my 60+ years of driving I have had more than my share of cars....sure, most of them were 'bombs' or clunker's  but what they did teach me was, how they worked, how often they broke down and of course how to fix them.

I soon found that the only way I could repair something on my cars was to do it myself. Cars can indeed become 'money pits', I have also learnt, starting a long time ago, that some car repairs are best left to the experts, major brake repairs and, more recently,  modern engine anti-pollution equipment, complex transmission electronic control devices  for engine and drive chains instance. 

Important to note here also; in this day and age of computers under the hood you need to very wary of what you can and cannot do when repairing modern motor vehicles, a simple short circuit or an incorrect connection can damage a component which can cost many hundreds, or even thousands of dollars to repair. 

Such items as mentioned above should only be repaired by trained  personnel, often specialized equipment is required for this stuff anyway.

Likewise, modern petrol and diesel engines are very complex, gone are the days when you could stick a gallon of used cooking oil in the tank of a diesel....they work to very exacting standards and will not tolerate fools.

There is another aspect that bothers me, the adding of accessories to new cars, still under warranty, in particular, Diesel chipping.

Deisel chipping alters a vehicle's electronic control unit (ECU) settings to increase engine power, torque, and throttle response, often by manipulating fuel pressure or injection timing. While this can improve performance, it can also put more stress on the engine and its components, potentially leading to premature wear or damage if not done correctly. 

The point here is this...it is very likely that chipping will invalidate a vehicles warranty, this is despite many, if not all Diesel 'performance improvement retailers telling you the opposite. 

Consider this, if fitting a chip makes a particular engine run so much better and have such great increases in performance why is it that the car maker didn't do that when the car was built.

Car manufacturers have design engineers and equipment costing a lot of money, the engine settings are such that it will last quite some time...play with those settings and take them away from what the designing engineers have set and, if your engine fails will you really have any recourse?....will the chip supplier come to your assistance and pay for the thousands of dollars that will likely be required?. If you chip your engine and it fails it will be very hard to argue in a court of law that the chip, that the change to the ECU didn't cause it.

My suggestion is that you contact the manufacturer prior to purchase of any 'ad on's'. 

The above is a subject often appearing on motoring enthusiasts web pages and one I would like to discuss further if anyone wishes to. 

The 'MyCars' pages are a record of the cars I have owned, note however that not all the photos are of the actual car but the photo I have used is, to the best of my knowledge,  the same model. Please note also that whilst every care has been taken please email me for any error correction, or any queries you may have by returning to our Home page where a response form resides.

Many thanks,

Paul and Pam.

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