Great budget mod, or a snake oil 'con'?

[timmy30]

Hi Guys,

Okay what do you think of this module that fits in ahead of the IAT sensor and purports to give a 15bhp power increase by fooling the car into thinking the incoming air is colder than it actually is.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32094&item=7978483249&rd=1

Has anyone fitted one of these? Did it/ do they work? Seems very cheap for what it says it does..... :confused:

[KITT]

I would have thought if the engine thinks the air is colder/denser than it is, then it'll put more fuel in. This will mean you're running a richer mixture than you should which will foul up your plugs and possibly ruin your cat.

[GreenV8S]

Con.

[dnb]

It might work for a while, but I'd certainly not call it safe - It could make a turbocharged car knock like mad and wreck the engine as you'd be relying on the knock sensor far too much as you'd be running too much ignition advance for some conditions.

[Neil_H]

Another vote for con.

[timmy30]

Well they do recommend using Optimax with it to prevent knocking. But I guess the plug fowling point still stands.

Blimey this is all making me quite cynical, I guess the only thing to do is fit a great big exhaust pipe and spoiler to my MR2 to make it look and sound faster, then hope I don't get mugged by a Boxster or an Imprezza

Oh and keep putting cash into the tubby turbo fund......

[mervynp]

Con. Get a xK ohm resistor from Maplins for 2p, has the same effect. A well know ebay scam.

[tuttle]

The old gen1 Apexi S-AFC's work in a similar way,fooling the afm/ecu into thinking that air coming in is denser.Even tho you could fine tune it for individual rev ranges,its a pretty crude gadget.Only made our '33 over-fuel like crazy(good only for bore wash,'zorst fireworks & shells bank balance) Its gone now,good riddance to the land of E-bay -there's a guy in Sussex somewhere having to tow his own petrol pump as a result of owning it Mwahahaha

>> Edited by tuttle on Monday 13th June 19:29

[deltafox]

Con!
I just love the way these things are advertised.
"Gives up to 15bhp extra"....really? Er no...not quite.

The 15 bhp "extra" wont happen in the way you think.
The same con gets perpertrated by some supposed power tuning companies as well.
What happens is this.
They do a power run on an engine then log the reults.
Then they "mod" it with their little add on and power run it again and again log the results.
Wow! I got 1 bhp at 2000rpm and 1 bhp extra at 2500 and 1 bhp extra at 3000 etc etc.
The 15 bhp figure is the total added together!
Not extra available power at any particular rev point!

Save your cash and if you must mod the intake air sensor info, do as already suggested, use a 2p resistor from Maplins or a variable.