How to Install a Performance Chip in 2023

Last updated on January 22nd, 2024

A Performance computer chip is a vehicular attachment that is particularly designed to improve a wide range of a car’s systems.

In this article, we are going to discuss and learn about how to install a performance chip.

What is a Performance Chip?

The performance chip is a computerized chip. It tells the main computer of your car when and how to adjust your car’s timing, its fuel-air ratio, turbo boost, and other things.

In one word, it is an up-gradation of your car for better performance.

How to Install a Performance Chip

Installing a performance chip can be either easy or difficult according to your or your mechanic’s knowledge or the model of the car.

Though performance chip installation is not that much complicated as some other upgrades. Most people should be able to install it within an hour.

These steps should help you to install the performance chip more smoothly and without any damage.

• Find the OBD2 Port: You can usually find the OBD2 port of your car under the dashboard of the driver’s side.
• Start the Vehicle: Start your vehicles for roughly about 15-18 seconds
• Plug the chip: Now plug the performance chip into the OBD2 port of your car. The light of the chip will turn on. Then again wait for 10-15 seconds.
• Reset the chip: Press and hold the Reset button located mostly on the front of the chip for about 10 seconds. Though there are some auto-resetting chips are now available in the market, it is recommended to reset them manually.
• Drive: Drive normally. Allow 50-150 miles of total drive time for completing the changes before fully testing the benefits.

Notes:

• The Performance Chip should stay plugged into the OBD2 port for the purpose.
• The lights of the performance chip are only for following your car’s programming purposes and showing you whether the chip is working or not. So, you do not need to always monitor lights.
• If you ever wish to return to the vehicle’s stock settings, just unplug the performance chip with the vehicle turned off.

But before installing a performance chip in your car, you should consider and be aware of these basic factors.

It will give a piece of basic knowledge about your car’s condition and decide if it is ok to install a chip in your car or not.

Fuel Efficiency is not Identical

Performance chips are not going to turn your car into a fuel saver car or hybrid car. Sometimes you might not get the result that you were expecting from the chip.

But it can help to improve your fuel efficiency a bit.

It is not fixed, but you can expect to save about 5-7 miles per gallon after installation. Again results will differ depending on the model/year vehicle you own.

Horse Power

The performance chip is not going to give a top type of horsepower; you’re not going to get them with a chip that is just plugged in with a turbocharger.

It is not going to happen. But it is also not that performance chips don’t perform admirably. Well, a 60-horsepower gain is not bad at all. It will certainly help the average driver a bit.

Price

Effective performance chips can often be purchased for around $50. It is significantly cheaper than almost any other upgrade of your vehicle.

So, if anyone wants an easy-install up-gradation, small in size, and provides enough performance, well a performance chip must be a winner.

Final thoughts

Performance chips are easy to use and cheap, which makes them great additions to cars, trucks, and SUVs that want to improve upon their stock systems.

Before making a purchase or choosing to install one.

However, a driver should know all the details about how to install a performance chip and the benefits of using it.