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850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by ASZ on
Saturday, 27 December 1997, at 4:09 p.m.
Ok fellas, my Christmas was a good one, since I got my IPD ECU Upgrade! I must say that the car is a whole lot more fun to drive. The guys on here, who sung its praises, are right. It is defintely worth it. But I wonder if any of you guys, with the upgrade, have experienced any negative effects? Well, except for excessive tire wear...I noticed that my catalytic converter is making all kinds of noises while the car is running, but makes the usual knock and ping noises when the engine is off. I wonder if because of the increased boost pressure, that oil, being pumped into the turbo, is being blown out through the exhaust and is settling at the converter...then when it's there, it burns and leaves a residue inside the cat to where it's slowly clogging it up. I say that because Im getting some gray smoke pouring out of my exhaust. I don't know...maybe it's normal and Im just imagining things. If anybody can shed some light on the subject, I would like to know what you think! Oh yea...has anybody got the Art of Roar's AeroFilter yet? If anybody's got it, how is it? OK, well, it's snowing here now, so Im gonna see how the upgrade affects my traction control system..take care dudes!
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Terence Lui on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 2:59 a.m.
Have you got the IPD exhaust? IPD strongly recommend using the Motronic upgrade with the exhaust because of the increase boost, the stock exhaust is too restrictive and as a result would over heat (or even melt down) of the cat. I have been driving my car with the IPD ECU and exhaust for more than a year now and I have no problem at all. But since we are on this topic, I am wondering if any 850 T-5 owners out there had experience any fuel pump problem. I had my fuel pump replaced under warrenty couple of months ago. The symptom was when the car has low fuel on board, I just don't get the power you expect. So I am wondering if it is just a Volvo problem, or it is due to the ECU upgrade that "kills" my fuel pump.
Terence Lui
'95 854T
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Richard on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 7:25 a.m.
Allright knock it off, you're having entirely too much fun and us poor non turbo folks can't stand it. From all reports tht ECU and exhaust combo are a good setup.
My question is; has anyone found an ECU upgrade for the non turbo? Yes I know there must be a few more of us unenhanced types out there, who by the way need the boost more than anyone. The 96 850 was purchased used and like all past Volvo and is power to weight ratio challenged.
So put down your catalogs and stop gloating long enough to help some of your less fortunate brothers.
Have a great 1998.
re. FWD vs RWD. Snow is comming to eastern PA and after 7 RWD Volvos this will be the first FWD test for me. Like the kid says in the commercial " I'm still sceptible".
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Paul S. on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 9:40 a.m.
I've been looking since.....1996.....I've had leads....but no solid evidence that anyone will actually sell an ECU upgrade for the non-turbo. Have been offered by someone in Europe...gains may be minimal.
I have the Group 6 exhaust, IPD skidplate, touring swaybars, 16" alloys, 205-50ZR Nitto 500Z's...
I do have the rare manual tranny.....
I snow cruised with the stock 15 inchers last year....car was fine...just low....on ice it was ok....just deep snow must be pushed.
Paul Seminara VCOA Member # 9417
1996 855O 18K miles "THE BLUE GOOSE" Still a dream car.......
1981 262C Bertone 171K "THE BLUE BLENNY" V6 that runs........
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Stefan on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 5:23 p.m.
The biggest Swedish motormagazine made a reportage about Chiptuning
for Volvo GLT:s (2,5l 20v).Here it is
They have also made reportage about SE:s (2,5l 10v) The Torque whent up from 206Nm to 235Nm!!!!! And the power from 140Hp to 156Hp !
This will soon be published on the BSR Sportsman page.
850 styling
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Paul S. on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 8:16 p.m.
Still, not enough information on how to acquire in the USA. Smog Legal?
US Cost? Will these chips work with the manual transmission in a 1996 nonturbo?
Paul
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Mark Klein on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 9:31 p.m.
The 10 valve motor Stefan posted about isn't available in the US of A.
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Paul S. on
Tuesday, 30 December 1997, at 6:16 a.m.
I know this. He seems to have done a 20 valve also.
Paul
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Stefan on
Friday, 2 January 1998, at 5:15 p.m.
Here is what the swedish magazine wrote about BSR tuning the 10v and the 20v:
http://hem.passagen.se/kgeeson/tuntips.htm
Stefan
BSR Sportsman
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Topi on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 11:36 p.m.
Check, again, Stefans posting/test. You'll see non-turbos are not easy to "ChipTune". If you want to do it, remember that European gas is still 99-100 oct. ! Chips are tuned for that and can cause problems with US 97 one. Check www.bsrab.se/uk They also have an interesting HELP page, mainly for hard-core turbo guys. Please, no "rags & wax" questions here! Stefan's VERY patient person, otherwise....And very knowleggeable, too.
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Paul S. on
Tuesday, 30 December 1997, at 6:19 a.m.
As I said "not much gain" for realistic situations.
There is a diff. between man. and auto. 1994 and 96.....how to buy in US.
These are questions that are real. And unanswered by Stephan.
Paul
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Topi on
Tuesday, 30 December 1997, at 7:10 a.m.
How about ipd? Seems like everybody's happy with their chip. If they offer one, use it. If not, it won't work! Otherwise they'd sell one....And they know US cars better than anybody.
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Ching-Ho Cheng on
Tuesday, 30 December 1997, at 7:53 a.m.
The upgrade sold by IPD is for "turbo 850" ONLY. The chip is from TME in Sweden. I did send an email to TME and asked them why they never release an upgrade for "non-turbo" 850. Their response was that there is no market in U.S.A., and it is difficult to fine-tune the "non-turbo" 850.
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Terence Lui on
Wednesday, 31 December 1997, at 2:02 a.m.
It is much harder to improve performance significantly on a non-turbo car without doing major work to the engine(porting/polishing heads .....) For turbo cars, you simply turn up the turbo boost and you will have all the extra power you want. The reason TME does not do or investigate in improving the performance of the non-turbo 850 is that you really have to do some serious work to gain power on a normally aspired car. And with the money you spent on doing it, you might as well buy a 850 turbo. If you talk to BMW owners, a lot of them have a "chip" upgrade to their cars, but none of them would tell you they could feel any significant improvement in performance.
For 850 non-turbo owners who want to have extra power, my suggestion is to look into a supercharger kit. I think Mosselman or Sebring has a supercharger system for Volvo. Adding a turbo is not an option because the compression rate in the GLT is too high. Or may be a NOS system?
Terence Lui
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by ASZ on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 9:43 a.m.
I don't have the IPD exhaust, I have a Borla exhaust system. As far as the fuel pump goes, I haven't noticed anything as of yet, but I will keep a lookout to see if I experience the same problem that you have had. Thanks for the info...
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Bill Matthews on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 4:48 p.m.
I probably shouldn't post this because it will awaken that sleeping Volvus troll waiting to cause a problem but I have almost 40k and over 2 years on the IPD ECU upgrade with Cat back exhaust abnd have no problems with fuel pump or otherwise caused by the upgrade. I do routinely get the tank down as low as 35-40 miles to empty on the trip computer.
Bill Matthews
Hockessin DE
94 855T
73 1800ES
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Mark Klein on
Monday, 29 December 1997, at 9:34 p.m.
The pumps failed regardless of the ECU upgrade. There were a fair amount which were replaced. Not enough to call a "problem" but these were not isolated instances.
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Paul Elliott on
Wednesday, 31 December 1997, at 5:37 p.m.
No Terrence, I've not experienced this. How severe was your perceived power loss?
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Terence Lui on
Thursday, 1 January 1998, at 3:11 a.m.
About my fuel pump problem, it only happened when my fuel tank is low (about 2 gallons). I didn't notice the low power when driving within town, it is very noticeable when driving on the highway. When I try to speed up from 40mphs to 70+, the car didn't kick down as soon as normal(even in sports mode) and the turbo didn't spun up as quick as normal. But once I filled up the tank, the problem didn't appear. I had my dealer looked at it and they said there was no fault code from the OBD, but I insisted that there was a problem, therefore, they looked through my fuel system and found out that I had a faulty fuel pump, they replace it and I have no problem since. Come to think of it, my parent's 855T in Hong Kong had a faulty pump once, the fuel/emission warning light came on, the dealer check the OBD, no codes and they didn't do anything. One day after filling up the tank in the gas station, the car just wouldn't start. It was the fuel pump again! So if any 850 owners has a power loss problem, make sure
you ask your mechanic check the fuel pump.
Terence Lui
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Victor Bakker on
Thursday, 1 January 1998, at 2:09 p.m.
Where can I find IPD??
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Terence Lui on
Friday, 2 January 1998, at 1:06 a.m.
You can reach IPD at 1-800-444-6473 or you can check out their website at http://www.ipdusa.com
Re: 850 Motronic Upgrade[ALL/1998] posted by Paul Elliott on
Wednesday, 31 December 1997, at 5:36 p.m.
Since I've been in FLA enjoying the weather, I just got back to my favorite BBS, and came upon this thread. As one who has been singing the praises of the ECU replacment, I must tell you that the Cat noises of which you speak are entirely unknown to me. Perhaps because I installed the Sport exhaust at the same time I dont have those problems. The TME site goes so far as warning against NOT installing the 2 together. I dont recall whether or not you did this, but if you didnt, I'd certainly consider it immediately. Good luck, and advise.