When I bought my car, the dealership said that the previous owner had a chip in the car. Here's the problem, I don't have a tuner for the chip. So where would I find this chip so that I know what tuner to look for? Where are the chips located? What do they look like? Etc...

 

passenger side kick panel, behind it is your ECU. Stuck in a part of the ECU you can't see with it in it's normal resting spot is a little data port about 1" x 2.5". In stock form there's a little black plastic cover over it which forces you to open the ECU to remove it (nice move ford). There either will or will not be a chip in that port. None of the chips I've ever installed have ever allowed me to put that plastic cover back on. Normally there's tape covering the hole and holding the chip in. Diablo, Autologic, SCT, etc.. chips are all fairly distinct from each other and usually at least minimally labelled.

It is VITAL to know that you do or do not have a chip in the car if you plan to mod it at all. I would assume that with the previous owner sporting the stock looking v6 with stock suspension thing he almost certainly didn't have one in there and if he did he probably pulled it.

ECU's can also be flashed with a handheld which some total asshats colloquially refer to as "chipping" the car but only total *** worshiping rim jobbers would speak such heresy. If that was done and you don't have the handheld, hahah... well it can get complicated since you can have a hard time tellin why x was done to the tune. In any case it's not actually a big deal or expensive (should be free since it's no extra work per se') to fix when/if you eventually get a proper tune done.

If you find it's been chipped/tuned then you really should get down to a dyno and do a quick check run to make sure the air fuel ratio is ok and to get a baseline grounded in reality so when you start adding performance you can measure it against something.

 

Hey thanks for the info, and it's not on the little v6 that I've got pictured, I was talking about my '04 Mach 1, but I'll try checking that spot and I'll let everyone know how that went.

 

Hey, how can I get the kick panel off without breaking anything? There only appears to be one bolt holding it there, but I can't access it without breaking the cap that covers it. Or maybe what I'm interpreting is the bolt...Hmm...help?

Can anyone explain how to gain access under the kick panel?

 

nevermind, I got it figured out. I didn't see a chip though...




Am I missing something, or is there on chip? I imagine that if there was one, it'd be pretty easily noticed, correct?

 

You MUST pull the ECU all the way out to find out.

 

Alright, I can get to the ECU fine after separating the wires from the harness they were connected to. But the plastic cage is getting in the way. I know I should do something with the cage to get the ECU out, but obviously with how important the ECU is to the car, this is definitely not something I'd like to screw up. So my question is, how to properly remove the cage? There is a tiny gold bolt, maybe a 10mm holding the cage in on the side nearest to the door, and that's the only thing I can find holding it in. Is it? And do I pull that screw completely, or just slightly? I heard from one of my mustang buddies not to pull the entire screw because it'll drop the ECU and/or bend some pins.

 

there are 2 5.5mm screws holding the white plastic cage in which supports the ECU. Remove at least 1 of them so you can pry up the white cage and pull the ecu out.

There are a couple harnesses in the way as well. Just pull the bracket off and then separate the harnesses from the bracket to give yourself a little room to work.

Once you've got the ecu free via the steps above, then unscrew the 10mm bolt that retains the harness into the bottom of the ECU. It's a captured bolt, so as you loosen it it'll pull itself mostly free of the socket in the ECU. Now the ECU should be totally free of the car and you can check it out.

BE GENTLE but don't be afraid. As long as you don't force it it'll be fine. Check Diablo sports website for chip install instructions... they have really good instrucs.