Apten troubleshooting... uh oh

[99Mounty]

I got my Apten chip from the most recent group buy. I installed it and I put maybe 10 total miles on my car with the Apten chip.

I followed the directions carefully -- I cleaned the connections very well as to see the copper. However, the first time I put the chip in, I had vehicle starting problems. My truck would start, and then die. So just to be safe, I took the chip out again, and recleaned the connections. The truck started. Then, I was driving on the road with the chip. Seemed fine... and then, the engine just turns off in the middle of the road, while I'm going 55 mph. My steering wheel locks up, and all power's gone. So I restart my truck, and it works. I drive for maybe 2 seconds, and then, the truck dies again. After being quite frustrated, I took the Apten chip out of my truck. And everything is fine. The truck drives fine now.

It's been quite a hassle in using this Apten chip... I don't know about anyone else.. maybe it's just me.

Does anyone have any recommendations in what I should do? If I could, I'd like to return the chip and get my money back.... When I drove for maybe 5-10 miles with the Apten, the truck did feel like it had a little more ponies under the hood. Only problem is, ... it kills my engine in the middle of the road when I'm driving at high speeds. Dangerous.

 

[Alec]

My guess is either a bad program, loose connection (did you duct tape the chip to the computer?), or the terminals still aren't clean enough. You may need to clean the chip terminals with an electro-safe cleaner because you could have gotten the gunk from the truck's computer in there.

Also, did you reset the computer by disconnecting the battery and letting it relearn idle?

 

[aldive]

I have not had a single issue with my Apten chip' I love it.

Why not contact Brian at Apten, He will solve your problem.

Good luck and remember the Apten chip is the best one out there......

 

[Rhett]

I just got my Apten chip. It works great, no starting problems. The only thing I have noticed is that my truck pings with the 87 octane performance program. With stock program, no ping. With 93 performance program no ping. But 87 perf prog pings...I'm workin on this one...

 

[psychotic]

make sure you clean the connections on the bottom too, they should all be copper. Sounds to me like the problem is 100% in the connection.

 

[Apten]

I agree in the conneciton problem. Every time that has ever happened it was because the customer either didn't clean down the contacts or completley sanded off the copper. You should clean just below the silver coating so your see copper on both sides. Once clean, wipe it down and slide the chip on. Then try firmly securing with duct tape to keep it from shifting.

If that doesn't work, we can always try a new chip. So far it's been my experience that everytime you get a problem like you described it's connection related.

Brian

 

[SiLenZe]

i really hope you get your chip working!
mabey in a year or 2 i will be able to afford one

 

[99Mounty]

I'll try recleaning the connections and try again. (I just hope I didn't completely sand off the copper.)

It scared me at first because I was enjoying it while driving at 55 mph... and then, suddenly it killed my engine. That was scary...

I'll assume it's a bad connection problem and clean it real real real well this time.

 

[rydinhigh]

Just to let you know I spent about 45 min - 1 hour cleaning my connections. I used the little sanding pad plus electrical contact cleaner.

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by 99Mounty
I'll try recleaning the connections and try again. (I just hope I didn't completely sand off the copper.)

It scared me at first because I was enjoying it while driving at 55 mph... and then, suddenly it killed my engine. That was scary...

I'll assume it's a bad connection problem and clean it real real real well this time.

My SuperChip used to do the same thing. The thing is though, it didn't show up until I had the chip in for over a year. Since mine died so intermittantly (about every 2-4 months) I couldn't positively attribute it to my chip. One strange thing that would usually happen just before mine would die is my transmission would rev way up and then the RPMs would drop right back down to where they were, all in a manner of about 2 seconds. Whenever I felt that, I could be fairly certain that my Explorer would die within the next 5 minutes. Whenever it died, just like yours, I could just restart it and everything ran fine after that (until the next time). Everytime it happened, I would remove my chip for a few weeks and not have anymore episodes. I would always end up putting it back in, but within a few months it would happen again. Finally, the last time it happened, my Explorer would not restart until I pulled the chip out. I left the chip out for two months that time and after not having anymore episodes, I contacted SuperChips. They had me send it in to them and they in turn sent me a warranty replacement. That was about 3 or 4 months ago, but so far the replacement hasn't acted up at all. It's possible you have a bad chip, if cleaning the connections doesn't eliminate it.

 

[99Mounty]

I think you may be right Robert... because I believe I cleaned the connections very well.

This is one problem that I do not want to see happening ever again.

I'm going to contact Brian and see if I can get a new chip from him.