Is the ECU removal easy to perform? Are there instructions on how to do it anywhere?
Rob

 

It's quite simple. It is located under a plastic cover up agaisnt the firewall on the passenger side (under the hood). There are 5 plugs going to the ECU. It is the silver box. Remove the plugs one at a time and remove the ecu.

 

Another website for ECU upgrades for the Crossfire states that Chrysler soldered the chip in instead of making in pluggable. I don't really want to get in there and break solder joints. The group is posted under Technical modifications and it is called powerchipgroup.com . The upgrade is stated to give over 20 HP with 93 octane and about 30 additional ft-lbs of torque. This is listed for $300 cheaper than Renntech and guaranteed.

 

Doe anybody here know of anyone who's actually used the Renntech, or other ECU upgrade, who could give us an update as to how it's done, and if there are noticeably positive results?

 

True, the chip is soldered. RENNtech flashes the ECU via the OBDII port. We use the software and hardware in our shop in Scottsdale. The powerchip claims are way over-optimistic.

 

Do you have any basis to state that Powerchips claims would be overly optimistic? Have you dealt with them before?
Here is their page on the Crossfire modification.
http://www.powerchipgroup.com/datasheets/2/Chr0009.pdf

To me Powerchips claims could be just as accurate as Renntech's claims. The chip from Powerchip will not be available until 1/1/04 though.

 

We have dynoed all types of chips on Mercedes and have NEVER seen such an increase on a late model NA motor. The factory is leaving tuners very little to play with these days as they squeeze more power out of the stock program. Those gains were possible a few years ago , not any more. Furthermore some chips with high claims have cause detonation problems.

The fact that they don't have the program ready yet should tell you something. It is basically the same exact program as the SLK320...the the same Bosch unit, same version code, etc...