The PowerChip Experience...So Far (Long) - Land Rovers Only

DevilDisco · 05-20-2007, 07:33 PM

After the Magnecor 8mm wires and Bosh +4 plugs I decided to push my luck. I wanted to do something else to make sure I was getting the most out of the Disco. It was a toss up between the Borla Exhaust and the PowerChip. Eventually I'd like to do both but chipping the Disco required that the vehice be down for a supposed two days and I hate being without a vehicle.
I called PowerChip and the promptly e-malied a FedEx over night lable and instruction to remove the ECU. Initially they sent me instructions to a 4.6L Range Rover. Then they sent me instructions for a 4.0L Disco and then finally one for a 4.6L Disco (I have and '04 DII). I called power chip because I still could not find the ECU so they directed me to it and it is relatively high up on the passenger side in the foot well. I proceeded to up plug the ECU based on the instructions then boxed it up and went to FEDEX at 1800. The ECU arrived at the PowerChip Headquarters in LA 3:00pm the next day. I expected it back on Thursday.
I called Powerchip to see if they got the ECU already missing the Disco. They tell me the ECU has been previously modded and if I knew who modded it. I called the dealer and they said they had no knowledge of it. I went to their website and sent a message saying that if they were not sure about doing the MOD that they should send the ECU back unmodded and give me a refund. I spoke to a rep, the customer service was good, in that they kept me informed. They said that the chip they wanted to mod was covered in glue and basically told me it was something of a diasater, but they were going to repair the board and try to get the original settings from the ECU and then Mod it and send it back to me on Friday.
Friday the told me they had worked on the ECU for 6 hours. They sounded confident so I said ok. At this point I just wanted my ECU back.
They said they were going to send pics of the ECU, that I planned to mail to the dealership to see if everthing looked ok. They did not. So now I have to tell my wife why my Disco is setting in the garage and why I was driving her car while she was away.
The ECU arrives Saturday morning and I'm like "SWEET". I plug the ECU up plugging the wires in the reverse of how I took them out. I put everything together and then go to start the Disco. I turn to positions II, the Temp needle goes all the way up and drops down to the blue. The red light above it is on. The M & S symbols start flashing. I say its probably ok let me start it and see if it syncs with the truck, planning on taking a test drive to the car wash. The starter tries to turn the truck over but won't catch. Everything seems to work, radio, AC, lights, alarm but the car won't start. I decide to unplug the battery for a while to see if that helps. I reconnect the battery and it still won't start. I try calling Powrchip using the card that came back with the ECU and they are not open on Saturday and the rep is not answering his cell phone. I have to work Sunday and I don't want to wake my wife up at 0600 to take me to work. I unplug the battery thinking that maybe it was not disconnected long enough. I unplug it around 11:00pm and this morning at around 6:30am I hook it back up hoping it will start. The Radio still has its fill, every thing works but the "M" and "S" are still flashing and the car won't turn over. So I say maybe it was not disconnected long enough. I did not try to crank it after I saw the "M" & "S" still flashing. I figure if I leave it unplugged until tomorrow morning that maybe it will reset and I can use my car.
My mom is visiting and she suggest I try to turn it over, but I unplugged the battery and closed the hood. I go to open the hood and I pull the lever inside the truck and there is no tension on it. The hood would not pop. I go to the front and try to pry the hood up with my fingers, no go. I pound on the hood in the area of the latch hoping it will loosen up but it doesn't. I'm P.O'd now and I leave small dent in the hood from my fist, pounding in the area of the latch so it would let me in.

I give up and my wife rushes me to work since I have to be here at at 0730 and won't be home until the next afternoon.
I need the truck for a trip we are going to Memorial weekend(This coming weekend) but I can't drive the care the 4 hrs to the dealership much less get it out of the garage and now it has no power.
I'm guessing my only option is to call Roadside assistance and have it hauled to the nearest dealerships to see why the Disco won't start.
The icing on the cake. I openend the ECU while the car was disconnected and noticed some red wires going from one side of the chip to the other side of the board (not near the diasaster Powerchip described.) and the work Powerchip said they were going to do put a socket on the board with an upgraded removeable EPROM is not evident anywhere on the board. It does not look like they did anything to the ECU physically but it was inoperable.
All I have to show for this mod that was supposed to give me 19hp and 27 ftlb of torque extra, is a sticker, a non working Disco, a hood I can't open, almost a week of down time and that general feeling of being violated.
So I'll call the dealer tomorrow, tell them what's going on. They'll probably tell me to call Roadside Assistance and then I'll hope I get a working vehicle back before Friday.
I think I may have felt better if I drowned the ECU. I know this headache is self inflicted. I took a chance and so far it has not paid off, but I'll just have to see what happened. I don't think I''ll be sending the ECU back to powerchip as I won't uplug it after it is fixed. Only bolt on upgrades from now on.
This is just not what I expected for a company that supposedly tunes Ferrari's, Bently's, BMW "M" Series vehicle, Prosche's etc. I'll be calling them tomorrow to see what is going on despite the 5hr time difference between GA and LA.

01001010 · 05-20-2007, 07:53 PM

Dang man! Sorry to hear about that ordeal man! If it helps any, I think Jet Perfomance (a much more reliable company IMHO) will also get the job of reprogramming your ECU done, incase you decide to give it another shot.

I was just trying to look for it for you but didnt find it...but I can swear I've seen a Superchip programmer for Rovers, just dont know what engines they were for.

But I think your best decision will be to leave the Eletrical stuff alone unless your relocating or waterproofing...which I told you I'd show you how to do long ago..so here's a link to another post I shared this same info on...

Waterproofing a D1 (cant be sure if the ECUs are physically similar so now that you know where it is, you can explore a bit more)

DevilDisco · 05-20-2007, 08:08 PM

On the good side at least I know how far up the ECU is. Good to know since I'm so close to Florida. The DII ECU has 5 plugs. I guess if one really wanted to and was electrically inclined they could extend the lead and mount it to the back of the glove box. Ideally some plug and play extensions would work too but the plugs look so odd it would be diffcult to make an extension without sacrificing another ECU to make the proper connecitons. That would raise it another foot, inside the vehicle, but then there are still the AMP, Cd changer and TCU to consider.

Thanks for the link. I'll let you know when it's up and running.

The ECU does not appear to be sealed in any way with any rubber gaskets or anything. I found that odd. Perhaps sealing it with some kind of silicone would be a good idea but then it would't breath???

01001010 · 05-20-2007, 08:12 PM

OH CRAP...you're in GA, I just moved to GA man! What city you in?

01001010 · 05-20-2007, 08:14 PM

Well, there are no fans in there anyway. And then again, on a D1 the ECU is in the engine bay, which is hot as it is! I dont think sealing it will do harm and mine has been sealed for a little over a year now and has been submerged quite a few times! No damage as of yet.

DevilDisco · 05-20-2007, 08:28 PM

I'm in Albany. The Dealer I use is Land Rover North Point in Alphretta.

DevilDisco · 05-20-2007, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevilDisco

After the Magnecor 8mm wires and Bosh +4 plugs I decided to push my luck. I wanted to do something else to make sure I was getting the most out of the Disco. It was a toss up between the Borla Exhaust and the PowerChip. Eventually I'd like to do both but chipping the Disco required that the vehice be down for a supposed two days and I hate being without a vehicle.
I called PowerChip and the promptly e-malied a FedEx over night lable and instruction to remove the ECU. Initially they sent me instructions to a 4.6L Range Rover. Then they sent me instructions for a 4.0L Disco and then finally one for a 4.6L Disco (I have and '04 DII). I called power chip because I still could not find the ECU so they directed me to it and it is relatively high up on the passenger side in the foot well. I proceeded to up plug the ECU based on the instructions then boxed it up and went to FEDEX at 1800. The ECU arrived at the PowerChip Headquarters in LA 3:00pm the next day. I expected it back on Thursday.
I called Powerchip to see if they got the ECU already missing the Disco. They tell me the ECU has been previously modded and if I knew who modded it. I called the dealer and they said they had no knowledge of it. I went to their website and sent a message saying that if they were not sure about doing the MOD that they should send the ECU back unmodded and give me a refund. I spoke to a rep, the customer service was good, in that they kept me informed. They said that the chip they wanted to mod was covered in glue and basically told me it was something of a diasater, but they were going to repair the board and try to get the original settings from the ECU and then Mod it and send it back to me on Friday.
Friday the told me they had worked on the ECU for 6 hours. They sounded confident so I said ok. At this point I just wanted my ECU back.
They said they were going to send pics of the ECU, that I planned to mail to the dealership to see if everthing looked ok. They did not. So now I have to tell my wife why my Disco is setting in the garage and why I was driving her car while she was away.
The ECU arrives Saturday morning and I'm like "SWEET". I plug the ECU up plugging the wires in the reverse of how I took them out. I put everything together and then go to start the Disco. I turn to positions II, the Temp needle goes all the way up and drops down to the blue. The red light above it is on. The M & S symbols start flashing. I say its probably ok let me start it and see if it syncs with the truck, planning on taking a test drive to the car wash. The starter tries to turn the truck over but won't catch. Everything seems to work, radio, AC, lights, alarm but the car won't start. I decide to unplug the battery for a while to see if that helps. I reconnect the battery and it still won't start. I try calling Powrchip using the card that came back with the ECU and they are not open on Saturday and the rep is not answering his cell phone. I have to work Sunday and I don't want to wake my wife up at 0600 to take me to work. I unplug the battery thinking that maybe it was not disconnected long enough. I unplug it around 11:00pm and this morning at around 6:30am I hook it back up hoping it will start. The Radio still has its fill, every thing works but the "M" and "S" are still flashing and the car won't turn over. So I say maybe it was not disconnected long enough. I did not try to crank it after I saw the "M" & "S" still flashing. I figure if I leave it unplugged until tomorrow morning that maybe it will reset and I can use my car.
My mom is visiting and she suggest I try to turn it over, but I unplugged the battery and closed the hood. I go to open the hood and I pull the lever inside the truck and there is no tension on it. The hood would not pop. I go to the front and try to pry the hood up with my fingers, no go. I pound on the hood in the area of the latch hoping it will loosen up but it doesn't. I'm P.O'd now and I leave small dent in the hood from my fist, pounding in the area of the latch so it would let me in.

I give up and my wife rushes me to work since I have to be here at at 0730 and won't be home until the next afternoon.
I need the truck for a trip we are going to Memorial weekend(This coming weekend) but I can't drive the care the 4 hrs to the dealership much less get it out of the garage and now it has no power.
I'm guessing my only option is to call Roadside assistance and have it hauled to the nearest dealerships to see why the Disco won't start.
The icing on the cake. I openend the ECU while the car was disconnected and noticed some red wires going from one side of the chip to the other side of the board (not near the diasaster Powerchip described.) and the work Powerchip said they were going to do put a socket on the board with an upgraded removeable EPROM is not evident anywhere on the board. It does not look like they did anything to the ECU physically but it was inoperable.
All I have to show for this mod that was supposed to give me 19hp and 27 ftlb of torque extra, is a sticker, a non working Disco, a hood I can't open, almost a week of down time and that general feeling of being violated.
So I'll call the dealer tomorrow, tell them what's going on. They'll probably tell me to call Roadside Assistance and then I'll hope I get a working vehicle back before Friday.
I think I may have felt better if I drowned the ECU. I know this headache is self inflicted. I took a chance and so far it has not paid off, but I'll just have to see what happened. I don't think I''ll be sending the ECU back to powerchip as I won't uplug it after it is fixed. Only bolt on upgrades from now on.
This is just not what I expected for a company that supposedly tunes Ferrari's, Bently's, BMW "M" Series vehicle, Prosche's etc. I'll be calling them tomorrow to see what is going on despite the 5hr time difference between GA and LA.

I should also add that at least they have not drafted my account. I've been checking. Hopefully tomorrow they will tell me what is going on. I'll have to wait unitil I get to the dealership to see why the ECU is not being recognized.

DevilDisco · 05-22-2007, 12:28 PM

PowerChip and the Dealership have been quite good so far. Inspite of the ECU that no one knew was modified until it got to Powerchip, they followed up on Monday to see if the chip was working right.
I informed them of what happened and since I couldn't get the hood open there was no way for me to check to see if some how the ECU would work after the Disco had been starved of power for 24hrs.
Towing... Who knew the truck would not shift into Neutral with no power.

The tow truck guy crawled under the truck and put the transfer case in neutral to Flatbed it to the dealership. He was happy I had a clean painted garage floor for him to work with.

At the Dealershp ...The dealership is going to have to cut my grill to get the hood open. The latch and cable are warranty items, the grill however is not at $200 a pop, plus an extra $100-$200 to take the fruits of rage out of hood. At this point I just want it running, but no one will know how bad it is until the hood is open. I'm hoping for an unmodified ECU but if all they do is repair the old one then chipping the Disco will be off the Radar until I can source a new or at least untampered ECU. Well at least I don't have to get a stone shield to cover the dents anymore. I might still get one though.

PowerChip told me that they did an upgrade on a similar Disco to mine this past weekend and it was uneventful leaving my ECU to blame. So somewhere out in L.A. There is a Disco with an extra 19hp and 27ftlb of torque (after 100mile claibration) and mine is undergoing surgery.

At this rate I should have played it safe and gone with the Borla but at least I found out something about the Disco I didn't know before and I would not be having all this fun.

rovermech · 05-22-2007, 08:23 PM

Sorry to hear about the problems...but you didnt let them cut the grill did you? You dont have to do that to get into the hood if the latch is not working.

cartm58 · 05-22-2007, 08:30 PM

Can l suggest you post on AULOR (Australina Land Rover Owners) there a re couple members who actually do ECU chipping for Disco's for under $700 Aus whihc means further 25% discount for USA dollars.

Quite a few members of AULOR have had their TD5 chipped now and all are happy with outcomes, some were modded more than others depending on what they wanted to do with their rigs.

There are alos posts were people have gone to reputable suppliers of modified ECU with mixed results which again may give some clues as to your ECU saga

DevilDisco · 05-23-2007, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rovermech

Sorry to hear about the problems...but you didnt let them cut the grill did you? You dont have to do that to get into the hood if the latch is not working.

Yep. I think they cut it. It's the last thing the asked me yesterday afternoon and I agreed. The parts should be in tomorrow. I'm assuming that means grill and ECU as they it had a computer fault. If I never messed with it I would have never known someone tried to mod the ECU before. I don't think they had much success. I thought it was good fortune I got a DISCO with a little uner 18k miles for such a sweet price.
I don't think I'll touch the ECU for a while after it comes back. Don't know if I want to tempt fate twice.
I am curious to see how the DISCO performs with a new completely stock ECU as its apperant that I have never driven it with one. I have never had my motor bog on hills and never thought the ECU was modded. I don't know if the person that did it before me was successful but I know Powerchip did not do the work and I can't find anyone else in the US that does this kind of MOD. If it does start bogging or hunting for gears at least I'll know why. I'll just see tomorrow.

DevilDisco · 05-25-2007, 05:52 AM

Getting the Disco back today.
Good things.
-Extended Warranty really helped

-Dealer arranged for a local rental

-Power Chip offered me a discount should I decide to Tune the Chip in the Future. (Still condidering it but not for a while

Their customer service despite the outcome was really good. It would have been perfect if things went the way they were supposed to.

I won't have to take the musky rental vehicle on the family trip this weekend.

Borla will be on order by the end of the day.

Damage:

-1 1/2 Weeks of down time.
-New Grill

-Dent Repair from me beating on the hood in frustration.
-Gas for Delivery
-My Legs when I tell my wife the total.

Totaled around $552 just to make my baby whole again.

For that price I could have had the Borla on the vehicle by now, but the circumstances were unforseen. No one knew that the previous owner tried to do a sketchy mod on the vehicle.

I have to do a test drive to see if there is any difference in performance between the attempted mod by the previous owner and a new stock ECU. I'll be looking for that hunting transmission and basic overall performance.

Lesson. Don't beat on your hood and don't close the hood with the battery cable disconnected.

FlyWheel · 05-26-2007, 02:27 PM

I see things did'nt work out too badly after all.
Glad you are back up and running.....none too worse for the wear...except for minimal wallet damage....let us know if you realize any extra perfomance from the Borla....and the new resonance when compared to the the old.....

DevilDisco · 05-29-2007, 06:39 AM

Will do? Hopefully it will come in next few days.

RoverAsh · 05-29-2007, 08:26 AM

Did you consider a NRP exhaust system? I've heard that they aren't quite as loud as the Borla system.

05-20-2007, 07:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
DevilDisco He did what in his cup??? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: GA Posts: 1,003 Gallery: 0	The PowerChip Experience...So Far (Long) After the Magnecor 8mm wires and Bosh +4 plugs I decided to push my luck. I wanted to do something else to make sure I was getting the most out of the Disco. It was a toss up between the Borla Exhaust and the PowerChip. Eventually I'd like to do both but chipping the Disco required that the vehice be down for a supposed two days and I hate being without a vehicle. I called PowerChip and the promptly e-malied a FedEx over night lable and instruction to remove the ECU. Initially they sent me instructions to a 4.6L Range Rover. Then they sent me instructions for a 4.0L Disco and then finally one for a 4.6L Disco (I have and '04 DII). I called power chip because I still could not find the ECU so they directed me to it and it is relatively high up on the passenger side in the foot well. I proceeded to up plug the ECU based on the instructions then boxed it up and went to FEDEX at 1800. The ECU arrived at the PowerChip Headquarters in LA 3:00pm the next day. I expected it back on Thursday. I called Powerchip to see if they got the ECU already missing the Disco. They tell me the ECU has been previously modded and if I knew who modded it. I called the dealer and they said they had no knowledge of it. I went to their website and sent a message saying that if they were not sure about doing the MOD that they should send the ECU back unmodded and give me a refund. I spoke to a rep, the customer service was good, in that they kept me informed. They said that the chip they wanted to mod was covered in glue and basically told me it was something of a diasater, but they were going to repair the board and try to get the original settings from the ECU and then Mod it and send it back to me on Friday. Friday the told me they had worked on the ECU for 6 hours. They sounded confident so I said ok. At this point I just wanted my ECU back. They said they were going to send pics of the ECU, that I planned to mail to the dealership to see if everthing looked ok. They did not. So now I have to tell my wife why my Disco is setting in the garage and why I was driving her car while she was away. The ECU arrives Saturday morning and I'm like "SWEET". I plug the ECU up plugging the wires in the reverse of how I took them out. I put everything together and then go to start the Disco. I turn to positions II, the Temp needle goes all the way up and drops down to the blue. The red light above it is on. The M & S symbols start flashing. I say its probably ok let me start it and see if it syncs with the truck, planning on taking a test drive to the car wash. The starter tries to turn the truck over but won't catch. Everything seems to work, radio, AC, lights, alarm but the car won't start. I decide to unplug the battery for a while to see if that helps. I reconnect the battery and it still won't start. I try calling Powrchip using the card that came back with the ECU and they are not open on Saturday and the rep is not answering his cell phone. I have to work Sunday and I don't want to wake my wife up at 0600 to take me to work. I unplug the battery thinking that maybe it was not disconnected long enough. I unplug it around 11:00pm and this morning at around 6:30am I hook it back up hoping it will start. The Radio still has its fill, every thing works but the "M" and "S" are still flashing and the car won't turn over. So I say maybe it was not disconnected long enough. I did not try to crank it after I saw the "M" & "S" still flashing. I figure if I leave it unplugged until tomorrow morning that maybe it will reset and I can use my car. My mom is visiting and she suggest I try to turn it over, but I unplugged the battery and closed the hood. I go to open the hood and I pull the lever inside the truck and there is no tension on it. The hood would not pop. I go to the front and try to pry the hood up with my fingers, no go. I pound on the hood in the area of the latch hoping it will loosen up but it doesn't. I'm P.O'd now and I leave small dent in the hood from my fist, pounding in the area of the latch so it would let me in. I give up and my wife rushes me to work since I have to be here at at 0730 and won't be home until the next afternoon. I need the truck for a trip we are going to Memorial weekend(This coming weekend) but I can't drive the care the 4 hrs to the dealership much less get it out of the garage and now it has no power. I'm guessing my only option is to call Roadside assistance and have it hauled to the nearest dealerships to see why the Disco won't start. The icing on the cake. I openend the ECU while the car was disconnected and noticed some red wires going from one side of the chip to the other side of the board (not near the diasaster Powerchip described.) and the work Powerchip said they were going to do put a socket on the board with an upgraded removeable EPROM is not evident anywhere on the board. It does not look like they did anything to the ECU physically but it was inoperable. All I have to show for this mod that was supposed to give me 19hp and 27 ftlb of torque extra, is a sticker, a non working Disco, a hood I can't open, almost a week of down time and that general feeling of being violated. So I'll call the dealer tomorrow, tell them what's going on. They'll probably tell me to call Roadside Assistance and then I'll hope I get a working vehicle back before Friday. I think I may have felt better if I drowned the ECU. I know this headache is self inflicted. I took a chance and so far it has not paid off, but I'll just have to see what happened. I don't think I''ll be sending the ECU back to powerchip as I won't uplug it after it is fixed. Only bolt on upgrades from now on. This is just not what I expected for a company that supposedly tunes Ferrari's, Bently's, BMW "M" Series vehicle, Prosche's etc. I'll be calling them tomorrow to see what is going on despite the 5hr time difference between GA and LA. __________________ '04 Discovery SE7. Last of the best.

05-20-2007, 07:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
01001010 Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Lawrenceville, GA Posts: 4,512 Gallery: 15	Dang man! Sorry to hear about that ordeal man! If it helps any, I think Jet Perfomance (a much more reliable company IMHO) will also get the job of reprogramming your ECU done, incase you decide to give it another shot. I was just trying to look for it for you but didnt find it...but I can swear I've seen a Superchip programmer for Rovers, just dont know what engines they were for. But I think your best decision will be to leave the Eletrical stuff alone unless your relocating or waterproofing...which I told you I'd show you how to do long ago..so here's a link to another post I shared this same info on... Waterproofing a D1 (cant be sure if the ECUs are physically similar so now that you know where it is, you can explore a bit more) __________________ JC... 1996 Discovery SE - The Blue Marlin - gone =( 1965 Series IIa 109 RHD Dsl - Wilks www.TerraTrekker.com

05-20-2007, 08:08 PM	#3 (permalink)
DevilDisco He did what in his cup??? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: GA Posts: 1,003 Gallery: 0	On the good side at least I know how far up the ECU is. Good to know since I'm so close to Florida. The DII ECU has 5 plugs. I guess if one really wanted to and was electrically inclined they could extend the lead and mount it to the back of the glove box. Ideally some plug and play extensions would work too but the plugs look so odd it would be diffcult to make an extension without sacrificing another ECU to make the proper connecitons. That would raise it another foot, inside the vehicle, but then there are still the AMP, Cd changer and TCU to consider. Thanks for the link. I'll let you know when it's up and running. The ECU does not appear to be sealed in any way with any rubber gaskets or anything. I found that odd. Perhaps sealing it with some kind of silicone would be a good idea but then it would't breath??? __________________ '04 Discovery SE7. Last of the best.

05-20-2007, 08:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
01001010 Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Lawrenceville, GA Posts: 4,512 Gallery: 15	OH CRAP...you're in GA, I just moved to GA man! What city you in? __________________ JC... 1996 Discovery SE - The Blue Marlin - gone =( 1965 Series IIa 109 RHD Dsl - Wilks www.TerraTrekker.com

05-20-2007, 08:14 PM	#5 (permalink)
01001010 Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Lawrenceville, GA Posts: 4,512 Gallery: 15	Well, there are no fans in there anyway. And then again, on a D1 the ECU is in the engine bay, which is hot as it is! I dont think sealing it will do harm and mine has been sealed for a little over a year now and has been submerged quite a few times! No damage as of yet. __________________ JC... 1996 Discovery SE - The Blue Marlin - gone =( 1965 Series IIa 109 RHD Dsl - Wilks www.TerraTrekker.com

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05-20-2007, 08:28 PM	#6 (permalink)
DevilDisco He did what in his cup??? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: GA Posts: 1,003 Gallery: 0	I'm in Albany. The Dealer I use is Land Rover North Point in Alphretta. __________________ '04 Discovery SE7. Last of the best.

05-22-2007, 12:28 PM	#8 (permalink)
DevilDisco He did what in his cup??? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: GA Posts: 1,003 Gallery: 0	PowerChip and the Dealership have been quite good so far. Inspite of the ECU that no one knew was modified until it got to Powerchip, they followed up on Monday to see if the chip was working right. I informed them of what happened and since I couldn't get the hood open there was no way for me to check to see if some how the ECU would work after the Disco had been starved of power for 24hrs. Towing... Who knew the truck would not shift into Neutral with no power. The tow truck guy crawled under the truck and put the transfer case in neutral to Flatbed it to the dealership. He was happy I had a clean painted garage floor for him to work with. At the Dealershp ...The dealership is going to have to cut my grill to get the hood open. The latch and cable are warranty items, the grill however is not at $200 a pop, plus an extra $100-$200 to take the fruits of rage out of hood. At this point I just want it running, but no one will know how bad it is until the hood is open. I'm hoping for an unmodified ECU but if all they do is repair the old one then chipping the Disco will be off the Radar until I can source a new or at least untampered ECU. Well at least I don't have to get a stone shield to cover the dents anymore. I might still get one though. PowerChip told me that they did an upgrade on a similar Disco to mine this past weekend and it was uneventful leaving my ECU to blame. So somewhere out in L.A. There is a Disco with an extra 19hp and 27ftlb of torque (after 100mile claibration) and mine is undergoing surgery. At this rate I should have played it safe and gone with the Borla but at least I found out something about the Disco I didn't know before and I would not be having all this fun. __________________ '04 Discovery SE7. Last of the best.

05-22-2007, 08:23 PM	#9 (permalink)
rovermech 96 Disco Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Arkansas Posts: 82 Gallery: 0	Sorry to hear about the problems...but you didnt let them cut the grill did you? You dont have to do that to get into the hood if the latch is not working.

05-22-2007, 08:30 PM	#10 (permalink)
cartm58 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 116 Gallery: 0	Can l suggest you post on AULOR (Australina Land Rover Owners) there a re couple members who actually do ECU chipping for Disco's for under $700 Aus whihc means further 25% discount for USA dollars. Quite a few members of AULOR have had their TD5 chipped now and all are happy with outcomes, some were modded more than others depending on what they wanted to do with their rigs. There are alos posts were people have gone to reputable suppliers of modified ECU with mixed results which again may give some clues as to your ECU saga

05-25-2007, 05:52 AM	#12 (permalink)
DevilDisco He did what in his cup??? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: GA Posts: 1,003 Gallery: 0	Damage Report Getting the Disco back today. Good things. -Extended Warranty really helped -Dealer arranged for a local rental -Power Chip offered me a discount should I decide to Tune the Chip in the Future. (Still condidering it but not for a while Their customer service despite the outcome was really good. It would have been perfect if things went the way they were supposed to. I won't have to take the musky rental vehicle on the family trip this weekend. Borla will be on order by the end of the day. Damage: -1 1/2 Weeks of down time. -New Grill -Dent Repair from me beating on the hood in frustration. -Gas for Delivery -My Legs when I tell my wife the total. Totaled around $552 just to make my baby whole again. For that price I could have had the Borla on the vehicle by now, but the circumstances were unforseen. No one knew that the previous owner tried to do a sketchy mod on the vehicle. I have to do a test drive to see if there is any difference in performance between the attempted mod by the previous owner and a new stock ECU. I'll be looking for that hunting transmission and basic overall performance. Lesson. Don't beat on your hood and don't close the hood with the battery cable disconnected. __________________ '04 Discovery SE7. Last of the best.

05-26-2007, 02:27 PM	#13 (permalink)
FlyWheel Proud to be an Infidel Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Fort Lauderdale Posts: 1,136 Gallery: 0	I see things did'nt work out too badly after all. Glad you are back up and running.....none too worse for the wear...except for minimal wallet damage....let us know if you realize any extra perfomance from the Borla....and the new resonance when compared to the the old..... __________________ 2001 Disco SE7 .......eventually they will run out of suicide bombers.....

05-29-2007, 06:39 AM	#14 (permalink)
DevilDisco He did what in his cup??? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: GA Posts: 1,003 Gallery: 0	Will do? Hopefully it will come in next few days. __________________ '04 Discovery SE7. Last of the best.

05-29-2007, 08:26 AM	#15 (permalink)
RoverAsh Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Wyoming Posts: 66 Gallery: 0	Did you consider a NRP exhaust system? I've heard that they aren't quite as loud as the Borla system.

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