Ok, I had some extra money kicking around and I bought a Jet Chip..

http://www.autoanything.com/performa...;from_search=1

The instructions that come with the chip tell you to install the chip on the ECU which is "located on the passenger side of the car" under a plastic flap.. Unfortunately that's not where the ECU is located in a 2008 Dodge Avenger R/T which left me scratching my head andwondering how much of the instructions areaccurate. While it wasn't hard to figure out where the ECU was located, someone that has no idea what the ECU is and what it looks like might have a problem installing the chip given the crappy instructions..

Sobefore someone asks the question of where the hell do I put this Jet chip I figured I would put up a quick guide.. Once again picking up the slack of a company too lazy to include the correct documentation..

Installing a Jet Chip in a 2008 Dodge Avenger R/T

1. Disconnect the Negative battery terminal. You only need to disconnect the first cable.. The secondary cable does not go to the battery.

2. Locate the Engine Control Unit (ECU) which is under the engine hood, on the driver side and is out in the open. You do not have to removeany panels, plates, etc.to find or access the ECU.




3. Unplug all of the ECU plugs. (Removing all the plugsis mentioned in the instructions however you only need to remove thethird plug to the right which will have a white internal plug and white markings inside on the socket.)
To remove a plug, Slide the red cliptowards the front of the car then simply pull the plug itself toward the front of the car.

4. Insert the Jetmodule into the third ECUsocket to theright (White markings) then press firmly.

5. Insert the connector plug into the Jet module. Make sure that the rubber gasket is in place before inserting the plug into the Jet Module. Press on the connector until it is firmly in place. You should hear a small snap that will confirm that the locking latch has engaged.

6. If you removed all of the plugs, then reinsert them again pressing firmly on each one. All of the plugs are color coded Black, Orange,White, and Green with matching color bars on each socket. Remember to make sure the gaskets are lined up correctly before reinserting them.

7. When all of the sockets are inserted all the way, slide each of the 4red locking tabs towards the back of the car to lock the sockets in place.





8. Reinstall the Negative Battery Terminal.

9. Start your car and make sure your Check Engine Light is not on. If it is on then turn off the car and check all of the ECU plugs to make sure they are properly seated.

10. Take your car for a test drive to make sure everything is running correctly.

That's it.. Enjoy your new Jet Chip!


I know that installing a Jet is simple and this guide wasn't really necessary but at least it will answer 2 questions which are not clear in the instructions that came with the Jet module..Where is the ECU and whichECU socket do I plug the Jet module into.


I will let you all know if I notice a difference in gas mileage and performance with the chip installed.. So far on the short drive I took after installing the Jet module, I did notice the car was slightly quicker and that the gas mileage was better than average by at least a 5 MPG increase.. but I would like to test it out longer before giving a definitive answer.

So far I don't think it was worth the $ even though there are noticeable gains. If it was maybe $100 I would tell everyone to buy one but it is a little pricey for a barely noticeable performance gain. It really is too early for me to be making judgements but those are my first impressions.

 

More importantly...

How fun? Did it make a difference in performance?

 

So far after a 20 minute drive, 0-60 is about 1 second faster than it was. and gas mileage is improved at least on highway driving (Because that's where I test drove it.. On a highway)

Installation is quick and easy when you know where toput the damn chip took about 20 minutes but would have only taken 5 if I knew where the ECU was before the installation and which ECU socket to put it in.

It's not an "OMG this is awesome" kind of mod where you suddenly have an extra 2 cylinders or anything.. but the car is definitely peppier. Oh, I also realized that I had the Air conditioner on when I pulled into the driveway so the chip may actually be better than I noticed because of the A/C being on.. The chip definitely compensated for the loss of powerfrom the A/C being on as I didn't even realize I had it on the whole trip..

Non Jet Chip related, I also noticed that the stock tires become crappy after they wear a little.. I took a ramp doing 60 accelerating through the turn and the front end slid off the road, over the curb and onto the dirt.. (The first time I have ever lost control of a car.. even though I know I was pushing its limits due to a previous experience where a felt the tires losing grip a day earlier and I wanted to see how far I could push the car before it lost grip) which I know I could take that turn at those speeds at an earlier time.. I have been noticing that the fronttires don't grip very well on turns lately even at slower speeds so i am going to have to slow down on turns or change the tires to a higherrating which we all know is noteasy to do with this tire size unless we change the rims and go with a different size tire.

I will keep you informed with my experiences with the jet module installed.. as it really is too soon to pass judgements on its performance.. But I know there are a lot of people that want to know how the module performs and if its worth it (I was one of those people which is why I just went out and purchased it) So I will try to provide as much info as possible as its hard tomake a good decisionwhen someone doesnt provide a lot of details about a product.

 

Dude let me tell you something.

I am so glad you posted this with pictures.
I am so challenged (and that’s the polite way of saying it) at working on anything that is car related.

I thought about buying one of these chips and I would have not only screwed installation up to the point of having to take it back to the dealer but I am pretty sure I would have hurt myself in the process.

You just saved me a trip to the dealer and a trip to the hospital.
I am really looking forward to your opinion on the chip.


Thanks again
TR

 

You may want to edit your VIN out of the pics, just in case the dealer wants to be a ***** about it. You never know

 

Thanks JBattley.. I didn't even realize my VIN was on those pics.. I blurred it out..

TRSmith, Thank you for letting me know that this was useful.. I hate spending time on things where everyone thinks it was a stupid idea and a waste of time..

As for the performance and gas mileage update.. I think I am going to have to change my earlier statements and say that the chip is actually worth the $.

I changed my gas to mid grade before going to workyesterday (Even though I was gettingincreased gas economy and performance gains with regular gas) andthe weather wascoolerthat day.. I am pretty sure that unplugging the negative battery terminal reset all the ECU data which may have also been why it took a while to notice the increase in performance.

So between the gasgrade change, the lower temperature, and actually turning off the air conditioning which I left on by mistake in the original testing (duh)I noticed even greater performance gainswhich whenI hit the gas pedal, it made my eyes open up quite a bit especially when the car reached higher RPMs.

I beat the crap out of my car all day to see if I could really tell a difference. I also drove the car at night with my wife in the car to see if she noticed the difference.. and her comments were "I think the initial acceleration is a lot faster", "The chip is definitely worth the money", and her perception was that the car was 3 times faster then it was.. (I am sure it wasn't 3 times faster.. But being a passenger gives that perception.. Especially the way I drive lol)

Just so that everyone knows(I don't think I specifiedwhich chip I boughtpreviously) I purchased the Stage 1 Jet chip as I don't want to HAVE to use premium gas, and I am not interested in changing my exhaust and changing the thermostat at this point in timewhich is recommended for use with the Stage 2 chip. If the 2008 Avenger had the potential of going at break neck speeds and there was a huge difference in gains between the chips I would probably go with a Stage 2 and modify the car but even if I decided to put in a better exhaust system later on using the Stage 1 chip I can't imagine the performance difference between the Stage 1 and Stage 2 to be significant enough to go out of my way and put in a new exhaust now instead of when I have the desire to. Plus with gas prices rising all the time I would want to retain the option of using lower grade gas.

The only other non stock engine related part onmy car is a K&N air filter which added a barely noticeable increase in power without the chip installed. My choice for a stock filter box K&N filter as opposed to a cold air intake is based off of the fact that it floods a lot where I work and I have to drive through deep puddles when it rains. I had aco-worker that had a downward pointing cold air intake that drove through one of the deep puddles and the cold air intake sucked up a crap load of water which seized his engine.. Which sucked becausethe car that seized wasa 1 year old Acura.He had the car towed back to his house where he put the old intake back on and the dealer replaced the engine for him. but that still sucks..

It really is hard to provide exact information on it as I didn't doany formal tests before or after the chip installation.. Regardless of formal data, The car was a lot faster off the line, but in particular I felt the added power at higher speeds of 40MPH -110MPH and it was easier to pass people that weretravelling at the same speed before passing them.

The engine seemed to idle and run smoother (I have had higher grades of gas in the car before and it wouldn't run that smooth previously to installing the chip so I am pretty sure it wasn't the gas grade change alone) andIcould hear a change in the engine where it would go through the RPMrange quicker which makes the car sound faster at the same time (from both the exhaust and engine rev).

Gas mileage throughout the tests still remained better even though I was beating the hell out of the car. With the way I drive, I typically have an average of 6 -10 MPG but the mileage was on average 12.6 MPG which I kept checking throughout the day/night. I reset the MPG gauge5 times throughout the day so that previous accumulated data would not be a factor as my driving conditions changed from stop and go, to normal driving, to having the traffic light enough where I could floor it fromtraffic light to traffic light. Even in the stop and go traffic I would floor the car and then stop when I had no more room left as I wanted to get a good feel for acceleration throughout all conditions.

I did not do any testing based on gas mileage alone where I would drive like a normal person and see what the best gas mileage would be with the chip installed. But just seeing the increases I was getting when beating the car I am sure the gains during casual driving would be significant.

Sincethe carwould get up to my desired speeds quicker and more efficiently, I wound upreleasing the gas pedal sooner than I would normally release it because normallyI would still be accelerating to my desired speed.. So that also contributed to the gas mileage gains.

I have also noticed that the car doesn't shift as hard as it usually does.. It still does shift hard but the banging into gear seems to have been reduced a little. I don't know why Dodge/Chrysler engineered the car to have such a long pause between shifting gears but that pause seems to contribute to the gear banging and also effects performance. Even though the car pulses into the next gear with a boost of power I think the pause is too long and the car could be accelerating at that point instead of waiting for a gear change.

This has been mentioned on the forums already but just to reconfirm it, The Jet Module does not remove the rev/speed limiter.. SoI am probably going to be buying and writing up another guide for thePredator next when it is available because the speed limitation really bothers me..

I still can't say it's an "OMG this is friggin awesome" upgrade butthe chip's added performanceis definitely better than my initial experiences.You will notice the difference and you should be left with a "Wow, Not too bad" impression.

I haven't calculated how long it will take for theJet Moduleto pay for itself in fuel savings but I am sure that it will eventually pay for itself.. So if you have some extra $ I would recommend checking it out as it should make people that like to speed happier, and people that like to drive slow as well as save gas happier plus some added passing power confidence if it is ever needed. You don't need premium or mid level gas grades but performance will be increased when using them. If you are just looking to save $ on gas then using lower gas grades will work fine.

I tried to cover as many areas as I could think of and tried to be as descriptive as possible but if you have any questions please let me know..

 

I think I can answer this question now

It does make the car more fun to drive, and I would say it added about a 15%-20% perceived increase in acceleration at speeds above 40MPH and around a 10% perceived increase in acceleration off the line, although it is really hard to judge what actual percentage increase you get especially when I didn't drive the car immediately before installing the module.

I used the word perceived because its is just based off ofhow I remembered the car performing compared to the current performance.

Anyone else that installed the Stage 1 Jet Module or the Stage 2 Jet Module, Please post your comments and experiences after installation.

 

I'm always interested in better performance, especially if it also results in potentially increased fuel economy but damn, dude, I get better than6-10 mpg in my 8.0L V10 Viper, even when I'm driving it hard.

I have a 3.5L Sebring that gets around 22 mpg combined. I've gotten 26 mpg with it on my only long mostly highway drive.

Still interested in further reports on the Jet Chip. Thanks for posting.

 

I might possibly purchase one for my SE. I have 20 inch wheels on mine and I drive very soft and get almost 30 MPG on it. So should be interesting to see how much it would help me.

 

Ok, maybe I won't be purchasing one. Looks like they don't carry a chip for the V4 2.4L SE engine.