Chip question. Not the one you think.

[d.hitchcock]

Howdy, gruppe: I was given a Metric Mechanic custom chip for M42 and finally got to install it yesterday.

I thought it made the car a bit perkier in low- to mid-range rpms. My wife even noticed it, so I'm thinking the butt dyno might be working properly.

Here's my question: The ecu had clearly been opened before as the metal closure tabs were all broken off.

The chip I removed indicates it was made in the Phillippines???

That ain't right. Is it?

dh

[bmwman91]

Was it a stock UV EPROM, or some other aftermarket one? Take a picture! Basically all of the world's ICs are made in southeast Asia, and that has been the case for quite a while.

[d.hitchcock]

I guess that's what I'm asking. Would a stock chip be from the Philippines?

The case had clearly been opened before. Guess I can't figure why other than to install a new chip.

Sorry, no pix till my tech dept. (a/k/a "wife") gets home. :-)

The chip I pulled has a silver label with a non-BMW-looking part number:

1 267 356 378 in light black ink, plus "614" stamped on the label in blue.

There are also tiny yellow marks: 857604, S7804, U047004MS, and copyright/publishing marks "1983."

The underside says 7037466NBF, PHILIPPINES QZ 43 in white ink directly on the body of the chip.

dh

[DesktopDave]

I think the little marks are just EPROM's chip type, date, factory or batch number.   EPROMS are easily interchangeable, as long as they have the correct info burned in.  The PROM could have been sourced from anywhere for BMW.  I've seen them from Malaysia, India, China and even Ireland.  I found this post over on M5board, he has a stock chip with very similar markings.

I might be able to ID the chip for you if you really must know, I have an EPROM reader and can compare my stock chip's info with yours.  If it's not original, they usually leave some hints in the code if you know where to look.  Any local tuner might be able to do the same thing for you for a couple bucks as well.  You never know what you have, might be that someone had a chip in theirs, pulled it later & sold it to some PO to replace a damaged unit.

[bmwman91]

If it is a big 28 pin ceramic EPROM with a silver label on it with those markings, then it is a stock chip. BMW isn't in the semiconductor foundry business, and there is no reason to be alarmed by a chip that came form Asia. You would be pretty hard pressed to find one that wasn't, in any device from the last 20 years.

[bmwconnect]

so true /\ LOL

[d.hitchcock]

Hi guys, thanks for all this information.

I wasn't really alarmed about the chip, just thinking it might be one of those eBay bootlegs.

dh

[bmwman91]

It still could be. UV-erasable EPROMS & the hardware needed to erase/program them aren't all that expensive. Someone could have loaded it with modified data. Since you now have a proper chip in there, I suppose that it doesn't matter either way!

[d.hitchcock]

Correct! Again, thanks.