I have a 1999 Volvo v70 with 200,000 miles on it. Has anyone ever chipped their volvo to help with engine efficiency and increased gas mileage and power? If so, was it worth it? How much did it cost. Thanks.

 

Hello, Is your car turbo charged? Any chipping packages I've ever seen were for turbos. In any event the chipping and/or tuner options are always for power. Ask each vendor if they have an economy set-up. As usual, start with site sponsors.
I can tell you one thing: I drove to Isle La Motte in Lake Champlain to speak with a guy who sold an installed hydrogen generator. It's the multi-plate unit anyone can build. What this fellow can do is adjust the parameters the car's ECM sees to determine fuel flow to each cylinder. The oxygen sensors' data has to be effected since the hydrogen laced air supply burns differently. He got real quiet when I asked him about that end of it. What he uses to do that is what you need. Kira

 

Welcome to the forum.

1. What model is your V70?

2. If it is N/A ( Not turboed) don't bother thinking about chipping it. It wont be worth it. While there is a tune out there for the N/A models, you just wont see the gains and performance you'd want and the money you spent would have been wasted.

3. If your turboed then by all means get it chipped! There are many different tunes on the market out there. Ranging in price from about $200 to over $1,000. You get what you pay for and the cheaper tunes are just that, CHEAP. Meaning they are less researched, less developed and are less quality then the more expensive tunes out there.

- Inmotion: $400
- Upsolute: $350-$699
- SpeedTuning USA: $299/$325
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- RICA: $895
- IPD USA: $695

IPD USA and RICA are the two best tunes on the market. They are worth the money. I personally have a SpeedTuning USA, that I got on a groupbuy years ago. It runs RICH which isn't good and Oliver is not a good person to deal with. He is very difficult and I personally wont be going back to him to get it rechipped if the dealership whips out my ECU when they do something.

Do the cheaper tunes work? YES. I saw a major increase in power. I also saw better gas mileage. The down side like I said above is it runs RICH.

4. I'd reccomend doing a full STAGE ZERO before you chip your car. It doesn't matter if you just got a tune up, not everything was looked over I garuntee it.

Plugs
cap/rotor
oil/transflush
filter (oil)
hoses (the little vac lines)
samco hose kit (Turbo Models ONLY)
02 sensors
fuel pumps
clean injectors
clean IC/IC plumbing (Turbo Models ONLY)
Air filter
plug wires

**I'd highly reccomend replacing your turbo hoses with the SAMCO kit and or one from Stylin Motors Inc. I have the Stylin Motors Inc. They are wonderful and their customer service is second to none. Also I would do the vacuum lines with full silicone ones. You can replace them with a SAMCO kit and or a Stylin Motors Inc. kit.**