I’m curious if I can use an OBD1 to OBD2 adapter to install a chip tuner on my 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis. Obviously if possible it won’t provide all the listed performance upgrades but I’m wondering if it will change anything at all. I was looking at a Thornton chip tuner as a possibility.
Chip tuners do nothing at all. And… There is no way to adapt your OBD1 to OBD2 either.
Save your money for repairs on this 29 year old car.
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Thornton’s one of the scammers, makes crazy claims for 20-40 or more hp, big mpg improvements. Nonsense stuff. Here’s one buyer’s sad experience:
"Purchased this stage 2 chip for my 2015 Toyota Tundra before throughly investigating reviews. After installing the chip and running it for three weeks, I cannot tell any difference in performance, gas mileage, anything - nothing, zip, nada. "
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If you are hard set on “tuning” your Grand Marquis then you need to find a performance (dyno) shop that does that type of tuning… But I think you will probably be disappointed at the outcome versus money spent…
You might poke around here, see what other ‘Panther’ owners have done:
Crownvic.net | Forums powered by UBB.threads™
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… especially if he doesn’t also upgrade the brakes and the suspension.
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+1
Even though the OP’s chip-tuning plan is likely to do nothing other than emptying his wallet, the idea of trying to wring more power out of that old engine seems to be very shortsighted–IMHO.
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Already upgraded both
Put a Thornton chip tuner on my 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD with a very noticeable difference in throttle response and smoother shifting. Got rid of virtually all throttle lag and my reader shows a 20hp increase although I didn’t notice much of a difference power-wise.
I was thinking you might be a spammer, now I’m pretty sure you are. This unit (identical to the Thornton tuner) can be bought in bulk for $5 each, it’s sold under several names.
Obvious question: if a carmaker could achieve these amazing results for five bucks, why didn’t they?
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What reader is this? Never knew of one.
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That link was a reply to someone else regarding their comment about not being able to adapt OBD1 to OBD2
OK, so anyone can make an adapter cable. Key is making the software to interface to the OBD1 protocols. The data addresses are not the same.
But please buy the products and report back to us on how well everything works.
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Well my whole purpose in asking the question was to confirm if I could use one of these adapters for a tuner so that I wouldn’t have to test it out myself.
The reader is called Dash Command a friend of mine used it on my Jeep and connected it to an app that would give him all the readings live.
Hmmm the Dash Command web site indicates it does not have the ‘dyno’ function’…
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As I said in my first response. No, it won’t work. OBD1 communication protocols are not the same as OBD2. Look up the protocols online. Compare them. They are not the same. No amount of adaptor cables makes that possible.
Actual tuners that can alter the engine parameters designed for OBD2 will work with an OBD1 car.
Chips, as I posted before don’t work. Show me a chassis dyno curve verifying the improvements and it might change my mind. Butt dynos are not proof.
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So hypothetically if the tuner I currently have in my Jeep had the same pins as my Merc, I could install it no problems
I pulled the following straight from the website, “DashCommand provides an easy way to monitor the performance of your vehicle. Data log what your vehicle is doing and determine your 0 to 60 time, quarter mile time, horsepower, and braking performance.”