Diesel tuning chips

[simon the viking]

I can't believe this discussion has got this far without anybody mentioning insurance. If you had an accident and needed to claim and - unlikely, I know - your insurer discovered your car was modified for extra performance they would refuse to pay out, since insurance companies will always look for a reason not to pay. If, God forbid, you or somebody else were badly injured, you would end up footing the bill for healthcare and rather regret having wanted to boast about having taken a couple of seconds off your car's 0-60 time. Then there's the legal aspect of driving without adequate insurance cover.

Most executive cars nowadays have sufficient performance for UK road conditions; my previous Audi A4 and current Passat 2.0 tdi with around 140 bhp will get you away from the lights fast and, oh yes.... give you that extra power for emergencies that seems to worry car performance obsessives.

I used to sell Induction kits, performance exhausts and wheels we always used to advise people that they had to inform their insurance and funnily enough everyone said they had already had/were going to Most of the cars were probably insured in their mum's name anyway

 

[User33236]

My current car has had it's ECU remapped using a hand held tuner via the ODB-II port as the stock settings were designed to cope with the range of altitudes, fuels and temperatures across the USA. I got a bloke in Florida to sort out one for the UK giving moderate improvements.

Whilst the changes are slight the car now drives better and all the data declared to my insurer. IMO anything offering significant gains on a stock engine is going to put more stresses somewhere that is possibly shouldn't.

 

[Stu Plows]

From your location I assume that was Turbo technics then? My mate had a 205 GTI turbo technics conversions that was a crazy quick car

There's a guy near me in Earls Barton apparently, apparently my car can't be done as of yet... Never heard of Turbo technics.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, but seriously what's the point?

It's a diseasel. It's a car designed for efficiency, not speed. They are boring. They get you from A to B.

http://topmotors.com/news/post/trident-iceni-70mpg-supercar-that-does-over-200mph

 

[swansonj]

"Fun"? I get my fun, when I have to drive at all, seeing if I can reach the magic 70 mpg for a round trip in my 1.0 litre, 68 Bhp, petrol engined car (the smallest, cheapest car my company car scheme would let me trade down to). 68 is average, 66 counts as disappointing.

 

[sheddy]

I believe that you can run old chip fat in a diesel engine

 

[User33236]

"Fun"? I get my fun, when I have to drive at all, seeing if I can reach the magic 70 mpg for a round trip in my 1.0 litre, 68 Bhp, petrol engined car (the smallest, cheapest car my company car scheme would let me trade down to). 68 is average, 66 counts as disappointing.

I'm chuffed to bits if I achieve 20mpg

 

[400bhp]

I used to sell Induction kits, performance exhausts and wheels we always used to advise people that they had to inform their insurance and funnily enough everyone said they had already had/were going to Most of the cars were probably insured in their mum's name anyway

He he

Oxymoron.

 

[400bhp]

http://topmotors.com/news/post/trident-iceni-70mpg-supercar-that-does-over-200mph

Doubt that needs chipping.

 

[Dangermouse]

I'm chuffed to bits if I achieve 20mpg

Same here my average is 18mpg and that's driving granddad stylee

 

[JoeyB]

and if its figures you are after, don't just go for the highest BHP figure, make sure the torque figure is healthy too...

 

[GrasB]

[QUOTE 2906138, member: 259"]So has anyone used one? I'm supposed to get about 40 BHP more, with about the same consumption, if I use one in the new car. It would cost about 250 quid, and is an easily replaceable, non-traceable one. The 'road tax' bands are quite severe in Belgium, and having this HP would cost a good 500-600 eur per year extra.[/quote]
If it's a plugin tuning box then very few of these are really untraceable. The ECUs log all kinds of hidden codes & will log the disconnecting & reconnecting of sensors, added to the sudden change in readings & you have a confirmed tuning box insertion. Real ECU remapping is much easier to be undetectable but it takes a technician who really knows their stuff & it may need to be re-applied after a main dealer services.

I have to ask what your extra 40bhp is on top of? Also what's the bottom end like. I remember one remap giving an extra 5-10bhp on 185bhp as the turbo basically only had enough airflow for 190-195bhp. However more importantly peek torque jumped from 260lbft to 310lbft & was held between 1600 & 3000 rpm instead of peeking at 2000 to 2500 rpm, this meant the car would drive like it was a gear lower making it much easier to drive.

Generally remapping only makes sense if there isn't much extra to be paid for insurance &/or tax.

 

[screenman]

I believe that you can run old chip fat in a diesel engine

With a bit of filtering and some additives.

 

[GrasB]

[QUOTE 2907138, member: 259"]That's interesting - the 'standard' BHP is set to 136 in Belgium (lower than in Germany for the identical car), and the chip claims to get a reliable 160 BHP, with a good increase in torque. It also claims to increase fuel efficiency by 20%, which I'm fairly suspicious about. [/quote]
Most engines slightly over-fuel deliberately, this helps overcome low quality fuels (important on turbo engines) & helps get the engines through some of the type approval tests. If you lean out the fuel you use less fuel for the same power, as people tend to drive to acceleration & speed this is how that 20% fuel economy is produce. The fact your engine can produce 25% more lbft just means you're lighter on the throttle.

My Alfa is well over 300bhp from 215bhp & lays down 450lbft give or take. It started off struggling to get 45mpg with long motorway journeys it might touch 50mpg. It now usually delivers high-50mpg & sees over 60mpg on motorway work. There are lots of technical reasons for this, but the main two are much more refined boost control (some ECUs can do this others can't) & also being very aggressive leaning out the fuel mapping.

 

[GrasB]

[QUOTE 2907426, member: 9609"]Most aspects of tuning is all about making an engine more efficient, so potentially more MPG. however as better enging efficiency also gives greater power outputs then in most cases the vehicle will be driven just that little bit quicker so any increase in mpg will be lost.[/quote]
Even 'enthusiastic' drivers often find that overall economy is increased after a basic remap. It's almost certainly true that these drivers will use more fuel when accelerating, however remapping tends to give the most economy advantage at steady cruse or when accelerating gently to briskly, but not hard acceleration, which is the majority of road driving.