Chip tuning

[welwell]

Has anyone out there tuned their diesel by adding one of the many "superchip" tuning devices that you can buy out there? They promise between 25-30 increase in BHP and increased torque levels. Do they work, are they dangerous for the engine, increased wear etc. They cost about £350Any thoughts on them out there?

[Peter]

I know someone that put one on a TD5 90, power was up but you really had to boot it to get the best, wouldnt pull away in first on tickover, and fuel economy dropped to about 15 mpg.

[Tom D]

I was chatting to my local mechanic about these recently, he sait there are two types, a chip and an ecu re-map the chips can be replaced with the original if they fail to perform re-maps are more complicated. One thing he said was with a remap if you disconnect the battery some will revert to factory settings and you've lost what you paid for. I know a local tyre dealler who ren a fleet of td5's, he had one chipped to over 200bhp but it only did 12mpg!! so they ended up with something more modest.

 

I think they are OK if you get the right one, but watch you dont mess around with the torque curve too much as you will notice this far more than any extra power. As Peter said more power is useless if the torque has moved too far up the rev range.

 

My duratorque defender feels way more powerful than a td5 because it has a lot more low down torque yet the power is the same.

[welwell]

Interesting, all the blurb seems to promise increased MPG.

[garth mc garth]

what u wanna fit it to?

[Dave the dog]

Interesting, all the blurb seems to promise increased MPG.

 

There is an increased MPG only if you can stop putting your right foot down!you dont change gear half as much and for my td5 it gives loads more low down grunt which is spot on for towing. Mine's a basic Twisted Performance add on box, with the middle box taken out = around 165 bhp. But you can go a lot further, get your ECU re-mapped and bigger intercooler & hoses, exhaust etc, 200 plus bhp, oh and they sound awsome.

 

Here's one of Charlie's with the front prop shaft taken off.

 

[ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tItNPsOo1uE]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tItNPsOo1uE[/ame]

[peteroughton169]

dont go with a chip, bad newws for engines as they just fool your engine into thinking its getting more cold air than it is, pay a bit more and get an ecu re-map. loads safer and loads more tuneable. ive got a bora pd130, had it remapped to 170bhp and 410nm torque. stax o fun and better mpg. pulls like a train. doesn't smoke neither. just watch your clutch though!