Benefits of a Diesel Tuning box over a Remap (tuning chip)
14th May 2009
We often get posed the question, why should I choose a tuning box over a remap? Isn’t a remap better?
Its a common statement that remaps are better than tuning boxes, but we believe that is not at all the case. The difference in performance is small and often nothing (especially with the cheaper remaps). There are many features of diesel tuning boxes that are advantageous to having a full ECU remap. These are:
- As an ECU remap re-writes the manufacturers file on the ECU, it is a permanant upgrade and will void any manufacture warranty. (unless you pay again for another remap to put it back to normal)
- A diesel tuning box can, in most cases, be fitted and removed very easily and won’t cause any warranty issues. You can have your vehicle back to original in minutes. The inclusion of an on/off remote with our tuning boxes means the car can be back to original with the touch of a button.
- An ECU remap gives you one tuning type, its tuned and thats it (this also applies to many of our competitors tuning boxes).
The Speedhawk boxes come with 9 pre loaded tuning maps to ensure you can get the most efficient results . By getting the most efficient tuning from your engine will result in the most power and the best fuel economy. - Good ECU remaps will cost in excess of £500. However even the poorer ECU remaps cost over £300. That remap will only apply to your current car. Change your car and thats another £300 to get it remapped.
With our tuning boxes, you can move them from one car to the next with minimal or no cost. Sometimes a new harness is needed and sometimes the tuning box may need to be reprogrammed. Often the tuning box can be directly swapped from car to car so your new car is tuned for free. Compared to ECU remapping that is a saving of….£300! (more for the better remaps). - Being completely plug and play, our tuning boxes have the added advantage that they cannot be wiped when your car goes in for a service. This cuts out a lot of hassle and saves money if the remapping company charges for every reinstall!
We understand that some people prefer ECU remaps and of course they are also effective, but we believe both remaps and tuning boxes have their place in the market.
I have already had my SAAB 1.9TD upgraded by SAAB, what will happen to this if I bought Speedhawk as the Hurst boosts from 150bhp to 170bhp.
thanks
@JAMES MASON
If the upgrade by Saab was in the ECU, they will be adjusting similar setting that the tuning box will influence. Therefore it is not advisable to use a tuning box as well.
If you have upgraded the Saab with equipment unrelated to the ECU or injection system (e.g. exhaust, turbo, induction kit etc.) then you can still use the tuning box without any problems.
I have a Renault Megane 1.9 DCi 130 2006 model.
What benefits will this box provide? will this improve my fuel eco and is it easy to fit? It sounds it.
oh and how much is it?
@Brian Quinlan
The increase on this car is from 130bhp up to around 165bhp. The system is a common rail and depending on your driving style and engine condition, you should see typical MPG improvements of around 10-15%. Although it could be as high as 20%.
The price of this tuning box is £325. I invite you to use our ‘Find the Tuning Box for my Vehicle’ application guide on our website at http://www.bhpplus.co.uk to see full details.
I have a Peugeot Expert 2.0 HDI van, which has 8 valves and is 110 bhp!
Would it be of benefit to fit one of your units?
@Albert Baker
On our site we are listing improvements up to about 136BHP. Also an extra 40 torque. You can see the full details on our site here:
Peugeot Expert 2.0 HDI 109BHP Tuning
Most modern diesel cars (like mine) have diesel particle filters (DPF’s) fitted, and also EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valves fitted; can you guarantee or at least confirm that your tuning boxes will not cause any damage to these important components. I have heard some horror stories with these failing when diesel cars have been fitted with tuning devices. I hasten to add that none of those involved your company’s product.
@Mr G Siddiqui
You are correct that some cheaper and not so advanced tuning boxes can cause problems, especially with DPF’s. However the Speedhawk tuning boxes have been developed in such a way that won’t cause any damage to these components. The great versatility in map programming that we have on our boxes allows us to get the correct characteristics to overcome any issues that can occur with those components.
I HAVE JUST PURCHASED RENAULT MEGANE 2009 I500 DCI 86 BHP .WOULD IT BENIFIT PURCHISING THIS UNIT NOW OR LATER . ALSO CONCERND ABOUT WARRANTY ISSUES .COMMENTS PLEASE .
@ IAN McLAREN
You’ll be please to know that our tuning boxes do NOT affect the warranty on any car, so feel free to enjoy the performance benefits straightaway.
I have just taken delivery of a Seat Leon FR 170 BHP. It’s fitted with a common rail fuel injection system.
As with most of the latest diesel engines, it has a DPF. I would like a little bit more engine performance but not at the detriment of damaging the DPF or invalidating my manufactures warranty.
Sensibly, would someone please advise what tuning route I should take?
@Mark Redding
DPF’s can be tricky with tuning as it can cause them to clog up quickly. Our tuning boxes are designed specifically to operate in a way that won’t affect your DPF. Many cheaper tuning boxes cause problems with the filter.
Our tuning boxes won’t affect your warranty, unlike a remap.
WHAT BENEFITS WOULD I GAIN FROM FITTING TO A 530D 2004, 218BHP MODEL. REGARDS
i have a vectra C 2.0dti 100bhp 2005 model, could you please tell me how much more bhp i will get, i also read that having a tuning box over fuels the car got get the power is that correct?
Tuning boxes in my experience do not come close to the professional install and set up of a solid state ecu remap. DPF are difficult to adapt to an ecu remap at the best of times, how does a tuning box with limited scope on the whole engine do this???
ECU remap are safer, provide bigger gains when implimented correctly.
@ IAIN AYERS
Hi Iain, that BMW is a great engine for tuning boxes and you should see gains to around 263bhp and an extra 80 on your torque.
@Chris
Hi Chris, that vehicle is a VP system and should give results up to around 120bhp. It is not correct that a tuning box over fuels a car to get the extra power. One of the aspects it alters is the fuel pressure to result in a more efficient fuel/air mixture. Diesel engines as standard do not use an efficient mix and its this the tuning boxes are exploiting.
@John Dovies
Hi John, thank you for your comment. Despite this article, we do not disagree with ECU remaps. We know they have their place in the market. However it is not correct to say that an ECU remap will provide bigger gains than a tuning box. A good ECU remap may provide better gains over a poor tuning box (of which there are many) but the way out boxes work means they will generally give similar results to a remap.
In terms of DPF, that is probably where our tuning boxes have an advantage over a remap. Again, poor tuning boxes can cause problems with DPF’s (as our old boxes did over a year ago). However the Speedhawk system has smart technology to prevent DPF issues and they work seamlessly with them.
There is a lot of bad press about tuning boxes generated by ECU remap companies and customers of poor performing and cheap tuning boxes. But a good tuning box like the Speedhawk box will do as good or better job than a remap.
Is there any issue with fitting a tuning box to an automatic?
Can the box be removed for servicing etc? Is this something you would recommend?
Andy, there are no issues with tuning automatic vehicles. Our tuning boxes are compatible with both manual and automatic vehicles, working in the same way to improve your cars performance! As long as your car appears on our search application, it can be tuned. If its not however, contact BHP Plus stating your vehicle and its full spec so that we can assist you further.
How can you say that tuning box is as good or better than a remap, also can you explain to me please how it does not damage the diesel particulate filter ? The only thing a tuning box does is increase the fuel pressure, that is it. there is absoloubtly nothing in a tuning box to prevent damage to the dpf. Also a remap will cater for everything as it will change the advance on the engine timing as well as increased fuel pressure and in some circumstances boost pressure to. a remap will mean that your car will drive exactly as normal when driving normally but will obviously have much increased performance at full throttle, a tuning box will just have increased fueling and if anything make the car worse at lower rpms due to too much fuel being pumped into the engine.
Thanks for the question DC. It’s true that the previous generation of tuning boxes were fairly simple, and primarily worked by increasing fuel pressure. The cheapest ones were just a resistor that ‘fooled’ the engine into thinking it was cold, and caused it to increase the fuel/air mix. However, BHP Plus do not sell any of these older style tuning boxes.
The range of Speedhawk diesel tuning boxes are able to make much more in-depth adjustments to the engines performance. They can adjust the pressure, but can also adjust the fuel/air mix and the injection timing and length, depending on the capabilities of the engine. Of course, all of these change depending on the current revs, as tuning needs applied to a varying extent depending on the state of the engine.
This can be seen on most of our tuning boxes: the LED light that shows the tuning is applied goes out at tickover (as it is not doing anything), lighting up as the revs or load increase.
Diesel particulate filters should not be affected once you have selected the correct tuning map for your engine: once correctly set, your diesel engine will produce the same amount of soot particles as before. As fuel pressure is not increased at idle, you do not get the problems with smoking on idle that you did with older style diesel tuning boxes.