Tuning boxes any good?

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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by xantiagreen »

vborovic wrote:You don't really expect a quad-core Intel i7 4 series inside (or similar)? For what it needs to be doing, the mentioned Cortex is a fine piece of hardware ... compared to some other lower end chips, it has 2-3 times more processing speed, which should be more than adequate for the car parameters live remap in each second (actually, far less) of the drive ...
Well when my PC starts to get sluggish, it's on fire after a restart, would the same theory work on the xantia (everything works better after a restart) :rofl2: :rofl2:
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by vborovic »

You should ask that the Xantia owners ... the BSI reset that some members did on their C5s solved some bugs in the errors displayed, so the "restart" seems to have had some impact on the car's electronics
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by xantiagreen »

vborovic wrote:You should ask that the Xantia owners ... the BSI reset that some members did on their C5s solved some bugs in the errors displayed, so the "restart" seems to have had some impact on the car's electronics
How long would you need to disconnect the cable from the ECU on a xantia to reset and is there any buttons inside the car you need to press or shuffle through to aid the process..


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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by vborovic »

Here's the procedure for the C5, not sure about Xantia models: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... 11&t=40407" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by Lighty »

As I said, the "chips" or plug in boxes that you buy cheaply, just change the fuel rail pressure or alter the temp that the engine thinks it is running at, this is not a satisfactory way of improving performance.
When we remap a car, we can alter ignition timing, fuel injection amounts,boost pressures, these are altered by small amounts, that can offer improvements in performance or economy, dependant on which you prefer. Each map is written per vehicle , and not just a generic set of figures . A C5 remap with us would be £175, thee are no new components, just a new set of parameters adjusted on your existing hardware, this is also pretty much undetectable. If plug in chips were any good, we would not be able to sell our maps.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by vborovic »

The chips I'm talking about are also car based, not generic, and their advantage over a remap is that you can remove it and have the car back to normal ... with a remap, you need to do the remap again to revert back ... but, it's interesting to see the prices ... the remaps I found from trusted companies (which deal with tuning, retuning fro many years with great reviews and customer feedback) are up to 600-800 GBP, while the top-tier chips are 400 GBP ... per my research ...
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by osx »

I was quoted £350 for a custom, car specific remap and DPF removal.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by miked »

This subject has come up many times in the past.

A proper re-map involves re-flashing the engine ECU. It is expensive, but it is the proper way to go.

The alternative is to buy one of many types of plug in boxes, but you have to know what you are buying. They range from useless to nearly as good as a re-map.

The useless ones consist of a mostly empty box with a couple of wires sticking out of it which you connect to random places in the engine bay. I would guess that after reading the advert and fitting it, most people realise it was never going to work and keep quiet, but there are some people out there who swear blind there car now uses less fuel or goes faster.

The next level up is the box that is slightly less empty, and does plug into a non-random place in the engine bay. Usually it connects between the rail pressure sensor and the ECU so it can fool the ECU into increasing the fuel.

At the other end of the scale, there are tuning boxes which sit between the ECU and the injectors. My xsara has just clocked over 100,000 miles, and has one of these type of boxes fitted for the last 70,000. It just works. But as said above, beware of the snake-oil vendors.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by qprdude »

I could probably do with a bit better economy, but why would I want more performance. I'm 63 years old, my car goes from 0-62 MPH in about 10 seconds and has a top speed of 136 MPH.

I can only legally do 70 MPH, and unless swimbo robs a bank and needs a getaway driver, I aint never gonna need to get to 62MPH in 10 seconds.
Of course, if I did, I would probably sell the super comfy C5 cruiser and buy a Scooby. :roll: :wink:
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by daviemck2006 »

If i were getting one it would be more for economy. I am not really doing enough mileage to justify the expense. In fact I think my next car is highly likely to be petrol and a normal auto, definitely not one of these semi autos after the major problems I had with the c2 sensodrive.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by qprdude »

I've been considering petrol Davie, but the road tax can be a bit scary on the bigger engines. When we move (next month) we will probably eventually become a one car family instead of one each, and it will most likely be a lot smaller than the C5.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by osx »

Ok. Installed it today after opening the box to make sure it was not empty ;-). After some googling, found where it should be plugged in which was not very obvious. Will take it for a long drive later today but no problems after a short drive around the block.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by daviemck2006 »

You should have timed it say a typical overtaking manoeuvre 40 to 60 mph before and after to see if there is any difference. I assume it will take a while to know if there is any economy benefit.
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Re: Tuning chips any good?

Post by osx »

Tried on a steep hill nearby and the torque is better. Feels also more responsive at lower rpm's.
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Re: Tuning boxes any good?

Post by Peter.N. »

The one I put on my C5 positivly pinned you to the seat, but as I said, made no difference to the fuel consumption.

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