Hi been looking at the chips/tuning boxes on ebay. I have octi 1.9td with 500 miles on it. Should I do risk it now? What are the implications for warrantee and insurance and the engine?

If you are looking at the cheap ones on ebay then dont bother, they are not worth the money and cause more damage than good to the engine. Get a proper remap done, the stage 1 maps dont cost that much and the results are much better.

Insurance and warranty wise, well they are both going to be affected. Insurance will go up, how much by depends on the insurer and your driving history. Warranty will be made void on the engine and its components so its something to keep in mind, unless of course you have a friendly dealer who is prepared to turn a blind eye.

I think I'm going forget about it. To behonest the car is fast enough for me for the moment compaired to my last car. 2.0ltr or vrs next time lol.

Avoid the cheapo £35 tuning devices on fleabay like the plague, all they do is give a false reading to the engine management saying the air is cooler than it is to get more fuel injected, will end up burning out electrical components. If you are worried about insurance then it depends on your insurer and driving history, but most shouldn't charge much more. Warranty wise then yes, technically it will void the warranty for the engine and drivetrain components, however if you were to splash out on one of the new switchable tuning devices now on the market, then everytime you take your car back to the dealer you can return it to standard tune and they should be none the wiser. The engine should be fine, the 1.9 tdi is a long serving well proven unit and will take a tune up to 130 bhp without problems, the Mk1 Fabia vRS has the engine at this power output and they rarely are noted for giving trouble.

Ian

Yeah I think voiding the warrantee after two weeks is a silly idea. To be honest its still the fastest car I've ever had. I am starting to research other ways to increase the performance slightly like lower profile tires. Keeping my massive boot empty. etc

Hi today i had my car chipped by Angel, my car has now done 106647 miles and my god what a transformation......a quick road test showed that from 80 to 100 took around ten or so secs, it was waaaay quicker than this morning. This remap cost me under £200 as i got a works buy going my 1.9tdi the bosses 2.0tsfivrs, a170pd passat and a140 PDsuperb2, we are all chuffed. Andy the technician was superb and Nigel the boss was spot on. I would recommend Angel to anyone and they come to you too. Warranty can be an issue but most dealers accept this and exclude certain items and these items would usually be down to "your driving technique sir", that was a honda quote by the way....Do it you will not regret it

Edited 17 September, 201015 yr by roynhayley

My previous car (just) was a VW Jetta 1.9 PD 105HP. I fitted a PSI IP Power Box (IPVWGEN). Can't say anything but good things about it, takes 3 minutes to fit or remove before servicing or warrenty claims, never had any issues. I couldn't imagine driving the car without it, it sucked driving it to the dealers in native form, left you feeling vunerable and unable to boot your way out of tricky situations.

The box gives me around +30HP I guess, but thats not all, the turbo kicks right in off the line, I found driving VW 2.0 130/40HP engined cars dull and very late on boost by comparison. I'm waiting for my 2.0 Octy Elegance to be delivered on Wednesday, hopefully it also has a PD engine rather than the new CR and the IPVWGEN will be getting transfered straight over from the Jetta.

The PSI box is fairly pricey, around £300-£400 IIRC, however I managed to pick mine up on eBay for £100 4 years ago, so worth keeping an eye on.

If warranty isn't an issue go for a re-map. Else go for the PSI Box, or similar device, not as good as a remap but it's darn close!

This is the box I had on thew Jetta. If you get one make sure you spec the correct one if you have a DPF.

http://www.psi-motorsport.com/turbodiesel/fiche-e.php?selectid=855&lg=en

Edited 16 September, 201015 yr by Danny777

Yeah I think voiding the warrantee after two weeks is a silly idea.

That would be my thinking as well!!!

I was going to get a stage 1 remap done on mine but it would have pretty much doubled my insurance premium....and nice though the extra oomph would have been, I just couldn't justify (or really afford!) that kind of expense.