Just been reading through this and found it highly amusing, in particular the comments saying that you can't improve on original manufacturers settings and if you do you are playing with fire. What immediately came to my mind was Subaru. I used to own an Impreza Wrx with 225 bhp, however, you could buy something called a 'Prodrive Performance Pack' from all the dealers. This consisted of a different ecu and a few changes to the exhaust. This upped the bhp to 265 and had no impact on warranty claims. Seems strange that they would offer this if it would cause problems with the engine components!

I have remapped my last 4 cars and will continue to do so in the future. I have had no problems as a result of the maps, which have only resulted in cars which were far better than standard.

Whilst I am willing to believe that a good map really does give efficency benefits. I still have the following issue's that would stop me from getting a re-mapping.

1. Insurance increase. How much?

2. For the 1.8TSI the ECU chip needs physically to be changed. Making reversal difficult.

3. Rumoured MOT test changes that make after market "illegal" "chipping" a fail.

Are these real problems?

Simon

Number 1 is very much down to individual circumstances and so unfortunately it's very difficult to say. One customer recently mentioned a 10% increase in premium, if that helps.

Number 2 is not the case at all, infact many of these ECUs don't actually have a "chip" that stores the map, it's internal to the processor.

Number 3 is not even a consideration at this point. There is nothing illegal about "chipping" nor do I see a way for an annual inspection to check every car to see if the ECU has been modified. It would be virtually impossible to implement without bringing costs etc into the equation.

Number 1 is very much down to individual circumstances and so unfortunately it's very difficult to say. One customer recently mentioned a 10% increase in premium, if that helps.

Number 2 is not the case at all, infact many of these ECUs don't actually have a "chip" that stores the map, it's internal to the processor.

Number 3 is not even a consideration at this point. There is nothing illegal about "chipping" nor do I see a way for an annual inspection to check every car to see if the ECU has been modified. It would be virtually impossible to implement without bringing costs etc into the equation.

Ben,

Thank you answering. I think I may have been confused on 2. Due to changes (Encryption) the diagnostic port can not be used to re-map so direct access is required to the ECU. I may have though this meant a chip swap, but apparently not.

On number 3 I also wondered how this could be done easily.

Simon

Diagnostic port can be used by the dealer who has the decryption key so he can overwrite the ECU firmware. At least this is what my dealer told me and in response I said don't ever update my ECU

1st law (there is a zeroth, second and third law but this one is most important in this case)

Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.In any process in an isolated system, the total energy remains the same.

A certain Mr. S. Hawking claims that all the energy that exists in our universe came into being spontaneously, about last Thursday a week, in a single dot (just north of Romford) and if the universe continues its current accelerating expansion, all energy will ultimately fade out, possibly disappearing up the nearest Ferrari exhaust pipe in a process called Heat Death.

So there.

Re: remaps, I find that with an engine like the 1.8TSi, I so rarely use the performance it obviously has as standard, that all a remap would do is leave me with even more unused energy.

Can I sell it back to the national grid?

Ben,

Thank you answering. I think I may have been confused on 2. Due to changes (Encryption) the diagnostic port can not be used to re-map so direct access is required to the ECU. I may have though this meant a chip swap, but apparently not.

On number 3 I also wondered how this could be done easily.

Simon

I thought the encryption stopped the ECU being remapped via the OBD port. So instead they just remove the ECU and remap it direct onto the unit itself.

If this is the case its no different to having a remap via the OBD port really as there is no hardware being added or swapped to the ECU.

explanation

Edited 15 December, 201015 yr by janner_Sy

Amusing thread

Such an innocent question as well Lee!

Steve

hey .. I've got a first degree and have worked on the tricore chip for over 10 years and seriously I would not try and reprogram it - even pre-silcon ... so I personally would let a professional do it :S

hey .. I've got a first degree and have worked on the tricore chip for over 10 years and seriously I would not try and reprogram it - even pre-silcon ... so I personally would let a professional do it :S

Didnt see this 1st time round, but just gave me a giggle reading it

An absolute classic! I have bookmarked this to read when I need a good laugh.

Didnt see this 1st time round, but just gave me a giggle reading it

... and I'm a girl to boot which fits in well with the discussion ... thought I might keep that quiet but hell...

I'd forgotten how much of a classic this thread was!

I'd forgotten how much of a classic this thread was!

yes it is quite amusing. I was just googling to see which chip i had in my new greenline octavia as it did a good emergency brake on sheet ice downhill yesterday so wanted to check which chip it was... they're always a few years behind the one that we're currently working on. Was impressed that it worked as I helped verify the chip

There is a fourth law of thermodynamics about energy being destroyed: Any argument entered in to with someone who uses their having a degree as a defence will expend an awful lot of energy with no appreciable change in anything whatsoever as a result.

There is a fourth law of thermodynamics about energy being destroyed: Any argument entered in to with someone who uses their having a degree as a defence will expend an awful lot of energy with no appreciable change in anything whatsoever as a result.

i wasn't actually showing off about my degree ... managed many years without one but figured a career change was needed so got one. personally I think degrees are overrated and hated doing it but then it lead me to my current career which i love. I think the retuning guy is every bit as intelligent if not moreso than me but thought the earlier comment about a girl with a first was amusing. on a different note my stepdad used to race skodas so check this footage (you might notice that its actually not a skoda engine though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYJn5o8CnwI