2 years ago, I fitted my old Dragon tuning box to my exsiting car that I purchased for my first vRS back in '04.

Within 2 days, the clutch started slipping, so I took it back off, and it's remained off ever since.

Shame, as it gave that extra surge for overtaking.

What I can't understand is, why is the clutch still not showing any signs of slipping / wear 2 years on in standard mode, and 36,000 miles later too? :S

I had a similar experience. Had a remap and the clutch started to slip at 40k. Removed the clutch and now on 110k and still fine. I've now done my own map to not put too much stress on the clutch and so far so good.

Problem is you were pushing more torque then what the clutch was rated to. Removing it means your within spec so no where as much wear.

I had a similar experience. Had a remap and the clutch started to slip at 40k. Removed the clutch and now on 110k and still fine. I've now done my own map to not put too much stress on the clutch and so far so good. Problem is you were pushing more torque then what the clutch was rated to. Removing it means your within spec so no where as much wear.

True, but my first one first had the box, and then a Revo, and it still didn't slip. Granted the mileage was lower however.

Tuning box only boosts it to approx 160, whereas the Revo took it up to 178 on the dyno.

Surely if the clutch starts slipping at 160 bhp that indicates (to me anyway) that the clutch is on the way out?

Seemingly not in this case.

Most odd.

It's about the torque not bhp. Tuning boxes intercept the signals to the injectors tricking them to stay open for longer. If this is programmed to say a 20% increase then this is across the whole rpm range.

A remap can tweak fueling at set rpm points. So the lower down it might not be increased as high as the tuning box but further up the rpm range it can be set higher. So less low down power but more top end.

^^^ What he said

A decent remap will generally smooth everything around a big spike vastly improving the whole drivnig experience.

A tuning box just turns everything up to 11 making the spike even bigger hence your clutch slip

Gotch'ya, tar. I'd go for another re-maqp then, but expensive way of finding out if the clutch is going to slip again after a couple of days like last time..

Edited 13 March, 201214 yr by Mr Ree

Yeah it is an expensive way to find out its too much for the clutch :( This is one of the reasons why I researched how to do it myself. I make as many tweak as I want now and it doesnt cost me

Having seen the results of DIY mapping on a few occasions I genuinely hope it works out for you faboka vrs but in some cases it ends badly. With very few exceptions tuning box's are total crap, if the solution to improving mpg and driving pleasure was simply to chuck more fuel in then that's the way it would leave the factory (emissions regs permitting) or that's all that would be involved in a remap, strangely enough it isn't.

As for going for a remap why not ask one of the respected and proven mappers if they'd be willing to flash it and if the clutch does slip let you go back to standard or limit the torque slightly? The actual cost to apply a map it is very cheap (labour to do a diagnostic, visual inspection etc. then flashing the map), developing one properly isn't cheap.

With very few exceptions tuning box's are total crap

Had a Dragon Digital on mine for about 8000 miles, and it was fabulous for ~£100! Now have a Shark remap which is so much smoother.

Having seen the results of DIY mapping on a few occasions I genuinely hope it works out for you faboka vrs but in some cases it ends badly. With very few exceptions tuning box's are total crap, if the solution to improving mpg and driving pleasure was simply to chuck more fuel in then that's the way it would leave the factory (emissions regs permitting) or that's all that would be involved in a remap, strangely enough it isn't.

You should see some remaps. Shocking stuff.