Does anyone have any experience of the tdi tuning boxes.

http://www.tdi-tuning.co.uk/car_and_van_diesel_tuning_boxes/skoda/fabia/19_tdi_128_bhp__130_ps__96_kw/pd_diesel_tuning_box_skoda_fabia_19_tdi_128_bhp_130_ps_96_kw_P904.html

and here : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Fabia-1-9-PD-Diesel-Tuning-Box-Chip-/230639097930?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item35b329584a

I love the idea of being able to take it off the car whenever I want. Plus the price is nice, especially compared to a remap. However upon reading forums people have said remaps are better. My question is how much better? Are these tuning boxes safe?

Its been discussed a million times mate - should be a sticky.

Can we make this a sticky mods?

Anyone who tells you a tuning box is as good as a remap is a liar, because simply it can not access all the variables in the ECU to develop the most power/torque and the safest power/torque.

You have many tables in an ECU to play with which are linked together and a tuning box simply overfuels (add more fuel ontop of existing variables) which creates more power simply. Some cleaver ones can possibly alter boost but not sure on the EDC 15 P.

Remap all the way and if your handy with a laptop and buy a cheap cable and a good quality map, then a remap can be put on and taken off (restore to standard) in under 3 minutes.

The only people who i would listen to on this forum is nytrix and John Fabooka_VRS regarding tuning etc.

Edited 11 January, 201313 yr by ajs_vrs

Have you ran any of the cheap maps ? I was considering trying the black smoke one..

I had a tuning box good initial accel but then flat spot and then just creeps up as normal with a bit more oomph.

Have heard good things about blacksmoke, if you email him he will give you as much info as you require.

At end of day i think im right in recalling someone saying a good tuning box is as good as a bad remap. Like mentioned plenty of topics about this and plenty of mixed reviews.

At the end of the day if you want the best custom is the way to go, I recall Faboka does one on here and has already done a few and owners have been happy for a good price!

Blacksmokes is good in 'a' way too.

I saw a 3 stage box attached to a 1.6tdi S-line Audi A3 on a dino all it did was alter his torque curve making it more savage but giving him flat spots at the bottom and top of his torque curve. he was really gutted so much so that he ripped it out there and then. I'd recommend a shark remap with the STS if you want a removable map. many people will agree that they are an excellent company. hope this helps

The last Shark S1 map I ran was so smooth you'd be forgiven for thinking it was OE. Honestly money well spent.

Peak performance in Nottinghamshire is good, had my last fabia done with him, gunna get my new fabia done also. Pulls like a train, comes to your house to and not bad price either.

I got mine done at r-tech in hinckley, leicestershire.

I guess you either pay the price and get it done right, or don't do it at all then

Demon Chips www.demonchips.co.uk

Based near Chester so not close to you but they do a by post ECU remap and may have a nearer agent. I got a general gentle remap and EGR delete for £200. Excellent, lots more torque without lumps and high end acceleration is impressive. They also do performance maps. Economy improved, especially when towing. I've no connection except as customer. I did have a TDI box which gave good performance without affecting economy, but gave rise to lumpy idling and slow speed roughness. If anybody wants it, they can have it for the cost of postage. It's for a 1.4TDI Fabia 04 Reg and cost £80.

Demon Chips www.demonchips.co.uk

Wouldn't trust a post off your ECU remap, if the ECU is lost or damaged in the post then you'll have the added bother of purchasing a replacement and getting a dealer to code it to the car.

Shark performance did my old Superb MK2, they have dealers throughout the UK. They can also offer the STS module which means you can remap the car on your driveway following the simple instructions.

£450 is alot of money, guess I'll just leave it

i had mines mapped 2months ago cost me 120quid from a mate who is just starting out charges 160quid normally maps really good and had it dynoed at 172bhp 295lbft 3 brake less than what he said it would take me to its who you know i suppose

This is what the insides of those £120 rip off boxes look like! A very basic circuit like the ones you did in technology back in school lol.... Theres a cheap little resistor, potentiometer and a 9 pin plug! Took me ages to chip away at the solid black resin of some sort that hides the resistor in the bottom of the unit, involved a pan of boiling water! The profit on these must be phenomenal, they should be banned. Glad I didn't put it back on my car thats for sure.

There is some **** out there, my GF's yaris has one but i asked the guy ****s loads of questions about and opened it up.

Nothing was covering in resin and it had a processors and few other bits and bobs.

How much do you reckon it costs to throw one one these together? Robbing *******s like.

At least the one on the Yaris had a processor, still a pile of rubbish though, feel like sending TDI tuning an email with the pictures

This is how they describe the tuning boxes on the 'what is a tuning box?' section, looks a bit different to the pic as well!

There's 3 types.

1. Purely a resistor tuning via temp sensor

2. Processor based a bit better than the above - still i wouldnt have one on my Fabia.

3. More than a simple processor (pre processing piggyback) that can plug into the ECU/other connectors as well and act as a middle man - not seen many for diesels seen quite a few for petrols.

Both 1+2 above alter fuelling in different ways. My GF didn't want a remap and the second one was chosen which i opened up and inspected and was put on the dyno.

If you think about you are only intercepting one/two signals.

TDI could get done for that as its false advertising and mis sold goods act - something along those lines.

Edited 5 February, 201313 yr by ajs_vrs

Is that a fake TDI tuning one though?

They normally plug into the injector wiring loom and adjust the fueling.

I had a dragon digital tuning one on my PD130 and it was pretty good. Had a proper chip etc inside it.

Phil

They normally plug into the injector wiring loom and adjust the fueling.

I had a dragon digital tuning one on my PD130 and it was pretty good. Had a proper chip etc inside it.

Phil

Yeah thats how my GF's work exactly like that.

The thing is there are so many tables that are linked to get the best overall i don't care what anyone says a remap is always better but the beauty is you can remove a tuning box easily, but you can restore back to standard map with a galetto cable in 90 seconds easily too LOL.

Edited 5 February, 201313 yr by ajs_vrs

Jesus - Someone should send that into them. I don't mind doing it if someone hasn't already beaten me too it!

Anyone know someone who remaps cars in the West Yorkshire area?

We have a dealer in West Yorkshire - Mobitune. See www.sharkperformance.co.uk/dealers for details.

Some good advice in this thread, the only bit I can't really agree with is the use of a cloned cable to upload maps but I suppose that's the way of the world.

If you want to avoid the clone stuff You can buy a genuine alientech powergate S master for around £200.

I got mine remapped by angel tuning, brilliant map, Paul knows his stuff, been doing it for years, hes mobile so can travel to you at no extra cost (£200 if your a member of scottishvag), he let me see tha map he was putting on the car before he put it on the car, nice and smooth, no smoke, hes had the map dyno'd and it made 175bhp and 295lbs/ft so good power just under the parametres of the turbo and clutch, its good useable power and i couldnt be happier!