so i'm wanting to get the fab remapped around payday, but i'm concerned about turbo and clutch life at stage 1

the car is at 62k now, and i know the clutch will wear quicker with more torque through it, im not an agressive driver and actually the fabia suits my driving style, with loads of mid-range grunt i dont have to rev the tits off it or launch all the time, i'm not a boy racer lol, but im also a little anxious about the turbo crapping itself :(

is stage 1 safe to run at daily? i've been talking to MoTech performance and they could do a mild map for me at 1.475BAR equating in 160/165 bhp, or should i just go all out with the 175 /180bhp 290lb/ft map? i don't want to think "could be quicker" if i went for a mild map, i want to make a sensible decision.

ill be going with motech as the price is too good to be ignored and they've got an excellent reputation, so it's the level of power / torque at stage 1 im questionning will be safe, reliable, and not blow the turbo up or destroy the clutch

how long have you guys had yours mapped and any other side effects?

any input is massively appreciated

hope i've not spoken too much rubbish lol

Cheers

Chris

I've had my stage one done to full potential it's quite an aggressive map it's been done since I owned the car about 4 years now when I first had it mapped I had to have the clutch done as it started slipping within a few days of mapping it its just in the garage now having a new clutch but that's because the gearbox is being reconditioned and I thought while the box is off ill replace I've had no other issues with my car

Also just make sure you give it time to warm up and cool down if you do any spirited driving as this will also help

What mileage did you have the map done at? I dont have the monies at the moment to do the clutch if it starts slipping after a week or so :S

If your not an aggressive driver everything will be fine, people on here have run stage 1 for years on standard parts and everything is ok but some people have had problems, all depends on the life the car has had I guess. But as I say if your not an aggressive driver may as well go for the better map.

Mine was on about 66k just done over the 100k mark now the problem is if its a weak clutch to start then it could happen soon after but even if it does start slipping as long as you don't thrash it of the line it will still go you could have a more clutch friendly map but I personally wouldn't bother I'd just factor in somehow for potentially a new clutch

I had my red car remapped 2 days after buying it at 38k

It was a custom map done by Jabbasport and puts out 177bhp

Both turbo and clutch ran faultlessly for another 90,000 miles including 3 trackdays and various track events before the turbo imploded when i got it wrong on track at Bedford and the resultnig spin gave it a huge spike of unexpected revs, which destroyed the impellor.

Mrs Pasty's completely standard black car was purchased with around 40k on the clock and shat it's turbo before christmas when it was approaching 50k and upon changing it it looks like it had already had another turbo change before my ownerhsip.

Stories on here will give you info of KKK turbos dying on mapped and standard cars anywhere from 50k to 100k with little or no warning so it truly is a bit of a lottery.

It's also torque and driving style that kills clutches.

Don't boot it with next to no revs and have any map limited to under 300lb/ft (the accepted max for the standard clutch) and it should be fine for many thousands of miles.

Personally I'd spend money to travel to a decent tuner Jabbasport (Peterborough), Unit 18 (Milton Keynes) JKM (Portsmouth), AMD (Thurrock) and get them to check the car out before mapping it so they know how much the car can potentially take, if possible i'd also then take a custom map rather than a generic plug and play one which you have less control over (that said generic maps are much much better now than they used to be)

Pasty is spot on there.

If your driving style is as you say, the 'full fat' map should be fine, providing your clutch and turbo are in good condition.

That said, having experienced pretty catastrophic turbo failure myself (down to both a poor map from a previous owner and an unknown boost leak) on my last Fabia, if I was you I'd go with the conservative map for peace of mind to begin with. The power difference wouldn't be that noticeable between the maps and if you took it to a decent tuner they'd probably tweak it for you at a later date if you were not satisfied; at a cost of peanuts I should think.

It's a lottery.

It's defo a lottery I had my Cupra was done at jabba sport back when it had 30k on the clock amd now its at 60k it was mapped to 195 bhp and 295lbf to save its clutch life but still got power just less torque so I'd agree with te above go to the better tuners.

it's still running its standed clutch and turbo then when some people mapp there Cupras and fr s the clucth starts to slip the same day it's like roulette just play the game and have some fun

thanks for the replies guys, i know its a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question, i just want to know what to expect, so most likely a clutch, and potentially a turbo, but that could be at any point, standard or mapped.

if a clutch starts slipping, it's not THE end of the of the world is it, just need to be uber careful with it and driving. and then fund a replacement relatively quickly

my fabia has had an awesome life from the looks of the service history, all main dealer, with everything taken care of in terms of oil etc, first owner was a lady in her 30's and the 2nd (for 5 years) was a guy clearly into his cars, and he's kept it immaculate

i know not to launch diesels until you're into the revs, and to be honest, i wouldn't use 1st in these to drive hard anyway, always from 2nd, and after 2200rpm roughly, can fell you're in the torque then. I love the mid-range punch, so much more awesome than revving the crap out of a petrol.

I came from a Corrado VR6, so ragging it was the only way to get the most out of it, but these fabia's drive totally differently and much more to my style

Edited 20 June, 201313 yr by CWizzle

If your car has been as well cared for as you believe, use a reputable tuner for a decent map and you can expect absolutely no problems whatsoever.

As above really it's hit or miss my fabia had a full documented service history every 10000 miles with no expense spared on maintenance and mine went within a week, but it really is anyone's guess as you said if clutch does start slipping then just be as careful as you can but like you stated turbo or clutch can go anytime whether mapped or not

One thing no one has said.

If doing long motorway drives etc, when coming to a stop say at a service station etc let the car run for 2 mins to let the oil/turbo cool and stop carbonisation on seals this should also help the turbo life.

Some people say you don't need to due to low pressure but its never done me any harm.

Im thinking I might start with suspension mods first. Then map it once ive replaced the clutch and dmf for an uprated one.

To be honest as of late the roll around a corner is doing my head in lol. Id rather pre-empt the map by doing the ckutch and buying a pd150 turbo before hand. Then I wont be constantly worrying, itll just take away the enjoyment of driving it

It would be all too easy to go POWER first. Ill be sensible, for now