Hi people!

 

The Dutch Diesel has been given a temporary upgrade... colleague of mine with a Greenline 1.6 diesel had to get it to the shop for a few days, decided to pop his tuningbox under my hood for safe keeping, so to say. It plugs into the common rail & turbo connectors.

 

It also transforms the car completely.

 

It went from a 'nice family diesel' to the car it should have been, according to the advertisement. It pulls through the gears like there's no tomorrow, picks up a lot faster (I get the feeling the turbo spins up faster) and also has less understeer through fast corners (I fail to see how this could be a result but I have a theory). I can now keep up with proper GTI's and GTD's. Estimate figures would be around ~224BHP and ~460NM (184/380 stock).

 

I'd like to get one as well, but I'm not looking to spend a whole lot of money... my colleague bought it at a German website called tuningbox.net and he's not the only one who's got one from there. Few other coworkers have them as well and have been using them for years on end, through multiple lease cars from the VAG group (Skoda, VW, Audi). All without a hitch. This seems like a good piece of (be it anecdotal) evidence but I want to have your take on this, since I've seen threads on the forum about more expensive solutions (DTUK comes to mind).

A proper remap is out of the question because of a wipe during maintenance at the dealer, so a box it is.

 

The aforementioned site does a box for my car for about 260 euro's, with a specific mention that it's suited for cars with a DPF (as opposed to the cheaper ones that only plug into the common rail).

 

 

Your thoughts?

Edited 4 July, 20169 yr by Diango

Following this...

If it's a tuning box the only one I'd spend money on are the DTUK units.

Probably the wise thing to do would be to check something locally in your country, if there is a popular tuning company, so you can visit them if necessary now or in the future.

If it's a tuning box the only one I'd spend money on are the DTUK units.

 

I'm with Darrell here - DTUK have been great.

I've seen many references to DTUK here, but converting your pounds to our Euro's their prices are great too (and I mean that sarcastically).

I'm sure they give great service and a great product too, but I'm looking for something closer to home (and spend-willingness).

You could always get an STS Unit from Shark Performance which allows you to switch between standard and mapped whenever you want.

235Bhp and 500Nm

http://www.sharkperformance.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=496_513_536_538

Edited 4 July, 20169 yr by DarrellGB

You could always get an STS Unit from Shark Performance which allows you to switch between standard and mapped whenever you want.

235Bhp and 500Nm

http://www.sharkperformance.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=496_513_536_538

 

499 Pounds sterling, that's about 600 odd euro's. A bit too steep for my liking. The ones from Germany are 258. But good to know the limits of the engine are apparently high enough to take 500nm :-).

Why are the UK based tuning boxes so expensive?

That's what im now wondering......

Are these tuning boxes plug and play? Self install easily?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Why are the UK based tuning boxes so expensive?

That's what im now wondering......

 

Well you have the import tax on parts from the EU of course... it's expensive living on an island ;-) *wink *wink.

Are these tuning boxes plug and play? Self install easily?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Took 20-30min to put my DTUK box on, pretty simples but they have 3 different maps and 6 different settings ( 3+ and 3-)

If you need to remove this frequently, maybe you should be better with the remap. After lots of my dealer visits this year and having to remove tuning box each time, at one point the plastic spring which holds the boost connector has become stiff and unresponding until one day it finally snapped when I tried to disconnect it. Now I am using a plastic strap to hold it in place.

 

https://s32.postimg.org/sylqhrmqt/20160603_121602.jpg

 

https://s32.postimg.org/z28a4bmet/20160603_122035.jpg

If you need to remove this frequently, maybe you should be better with the remap. After lots of my dealer visits this year and having to remove tuning box each time, at one point the plastic spring which holds the boost connector has become stiff and unresponding until one day it finally snapped when I tried to disconnect it. Now I am using a plastic strap to hold it in place.

 

https://s32.postimg.org/sylqhrmqt/20160603_121602.jpg

 

https://s32.postimg.org/z28a4bmet/20160603_122035.jpg

 

Here we go fella.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-VW-VOLKSWAGEN-3-PIN-BLACK-ELECTRICAL-CONNECTOR-3D0973703-/381516797452?hash=item58d42c560c:g:cgAAAOSwwPhWk4wT

Here we go fella.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-VW-VOLKSWAGEN-3-PIN-BLACK-ELECTRICAL-CONNECTOR-3D0973703-/381516797452?hash=item58d42c560c:g:cgAAAOSwwPhWk4wT

And how do I replace it? Its connected to the plastic tube which holds the wires, at least it looks like that to me.

And how do I replace it? Its connected to the plastic tube which holds the wires, at least it looks like that to me.

 

Picture 2 shows the three wires so the plastic tube is not connected. 

I will have to look at this part closely one more time, I am not really sure how to get the wires into the replacement part.

As you will be unlikely to have the proper tool, you need a very small screw driver to push into the front of the socket ALONG SIDE the wire connectors to be able to push them out - take a picture 1st so they go back in the right places!

Is this the same?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDI-VW-Skoda-VAG-3-pin-connector-plug-3D0973703-or-1J0973703-3D0-973-703-/182113134928?hash=item2a66c9e950

Yep, looks the same, you'd need to cut the wires & re-crimp with that one.

If your coworkers have been using them for years without problems, you've tried one and liked the results and it's within your budget then why wouldn't you go for the German tuning box?

Is this the same?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDI-VW-Skoda-VAG-3-pin-connector-plug-3D0973703-or-1J0973703-3D0-973-703-/182113134928?hash=item2a66c9e950

you can get the tools to release the pins easy enough like these.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELECTRICAL-TERMINAL-RELEASE-SET-by-BERGEN-TOOLS-for-Harness-Connector-Plug-Wires-/252095237978?hash=item3ab20c0f5a:g:LRIAAOSwQPlV-ytH

 

then generally swap the connector. Haven't looked at this plug in particular though but can't see it being much different 

This is already too complicated. I am going to buy some beer instead.

If your coworkers have been using them for years without problems, you've tried one and liked the results and it's within your budget then why wouldn't you go for the German tuning box?

 

Good point, and so that's what I just did :-). It'll be here later this week. Can't wait!

Tadaa: