I quite fancy having a remap done myself, however does anyone know the long term effects of this tuning with regard to the life of crankshafts, con rods, and especially clutches and gearboxes. My concerns are that any manufacturer will build in a degree of over engineering and with CAD manufacturing this is possible. It can be seen in formula one, where an engine is built for qualifying with a lot more power than a full race engine, because of this it would not last a whole race, and is changed. To a degree, this is true of modern day car engines, it is not uncommon to find car engines having done 250/300k miles. Years ago car engines in general, where worn out long before that mileage. So, even allowing for the modern built in "over engineering" and technological advances, we have a 1.9 litre turbo diesel engine developing approx 130 bhp in standard form, some tuning places can offer modest increases in power (approx 30%) and torque, for example www.tuningbox.com. What we have is a full remap offering just over 48% increase in power, whilst i think this is tremendous and very well done to the firms concerned, i cannot see how any manufacturer can build in this tolerance for tuning ? The VW Golf was offered with varying power outputs, my understanding that the 150bhp TDI`s engine (unit injector, code ARL) was made of different parts to the 68/90/100 bhp non unit injector, i would assume more robust ones to deal with the extra power. If the manufacturer feels it necessary to uprate the engine for an increase of 50 bhp how do we go on with 63bhp increases ? I owned a Vauxhall Omega 2.5TD with a box fitted and it really made a difference, so it`s not as if i`m against tuning TD`s, far from it, my concerns are that we may drastically reduce the life of our new motors by increasing the power and torque way beyond the engine designers brief. Any one else at all concerned, or do any remap firms care to offer an insight !! :confused:

the 150 and 130 are the same internally and remapping will see you buying shares in sachs

Why would i want to buy shares in black bin liners ??

terrible!! terrible!!!!!

but it made me chuckle

I think it really boils down to how you drive your car.

If you rag it standard or otherwise it won't last long.

Driving "normally", ulitmately won't be as repliable in the long term. However those who modify there cars tend to look after them better so, in everyday terms, there isn't much difference if any at all.

I think you`re missing my point Skoda RS. It does not matter how you drive the car, any standard engine will be okay (so long as it`s warmed up first) even if you thrashed the nuts off it all of the time, it is for this very reason that engine manufacturers use firms such as Ricardo to test the engines to failure point before releasing them to the public. Motorcycle magazines such as Performance bikes have taken two brand new sports bikes to test to see if "running in" an engine is worthwhile, they take identical bikes, dyno them both, one is run in gently, the other is taken to the track and thrashed for approx 500 miles, both bikes are dynoed again afterwards. The results are quite suprising, the track run bike consistently develops more power ! What i am saying here is that it does not matter how much you "rag" a standard engine - it`s built to cope with it, and is unlikely to suffer long term, however if you start shoving almost 50% more power and torque through than it was designed for, i think you may well be asking for trouble.

I agree people who modify their cars may well look after them better, and at the end of the day it`s their choice to re-map it, but, even if you change the oil more often and use premium brands it is not going to prevent a new clutch/gearbox or major engine parts being required a LOT earlier, because you have exceeded the manufacturers safety margin by some considerable amount. Bengie has a point about Sachs clutches and shares, my fear is it might also be prudent to buy shares in a gearbox company as well !! :confused:

So don't have it mapped to give a 50% increase, why not go to the tuner with your own personal requirements and have that done, that way you will be happy in the knowledge that it should not blow up, nor should it require you have shares in either sachs clutches or the gearbox company.

As you are fully aware tuning is a personal thing, goverened by how much you want to spend and how many extra bhp you want, and it is also done to suit your style of driving.

Just have done what you want.

Yeah, really reduces the life.

Mine is used on track and for commuting.

Only done 100,000 miles in the last 2 years since it was remapped.

No problems so far

Another well known person from Kent with a remapped engine has just over 116.000 miles on his..

Had no engine problems with my remapped fabia. Clutch has slipped a couple of times in the cold weather.

My Dragon'd Superb is just approaching 100k and touch wood doesn't have any i'll effects from the tuning.