AidenUK Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Morning all, i have tuning box fitted to my 02 plate 130 GT TDI, just wondering what you thought of them, and do they cause damage? apparently my mate was following me the other day and under acceleration down the bypass, it was smoking a little, could this be anything to do with the tuning box, also when i start the car the engine ticks of fine but after been idling for a dew mins it gets lumpy? I will get my car remapped at somepoint, but just a question of the money as this is supposed to be better, is it? The tuning box does seem to make my car shift a bit better especially with vw/audi 18's on. All comments would be appreciated! Thanks in advance Aiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Smoke and lumpy idle are both common with tuning boxes. All they do is force the ecu to inject more fuel, hence the smoke. A remap gives more fuel and more air with a different turbo mapping aswell, something which the tuning box can't do. Does your insurance company know the car's been modified? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidenUK Posted June 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hello, would you recommend i take it off? will it damage the engine after a while? i have had my car 4 month now and the box has been on 3 month. Yeah my insurance do know, im 19 and paying nearly 3 grand insurance! In theory if i take the tuning box off it should sort out the lumpy idle thingy then? Tar Aiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Oh, I don't know about taking it off, if you can cope with the lumpy idle and the smoke it'll not do any harm I don't think. It can interfere with the injection to the extent that the ecu will throw a fault code and flash up a warning light, but it depends on which software version you have in the ecu and which tuning box you're running. Apparently the earlier, pre 2002 ecu's coped better with a tuning box fitted, and the later ones threw fault codes. I can't remember where I heard that, but I'm fairly certain it was posted on TSN somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidenUK Posted June 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 I think i can cope with it, the lumpy idle goes away once the temp guage has reached 90 degrees. A mate of mine, the same one that was following me when it smoked a little reckons that if its over fuelling the car, it will wear my pistons out or something, now this was said in a pi***d up state on saturday after the game, so whether he was talking rubbish i dont know... im no mechanic lol, i just drive my car.. Cheers Rusty! Aiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaminbopper Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hi all, Interesting view on the tuning box - i was tempted but i think it's a case of saving for the re-map. I'm driving a A3 1.8T (150), it would be nice to be nearer the 180 mark but finding a safe, reliable and affordable chip company is prving tricky! What difference would it make to drop a new chip in rather than remap an existing one? Thanks, Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danksy Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Save your money and put towards a remap...plenty of people do them from about £300 upwards. Revotechnik, APR, AMD, Oettinger, Abt, APS, Jabbasport. To name a few Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 I've not heard of a tuning box for a petrol engine, only diesels. Save your money for a remap as danksy says.. I had a TB and then a remap, and I know which I'd do again next time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidenUK Posted June 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 How much did you pay for your remap? i am waiting for a quote from a place called 'well lane turbos' based in batley, if any body knows of this place and has some opinions i would like to read them. Tar Aiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigface Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 i got my old 307 remaped£170, fuel consumption went up from av 400 miles a tank to 500+ just wish id done it sooner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidenUK Posted June 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Who did that for you? £170 is very cheap!! What did you get your car remapped to? Aiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigface Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 it was a 110bhp hdi up to around 140bhp, am in northern ireland, the fella usually charges £220 but i got him 5 others to do 3 golfs and 2 audis, the 130bhp golf was great when done but the 3.0tdi was a beast sitting around 290bhp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsyboy Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 hello when we say tuning box is this what were on with?http://www.dieselbhp.com/index.html. if not has anyone got one? im thinking of putting one on my motor. passat 130 tdi estate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 Personally, I'd lay off that one. The website is very basic and he only sells them on Carbootsale.com. Nothing there strikes me as being very usefull. It'll most likely be a box with a couple of connectors, then a resistor embedded in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsyboy Posted June 23, 2006 Report Share Posted June 23, 2006 hello i know the web site is very basic but these modules are being sold by other people and web sites too.and on ebay where feedback is good. im thinkng of getting one on a recommendation from a mate who had one on a audi 115tdi bhp and rated it. it apparently adjusts the fuel in the ecu? do you have any knowledge on the tech side? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 It's a Dumb device which fools the ecu by telling it the fuel is very hot. Hot fuel is less dense and as a consequence, the ecu orders up more fuel to be injected to compensate for this. Basically, all it does is force the engine to overfuel. Good for a bit more power, but bad for the environment (soot), and unburnt diesel is said to "wash" the oil from the cylinder walls. Lumpy idle due to poor combustion, warning lights flash on the dashboard on some cars, but yes, you get a bit more power. There's another Smart type which intercepts the signal from the ecu going to the injectors, modifies it, and adjusts the fuelling after the ecu has done its job which will not give you the problems of warning lights etc, but still just overfuells the engine. These are way more expensive though. Neither of these address the problem of sooting. Remapping the cars ecu adjusts the boost map for the turbo which adds more air for the extra fuel. Burns cleaner, see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Remapping the cars ecu adjusts the boost map for the turbo which adds more air for the extra fuel. Burns cleaner, see. [/ QUOTE ] ....Does this mean that by adding/modifying a cold air intake to a unremapped turbo engine, it will burn cleaner ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UBM Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 BAD! Fitted one to my old A4 1.9TDI GmbH Sport. It was OK for a while then a fue temp sender problem occurred - and more soot than normal from the zorsts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Remapping the cars ecu adjusts the boost map for the turbo which adds more air for the extra fuel. Burns cleaner, see. [/ QUOTE ] ....Does this mean that by adding/modifying a cold air intake to a unremapped turbo engine, it will burn cleaner ? [/ QUOTE ] Nope, not in real terms as the turbo boost is directly controlled by the ecu after reading from the maf and map sensors. Modding the air intake might give slightly quicker response from the engine due to more air available but doesn't directly give more air to the engine. When you start tuning and get up to the limit of available air through the intake then you might need to do something about it. Also, most "Cold air intakes" are fed air from inside the engine bay which is a nice warm place, innit. In the case of the VW TDI the intake air is drawn from the front of the car in the grill, near the headlight. Nice and cool there. Colder the air, the more dense it is. Far better to give it enough cold air than give it more than enough warm air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Also, most "Cold air intakes" are fed air from inside the engine bay which is a nice warm place, innit. In the case of the VW TDI the intake air is drawn from the front of the car in the grill, near the headlight. Nice and cool there. Colder the air, the more dense it is. Far better to give it enough cold air than give it more than enough warm air. [/ QUOTE ] ....Cheers for that very helpful info . The Mk5 GTI also intakes air from the same position as the TDI you describe. As I'm soon fitting a Carbonio carbonfibre intake replacing the OEM I'm naturally interested. It should nicely balance my Hi-flow exhaust if I have understood things correctly. I'm not at all attracted to Tuning Boxes but the consensus seems to be that they're not good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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