TDi chips

TDiCupraChris

You have been dieseled!!!
Oct 19, 2008
56
0
Bournemouth
hi folks I have a non Pd 1.9 TDi,
I have seen lots of these chips about and wondered if they are any good or just a resistor on the MAF.
Its for a 1998 car so its not worth spending £300+ for a real ecu remap.
Please tell me what you think and if thet give any gains at all.
cheers
2002598334198080_1.jpg


I have just ordered a tuning box pretty much like the one in the picture above, which will boost my bhp up by 38bhp and around 70nm of torque, I have read a few threads about tdi tuning boxes and most people say that they are a waste of time and can harm your engine, but the one I have ordered has been highly recommended by a very good friend of mine who is a head mechanic at a garage in devon, they specialise in VAG group cars, audi, voltswagan, seat, skoda, he has 25 years experience, so he knows what he is talking about, he has one fitted on his passat estate 100bhp pd, he raced his work buddy who has a golf 130bhp pd and beat him, his mate now has one fitted, infact all the mechanics with the diesel pd engines have one fitted, my friend has had it on his car for 2 years, his engine has done 180,000 miles and he has had no problems what so ever, another guy he knows has had it on his engine for 4 years and he has had trouble free motoring too, the one I have ordered is specifically for the PD engine, they are made in Germany and they have the genuine vag plugs already fitted on the box, so you just plug and play, he has never heard of anyone that has had problems with there engines or anything else with this particular tuning box, I know it sounds too good to be true, but if they were that bad, then surely these guys wouldn't have them fitted on there own cars, and after all, they know what there talking about, has anyone heard of one of these box's causing damage to a PD engine????? If so I would love to know!!;););)
 
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JayFR150

Fresh & Clean
Jul 20, 2008
491
0
Near Gatwick
that cheap thing worked for my fr 150, no turbo lag and its alot more fun to drive. i dont trust it as much as if i had it remapped but it'll do for now
 

Husbandofstinky

Out from the Wilderness
Nov 8, 2007
1,515
12
Temperate Regions

Bought one of these last year, fitted it on for a month and then had a remap (and yes I've still got it if anyone wants it for beer money). I agree with some of those thoughts as mentioned on this thread, but you cannot delude yourself in thinking that these crude resistors are an alternative to a remap.

Its simply like comparing a candle to bulb.
 

TDiCupraChris

You have been dieseled!!!
Oct 19, 2008
56
0
Bournemouth
Bought one of these last year, fitted it on for a month and then had a remap (and yes I've still got it if anyone wants it for beer money). I agree with some of those thoughts as mentioned on this thread, but you cannot delude yourself in thinking that these crude resistors are an alternative to a remap.

Its simply like comparing a candle to bulb.

I never said that they would be as good as a remap, they cant be for the price they are, but if you dont want to spend £500 on a remap and the extra increase in your insurance for the remap, then the tuning box seems like the next best thing, after all you can remove it in 2 minutes if you need too, where as a remap is a differant story, for insurance purposes that is, I will let you know how I get on with it, but if it's anything like as good as my friend said it was, then I cant wait, at the end of the day, if it gives me 35bhp extra and 70nm torque for the small sum of £24, then I'm laughing! :happy::happy:
 
Mar 8, 2007
831
0
Only tuning box I would, and have, touched is a digital tuning box with adjustable settings and a connection to the battery.

I ran a dragon box for ages on my PD130, noticable increase in power in every gear, little extra smoke at all, MPG did suffer though and power delivery was stuttery to say the least.

Still, for £150 you cant complain, wouldnt pay more than that for one though.
 

lil3520

IBIZA 1.9 TDI SPORT 08
Nov 26, 2006
3,001
21
ALCESTER, WARWICKSHIRE
I never said that they would be as good as a remap, they cant be for the price they are, but if you dont want to spend £500 on a remap and the extra increase in your insurance for the remap, then the tuning box seems like the next best thing, after all you can remove it in 2 minutes if you need too, where as a remap is a differant story, for insurance purposes that is, I will let you know how I get on with it, but if it's anything like as good as my friend said it was, then I cant wait, at the end of the day, if it gives me 35bhp extra and 70nm torque for the small sum of £24, then I'm laughing! :happy::happy:


have you got it yet ?

looking forward to hearing your comments on it.:)

what price did you pay for it ?

cheers

ANDY.
 

muddyboots

Still hanging around
Oct 16, 2002
5,739
1
but if you dont want to spend ...... the extra increase in your insurance for the remap, then the tuning box seems like the next best thing, after all you can remove it in 2 minutes if you need too, where as a remap is a differant story, for insurance purposes that is
Few problems with this...

Firstly, whether it's a remap or a tuning box, it needs to be declared to your insurers.

Secondly, "you can remove it in 2 minutes if you need to". Well yes you can - when your car is in a normal state. Now think if you were in a crash, the car is damaged and you can't open the bonnet, or even if you can open it, stuff has been shunted round and you can't get to the tuning box to remove it. Or you've been carted off into an ambulance or police car, and your car is recovered away. Insurance assessor comes along and rubs his hands with glee...."Ello ello ello, one really obvious tuning box hanging off the front of your engine. No payout for you !"
At least if you choose not to declare a remap, it's not immediately visible to the eyes of an insurance assessor (although if the case was severe enough to warrant it, they could download & examine the ECU content to check it).

You might think the chances are you'll get away with it. But you never know what's round the corner...
Imagine I'd got an undeclared tuning box on my Ibiza.
Earlier this year I was driving home from work minding my own business like every other day, until without warning someone pulled across my path in the dark on an unlit road in the middle of nowhere. A fair bit of damage.
I was carted off in an ambulance, and the police organise recovery of my car.
I found where my car had been recovered to, and went to collect my belongings. This has to be done under close scrutiny of someone at the pound, who documents every item you take from the car.
Do you think I'd have been able to go and remove a tuning box from this:
http://www.seat-ibiza-mk4.co.uk/files/crash/IMG_0095.jpg
Insurers then take the car away for the assessor to look at. Luckily for me, everything is in order, remap and brake conversion are declared, car is written off and I collect my £4k+ payout to allow me to buy another car.
Assessors aren't stupid, they know what to look for to save themselves a payout....
 

TDiCupraChris

You have been dieseled!!!
Oct 19, 2008
56
0
Bournemouth
Few problems with this...

Firstly, whether it's a remap or a tuning box, it needs to be declared to your insurers.

Secondly, "you can remove it in 2 minutes if you need to". Well yes you can - when your car is in a normal state. Now think if you were in a crash, the car is damaged and you can't open the bonnet, or even if you can open it, stuff has been shunted round and you can't get to the tuning box to remove it. Or you've been carted off into an ambulance or police car, and your car is recovered away. Insurance assessor comes along and rubs his hands with glee...."Ello ello ello, one really obvious tuning box hanging off the front of your engine. No payout for you !"
At least if you choose not to declare a remap, it's not immediately visible to the eyes of an insurance assessor (although if the case was severe enough to warrant it, they could download & examine the ECU content to check it).

You might think the chances are you'll get away with it. But you never know what's round the corner...
Imagine I'd got an undeclared tuning box on my Ibiza.
Earlier this year I was driving home from work minding my own business like every other day, until without warning someone pulled across my path in the dark on an unlit road in the middle of nowhere. A fair bit of damage.
I was carted off in an ambulance, and the police organise recovery of my car.
I found where my car had been recovered to, and went to collect my belongings. This has to be done under close scrutiny of someone at the pound, who documents every item you take from the car.
Do you think I'd have been able to go and remove a tuning box from this:
http://www.seat-ibiza-mk4.co.uk/files/crash/IMG_0095.jpg
Insurers then take the car away for the assessor to look at. Luckily for me, everything is in order, remap and brake conversion are declared, car is written off and I collect my £4k+ payout to allow me to buy another car.
Assessors aren't stupid, they know what to look for to save themselves a payout....

Thats a very good point indeed :doh: harsh picture mate, totally agree with what your saying, never thought about it to be honest :redface: I think I will ring my insurance company up and find out about how much extra this tuning box will add to my insurance, I have just received it in the post, but I'm so busy at the moment, I wont have chance to fit it till maybe the end of next week, but as soon as it's on, I will post on here and let you know how good it is, it cost me £24 delivered off ebay!!
 

sssstew

Editing your spelling
Few problems with this...

Firstly, whether it's a remap or a tuning box, it needs to be declared to your insurers.

Secondly, "you can remove it in 2 minutes if you need to". Well yes you can - when your car is in a normal state. Now think if you were in a crash, the car is damaged and you can't open the bonnet, or even if you can open it, stuff has been shunted round and you can't get to the tuning box to remove it. Or you've been carted off into an ambulance or police car, and your car is recovered away. Insurance assessor comes along and rubs his hands with glee...."Ello ello ello, one really obvious tuning box hanging off the front of your engine. No payout for you !"
At least if you choose not to declare a remap, it's not immediately visible to the eyes of an insurance assessor (although if the case was severe enough to warrant it, they could download & examine the ECU content to check it).

You might think the chances are you'll get away with it. But you never know what's round the corner...
Imagine I'd got an undeclared tuning box on my Ibiza.
Earlier this year I was driving home from work minding my own business like every other day, until without warning someone pulled across my path in the dark on an unlit road in the middle of nowhere. A fair bit of damage.
I was carted off in an ambulance, and the police organise recovery of my car.
I found where my car had been recovered to, and went to collect my belongings. This has to be done under close scrutiny of someone at the pound, who documents every item you take from the car.
Do you think I'd have been able to go and remove a tuning box from this:
http://www.seat-ibiza-mk4.co.uk/files/crash/IMG_0095.jpg
Insurers then take the car away for the assessor to look at. Luckily for me, everything is in order, remap and brake conversion are declared, car is written off and I collect my £4k+ payout to allow me to buy another car.
Assessors aren't stupid, they know what to look for to save themselves a payout....

Yep very very valid points. (which ive always thought but can never be bothered to type all the time)
 

Viking

Insurance co's are crap.
May 19, 2007
2,317
4
Near Richmond, North Yorks
hi folks I have a non Pd 1.9 TDi,
I have seen lots of these chips about and wondered if they are any good or just a resistor on the MAF.
Its for a 1998 car so its not worth spending £300+ for a real ecu remap.
Please tell me what you think and if thet give any gains at all.
cheers
2002598334198080_1.jpg

That picture looks suspiciously like this one. Click me for enlightenment.
 
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TDiCupraChris

You have been dieseled!!!
Oct 19, 2008
56
0
Bournemouth
ummmmmmm....now thats got me thinking too, but my mate has had no problems with his what so ever, I have it ready to fit, but looking at those pic's through the link has got me worried, maybe I should give it a miss and flog it back on ebay!!!

Maybe I should think about a remap, thing is which one to go for???
there are so many to choose from, anyone have any recommendations???
Custom Code I think are doing 30% off at the moment, good value!!
 
Dec 16, 2007
432
1
Gloucester/Cheltenham
Doh if you could have waited a couple of weeks, im getting my TDI RR'd with dragon tuning box, then getting it mapped and re-run :) This will show the difference and will prove that the tuning boxes do work and to what extent. My Dragon box will be off the car as soon as im mapped and up forsale.
 

GTV

Veggie powered TDi's
Feb 16, 2008
479
0
Cambridgeshire
Well I would be intreasted to hear the what you you get from the map, please keep us informed,

as for the cost of my tuning box, they are selling them off on ebay for £79.99, as you said if I was spending £240 I would have gone for a map :)
 
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