184 remap

[nick.buchan2]

OK. Probably been covered a thousand times but I’m lazy so here goes.

What recommendations do people have for improving the already decent performance of a 184TD FR please?

Thanks.


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[Hag]

OK. Probably been covered a thousand times but I’m lazy so here goes.

What recommendations do people have for improving the already decent performance of a 184TD FR please?

Thanks.


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I’ve had mine remapped and it makes a nice difference.


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[Alienatrix]

If still within warranty, then a tuning box such as the DTUK is your best bang for your buck. You can simply unplug it when it's servicing time.

I bought mines 2 years ago for £350, and it's the best decision I made. Once connected, which btw is very easy to do, you can control all the relevant maps and settings by Bluetooth.

Although DTUK claim the output to be 240 BHP and 500 NM, it's more like 210-220 BHP with around 420-450 NM.

However, the difference in shove compared to a stock 184 tdi, is amazing. Every now and then, I turn the box off via Bluetooth for a few days and then back on again, and you can feel the difference instantly. Leaves GTDs for dead and capable of beating GTIs.

However, if you are outwith the warranty period then a custom remap all the way. Plenty of good mappers out there who will safely extract the most out of your engine etc..

The going rate for a decent custom remap is around £400-£500. Also, you will get a dyno print with a before and after results.

Most important advice...Make sure you declare it to your insurer.

OK. Probably been covered a thousand times but I’m lazy so here goes.

What recommendations do people have for improving the already decent performance of a 184TD FR please?

Thanks.


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[nick.buchan2]

If still within warranty, then a tuning box such as the DTUK is your best bang for your buck. You can simply unplug it when it's servicing time.

I bought mines 2 years ago for £350, and it's the best decision I made. Once connected, which btw is very easy to do, you can control all the relevant maps and settings by Bluetooth.

Although DTUK claim the output to be 240 BHP and 500 NM, it's more like 210-220 BHP with around 420-450 NM.

However, the difference in shove compared to a stock 184 tdi, is amazing. Every now and then, I turn the box off via Bluetooth for a few days and then back on again, and you can feel the difference instantly. Leaves GTDs for dead and capable of beating GTIs.

However, if you are outwith the warranty period then a custom remap all the way. Plenty of good mappers out there who will safely extract the most out of your engine etc..

The going rate for a decent custom remap is around £400-£500. Also, you will get a dyno print with a before and after results.

Most important advice...Make sure you declare it to your insurer.

Good point re. insurance. It’s a 2017 but out of warranty as it’s done 73000 miles. I bought it two years ago with exactly 6000 miles on it. I still love it despite the following:

Exhaust studs replaced under warranty
Cracked sump replaced under warranty
Intermittent exhaust flap valve fault
Battery replaced at my cost
Rattle still not cleared (replaced ARB to no avail)


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[nick.buchan2]

I’ve had mine remapped and it makes a nice difference.


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Any particular company / map / something to recommend please? How do you find the fuel economy? I do fairly high miles at my own cost so don’t want the economy to suffer too much.


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[Sword]

Cracked sump replaced under warranty


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How did you get this one covered under warranty?

 

[nick.buchan2]

How did you get this one covered under warranty?

Amazingly the dealer found it and did it as part of a service then told me about it afterwards. I had no idea. Oil consumption dropped somewhat after that!


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[Sword]

Amazingly the dealer found it and did it as part of a service then told me about it afterwards. I had no idea. Oil consumption dropped somewhat after that!


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I would definitely recommend this dealer.
Half my experiences with dealers have consisted of me showing them the fault, telling them there is a technical bulletin for the fault and then denying it under warranty anyway lol

 

[nick.buchan2]

I would definitely recommend this dealer.
Half my experiences with dealers have consisted of me showing them the fault, telling them there is a technical bulletin for the fault and then denying it under warranty anyway lol

To be fair they’re not the best dealer but luckily they found that. They’ve got a poor reputation but they’re the only one within reach of work.

If anyone wants to know it’s Stoneacre Wrexham.


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[Hag]

Any particular company / map / something to recommend please? How do you find the fuel economy? I do fairly high miles at my own cost so don’t want the economy to suffer too much.


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I’ve not noticed a negative in fuel consumption but I had it done a couple of weeks before lockdown so I haven’t used it as regularly but had a few big drives out the weekend after having it done and just generally pottering around you notice the extra torque and when you get it going especially in the higher gears there’s a noticeable difference. Mine was done by a company in York using a Black Code remap and then tweaked to my taste. Ie I didn’t want full power as was worried about reliability etc but running circa 230bhp and 450+ nm


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[AndrewJB]

Think the usual suspects REVO, Racingline do files for the 184.

 

[Mr Pig]

Half my experiences with dealers have consisted of me showing them the fault, telling them there is a technical bulletin for the fault and then denying it under warranty anyway lol

My exact experience too!

In fact my wife and I were talking to the owner of a dealership last night and this topic came up. He was recommending a Scotshield warranty on the used car we're looking at rather than the Seat warranty. He said that you tell Scotshield about the fault and they just pay up. You tell Seat about the fault and they try to deny it. You end up arguing with them and struggling to get them to pay for things that are clearly covered.

This correlates with my experience when our current car was still under the original manufacturers warranty. Being told things are not covered when they are on the list of things that are. Being told that it's not a known fault or they can't find it when it's all over the internet.

Clearly, Seat are just tightwads. I think you have to accept this going in. The cars themselves might be good but the bean counters at Seat just want your money. The sat-nav updates are a good example. Not only do they charge you a lot for what other manufacturers give you free but, even when you do buy a card, it's out of date because Seat don't want to pay for the maps.

Buyer beware.

 

[perryqhill]

I put a dtuk box on mine and it made a significantly difference, gave it the aggression under acceleration I thought it should have as standard. Before I bought it I did a bit of research though, much of it on here and other VAG forums, and they can be hit and miss on the 184 engine with even DTUK themselves having to mention it previously.

Mine was excellent for 6 months or so and then constantly threw up errors and so I had to remove it and the car never gave me another problem in another year and a half of owning it.

Some people never have an issue, some cars just dont get on with them. Given mine was a second hand purchase and didnt cost the earth I wasnt too fussed.

 

[SteveGSXR600K1]

I put a dtuk box on mine and it made a significantly difference, gave it the aggression under acceleration I thought it should have as standard. Before I bought it I did a bit of research though, much of it on here and other VAG forums, and they can be hit and miss on the 184 engine with even DTUK themselves having to mention it previously.

Mine was excellent for 6 months or so and then constantly threw up errors and so I had to remove it and the car never gave me another problem in another year and a half of owning it.

Some people never have an issue, some cars just dont get on with them. Given mine was a second hand purchase and didnt cost the earth I wasnt too fussed.

The problem with buying a DTUK box secondhand is the box could be 3 years old, and so would the map on it. They may have developed/tweaked it a few times since then and ironed out some issues. Also if buying secondhand, I'd make sure it was originally bought new with a specific Leon 184FR map, and not from a Golf GTD, etc, just in case there's any differences. The maps also differ depending on whether the cars manual or DSG.

Need to get around to fitting mine to see what all the fuss is about!! It's been sitting in its box for nearly a year.

 

[adam davies]

I put a dtuk box on mine and it made a significantly difference, gave it the aggression under acceleration I thought it should have as standard. Before I bought it I did a bit of research though, much of it on here and other VAG forums, and they can be hit and miss on the 184 engine with even DTUK themselves having to mention it previously.

Mine was excellent for 6 months or so and then constantly threw up errors and so I had to remove it and the car never gave me another problem in another year and a half of owning it.

Some people never have an issue, some cars just dont get on with them. Given mine was a second hand purchase and didnt cost the earth I wasnt too fussed.

Checkout darkside development on youtube they have a new vid comparing tuning boxes, they are all trash.

 

[perryqhill]

The problem with buying a DTUK box secondhand is the box could be 3 years old, and so would the map on it. They may have developed/tweaked it a few times since then and ironed out some issues. Also if buying secondhand, I'd make sure it was originally bought new with a specific Leon 184FR map, and not from a Golf GTD, etc, just in case there's any differences. The maps also differ depending on whether the cars manual or DSG.

Need to get around to fitting mine to see what all the fuss is about!! It's been sitting in its box for nearly a year.

I get what you're saying but from reading across three or four forums, listening/watching videos and reading comments, even from DTUK themselves on here DTUK developed it on their own Skoda 184 anyway. There's several threads about them including one on here where DTUK have been next to useless even when bought new and the unit was sent back tested and apparently fine and would not refund despite the customer replacing the boost sensor which was being flagged up on the car. their advice is always to blame the sensor or change the 'map' so you end up half the time running it on lowest settings which makes their claims on horse power look like nonsense. That's before you even get to people that's actually had dyno tests with them on.

If you look across many VAG forums you'll see the same issues pop up occasionally. The majority do run well initially and people speak well about them, but some cars just wont have them. Speaking to several people and reading tuning of the 184 the sensors realise something is going on as the 'map' (and I use the term loosely) on the box is doing little more than upping boost and tricking the car into overfueling.

some people swear by them and don't have any problems. I went into mine with eyes wide open and I tried second hand as after doing research I didn't want to lay out £320+ on something with known issues on my model of car and I wouldn't go near another tuning box as a result.

 

[AndrewJB]

Checkout darkside development on youtube they have a new vid comparing tuning boxes, they are all trash.

Results as expected, interesting the comments at the end, sounds like Darkside are going to start offering their own "tuning boxes"

 

[BillyCool]

OK. Probably been covered a thousand times but I’m lazy so here goes.

What recommendations do people have for improving the already decent performance of a 184TD FR please?

Thanks.


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I've recently fitted a DTUK box to my 184 that I bought on eBay for £100. It was the only way that I was going to be able to try one. The guy had the exact same car and also the same engine code, so I was happy that it was compatible.

So far, quite happy. It has a power settings button on it from 1-7. 1 is minimal gain but best mpg and & is max power and lesser mpg.

Started it on setting 4 (as recommended to let it bed in). I've not driven it loads but on a regular route I drive it was giving me about 4-5 mpg improvement with a bit more power from about 2500 to 4000 (seemed to really boost around 3000 to 4000). So far so good.

Then put it in mode 6 and noticed more torque lower down and deffo more power from 2750'ish onwards. Very noticeable `push you into your seat` type thing.

You can of course drive it normally, and I did a trip out yesterday of about 60 miles across some A/B roads and 15 miles on the motorway at 70mph. It managed 60mpg. That included a couple of `test the chip moments`. I never get that unless I'm on the M5 in 50mph speed limits for 20 miles. My usual mpg is about 55mpg doing the same stuff so it's deffo helped that.

The previous owner had it on setting 7 and said it dyno'd at about 225 bhp and I'm fine with that. I'm not after max power, just a bit more grunt when I want it (lots of country roads where a safe overtake is easier with more power) and joining slip roads etc and the odd tailgating plonker. Just feels nice to have it and not abuse it.

So - am I happy with it? Yes I am. I have a nice power boost when I want it, MPG has improved (when driven normally) and hopefully the car is okay with it longer term. Worse case, it goes back to DTUK for a new map for about £100 (I think).

My car insurance was due for renewal at the same time and it cost me an extra £60 per annum to have it on the insurance.

 

[Sword]

My exact experience too!

In fact my wife and I were talking to the owner of a dealership last night and this topic came up. He was recommending a Scotshield warranty on the used car we're looking at rather than the Seat warranty. He said that you tell Scotshield about the fault and they just pay up. You tell Seat about the fault and they try to deny it. You end up arguing with them and struggling to get them to pay for things that are clearly covered.

This correlates with my experience when our current car was still under the original manufacturers warranty. Being told things are not covered when they are on the list of things that are. Being told that it's not a known fault or they can't find it when it's all over the internet.

Clearly, Seat are just tightwads. I think you have to accept this going in. The cars themselves might be good but the bean counters at Seat just want your money. The sat-nav updates are a good example. Not only do they charge you a lot for what other manufacturers give you free but, even when you do buy a card, it's out of date because Seat don't want to pay for the maps.

Buyer beware.

It's so strange what both dealers and SEAT disregard as a known issue.

It's quite common amongst most manufacturers but doesnt make it any better.

Dont know how they expect people to keep coming back for servicing and repairs after the warranty has expired when customers get treated that way.

Things will change when everything is electric and they dont have the option to get cars in for a yearly service, well they might change.

 

[SteveGSXR600K1]

So far, quite happy. It has a power settings button on it from 1-7. 1 is minimal gain but best mpg and & is max power and lesser mpg.

What model DTUK box have you got? They have 3 power modes (Sports, Dynamic & Efficiency), and then 7 fine adjustment settings for each power mode. -3, -2 -1, 0, +1, +2, +3. They recommend starting off at P1 and the fine adjustment in the middle 0. Then try P2, and then P3. When you've found which power mode you like, you can then fine adjust the power to +1, then try +2, etc.

My car insurance was due for renewal at the same time and it cost me an extra £60 per annum to have it on the insurance.

Which insurance company are you with? How did you describe the tuning box to them? When I spoke to my previous insurance company, Aviva, they hadn't got a clue what a DTUK tuning box was. In the end they said I wouldn't be insured if I fitted it....