ecu remap

[steve09]

now im trying to perswade my dad to get his 2L diesel 150 bhp newest vectra remapped. now his argument for not getting it is it will void his warrenty . what i want to know is will it void it if he gets a remap with a sports and economy switch?

[HDi fun]

It's unlikely that Vauxhall will bother looking for a remap. Once there's a switch in place then it becomes blindingly obvious. Some tuners are careless, too and overwrite the entire code block with a generic one. This will stand out. A good tuner will download the std map for your car, modify the necessary parameters and then upload again, thereby preserving all serial numbers and vehicle specific data etc.

Some ECUs have a non-resetable flash counter which is incremental and could give things away. Also if the dealer overwrites with new code as the commonly do to rectify known bugs then your remap will be lost.

Most dealers will not grass you up however - what's the benefit to them in stopping the manufacturer paying for warranty work?

Stranger still - some makers, notably Skoda, endorse remapped cars and allow dealers to sell new vehicles with a custom map in place!

[steve09]

what about a piggy back ecu with two maps with a hidden switch? then you wont have edited the stock ecu ? or would that still have voided it?

[HDi fun]

No, piggy backs are not detectable digitally. They can be sods to remove though, it's not always the ten minute job as suggested. And you will be tampering with electrical connectors, which might be noticed.

Piggy back ECUs are really not a good idea though. They're crude devices which interfere with the ECU's operation on both the input and output side.

It's possible to completely wreck the emission control systems on a diesel engine by using these for example by causing the particle filter to clog prematurely. These are expensive, too.

Contact a good tuner and ask direct questions about remapping your car. Even consider contacting Vauxhall UK. They might have a recommendation to make to you. After all, there's a production diesel Astra which uses third party ECU maps and it's sold directly by Vauxhall themselves. In the UK!

[steve09]

ahhh i see. i think ill give vauxhall a ring an see if it viods there warrenty and if they know of any problems with a remap. cheers hdi

[pgarner]

yeah the astra 888 is it not. its the 1.9 diesel with around 200bhp.

some ecus allow more than one code to be stored, dont know if vaux can suport them, and the standard code can be changed to a performance and back through the diagnosic port

[HDi fun]

That's the one.

I don't really see the need for switching different maps in and out. If you want less performance then just press the go pedal less and change up sooner.

You can also get pedal response rates etc changed when you have the code written to the ECU. I also managed to get mine to allow cruise control in 3rd gear as well as 4th and 5th which is great for driving through town at a rigid 30mph.

[waynne]

[humour not sarcasm]WOW - the accelerator has a third position (less on) I'll have to try that one out then? Does that work on all cars? [/humour not sarcasm]

[HDi fun]

Waynne - I only recently discovered that the clutch and brake pedal are both linear mode devices. Courtesy cars have similar pedals but they operate in binary mode. Courtesy cars also have much higher in gear speeds than normal cars

[pgarner]

Yeah courtsey cars are like F1 cars. they need at least 7000 rpm just so they dont stall

[steve09]

Originally Posted by HDi fun

That's the one.

I don't really see the need for switching different maps in and out. If you want less performance then just press the go pedal less and change up sooner

because he has to do 200 miles to work an back every day so he wants economy an then at weekends or when he wants to have a bit of fun to switch it to a peformance map.

if you get a remap for power then what happern to the mph, im not talking of 'spirited driving' im talking about driving around to work on the motorway and not pushing the pedal down that much. or can you get a map that is normal econ under 3k revs but full power over 3k i.e when the turbo kicks in.

[HDi fun]

I think you're slightly amiss on the turbo behaviour, it should be providing boost almost from idle in a modern diesel. By 3000rpm you're on the way to changing up really.

A remapped car generally has better economy under gentle driving because part of the remap process is to optimise everything across the whole range, not just foot to the floor driving.

Basically they can ensure that there's enough air available to burn the fuel that's injected. Bear in mind that diesel engines are regulated by FUEL ONLY. So on light loads they run on excess air anyway.

A remapped diesel feels better under all driving conditions than a standard car in my opinion. Before mapping mine it averaged 36mpg over 20,000 miles. Over the last 50,000 miles with the custom map it's averaging 40.3mpg.

You really don't need a switch.

[waynne]

I've readup on owners experience with VAG 1.8T remaps. Some are getting 20mpg as the power comes in much lower and lots more of it and others are getting similar or better than standard.

It depends on how much you are pushing the envelope with the remap. It is probably more noticable on a petrol than on a diesel.

Why should you let the garage use the full power of your engine - switch it to valet mode and stop the little joyriding grease monkeys from destroying your diff