Remapping companies are not all the same.

"Don't get ripped off."

  • Are you looking for Petrol vehicle remapping?
  • Are you looking for Turbo Diesel remapping?

Remappers specialise in performance engine tuning/remapping via OBD port and fitment of ECU chips or bench flashing where OBD is unavailable.

Are you aware that the engine fitted to your car has had its intended response and power output intentionally restricted by its manufacturer?

This is due to them having to cater for drivers who insist on using sub standard fuels or refuse to adhere to service schedules. Sometimes it is also restricted purely for marketing reasons, often just to drop an engines power output into a certain class. This is common with vehicles powered by Turbo diesels that are popular with fleet buyers for fuel economy purposes.

The good news is, you don't have to keep these restrictions in place. If you wish to have them removed then you simply need your ECU chips remapping. This can usually be done via your OBD port and thus leaves no trace of the turbo diesel engine tuning/remapping or petrol performance engine tuning/remapping having been done.

Beware about quoted power gains and off the shelf DIY tune/remap services. It can cause more problems than it solves.

An ECU map contains verification checksums to prevent tampering, your new map parameters must have the correct new checksum calculated or you are looking at a failed upload or worse still a dead ECU.
Power gains are sometimes exaggerated by some companies to "sell" their product by making the customer think they are getting more from them for their money!

What you need from a tune/remap is a good spread of power from tickover to max rpm, with no sudden surge of power from the turbo, it should be smooth, and the engine will be more lively pulling harder all the way through the rev range.

When pushing the power to it's limits leads to reliability problems, injectors leaking, hesitation, over boosting, at it's worst a "blown" engine.

The Remap is usually done through the OBD port using something like the "Genius" tool. The map is extracted from your ECU and a copy is made, yes your vehicle can still be used whilst this is done, then it is uploaded to the mapper where the map form your vehicle is modified to suit, eg: if you have fitted a cat back exhaust/ aftermarket filter etc.

When the map has been modified it is then sent back to the Installer where it is loaded onto the "Genius" tool and installed back into your vehicle. A copy of your original file is always kept safe..

All too often we see many owners cars that have had a cheap or bad remap, some rendering it unusable, or destroyed, Immobilised.

Remapping services

So when your offered a "cheap" tune/remap off a mate who has bought a bargain tool off ebay with modified maps, be very careful. These maps are not going to be of any quality whatsoever.

At the end of the day, this is a high technology industry that requires constant re-investment in tooling and skills due to the sheer pace of the technology utilised on modern vehicles.

Anyone diesel tuning or engine tuning/remapping at O. E. level as we are needs to be constantly retraining and have access to the best tooling and software that money can buy, and it cannot be bought with mere thousands, you need to invest tens and ultimately hundreds of thousands.

When a professional does the work he will start with you OWN original file and modify that one so that all immobiliser and chassis information is retained, as well as any updates you have had installed from the factory such as personality settings and bug fixes etc.

The cheap engine tuning/remapping file fitters normally install files with no immobiliser software and no factory bug fixes so at best you get a car with more power and a lot of bugs, or at worst one with an immobilised ECU that nobody can access or even one that does run but a thief can take from you in under 10 seconds.

Make sure your engine tuning/remapping service provide their own maps and write their own code, there are lots of companies out there that just buy off the shelf maps and rebadge them.

So you can be safe in the knowledge that when you have a tune/remap done by a professional company and it will come with a guarantee from a professional company with the best after sales service and backup when needed..

Finally, your installer should be able to give you the telephone number of the actual file calibrator if it isn't himself.

That way you can call him and get some information as to their credentials. Please take care out there... don't be the next customer whom comes to us to get their ECU working again after someone has damaged it with cheap tools and diesel tuning inexperience. Remember, tools are cheap, knowledge is invaluable.

This was originally an advertorial feature from a company which have since ceased trading, but it contains good advice.

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5 Responses to “Dangers and problems with some tune/remap services”

  1. billy says:

    hello i would like to know what course power failure/surge

  2. Scott Pickworth says:

    Hi, do you sell something I can buy to revert the map back to factory settings for warranty work?

  3. Donna Parlour says:

    Can a remapping cause a spark plug to go through the engine?
    On the test drive after the remap(the garage drove it) the number 2 spark plug went through the engine! They are saying it’s nothing to do with them???

  4. TorqueCars says:

    Spark plugs that are not seated correctly are prone to fly out of the engine at speed with a loud bang. An old worn out spark plug could break off at any time. A remap alters timing, fuelling and spark timing, none of which could affect a plug. My guess it was faulty and as the car was driven gently it didn’t show up. When the engine was driven hard this weakspot manifested itself, but it’s down to vehicle maintenance in my view or was just a faulty plug.

  5. Andrew says:

    Had my focus tdci 1.6 remapped car was fine at first but now sluggish getting turbo lag temp gauge up and down sometime fans on just after a few miles could this be to do with the cheap map

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