Do Any Of You Remap Your Vans To Get Better Mpg?

ian.settle1 · Sep 3, 2016

Messing about with the mapping of your engine can affect your insurance.

ruston · Sep 3, 2016

UNG said:
The trouble is there are not many experts out there when it comes to the electronic boxes vehicles seem to be filled with
Too many times vehicle techs have a replace everything attitude rather than an ability to interpret the fault codes and analyse the source of the fault

This is the main problem as the codes are cumulative , and the 'tecs' change all the sensors etc , and are a mile off the true fault

ruston · Sep 3, 2016

Dan said:
It's not quite that technical. I've had a few fast scoobies and evos and I'd get them remapped whilst driving around to give a real custom map. Every time I changed a part. It'd never be the ECU that would blow, itd be a turbo or bottom end lol

But you're safe with these fairly stock maps.

On vag 1.9 and 2.0TDI engines there's a limit people go before they say it's a race map and will make you sign somebody to say it's on your head.

Otherwise if you're not happy with it; most keep your actual map before they wipe it and can put it back on. Usually FOC too.

Here is one a mate of mine spent a lot of time from his life building from scratch

View attachment 33317

Dan · Sep 3, 2016

If you're running an engine that doesn't require breaking into the ECU to remap you're fine.

I had, in a 2014 VW Amarok, a gizmo that plugged in (and stayed plugged in) to the port, which I then controlled with an android phone, to increase or decrease BHP. And if I did write it off, as it unplugged it would cancel out the commands to the ECU so wasn't trackable.

There was also another gizmo that was a mechanical change which you plugged in the wiring before the ECU but if you wrote it off and it was totalled it could be found no doubt.

David M · Dec 3, 2016

David M said:
I'll let you know my honest opinion when after its been sorted on Tuesday. Obviously it will take a few weeks to determine if the fuel consumption has changed in anyway.
I'll also try and get some info from the fella who is doing it for me.

So, I have now got an update regarding the mapping of my Golf.
I had the ECU re-mapped and the car performance increased quite noticeably. The running cost (fuel consumption) doesn't appear to have changed much, a touch slightly better but nothing significant.

But after a short period I started to have problems with the DPF (diesel particle filter) blocking quite quickly. This is a filter that is part of the exhaust system which basically cleans out the soot from the exhaust gas. The car is programmed to regenerate the filter, basically when the car gets to temperature the car's management system alters the fuel mixture and injects fuel in the exhaust so that the soot can be burned away at high temperature.
It turns out that my car had a faulty EGR valve (exhaust gas recirculating valve) which is also part of the exhaust system and is all linked in with the DPF and controlling emissions.
The car began to run terrible and I found I had to take it on a long run to clean out the DPF on a regular basis (at least once a week) to sort the problem. So after living with this for a month I decided enough was enough and got a friend of mine to see what he could do.

My options were:-
A. Replace both the EGR valve and the DPF (at a very high cost, in the thousands).
B. Have the car re-mapped again to omit the EGR valve & the DPF and modify the exhaust.

So a piece of advise, have the vehicle checked out first before you commit to performance modifications. Modern diesels, due to emission laws are a pain in the butt!

sparkdog · Dec 3, 2016

I had a Cortina 1600. The electronic ignition made a bit of difference when I fitted it. Usually got 30 mpg or a little more.

Dan · Dec 9, 2016

David M said:
So, I have now got an update regarding the mapping of my Golf.
I had the ECU re-mapped and the car performance increased quite noticeably. The running cost (fuel consumption) doesn't appear to have changed much, a touch slightly better but nothing significant.

But after a short period I started to have problems with the DPF (diesel particle filter) blocking quite quickly. This is a filter that is part of the exhaust system which basically cleans out the soot from the exhaust gas. The car is programmed to regenerate the filter, basically when the car gets to temperature the car's management system alters the fuel mixture and injects fuel in the exhaust so that the soot can be burned away at high temperature.
It turns out that my car had a faulty EGR valve (exhaust gas recirculating valve) which is also part of the exhaust system and is all linked in with the DPF and controlling emissions.
The car began to run terrible and I found I had to take it on a long run to clean out the DPF on a regular basis (at least once a week) to sort the problem. So after living with this for a month I decided enough was enough and got a friend of mine to see what he could do.

My options were:-
A. Replace both the EGR valve and the DPF (at a very high cost, in the thousands).
B. Have the car re-mapped again to omit the EGR valve & the DPF and modify the exhaust.

So a piece of advise, have the vehicle checked out first before you commit to performance modifications. Modern diesels, due to emission laws are a pain in the butt!

That could have happened anyway? Your egr valve went. I assume it was plugged in to check errors so wouldn't have been an issue during the remap. Cars are just cars.