# Chip or Re-map



## andygrisswell

Can anyone help! Thinking of having my 2.8JTD engine chipped or re-mapped, which is the best system to go for and can anyone suggest who can do it.


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## wakk44

Hi Andy,

I have the same engine and gone down the re-mapping route.I would highly recommend this upgrade for the 2.8 JTD.

The increase in power is evident,particularly on long uphill gradients where previously I would have to change down to 4th,the truck will now sail up in 5th-and I have the long 5th gear,it's also useful to pull away from the HGV's on the motorway when they are playing sily b*****s

There are some re-mappers on here who have good reports from members,I chose someone off of e-bay who came to the house to do it.Took him all of an hour then a test drive with a guarantee of a full refund and returned to the original settings if I wasn't completely satisfied

I haven't noticed any difference in fuel economy or smoking from the exhaust,in fact I can't see any downsides really,except it may invalidate the engine warranty-if you tell them


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## CLaw

Hi Andy,

I too have the 2.8 JTD engine & have just booked it in to a local tuning specialist for a 'Superchips' upgrade. there is no way i would ever be brave enough to get something off Ebay for my pride & joy, so have gone for perhaps one of the most recognised names in the business & fitted by a long established company - where i can call upon if all goes wrong. Yes, i have probably gone for the dearest option, but i don't want to be stuck somewhere in the future, broken down, thinking why didn't i spend that extra £100. booked in for May 11th so will report back with results. Tuner said i should expect a 10-15% improvement in fuel economy & also said it is an approved upgrade by many manufactures & won't invalidate any warranty. this is a permanent upgrade tho' as it involves fitting a new circuit board in the ECU. 
hope this is of some help.


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## teensvan

Hi.

I fitted a chip box unit 2 years ago to our 2.8jtd and it did make a big difference. It took me just 40 mins to connect it all up. If i change the van for another 2.8jtd the chip box can be taken out or sold ..

steve & ann. -------------- teensvan.


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## boosters

If superchips are stripping the ecu to fit a new eprom they are using old technology and today this is not neccasary as this ecu can be programmed through the diagnostic port,therefore reducing the risk of bad solder joints and breaking the ecu seal and moisture contamination.We have the latest software and have the uk licence for it,when our modification is in the ecu it can not be detected by the main dealer as the flash conter is reset prior to us working on the ecu.
Regards
Alex


Mod Note. URL removed. Advertising.


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## 96706

I had my 2.0 HDI Box remapped by Harold of 
http://www.ecu-chipping.com/index.htm

Excellant job, best £299 I've spent on Hilda. We now travel virtualllly everywhere on main roads in 5th gear and are comfortably able to overtake with easy. No having to change down gears. It will also pull us up quite steep hills now in 3rd or 4th gear whereas we used to struggle in 2nd or even 1st.

Probably not given any benefit on MPG but then that was never an issue.
The comfort of the driving style now makes even Jean happy to do a stint behind the wheel.

Also you'll find that Harold is also a member here and his No quibble guarantee speaks very highly of his product. I doubt that we will ever have to see him again ( in the nicest of ways of course) :lol:


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## b16duv

Andy,

I had my 2.8jtd remapped at Pickering show last year by Alex at Boosters - he advertises and is a member here.

Great improvement to driveability - no changing down from 5th to 4th on a hill. 

I get another 10mph average speed for same fuel consumption and would presumably get better fuel consumption at a lower cruising speed.

Alex is thoroughly professional and a decent bloke to deal with.

Recommended.

David


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## duxdeluxe

Would definitely go for a remap over a tuning box and in any case never buy a tuning box from Ebay. Have got both (not on same vehicle!) The MH has one done by Darrell of Torquing BHP - good solid remap and huge difference to the van. The other is a spider "smart" unit which I can transfer from car to car if I pay a small fee and send it back to be reprogrammed. 

If I was keeping a vehicle any length of time a remap from a reputable tuner such as boosters will completely transform your motor


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## andygrisswell

Thanks to you all for your comments, I have spoken to Alex and I have arranged to see him at the Stratford show.


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## CLaw

*chip update*

a quick update to my earlier post - for anyone interested. Superchips agent informed me that my chip was not flashable, so fitted a new chip. He had done this many times before & convinced me that this wasnt an issue. Anyway, definately a marked improvement in both performance & fuel economy. Taken the van over to W Wales & W Yorkshire, both involved some decent hills. the van will climb the hills much better now but there is still a bit of working the gearbox needed. This power/torque improvement is of most benefit on the motorways where the van wil now go for much longer without losing speed on those long inclines. However, where i used to just give up on busy motorways & sit behind the wagons, i now overtake them all. yes i get there much quicker, but i'm not half as relaxed at the end as previously. if i drove as before i think there would be a huge improvement in fuel consumption. So i think a change of driving style is needed. Anyway, a recommended upgrade especially for a heavier van & would certainly do it again, just dont expect your van to perform like your turbo diesel car.


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## gibb

Had my hymer remapped (2.8 fiat) by Alex at boosters gave it loads more power would highly recommend boosters


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## Mrplodd

Anyone had Merc 2.8 re-mapped ?? 

Just about to buy one (2003 Autotrail with sprintshift box) I am more interested in economy than being able to race GTI's (yes I know driving style is important, at the moment I am getting 30+ from a 97 Hymer 544 with a Fiat 2.5 turbo so I reckon my driving style is fairly reasonable)


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## skiboycey

These are very good.

http://tuning-diesels.com/Synergy1/tu3m.htm

I have one on my van. There's some power settings for low/high revs and I've settled on medium/medium as the best compromise. 5th gear much better and about 10% better on fuel though you tend to just drive a bit faster with the extra power so you don't really get any more mpg.

I spoke with the guy who makes them and they work - just like all the other remaps - by squirting a bit more fuel into the motor at the given firing point. Whether they cost 500 quid or 150 quid it's all done the same way unless you reprogram the ECU which is fine until you have your van serviced and they overwrite it with an update!

The only thing you've got to watch is the clutch. It's a bit on the edge on the 2.8jtd anyway and if you are abusive in coming on and off the power in 4th or 5th with 35BHP more you can provoke it to slip. The 2.8jtd Power 156BHP engine that Fiat released had a better clutch and a bigger intercooler to cope with the increase in power. If you chip your 2.8 you won't so be a bit careful with it.

Cheers, Mark


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## boosters

Be wary of tuning boxes that clip onto the fuel rail sensor,tricking the ecu to believe fuel pressure is low,thereby increasing pump pressure to inject more fuel.The best boxes are the ones that clip onto the injectors thereby increasing the injection timing and not putting extra pressure on the pump.
Also the most increase i have found on any box tested is 20-25% more bhp and torque.
All boxes work purely by 1 aspect fuel thereby overfuelling the engine to gain extra power.
As with a proper remap you are working with all parameters of the engine maps and tuning out defects where the engine is tuned for poor fuel etc.


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## Knauser

So which is the best to go for ... remap or add-on box like skiboycey has installed??

How easy is the add-on box to install??

Knauser


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## Knauser

So which is the best to go for ... remap or add-on box like skiboycey has installed??

How easy is the add-on box to install??

Knauser


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## CLaw

i also have experienced a little clutch slip (twice in a thousand miles) when giving the van a bit of abuse trying to get it going up steep hills & coming of the clutch a bit quick with plenty of throttle. i had been a touch concerned (after recent chip upgrade) but am now a little relieved as this may be the norm (post by skiboycey).Will be more gentle with her in future! (the MH as well)
has anyone else experienced clutch slip after an upgrade?

Cheers.


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## skiboycey

Re - the post by 'Boosters' about fuel pressure I believe the box I have installed doesn't increase fuel pressure at all. It actually works by holding the injector open slightly longer on each firing stroke thereby allowing more fuel in. Of course this will overfuel the engine but the main purpose is to iron out the emmissions rough spots and gain a little more power - perhaps 15% which does make a big difference in everyday driving - rather than to really open up the motor and get 25% plus which would, of course, need a full remap.

I'd be very wary about blowing a motor this hard anyway unless there's an identical model with more power. Even then these more pokey engines often have modified pistons and piston cooling, bigger intercoolers, better clutches and drivetrains and not fogetting bigger brakes. For all the talk of huge power increases sticking to a sensible 10 or 15% is surely much more realistic for the long term health of your engine and drivetrain? This is why I settled on the 'medium' setting on my box. I found giving it full power made the motor smoke on full acceleration and could provoke clutch slip particularly after a long lay up. It also made very little difference as the initial removal of emissions flat spots was the biggest difference in everyday driving. I actually switch it off from time to time and drive it to remind myself how it felt before. It's like going back to a 2.5 from a 2.8...

Cheers, Mark


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## Vennwood

I've been thinking about this for months (and months), even Alex has given up on me. I aways struggle to come to terms with spending around £500 just to reduce changing gear going up a hill or trying to get past a truck that is struggling to get up a hill. 

I guess my problem is that the Iveco doesn't struggle anyway and will happily cruise all day at 70 or even 80 so not really too worried about power and I'm sat there anyway so might as well pass the time by changing gear every now and then.  

What I would be really interested in and would persuade me to go for a re-map would be if anyone came on here and said they got X% increase in fuel economy. Fuel is by far the most expensive item on a foreign trip and the prospects of fuel coming down in price are zero (price of oil doubled again since last month). I would be happy to change gear more often in exchange for a few more miles per gallon.

We are retired now and have all the time in the world to potter around, that said, I don't see many MH'ers zooming past us and the ones that do I can't help but smile and think "I wonder what you are getting to the gallon mate"

Come on Alex - get your thinking cap on and invent a re-map that improves the ecomony rather than helps you get up hills


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## boosters

Hi Venwood
Remapping will also return better mpg and we guarantee .5 min mile increase in the heavy commercial market,the reason we can guarantee this is because the heavy commercials have a speed limiter fitted therefore cannot run over 56 mph,the problem with all other vehicles is it is dependant on your right foot,if you drive in a sensible style you should achieve 10-15% better fuel economy.
The main reason for remapping in the commercial world is purely for fuel economy,we have a customer who had 75 dafs remapped,his improvement was .75 to the gallon improvement,normal mpg was 8.0 mpg,annual mileage of each truck 120000 miles per year.Fuel saving in a year for 75 truks 2 years ago was over £548000.00 pounds.
As i always point out to my customers in the motorhome market average mileage for a motorhome is between 5-7000 miles,you will be a long while returning your investment if remapped purely for fuel economy.
Regards
Alex


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## Vennwood

boosters said:


> the problem with all other vehicles is it is dependant on your right foot,if you drive in a sensible style you should achieve 10-15% better fuel economy.
> As I point out to my customers in the motorhome market average mileage for a motorhome is between 5-7000 miles,you will be a long while returning your investment if remapped purely for fuel economy.


In theory, I agree with you Alex its just that on this forum, and elsewhere, the majority say how much better driving up their favourite hill the MH is and one or two have said the economy was worse, but I haven't heard anyone say how much better economy it is. Surely we aren't a bunch of boy racers 

We do around 15K miles per year so averaging your 10-15% and using a 12.5% improvement in economy, this would return around £400 in a year - now that's worth considering. Come on Alex give me some proof here


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## RichardnGill

Just worked out a 10% saving on our fuel would be close to £200 PA. 

So if remapping saves 10% on fuel, for bigger vans it could be worth while for just for the fuel economy 

Alex does the 3.0 Fiat remap ok? I have heard comments about if producing black smoke when climbing hills after they are remapped. But I have also heard it is the same as the Iveco engine and they are 180Bhp before a remap with a bit more torque 

Richard...


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## boosters

If you had a speed limiter i would guarantee better fuel economy,unfortunately because no speed limiter is fitted to motorhomes i would be leaving myself wide open,but if you think about the theory behind remapping more torque equals higher gear climbing hills etc,top gear reached much quicker and less changing down the box so therefore less rpm which means less fuel injected into the engine.
Also we have a good bespoke mod for the 3.0 160,main reason black smoke is produced is because of excess fuel,this is a problem with plug in boxes and also if you get this with a proper remap the modification is not correct,too much fuel at part load and full load.
Please bear with me anyboidy expecting replies after today as i am away until 30th june.
Regards
Alex


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## zappy61

*tuning*



skiboycey said:


> These are very good.
> 
> http://tuning-diesels.com/Synergy1/tu3m.htm
> 
> I have one on my van. There's some power settings for low/high revs and I've settled on medium/medium as the best compromise. 5th gear much better and about 10% better on fuel though you tend to just drive a bit faster with the extra power so you don't really get any more mpg.
> 
> I spoke with the guy who makes them and they work - just like all the other remaps - by squirting a bit more fuel into the motor at the given firing point. Whether they cost 500 quid or 150 quid it's all done the same way unless you reprogram the ECU which is fine until you have your van serviced and they overwrite it with an update!
> 
> The only thing you've got to watch is the clutch. It's a bit on the edge on the 2.8jtd anyway and if you are abusive in coming on and off the power in 4th or 5th with 35BHP more you can provoke it to slip. The 2.8jtd Power 156BHP engine that Fiat released had a better clutch and a bigger intercooler to cope with the increase in power. If you chip your 2.8 you won't so be a bit careful with it.
> 
> Cheers, Mark


Well I guess with a box at least you know what difference it makes, with a remap you don't know what has been done. I had a remap done after posing the same question some time ago, at first it seemed ok but now I am not so sure. I still have to change gear as often as I used to ( or so it seems over time) and I do get a little smoke on cold starting. I would take it back but the firm has gone like so many more. Now I really need it checked but will this cost money? can I fit a box? etc.

Graham


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## zappy61

*Re: tuning*



zappy61 said:


> skiboycey said:
> 
> 
> 
> These are very good.
> 
> http://tuning-diesels.com/Synergy1/tu3m.htm
> 
> I have one on my van. There's some power settings for low/high revs and I've settled on medium/medium as the best compromise. 5th gear much better and about 10% better on fuel though you tend to just drive a bit faster with the extra power so you don't really get any more mpg.
> 
> I spoke with the guy who makes them and they work - just like all the other remaps - by squirting a bit more fuel into the motor at the given firing point. Whether they cost 500 quid or 150 quid it's all done the same way unless you reprogram the ECU which is fine until you have your van serviced and they overwrite it with an update!
> 
> The only thing you've got to watch is the clutch. It's a bit on the edge on the 2.8jtd anyway and if you are abusive in coming on and off the power in 4th or 5th with 35BHP more you can provoke it to slip. The 2.8jtd Power 156BHP engine that Fiat released had a better clutch and a bigger intercooler to cope with the increase in power. If you chip your 2.8 you won't so be a bit careful with it.
> 
> Cheers, Mark
> 
> 
> 
> Well I guess with a box at least you know what difference it makes, with a remap you don't know what has been done. I had a remap done after posing the same question some time ago, at first it seemed ok but now I am not so sure. I still have to change gear as often as I used to ( or so it seems over time) and I do get a little smoke on cold starting. I would take it back but the firm has gone like so many more. Now I really need it checked but will this cost money? can I fit a box? etc.
> 
> Graham
Click to expand...

After searching out a lot of advice from members who had had remapping done I finally got Harold of Cartech to come and sort me out. First he did a complete diagnostic check to see what had been done and discovered that the previous remapper had not installed the correct map for the Peugot 2.8hdi. He then removed the existing map to disk and remapped with the correct upgraded map. We then went for a test drive part urban and part motorway; it was like chalk and cheese! What a difference acceleration was much better and fifth up hills was a dream. All in all the process took about 2 hours but he insisted that if I was not completely satisfied he would return it to the original and I would owe nothing. I have just done my first trip of around 250 miles and I can say it was comparable to driving a car not a commercial vehicle, mpg was improved as well from 22 up to 26 although this was not my prime intention for the remap it was for power when towing. I am in the process of coming down to one car in the household and have ordered a Toyota Yaris which is a little heavier than the Sceicento (which I will sell as a tow car in September) so the extra torque will be very useful.

Harold came with his wife Susan who are both motorhomers and members of this site and what a nice couple they are, before long we felt we had known them for years!. So if you read this Harold many many thanks.

Regards,

Graham


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