WoW engine remap (1 Viewer)

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fjmike

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Now that I have a Smart car and trailer I find that my Mercedes Sprinter 215 CDI based Pilote motorhome struggles a little on hills. Thought that a remap maybe the answer but I am hesitating as I am wondering about the long term effects of the remap. Has anyone had a remap by WoW , if so did you have any problems and were they sorted to your satisfaction?.
 

vwalan

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just drive a little slower with that bhp should be well enough .you have as much as alot of lorries .there is good reason for lower speed limits when towing .enjoy the ride .get in the slow lane its great in there really ,eat a yorky bar and be happy.
i also suspect alot of the engine failures on mercs are down to the remaps. save your money. cheers alan.
 

dav b

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re map

hád my merc e280 and( fiat ducato 3 litre motor home bessacar e769) remapped by gcl tuning bury st edmonds,i can assure you it is well worth spend,both have increased pulling power and at least 6 to 10% better fuel consumption,this gives much more relaxed drive especilely with my heavy motor home.:thumb:

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coolasluck

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just drive a little slower with that bhp should be well enough .you have as much as alot of lorries .there is good reason for lower speed limits when towing .enjoy the ride .get in the slow lane its great in there really ,eat a yorky bar and be happy.
i also suspect alot of the engine failures on mercs are down to the remaps. save your money. cheers alan.



I agree its great in the slow lane as long as the lorries leave you alone:shout:
 

motorvating

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Diesel engines on average use 50% of there potential due to the manufactureres having to produce an engine that can perform in all climates.

as you live in a temporate climate you can make performance adjustments without any effects to your engine.

BHP is not what you are after, it is torque that you want, and diesel engines have loads of it, and a simple remap unleashes loads of it.

There are two types of remaps:

Off the shelf cheapo remap
The poor mans remap that gives more torque, but is a basic tune.

Personal remap
Costs a a little more, but will tune the power curve of your engine so you have a power curve from the instant you accelerate all the way to the top of the rev range.

Both remaps will save you fuel, but the personal remap is the better all round engine tune.

Another option is to remove the CAT as it is not a MOT requirement on a diesel, and the CAT just puts back pressure on the turbo viens, thus giving you turbo lag.

Not sure where you live, but R-Tech in Hinckley can give you a superb remap for around £250. Each remap is done by an ex Porche racing team ECU engineer.

there are no dangers of a remap to your engine, except accodents if you boot your motor after. The only thing you need to do is change the oil more often.

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fjmike

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The only thing you need to do is change the oil more often.

In all my research on this subject (well I have looked a bit and I'm not good with search programs) this is the first time decreasing oil change intervals has been mentioned.
 

4b2

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You could try one of these (obviously the one for your vehicle tho):

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imprint

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Jim, changing chip is not quite the same as remapping - it was an earlier and I think a cruder physical activity, whereas mapping in theory gives an infinite number of possibilities and depnds more on the tuner's skill, and interpretation of your wishes, and less on what chip happens to be available.

Anyone known between Carlisle and Inverness, please?

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vwalan

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the real point is stick a car and trailer behind most normal vans campers it slows them down. the answer is get a suitable vehicle for the job. i have all my life played with vehicles done recovery and you cant beat getting the right toy for the job.
towed miles with campers behind a vw t25 not legal really but done it .had 2.1 injection played with had all sorts of vehicles tuned to get more but in the end if you really want to tow car and trailers you need a truck type vehicle. then they arent fast either. cheers alan.
 

Euramobilly

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I think there is a big difference between a remapped motorhome (where the new oomph is most likely to be used sensibly) and remapped boy racer car. I'm really conservative about things where engines are concerened having spent 38 years in the motor trade but after thinking long and hard about remapping with my other vehicle I'm getting the 2.8 JTD remapped tomorrow. I'm not a diesel tuning expert but I'm fairly happy that it won't do any harm long term. I'll let you know how it goes at Celtic Tuning tomorrow! They must be pretty close to you Allan.... (If you know anything bad don't tell me!) :Eeek: :ROFLMAO:

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vwalan

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well you better come up the road and have a coffee .i only live just up victoria road .you cant miss it have the 5er on the front. next door as a man truck on his drive.call in .if you go next door from them you can get cheap sat navs .they supply amazon or something .i dont use them but the chap next door bought one a while ago. what time you there as i have to go to big wheels in the morning.
cheers alan
 

motorvating

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In all my research on this subject (well I have looked a bit and I'm not good with search programs) this is the first time decreasing oil change intervals has been mentioned.


This is information given to me from engine gurus in my other hobby of hotrods and custom cars.

What I am told is that if you are going to tune your engine, you will probably use that extra power, thus you would improve breaking in a car ect, and would either use better oil to cope with the new tolerances, or change the oil more often. If the oil has to work harder, it stands to reason it will degenerate quicker.
 

motorvating

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I think there is a big difference between a remapped motorhome (where the new oomph is most likely to be used sensibly) and remapped boy racer car. I'm really conservative about things where engines are concerened having spent 38 years in the motor trade but after thinking long and hard about remapping with my other vehicle I'm getting the 2.8 JTD remapped tomorrow. I'm not a diesel tuning expert but I'm fairly happy that it won't do any harm long term. I'll let you know how it goes at Celtic Tuning tomorrow! They must be pretty close to you Allan.... (If you know anything bad don't tell me!) :Eeek: :ROFLMAO:

Find out if it is a off the peg remapp or one that is configured by a IT techy tuning expert.

The two types are similar in cost, but years apart in performance.

for example:
two identicle 2.2 engines will have different tolerences so will have different performance levels through the range, so an off the peg remapp will improve parts of the power curve, and do nothing for the resy of it.

A tailer made remapp will make fine adjustments to your engines performance all the way through the range. This will mean you have to change gear less, thus saving fuel, and makes for a much nicer drive.

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imprint

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With respect, motorvating (which means 'I'm about to be rude, but politely') any racing engine has to have its oils changed frequently. You have, and use, far more power than the manufacturer's standard.

I don't think we need worry about this in mildly adjusted Motorhome engines. This is because the altered performance will not be used for much of our driving - 60 mph on the level requires the same hp regardless of how it's obtained. The tuning in most cases will merely release the potential already achieved in other versions of the same engine with identical service intervals.
 
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fjmike

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Thanks for all the useful stuff so far.
Anyone else have experiences , good or bad with WoW ???
 
Aug 27, 2009
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The tuning will merely release the potential already achieved in other versions of the same engine with identical service intervals.

I drive a standard vw 174bhp are you saying that the only difference between the standard vw 130bhp and the 174bhp is a £200 remap. Same engine same service intervals. Price difference £2500?:Smile:

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Hi fjmike,

To my knowledge chipping is the same as remapping! Basically when they remap your car they should give you a 'chip' with your original map in so you can change back if you need to. Which is why it is often referred to as chipping.

When you remap you can ask for changes as you require them, be they performance or economy.

My Wifes new BMW 635D has 286BHP with 580Nm torque. With a remap this will go up to 350bhp and 700Nm! A lot more power for sure!

There is little or no harm in a remap. As already stated it is about a vehicle that the manufacturers make for every condition, all a remap does is make it more suitable in your own condition!

The most important thing to do after a remap is inform your insurance company! If you don't and have an accident they can delve deep and find the remap with the consequent refusal to pay out of course! I understand that a 10% improvement is the best value with little increase in your premium.

Best regards

Chris
 

vwalan

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the worst thing is they all quote the bhp but give flywheel figures .guessing .what should be done is put your vehicle on the rolling road .check bhp at the wheels then remap ,check the differance. then you can get a print out and know what you have .the other way is remove engine and use a proper engine dyno .i think most dont actually do what they say.
 

Macytia

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I drive a standard vw 174bhp are you saying that the only difference between the standard vw 130bhp and the 174bhp is a £200 remap. Same engine same service intervals. Price difference £2500?:Smile:

The 174 has a larger Turbo than the 130:Smile: Most power options on engines are only software though, i.e Merc 311, 109hp Merc 313, 130hp, the only difference is software and 155hp can be seen from both engines after a Remap, the 313 is £2200 more at point of sale.

Chipping

Most vehicles before 2004 had a physical eprom chip soldered to the board containing the engine management maps, this could generally be reflashed with new software without removing. The term "Chipping" came in a lot earlier when cars had write once chips that had to be replaced with tuned chips.

Remapping

2004ish on there are now processors fitted to the board instead of chips containg the engine management maps, these cannot be removed and can be erased and re written, origional software is read, modified and written back to the ECU.

The same result is reached whichever method is needed to tune the vehicle, more power, torque and generally more mpg. Nothing is really "Chipped " these days as tools can access most stuff by the OBD socket, the last one I did was a 1996 Volvo T5 2 months ago. Most motorhomes from 2000 on can all be flashed via the OBD socket saving time and effort and being less intrussive for the customer.

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Last edited:
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[FONT=&quot]
The 174 has a larger Turbo than the 130
clip_image001.gif

.

Thanks macytia, I did have a full list of the differences between the 130 and 174 but it's hiding somewhere. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As you say the big difference is the turbo but there are a few smaller alterations to the engine internals to cope with and create the extra torque. A couple from memory are (crank journals, cylinder head ports,etc) [/FONT]
 

imprint

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Thanks, Macytia, for saving everyone from the same comments from me, but I'd have used twice as many words!

I asked earlier does any Funster know anypne between Carlisle and Inverness who is reasonably good on MHs - (Ducato 2.0 litre JTD to be precise)? Any offers?

Also repeat the advice about insurance.
 

Macytia

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Thanks, Macytia, for saving everyone from the same comments from me, but I'd have used twice as many words!

I asked earlier does any Funster know anypne between Carlisle and Inverness who is reasonably good on MHs - (Ducato 2.0 litre JTD to be precise)? Any offers?

Also repeat the advice about insurance.


Give Stan a bell at http://www.ecotune-scotland.co.uk/

Based in Glasgow:thumb:

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