Be warned about companies selling so called ecu chips and tuning modules. These companies do not sell anything of the sort; they are not chip tuners and have no ability to tune the ECU in your vehicle. What these companies sell is a box of wires with a 5 cent variable resistor poorly designed to increase fuel pressure on diesel engines.

These companies are often staffed by untrained people with virtually no technical understanding and no interest in tuning. Their claims that the ECU compensates boost pressure and fuel quantity after fitting their box of wires is completely untrue! The only way to optimise fuel pressure, fuel timing, fuel quantity and boost pressure on a turbo diesel engine is by optimising all parameters in the ECU - not fuel pressure on its own.

Sometimes known as "powerbox" or "tuning box", these devices operate by fooling the throttle position sensor along with other sensors and do not optimise any live data in relation to fuel mapping and boost. They also increase fuel pump pressure (without measure) causing negligible fuel economy and black smoke on full throttle. It is actually physically impossible for fuel timing and boost mapping to be optimised using a tuning box.

Because tuning boxes increase soot build up (thanks to over-fueling), this becomes deposited in the cylinder head and turbocharger – further negating performance and reducing engine and turbo life. Soot build-up will also eventually cause poor cold starting and bucking during warm-up. Combustion chamber temperatures also become elevated because fuel is not being metered correctly and is injected – uncontrolled against the cylinder wall. This can in some cases break the oil film against the cylinder wall and cause piston burn-out and possible engine failure.

The companies selling these devices are not tuners and have nothing to do with the chip tuning industry. On the other hand REAL chip tuning employs exactly the same methods used by the manufacturers to maintain vehicle reliability and driveability. Each bit of data is optimised for maximum efficiency meaning very significant torque, power and economy gains.

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