Is it a chip, or a remap? A remap is good because it sets the ecu up to your individual engine, there aren't any negatives really, because it increases the torque and bhp, and makes the engine run more efficiently, because the increases torque with give the van more pulling power without detriment to the economy.
Like any vehicle though, if you keep flooring the van due to the increase in power you will you more fuel, but for normal driving, the power will increase and sometimes the economy improves too.
Hi,
I think that Lee has summed this up well overall, but I would like to add a little if I may.
The manufacturers of diesel engines allow plenty of performance leeway to make sure their engines are always safe to run in countries with poor diesel quality - like in some countries in Africa where they add other cheaper fuel to the imports to reduce foreign currency outgoings. So there is room to play with settings in the UK as we have a good quality diesel, especially when bought from Shell, BP, Total & Esso.
A chip is a very cheap resistor with a couple of plugs and sockets in a box sold at an expensive price with all sorts of performance and economy claims, most of which aren't true. These chips usually 'interrupt the engine temperature sensor and distort it's readings to the ECU. The ECU is fooled into running different engine and turbo boost settings. Most chipped engines will use more diesel when driven hard, but the claim is that when cruising the engine will use less. They also can be removed and the engine returned to standard without any computer indication/record that they were ever there.
Using additional turbo boost to increase performance is also used by the manufacturers. VW used it on the 1.9 TDi engines and Citroen/Peugeot used it on their 1.6Hdi 90hp engines to rebadge them as 110hp engines, but this turbo boost or turbo over-boost as it was called only became effective in third gear.
I notice that the new 110 hp Transit Connect uses the same 'technology' which costs you an additional £350.00 + VAT.
As Lee mentioned there is also a remap service available which reprogrammes the engine's ECU. This is a better way of doing it but also has it's draw backs. If your vehicle has to go back to the main dealers for a fault code diagnoses they will immediately know that the engine as been modified. You will be probably be charged for reprogramming the ECU back to factory specs before they can fault find.*
Should the vehicle be involved in an accident, the insurance companies are very hot on looking for chipped diesel engines, and undeclared chipped units or remaps could invalidate any insurance claim.
Every time you use extra boost on a turbo you put additional stress on your turbo and engine which will reduce it's life. The difference between the over-boost situation employeed by the manufacturers and a chip/remap is that the overboost was only in third gear, whereas chips of remaps, overboost and over fueling occurs all the time.
Remaps and chips invalidate the vehicle's warrantee, reason in itself to consider upgrading very carefully.
Unfortunately you won't know if the remap you bought was good or not until many miles down the line, and its very difficult to prove that early engine failure was a result of it.
However, my mind always works overtime in this department. The Citroen Xsara was the first car I had experience with that came out in both 90 and 110hp motors. On the outside the 110 unit had an intercooler but the performance difference between the two was very significant. We have a 110 hp Xsara and the responsiveness of the engine is way ahead of the 90hp engine in my Relay or the 90hp car I used to have as a company car. I don't believe its all down to the intercooler, and for interests sake I have tried to find out why there is such a difference in performance. The engines also last well, and I've seen some for sale on Ebay with 175 to 230k.
I can also confirm from experience that there was hardly any difference in fuel consumption between both engines, so more power doesn't necessarily mean better fuel consumption when cruising.
Spruce.
edited. Landrover played this game a couple of years ago. You could buy a UK spec Range Rover in Europe cheaper than in the UK. The Disco 3 had numerous additional computer features which were part of the spec that was sold in Europe but not in the UK. One main issue was that of the Wabesto auxillary heater. In Europe there was additional software included that would allow its owner to activate the heater at a set time in the morning, say half an hour before he usually got in the car to go the work, so when he got to his vehicle it was already prewarmed, defrosted and comfortable to drive in.
If you purchased a Disco 3 from Europe and took it into the main agents here for service, the UK agents would immediately reprogramme the vehicle to UK specs even if you requested them not to - and they charged for the service.
Some owners tried to argue with Landrover UK over it but it fell on deaf ears. A lot of owners didn't even bother but just slipped over to the nearest Landrover garage in France and reprogrammed the ECU back to European specs. If I remember correctly this garage employed a couple of mechanics who just reprogrammed UK Discos all day long.
