kelly58 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I had a knock at the door this morning from a chap regards Boosters UK engine remapping specialists with a March Offer to re-map my new Peugeot M/H for £249. has anyone used this company to re-map their motorhome ? if so was it really worth it and also my other concerns are regarding the Peugeot Warranty and what the Insurance Co will say regarding the mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 kelly58 - 2011-03-07 10:40 AM I had a knock at the door this morning from a chap regards Boosters UK engine remapping specialists with a March Offer to re-map my new Peugeot M/H for £249. has anyone used this company to re-map their motorhome ? if so was it really worth it and also my other concerns are regarding the Peugeot Warranty and what the Insurance Co will say regarding the mod. Personally I am very suspicious about unsolicited knocks on door offering something. Are you sure it was a genuine company, or some wide boy just looking to take your van for an "upgrade" to never be seen again? or worse, just testing to see if anyone was in before helping himself anyway. Why upgrade with mapping, and risk future engine problems,, I rely on the manufacturer to have got the parameters right in the first place, or take it back and complain if it is suspect faulty. tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 The manufacturers spent tens of millions to get the engine map for your van spot on. They employ hundreds of very very clever engineers, they test for hundreds of thousands of miles, under all sorts of atmospheric conditions. They accept liability under their warranty arrangements if what they've done goes wrong. Why on Earth would any sane person pay dodgy door-knocking types £249 to muck all that up and scarper? If you want sports car, buy a sports car. You bought a van. My honest advice: just drive it slowly, smoothly and carefully if you want to improve fuel economy dramatically.......and enjoy the scenery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 It's a pity they did'nt try reversing them then (all these clever engineers, I mean) *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melvin Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 We paid Boosteruk £449.00 on promotion offer at the Malverns last year, they were suppose to meet us at the Caravan Club site were we had booked in just after lunch, we thought they were not going to turn up, howerer, phoned and eventually they turned up late in the evening. It was turning dark so we had no oportunity to drive the motorhome, in the morning when we left site and on the way home we could tell absolutely no difference at all, after trying the motorhome over several days I contacted Boosteruk and they promised to sort it out, never heard a word again from them. I used Boosteruk because they sponsers a site on MHF, with everyone giving glowing reports about Alex at Boosteruk, so Alex you now have the opportunity to put this one right. Saga charged us an additional £64.82 after informing there underwriters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 BGD - 2011-03-07 11:26 AM The manufacturers spent tens of millions to get the engine map for your van spot on. They employ hundreds of very very clever engineers, they test for hundreds of thousands of miles, under all sorts of atmospheric conditions. They accept liability under their warranty arrangements if what they've done goes wrong. Why on Earth would any sane person pay dodgy door-knocking types £249 to muck all that up and scarper? If you want sports car, buy a sports car. You bought a van. My honest advice: just drive it slowly, smoothly and carefully if you want to improve fuel economy dramatically.......and enjoy the scenery. Hi BGD, While I agree with your final 2 points, I have to say that you are way off when it comes to the engineering... A small team of supposedly clever people design an engine and a 'map' for the injection system that will allow the engine to propel the intended vehicle reliably with a small surplus of power while acheiving thier fuel consumption goal and accommodating poor quality fuel without detrimental effects. Then the production engineers will try and succeed in getting that ideal watered down in order to accomodate another unforseen element (like reduced suphur or added bio diesel). Then the Marketing people will tell them to change it so that certain 'specially developed camper van versions' can have an extra 10hp and a slightly different 'map', plus there will be other reasons for having several outputs from the same engine (normally seen in cars) where differences of 20 to 40hp are often acheived from the same engine, albeit mapped differently. Now, I would agree with you if this did not happen, but it does, and if a firm can claim that they can release another 20-30hp from your vehicle by just programming it differently, while also improving fuel economy and even emissions, for a reasonable cost....why not? If the manufacturer can do it then why not them? All too often we see 95hp, 105hp and 120hp versions of exactly the same engine, with considerable increments in price between them that are far more than the cost of 'chipping' them. Why should the maker have a monopoly on this? I would not re-map a 10 year old van or one with a lot of miles on the clock, but I would be very tempted to try it on something younger. I modified a 2.8TD Iveco Daily a few years ago, it had 125hp to start with and was 'chipped' plus a bigger intercooler and air filter, a few ally pipes for the turbo and that was it. Total cost was £1100 and what a difference it made. Previously it returned about 22mpg and this improved to 30mpg. It went like a train and when our customer towed his rally car across the Alps it ran considerably cooler than it had the previous year. The final power output was around 150hp. Iveco offered this engine at 146hp for £1400 extra and they did not bother with the cooling and breathing part of the job, they just bolted a bigger turbo on and it used a hell of a lot more fuel. Genius. The tuning industry may have been mostly reduced to laptops and scopes these days, but for proper engineers the game is alive and well. You would have thought that the boffins at Fiat had invested millions in producing the perfect article, but the reality is far from that. The same goes for Ford. Try and find out what the differences really are between a 115 and 140hp 2.4 van and you will be surprised. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Don't do it a couple of drivers I used to know through racing did so. One had the engine go pop (a racing term meaning an engine has blown up completely which somehow sounds better) and the other blew the turbo up! It has to be admitted that when racing all over Europe we all covered long distances often at high speed but none of us with standard engines ever suffered any serious problems. The problem is that when chipping is carried out on a car the extra power is at best used for only seconds when accelerating. On a Motorhome it could be used for much longer against head winds at high speed or up long hills. Often if using cruise control the driver may well not be aware of this. When the manufacturers make engines of different power outputs they are making other changes to such things as cooling systems and mechanical components as well which accounts for the price difference. Finally most of the time the standard engine is adequate. I'm not saying you won't notice the difference only that you will not be using the extra power for say 98% of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Colin, The ONLY difference between a 120hp and 130hp is the engine map, or 'chip'. If Fiat can decide that the program used for the 130hp is superior in a camper application to the one used in the standard 120hp then why should it not be reasonable to want to optimise your lower powered one when used as a camper? They deliberately do not list the change as an option because: a) They do not want you to have a choice. b) They do not want you to know what the difference costs. c) They don't want you to know that there is no difference apart from the program in the ECU. A small change of 10 to 15% of power output will not cause any harm. It mostly dials out the factor for low quality fuel. This power is not stolen... it was hiding in your engine all the time! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I've wondered if this re-map, or chipping is snake oil or not. I recently swapped my 2.3 jtd van conversion for an almost identical 2.8 jtd, both Fiats, both LWB vans, same year. I thought going up to a 2.8 would give me better all round performance, the opposite was true, the 2.3 used to fly compared to my 2.8. This thread get's me thinking maybe the 2.3 had been "fiddled" with. How would you know. Now with fuel prices likely to go through the roof I'm wondering if there is any real possibility of some extra MPG all things being equal. Would be interesting to hear from someone who can really confirm this is possible from first hand experience, not just wishful thinking as this can often be the placebo effect. Mind you with some of the prices quoted you would have to do some serious mileage to recoup your investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Hi, There is little difference in power output or torque from the 2.3 and 2.8JTD engines, but the way that the power is developed is quite different. The 2.3JTD is a 16 valve engine, and a characteristic of the multi valve engine is a willingness (and need) to rev a little higher in order to develop maximum power. The 8v 2.8JTD will produce more power from lower revs and will positively discourage you from using any more revs than absolutely necessary. Once you get used to changing up a gear a little sooner in the 2.8 you will find that there is little to choose between the engines. You will either enjoy the more relaxed way of driving, or you won't. Also, it may be that one of these vehicles was built on a Maxi chassis and not the other; if so there are differences in overall gearing that can make a bigger difference to how it drives. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Maybe that's it then, thanks for the explanation. I can say the 2.8 seems a little better when confronted with hills, and yes 5th gear is more usable. But is there anyone out there with experience following a remap/ plug in chip I'm sure many would be interested in their experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nasher Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Hi there,I had my engine chipped by tb turbo 4 yrs ago, Its the 2.8 engine and it cost £500 , the van is a autotrail 696g 3.850 kg my previous van was a bessacar, again 3.850kg both engines were 127 bhp but when i got the autotrail it seemed sluggish i spoke to other owners and one said, they (autotrail) have turned the wick down on the turbo. I dont know whether thats possible. I would say the van reves better with the chip especially 3rd gear the bhp after the chip is 157 bhp. Dont notice any increase in fuel consumption, I dont scream the engine through the gears and always let the turbo cool down a bit before switching off the engine. So the moral is enjoy yer fision chips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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