Increased performance & better economy !!!!!

[watty55]

Hello, Has any member fitted a "Torquing Diesel Tuning Module" (or any similar unit) to their Motorhome?

This is a plug in unit as opposed to remapping an engine, it claims (allegedly) to give up to 30% more torque/power and up to 20% extra MPG. I think the price is about £330 which sounds reasonable if it does what it claims. My one concern is that could the unit ultimately have an adverse effect on the engine.

 

Regards Watty

[Tracker]

I used a Turbotune DT box from Energy Tuning on a Coachbuilt with a Fiat 2.3 and turned up to full power and torque it was surpriisingly quick.

At the lowest of the settings it seemed to make the engine smoother and it did, I think add a couple of mpg.

Trouble is you can't have it both ways and heavy footitis tends to take away any mpg benefit.

I also had the box rewired for a 2010 Peugeot 2.2hdi with similar results.

 

PS I've retired from Motorhoming and sold the van but I still have the box and am open to offers. Energy Tuning will re program and rewire for any diesel for a fee. Their website should clarify.

[747]

I used a Tunit box on my 5 Ton van with the Ducato 2.8 JTD engine.

 

You can set a number of levels of extra power depending on where you set the 'jumper' in the box. I had it set about halfway and found that it made a difference. It's difficult to say if I got more MPG or not because I had a great big heavy brick of a van. I would think that on a medium sized van there could be a small improvement, t would depend on the shape of the van. Something with a big overcab would negate any improvement in MPG. You need to remember that Drag increases as the square of the increase in speed of a vehicle. I would ignore claims of big increases in MPG, it is hogwash.

 

I would recommend the Tunit box.

 

http://www.tunit.co.uk/

[Billggski]

I was very sceptical about such claims, preferring a full remap on other vehicles (when they were out of warranty).

But I picked up a top notch tuning chip on eBay very cheaply and thought "why not?".

It was very easy to fit and had good results, (in an overcab bed 2.3 x250)

Mpg about 15% better and smoother acceleration.

So I'm a convert.

[Agaric]

This company is a bit cheaper than you have quoted at £234, http://www.dieseltuningbox.com

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

watty55 - 2017-08-21 5:58 PM

 

Hello, Has any member fitted a "Torquing Diesel Tuning Module" (or any similar unit) to their Motorhome?

This is a plug in unit as opposed to remapping an engine, it claims (allegedly) to give up to 30% more torque/power and up to 20% extra MPG. I think the price is about £330 which sounds reasonable if it does what it claims. My one concern is that could the unit ultimately have an adverse effect on the engine.

 

Regards Watty

As others have said, you will be very lucky if you get both. My reservation with these devices, or remaps, is that commercial vehicle engines are basically designed and equipped to be thrashed day in and day out without faltering. They are generally also set up to deal with fuel of varying quality. So although fuel efficiency is a consideration, it is not the major consideration, while reliability takes priority.

 

This means the engines have inbuilt reserves. What the electronic devices, or remaps, do, is to release some of the built in reserve in favour of power or economy. Motorhomes seldom do interstellar mileages, but they are heavier, and less aerodynamic, than the vans upon which they are based, hence their higher fuel consumption. So, they are already working harder than the average van even when driven moderately. If your van feels underpowered, particularly if it is one of the older 1.9 litre diesels, that is basically because that is how it was designed. Its cooling system may therefore struggle to deal with the additional heat the modification will release. Remember, basic physics says that if it is working harder, it will run hotter.

 

The variants of the Fiat 2.3 litre engine basically produce their varying power and torque outputs through differing electronic "maps" for the engines. However, in these cases, with the extra power tends to come things such as an intercooler, an oil cooler, a larger radiator, an additional, or larger, cooling fan etc, and possibly a beefier clutch. It is a matter of degree, and of the engine/power train you are starting with, as to how much you can safely extract without provoking trouble. I'd therefore suggest you first make enquiries relating to the engine in your van, and what you can safely extract from it, if you want to minimise the chances of those possible adverse effects.

[Wortho]

My 21 year old Landrover TDI is pre ECU so in order to increase the power as with most older diesels you have manually tweak the fuel pump to deliver more fuel. This is pretty straight forward but the problem is the increase in EGTs (exhaust gas temp) as a result of burning extra fuel and therefore it is important that you fit a pyrometer to measure the pre turbo exhaust temps at the same time. Modern diesels don't need a pump tweak as such but chip tuning alters fuel and air delivery in much the same way so EGTs are just as important. Some chip tuning companies fit a Pyrometer and monitor pre turbo EGTs to avoid melting the turbo https://chiptuning.com.au/why-are-egts-important/

After I tweaked the fuel pump on my TDI I found I could easily exceed 720c pre turbo when towing up hill so the pyro guage was Crucial to avoid turbo/engine damage. I believe Americans used to call this 'driving by the pyro'.

Cheers

Wortho

 

[watty55]

Responding to Brian Kirby & Wortho.

 

My Motorhome (Autoroller 747) has the 2.3/130BHP Ducato unit and when travelling around it's usually loaded near to the maximum weight of 3.5 tonnes, with reasonably steady driving i consider the the MPG i achieve is not bad for low profile brick. Where i think the improvement could be obtained is a little extra power or performance, as soon as an incline or hill appears there is a slight struggle and a lot of gear changing.

Can i assume that the Ducato 130 unit is less "stressed" than the 150 unit and the difference is only due to factory remapping, or does the 150 unit have bigger/stronger components. If the difference is only remapping, then perhaps the 130 unit could benefit from a tuning device that should give a slight increased performance and less gear changing.

 

Regards Watty

[Wortho]

Hi Watty

This older thread suggest turbo differences between the 130 & 150 http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/130-or-150-2-3-ducato-whats-the-difference-/38089/

Cheers

[747]

watty55 - 2017-08-23 9:10 AM

 

Responding to Brian Kirby & Wortho.

 

My Motorhome (Autoroller 747) has the 2.3/130BHP Ducato unit and when travelling around it's usually loaded near to the maximum weight of 3.5 tonnes, with reasonably steady driving i consider the the MPG i achieve is not bad for low profile brick. Where i think the improvement could be obtained is a little extra power or performance, as soon as an incline or hill appears there is a slight struggle and a lot of gear changing.

Can i assume that the Ducato 130 unit is less "stressed" than the 150 unit and the difference is only due to factory remapping, or does the 150 unit have bigger/stronger components. If the difference is only remapping, then perhaps the 130 unit could benefit from a tuning device that should give a slight increased performance and less gear changing.

 

Regards Watty

 

If you ask that question on the Fiatforum you should get a better technical answer.

 

http://fiatforum.com/ducato/

[watty55]

Thanks 747,

[Kevin1946]

I started to use one called Race Chip about 6 years ago on a new 2011 Mercedes E 200 CDI 100 kW engine it improved low down power but made no difference to mpg I still have the car with over 90,000 miles and the Race Chip is on it. I fitted one to a 2004 Elddis 1.9.the Race Chip company claim that it increases BHP from 84 to 105 BHP.The van is totally different to drive,on a motorway there is no need to change gear it just pulls away.There are 3 levels of race chip I got the entry level one which cost 112€ delivered from German to Ireland.

With the extra BHP you could have a problem with your clutch,I fitted a new clutch disc plate and bearing as my Elddis has high mileage.Mpg is 26 to 30 over 2000 miles.i don't know what it did before I fitted it as the van was so under powered I found I had to keep changing gear on even a small hill,I live in Wicklow which has a lot of hills.

The Race Chip has a number of different settings but I used the factory setting of 105 BHP,it took me about 10 minutes to fit.

Kevin