Saturday, August 25, 2012

Diesel Tuning Boxes Explained

Diesel Tuning Boxes Explained

Probabilities are, if you are reading this then you might be thinking about tuning your diesel car and have no doubt noticed the big assortment of 'plug in' boxes that are getting marketed as a tuning remedy. In this report we will clarify the ins and outs of these boxes and shed some light on what they do, and why you need to take care when fitting them and give some thought to other tuning choices.Back in the early days of TDi (turbo diesel injection) tuning issues had been easy, most engines utilized a relatively easy high strain mechanical fuel pump and these may be tampered with to enhance the fuel tension, regularly by a straight forward turn of a screw. You may possibly also adjust the enhance just as quickly thanks to adjustable actuator arms that controlled the turbo stress. Thankfully these engines are now nearly obsolete and contemporary day TDi engines are equipped with advanced engine management systems in the type of Electronic Control Units (ECU's).The ECU is absolutely nothing much more than a modest, even so very complicated laptop or computer that controls inputs and outputs of the engine, it gathers information from hundreds of sensors and inputs and from this data it generates output signals to inform the engine what to do and when to do it. The ECU knows how to do this as it includes 'maps' which are created by the cars manufacturer. These inputs and outputs are processed by the ECU maps thousands of instances a second, this benefits in an engine that is refined, smooth, highly effective and economical.So the engine now has no way of getting adjusted or 'tuned' by a easy turn of a screw as it's controlled by a complicated laptop system that is merely seriously understood by a person that understands computer software programming, electronics and an in-depth specifics of how modern day diesel engines operate, these men and women are handful of and far amongst and to come to be one particular of these people it would take years of investigation and mastering.This is how the tuning box came into existence, individuals knew that you may create a diesel engine generate even more energy and torque by easily adding fuel, nothing at all far more complicated than the old fashi oned technique of turning a screw, nonetheless now that this wasn't conceivable, so a new technique was created. This involved fooling the ECU into adding this even more fuel by altering the signal that controls fuel anxiety. If you reduce the input signal to the ECU from the fuel strain sensor and use a straightforward resistor to bridge the break, the ECU will think fuel stress is low, low fuel tension could harm an engine and the ECU counteracts this by opening the fuel injectors for longer and/or adds far more strain, this adds even more fuel than the ECU thinks and the engine tends to make extra torque. ALL tuning boxes function this way no matter whether it is £30 from ebay or purchased for £300 from a glossy advert in a vehicle magazine, they all use the precise identical simple principle, building an imaginary fault to trick the ECU.So where's the predicament? I hear you ask. So here it's, applying such a primitive system to trick such a very complicated ECU does not even scratch the surface of what is doable. We purchased a couple of of the most high-priced boxes offered and test ed them, we also monitored the car for energy output, fuel input, fuel anxiety, injector duration, exhaust gasoline emissions, turbo improve stress and exhaust gasoline temperatures.Our initial findings had been shocking, on all of the boxes tested we located that a great deal more fuel was merely additional in larger load situations, which means that while the box did trick the engine into building far more energy this would basically come about under full throttle. The energy achieve was also extremely 'peaky' which means that the significantly more torque was not generated for highly long in the course of the RPM assortment. Fuel anxiety was improved by more than 22% (adding strain to the fuel pump and injectors) and we did not even really should consider the exhaust gasoline emissions to know that points had been not perfect, this was clear by the big clouds of smoke emitted from the exhaust, a predicament that is connected with tuning boxes. Fortunately the test automobile didn't have a DPF filter, if it did then it would undoubtably turn out to be clogged extremely very easily. Please stop by our web-site for alot more info on DPF filters.Let' s look into why this smoke is here, due to the alot more fuel anxiety, way more fuel is becoming forced into the engine, on the other hand no a lot more air is getting requested in the type of turbo raise stress which means a highly wealthy mixture and wasted fuel. However the companies of these boxes have further a compact quantity of adjustment in the type of a screw for you to turn to alter the quantity of much more fuel, 1 had a series of switches or 'jumpers' to move about. So efficiently your contemporary diesel engine is getting controlled by an adjustable resistor in a box. Some claim to use microprocessors, even so none of these microprocessors match the speed and potential of the ones in your ECU that they are attempting to fool, this creates conflicts.These conflicts could possibly outcome in fault lights on your dashboard, your engine operating in 'limp household mode' and we have even noticed a Mercedes which had the wiring loom catch fire soon after obtaining a tuning box installed. Other concerns are not seen easily and come about more than longer periods of time, these include faile d injectors, failed fuel pumps, Blocked DPF filters, enhanced fuel consumption and clogged EGR valves, none of these are simple or low-cost to put proper.So why do folks sell these boxes? It's quickly profiteering. A committed and experienced tuner will consistently appear for the preferred way to tune a automobile and not base their final item on development time, price or profit, neither will they take the easiest route and sacrifice the final items reliability and top quality. Tuning boxes are the precise opposite of what the experienced tuner strives to create, a lot of consist of absolutely nothing much more than a couple of affordable elements inside a flashy box, typically manufactured in China and accessible to resellers in the UK for just a handful of Pounds per unit.So in summary, a tuning box is a compromise and also a danger to the reliability and longevity of your car. We genuinely do not sell or install them, and this is the situation with most qualified tuners, nevertheless we do eliminate a massive quantity of them from autos when diagnosing faults, in most situations thi s resolves the signs and symptoms of the fault and the buyer then looks into possessing their automobile professionally remapped.

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