Hi all. This is a long story so I will try and keep it short but I'm having some aggro with my motor after being remapped by a reputable place who write custom maps.
I'll try keep it short and sweet. Had a remap two weeks ago on my Z20LER engined MK5 Astra. It has a full turbo back exhaust and direct to turbo induction set up on it over standard. It ran 221BHP and 216LBFT on the standard map which was brill. Anyway I had the remap written and done/tested and it ran 260BHP and 270LBFT but we then ran again and it ran 240BHP and similar torque. Boost was set to 15PSI for the map so not very high. On the second run it ran at 8psi. So we did some testing then as no fault codes came up or anything so did a smoke test, checked all vac pipes and so on, all came back good. Could not find out what was causing issue so put it down to boost control solenoid which sits on the turbo. We could turn the car off, run it again and it'd run max boost and good power, run again straight after and crap again, no boost.
Took it to log on the road, no fault codes, 4th gear gun it and the boost would die right off, something amiss.
I took it at face value and considered it to be a likely posibility that the BCS was faulty so off I went and got a new one fitted the weekend after, along with a throttle body clean as requested too, as he thought those 2 issues would solve it.
Alas I did the above with a new genuine part and throttle body removed and cleaned and no difference.
5 issues since the remap which I was told the above would cure:
Sport button did nothing any more apart from turn traction on and off
Car was hunting and revs dipping up and down at idle
Cruise control had waivering power, in and out, making it crap to use on the motorway - I then considered this to be linked to hunting, so poss poor throttle positioning settings
Choke mode/cat warm up mode seemed to be stuck on?!
Boost issues top of third onwards making it drop power hugely.
So I went back yesterday for round two, expecting a quick cure as I got it in my head it was just a bad bit of code to do with throttle positioning and the tuner agreed. I spent 5 hours there yesterday afternoon with him changing variable after variable, car getting ran on the rollers time after time. P1106 code came up, which generally links to boost control solenoid. The car has a front and rear one so we blanked the rear off, which did throw a code up linked to it but the car still kept dropping off power.
We then realised that once the car hit it's peak power at about 5700rpm, the throttle opening would drop to 50%, run the car again max it would allow was 50% throttle, which seems tied in to the noticably poor power in higher gears. Basically WOT once, crap there on after, until you turn the car off and on and repeat again. I did notice part throttle actually bought me better performance! Obviously 50% throttle opening = less boost... so it all made sense.
Checked the MAF sensor, MAP sensor (and we did try a spare), smoke test again, all sorts of tests and settings changing so he made the map as basic as possible and we got to a point where idle was really smooth and so on. But it still had this issue.
Put a standard map on and hey presto was perfect each and every time.
Now he has left a near standard map on but with a bit more boost and fuel to help me fault find as he is insistent that it is a hardware issue and now has asked me to get a replacement throttle body which I have ordered and drop the down pipe off to check play in turbo.
At the moment cruise control, sports button, idling is fine and the car drives smooth but still drops power after WOT if you rev it out. Disappointing.
I have mulled it over and despite him trying loads of things and spending hours on it for me, a nice guy to boot, I think he is doing something wrong here.
If I change the throttle body and turbo has next to no play do you think it will be a case of standard map and refund time, irrespective of time spent on it and him being a nice chap?
Does anyone else have any ideas of what would be causing my throttle to only open 50% max after WOT through the first few gears? It's really crap top of 3rd there on after. I don't want to throw good money after bad now and it's annoying finding the time to buy/swap stuff if this is down to bad mapping... Could have spent £100 more for someone who only does Vauxhalls where as this guy does loads, mainly german, but also has rolling road etc which I thought would be beneficial.
And then if I have it mapped again by someone else, am I going to face the same issue?! Possibly best just leaving alone and putting back to standard as it becomes disheatening and the car keeps getting battered on those rollers...
Thanks all
Sorry about the essay lol.
I'll try keep it short and sweet. Had a remap two weeks ago on my Z20LER engined MK5 Astra. It has a full turbo back exhaust and direct to turbo induction set up on it over standard. It ran 221BHP and 216LBFT on the standard map which was brill. Anyway I had the remap written and done/tested and it ran 260BHP and 270LBFT but we then ran again and it ran 240BHP and similar torque. Boost was set to 15PSI for the map so not very high. On the second run it ran at 8psi. So we did some testing then as no fault codes came up or anything so did a smoke test, checked all vac pipes and so on, all came back good. Could not find out what was causing issue so put it down to boost control solenoid which sits on the turbo. We could turn the car off, run it again and it'd run max boost and good power, run again straight after and crap again, no boost.
Took it to log on the road, no fault codes, 4th gear gun it and the boost would die right off, something amiss.
I took it at face value and considered it to be a likely posibility that the BCS was faulty so off I went and got a new one fitted the weekend after, along with a throttle body clean as requested too, as he thought those 2 issues would solve it.
Alas I did the above with a new genuine part and throttle body removed and cleaned and no difference.
5 issues since the remap which I was told the above would cure:
Sport button did nothing any more apart from turn traction on and off
Car was hunting and revs dipping up and down at idle
Cruise control had waivering power, in and out, making it crap to use on the motorway - I then considered this to be linked to hunting, so poss poor throttle positioning settings
Choke mode/cat warm up mode seemed to be stuck on?!
Boost issues top of third onwards making it drop power hugely.
So I went back yesterday for round two, expecting a quick cure as I got it in my head it was just a bad bit of code to do with throttle positioning and the tuner agreed. I spent 5 hours there yesterday afternoon with him changing variable after variable, car getting ran on the rollers time after time. P1106 code came up, which generally links to boost control solenoid. The car has a front and rear one so we blanked the rear off, which did throw a code up linked to it but the car still kept dropping off power.
We then realised that once the car hit it's peak power at about 5700rpm, the throttle opening would drop to 50%, run the car again max it would allow was 50% throttle, which seems tied in to the noticably poor power in higher gears. Basically WOT once, crap there on after, until you turn the car off and on and repeat again. I did notice part throttle actually bought me better performance! Obviously 50% throttle opening = less boost... so it all made sense.
Checked the MAF sensor, MAP sensor (and we did try a spare), smoke test again, all sorts of tests and settings changing so he made the map as basic as possible and we got to a point where idle was really smooth and so on. But it still had this issue.
Put a standard map on and hey presto was perfect each and every time.
Now he has left a near standard map on but with a bit more boost and fuel to help me fault find as he is insistent that it is a hardware issue and now has asked me to get a replacement throttle body which I have ordered and drop the down pipe off to check play in turbo.
At the moment cruise control, sports button, idling is fine and the car drives smooth but still drops power after WOT if you rev it out. Disappointing.
I have mulled it over and despite him trying loads of things and spending hours on it for me, a nice guy to boot, I think he is doing something wrong here.
If I change the throttle body and turbo has next to no play do you think it will be a case of standard map and refund time, irrespective of time spent on it and him being a nice chap?
Does anyone else have any ideas of what would be causing my throttle to only open 50% max after WOT through the first few gears? It's really crap top of 3rd there on after. I don't want to throw good money after bad now and it's annoying finding the time to buy/swap stuff if this is down to bad mapping... Could have spent £100 more for someone who only does Vauxhalls where as this guy does loads, mainly german, but also has rolling road etc which I thought would be beneficial.
And then if I have it mapped again by someone else, am I going to face the same issue?! Possibly best just leaving alone and putting back to standard as it becomes disheatening and the car keeps getting battered on those rollers...
Thanks all

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