Diesel performance boost...

megakid

megakid

megakid

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I've had my Mondeo TDCi 130 since December (and I still havent put pics up - sorry) and I'm considering chipping it.

Does anyone have any experience of this mod to this engine? On paper the superchip bluefin looks good, a rise of approximately 35bhp to 165bhp and a good increase in peak torque to ~370Nm, easily added and removed but 500 quid when I'm going to getting rid of the car in June seems a bit steap. I'm really only looking for a quick, easy and temporary performance boost until I sell it in June due to a new job in the city.

Does anyone have a cheaper, easily added mod that will do the same job, ie I think it was Jez that talked about the resistor-of-doom on his company TDi Leon?
 
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No experience of that particular engine, but these little boxes do work a treat if you are an enthusiastic driver. Not worth that price though if you're not keeping it long. They don't harm economy if you don't use the extra power.

As a stop-gap, why not add 50 milliliters of pure acetone per 40 Litre (work your tank size out proportionately) in each tank, that gives a lot more oomph according to many (inc me) and is a great injector/valve/combustion chamber cleaner. I get mine from the local Duluxe paint shop. Works out 5 pence a tank and returns about an extra 30 miles a tank too (saving about 4 quid) -when not blasting about ;)

Apparently it 'works' by making the micro-droplets that come out the injectors come out as even smaller droplets, so improving the efficiency of the burn. Reduces particulates from the exhaust and stops that diesel acceleration smoke as a side-benefit. Can't prove that one way or t'other, but the extra torque and economy are defo there. Been using it 18 months no problems.
 
another suggestion would be a TDCi tuning box, my friend has one one his focus 115bhp TDCi, it's took it up to 142bhp on a RR and 300nm Torque and you can feel the improvement, he has a dragon branded box from ebay which is ~ £170, or look out for the bluefin on ebay, i saw one go for well under a hundred quid, and one i was watching went for £150ish for the TDCi.

I'm also interested in this acetone jobbie.
 
If it was that easy with no bad effects then Fuel companys would have already added it to the fuel.
 
for anyone interested, i've just been reading up about acetone, i may give it a go myself....

acetone in fuel

apparently, it works better in diesel, and petrol that has NO alcohol (ethanol etc) in it. It works by vapourising fuel better and is apparantly good for the engine by reducing particulates in exhaust gases, reducing black smoke etc.
 
wez130 said:
another suggestion would be a TDCi tuning box, my friend has one one his focus 115bhp TDCi, it's took it up to 142bhp on a RR and 300nm Torque and you can feel the improvement, he has a dragon branded box from ebay which is ~ £170, or look out for the bluefin on ebay, i saw one go for well under a hundred quid, and one i was watching went for £150ish for the TDCi.

I'm also interested in this acetone jobbie.
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I'm a bit dubious of buying the bluefin devices on ebay as they lock to a car once used and cannot be used on another car until it has been reset by superchips, the company that makes them and i'm not sure if they even do that anymore (or how much it costs if they do)
 
megakid said:
I'm a bit dubious of buying the bluefin devices on ebay as they lock to a car once used and cannot be used on another car until it has been reset by superchips, the company that makes them and i'm not sure if they even do that anymore (or how much it costs if they do)
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That is still the situation. It can only be used for diagnostic use on another vehicle, until unlocked (which is £100 I think).

Worth looking into Dreamscience which is basically the same as bluefin but meant to be better / newer.
 
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Simon said:
If it was that easy with no bad effects then Fuel companys would have already added it to the fuel.
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They probably don't because it'd make some nasty chemicals if it didn't burn completely. Might also be doing some long term damage to other components.
 
Vertigo1 said:
I'd also be very very wary of using it on a modern, high-performance diesel engine.
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I know some people I can ask about this. Got the link now so I'll fire off an email tomorrow.
 
Would be interesting to hear their take on it tbh. From what I've read, the piezo injectors in mine produce 5 separate fuel injections on each cycle so, at 4000rpm, you're looking at 167 fuel injections per second, all at incredibly high pressure. I'd be very wary of adding anything to that environment for fear of damaging the injector system.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Would be interesting to hear their take on it tbh. From what I've read, the piezo injectors in mine produce 5 separate fuel injections on each cycle so, at 4000rpm, you're looking at 167 fuel injections per second, all at incredibly high pressure. I'd be very wary of adding anything to that environment for fear of damaging the injector system.
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My concern aswell, lubricity is an important property of a fuel and adding a solvent can't be good
 
Simon said:
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My concern aswell, lubricity is an important property of a fuel and adding a solvent can't be good
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But at 0.125%? Works both ways I suppose - how can 1 part in 800 of something not that fantastic, Acetone, do that much good, if not bad? Will be v. interesting to hear an educated, balanced view :)
 
Simon said:
I know some people I can ask about this. Got the link now so I'll fire off an email tomorrow.
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acetone is v v v v v bad for many plastics and rubber, i expect it could cause serius problems for fuel lines injector seals, fuel pump seals etc etc

used to use acetone for cleaning products i have mechined in engineering workshops and often melted through gloves etc when using it
 
Malachy said:
acetone is v v v v v bad for many plastics and rubber, i expect it could cause serius problems for fuel lines injector seals, fuel pump seals etc etc

used to use acetone for cleaning products i have mechined in engineering workshops and often melted through gloves etc when using it
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The thing is, that's pure acetone, which is understandable. If you mixed 1.25 ml (Quarter of a teaspoon) of Acetone in a litre of water, do you think even after a prolonged soaking it'd have any effect like that? I'm not up on what Acetone will do when mixed with diesel/petrol (Stay mixed or seperate etc. - chemistry was never a strong point!) so I'm just guessing away really :p
 
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