Ecu remap causing faults. Thoughts?

BBT · 12 Mar 2020 at 11:11

Hi all. Just wanted a few different opinions if possible. Heres the story....

Bmw x5 2014 3.0d was remapped with genuine kess v2 (eco map was written) and map was provided by a very reputable tuning company north of england. Everything was textbook with no problems, wrote fine, started/idled fine and drove away fine. After about 2 miles and 'aparently' not driven hard the engine cut out and would not start or even crank. Map writer has checked over the file again and assures its well within tolerences etc. Car is currently being diagnosed by bmw and awaiting results but what are your thoughts on the remap itself being the sole cause of something going wrong?

I just want to add that the car was presented with 40 ish thousand miles on clock but later was found to have been clocked as the car was bought at salvage auction in 2017 with 167k on clock (ex police write off) so realisticaly the milage is around 200k!!

Dis86 · 12 Mar 2020 at 11:56

And this kids is why you don't map diesels.

BBT · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:05

Why not map diesels? Im not saying stage 3 power map a 1.3cdti corsa lol. But a lot of diesels respond well to a remap, not just for more torque etc but for economy also?

Dis86 · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:12

BBT said:
Why not map diesels? Im not saying stage 3 power map a 1.3cdti corsa lol. But a lot of diesels respond well to a remap, not just for more torque etc but for economy also?

Has yours responded well?

acemastr · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:17

Did the starter make a sound when trying to start it?

Nothing wrong with maps, they have done so many that it really isn't a big deal anymore.

BBT · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:18

Single click when start button pushed as if dead battery. Tried with jump leads same result. All electrics etc on as normal.

Vita · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:21

Wonder if an injector has gone down? From what I recall; if one goes down the car fails to start. Not even crank.

Strange how after the map, it’s done this. Did they check for error codes before mapping?

Doobedoo · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:22

Dis86 said:
Has yours responded well?

Mine did.

Dis86 · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:25

Doobedoo said:
Mine did.

Did. Past tense? Do you not think it may have affected things such as fuel consumption or the longevity of drivetrain components?

BBT · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:27

Vita said:
Wonder if an injector has gone down? From what I recall; if one goes down the car fails to start. Not even crank.

Strange how after the map, it’s done this. Did they check for error codes before mapping?

No codes. I am the one that put the map on. The map itself was written by a very reputable tuning company who i have used for over 20/30 map writes. I just think im being took for a ride especially after finding out the engine is not 40k as presented to me but 200k! He is basically saying even if it is the starter motor gone bad then the remap is to blame. That kind of guy

BBT · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:28

Dis86 said:
Did. Past tense? Do you not think it may have affected things such as fuel consumption or the longevity of drivetrain components?

Of course added strian etc in time and driving style dependent but after 2 miles and not thrashed (so he says)

sigma · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:35

BBT said:
No codes. I am the one that put the map on. The map itself was written by a very reputable tuning company who i have used for over 20/30 map writes. I just think im being took for a ride especially after finding out the engine is not 40k as presented to me but 200k! He is basically saying even if it is the starter motor gone bad then the remap is to blame. That kind of guy

Are you referring to the seller here?

Was the car sold as having 40k miles? Do you still have a copy of the advert? Bit late now, but I'm guessing you didn't do an HPI check?

Look at the MOT history online, you should see the difference in recorded mileage.

Sounds like you'll probably end up going down small claims if you want a refund from the seller however the remap does add another dimension which may not make it clear, especially in the eyes of a judge who won't be a car person. What you need is some sort of expert diagnosis, which is the route you seem to be going down by asking BMW, this is the correct path to choose - be sure to get a detailed report from them, outlining the suspected cause if possible. If the BMW quote is really high I'd check it with a local BMW specialist as getting it fixed and moving on might be the least hassle, given the remap situation, that does seem like a potential get out clause from the seller. If you can prove they lied about the mileage I still think you're good to ask for a refund (especially if it's after fixing the current issue yourself).

Doobedoo · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:36

Dis86 said:
Did. Past tense? Do you not think it may have affected things such as fuel consumption or the longevity of drivetrain components?

Still drive the car put about 50,000miles on it with the remap and it’s never skipped a beat. I made sure it was a clutch friendly map but no I don’t think it’s had much effect of drivetrain reliability or the engine a turbo.

What the op is experiencing could be just a coincidence that it was remapped or could be a fault with the map itself.

Dis86 · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:37

BBT said:
Of course added strian etc in time and driving style dependent but after 2 miles and not thrashed (so he says)

And that's the pickle. You have a car that will have had millions of pounds of R and D put in to it, including software mapping. It's then passed to someone, who in the majority of cases will have little actual education on the matter and has fiddled in with options for a few hours. Dave, in his shed, is highly unlikely to come up with something as safe, reliable and optimised as the manufacturer.
That's why things frequently break afterwards.

acemastr · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:39

Vita said:
Wonder if an injector has gone down? From what I recall; if one goes down the car fails to start. Not even crank.

Strange how after the map, it’s done this. Did they check for error codes before mapping?

I'm thinking this, either the car realizes and says no, or the cylinder is flooded and hydrolocked.

As for the people worried, I'm running a map that changes my fuel type entirely, running 85% ethanol. Calm down.

sigma · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:40

Dis86 said:
And that's the pickle. You have a car that will have had millions of pounds of R and D put in to it, including software mapping. It's then passed to someone, who in the majority of cases will have little actual education on the matter and has fiddled in with options for a few hours. Dave, in his shed, is highly unlikely to come up with something as safe, reliable and optimised as the manufacturer.
That's why things frequently break afterwards.

I wonder what the T&C's are. Presumably the remappers take no blame but I'm unsure how this would stand in a court of law, especially if it can be proven that the map caused damage. Duty of care?

acemastr · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:41

Dis86 said:
And that's the pickle. You have a car that will have had millions of pounds of R and D put in to it, including software mapping. It's then passed to someone, who in the majority of cases will have little actual education on the matter and has fiddled in with options for a few hours. Dave, in his shed, is highly unlikely to come up with something as safe, reliable and optimised as the manufacturer.
That's why things frequently break afterwards.

You realize these tuners are a business and make a living from this? It isn't Dave in his shed.
Plus most engines have fail safes built in anyway, even if the tune was massively out it would compensate.

Doobedoo · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:43

sigma said:
I wonder what the T&C's are. Presumably the remappers take no blame but I'm unsure how this would stand in a court of law, especially if it can be proven that the map caused damage. Duty of care?

I’d imagine it’s the risk you take which you unknowingly signed on the dotted line before work commenced. It’s like overclocking your cpu, the majority of the time it’s fine for most people but you’ll always have someone who either got unlucky or pushed things too far.

Such is life.

Dis86 · 12 Mar 2020 at 12:55

acemastr said:
You realize these tuners are a business and make a living from this? It isn't Dave in his shed.
Plus most engines have fail safes built in anyway, even if the tune was massively out it would compensate.

You do realise that just because someone operates a business it doesn't mean their products are any good? I'll state again, manufacturers have massive research and development budgets as well as other resourced which go in to the initial maps, do most aftermarket remappers have access to these kind of resources to develop and test the work they're doing?

Dis86 · 12 Mar 2020 at 13:04

sigma said:
I wonder what the T&C's are. Presumably the remappers take no blame but I'm unsure how this would stand in a court of law, especially if it can be proven that the map caused damage. Duty of care?

When I've looked at it unless they offer a specific warranty themselves, which few do, they absolve themselves and say it's at the owners risk.