noob advice on re-mapping

Banzai_Joe

Banzai_Joe

Banzai_Joe

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Joined
30 Sep 2006
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Midlands, UK
Hi all,
so my pug 3008 GT (2017) 2L Diesel auto 180bhp, obviously out of warranty. I was thinking of having it re-mapped. Only because a guy on our local FB page is advertising it. I did some digging and looked at about 3 websites that all calculated an increase in BHP and Nm of approx 14% for my vechicle, with a fuel saving of only 6-9%.
Most prices seem to be between £250-£300 (depending on their "deals").
So....is it worth it?
Will i really experience a performance boost?
Do decent installers guarantee their work?
Any side effects?

I've just booked in for my MOT and service with my local (and trusted) garage and asked the guy there, he wasn't a fan and said if they "know" its mapped they cannot perform an MOT on it.

Seems to be a lot of conflicting info out there, so thought i'd ask the revheads in here for some honest opinions.
I'm really only doing this because its out of warranty and i can't afford a new car yet so wanted to feel like i'm getting a boost from it so to speak.

Many thanks for all advice offered.
 
It is generally fine - but there a lot of fly by night "mappers" showing up nowadays. Historically you would go to a rolling road and get them to create a map specific to your car (from a starting point template of course). The lower cost chaps are just downloading generic maps and flashing your ECU.
 
Firstly you’ve got the anxiety of knowing that your modified vehicle is now no longer insured.
If you declare the mods all the cheaper reputable insurance companies will no longer touch you.
The remap will probably change the fuelling, you risk over fuelling or in some bad remaps running too lean at certain parts of the rev range. (Which can damage the engine)
Having a custom map would be better, but mapped diesels tend to kick out black smoke, not sure how this is going to work with a DPF.
In short as I said, I wouldn’t bother.
 
So....is it worth it?
Probably, from a reputable place

Will i really experience a performance boost?
Yes, how noticeable will depend on the specific car, engine, map etc.

Do decent installers guarantee their work?
Depends what you mean by this, they won't effectively rewarranty your car, so if the engine goes bang or the clutch falls apart a week later, you're probably on your own. Decent places will perform a health check before working on the car but this is no guarantee against any issues.

Any side effects?
Potentially increased insurance costs if you declare it properly (it's more common these days, so it's not as likely they'll just turn you down but expect a premium increase), possibly need to consider more frequent servicing if you're on long intervals, depending on the map quality maybe the DPF will block sooner, increased clutch wear.

On balance, plenty would say its worth doing I think - you can get a fairly decent power hike for not a lot of outlay. Just don't go too cheap and steer clear of driveway mappers imo.
 
I had my old 1.4TDCi Fiesta remapped at RS Tuning in Leeds. It was a blast - and that was only going from 69hp to 101hp. The torque did kill my clutch though - now that I think back.

So expect premature clutch wear.

I was 17 at the time though :o
 
Mapping and DPF removal are entirely different things though. Have been an MOT tester 10 years. OP never mentioned DPF removal. Also even if the DPF was removed, that doesn't stop you from carrying out an MOT, it will just fail.
 
andy_mk3 said:
Mapping and DPF removal are entirely different things though. Have been an MOT tester 10 years. OP never mentioned DPF removal.
Click to expand...
They are different yes, I mention it only because my (indirect) experience is that people looking for diesel remaps are sometimes also offered DPF removals (at a guess because they expect their map to choke up the DPF quicker) and this is obviously considerably more problematic from the MOT perspective, so something the OP should be aware of if he also gets offered similar.
 
Kenai said:
They are different yes, I mention it only because my (indirect) experience is that people looking for diesel remaps are sometimes also offered DPF removals (at a guess because they expect their map to choke up the DPF quicker) and this is obviously considerably more problematic from the MOT perspective, so something the OP should be aware of if he also gets offered similar.
Click to expand...
They still evidence though, not it’s been remapped so it may or may not have been tampered with.

Besides why would your mot tester know or need to know it’s been remapped?.
 
Banzai_Joe said:
with a fuel saving of only 6-9%.
Click to expand...

I haven’t seen a proper study/test which proves this. In my own experience, I have not encountered this either.


A map typically alters 2 things - boost pressure and fuel quantity. The idea behind fuel saving is that because you don’t need to press the accelerator as hard, you don’t use as much fuel


Maybe there is some truth to this but as I say, I’ve never seen any evidence of it being true - though 5th gear did a test which proves it to be false.



You will likely notice more pulling power in 3rd/4th/5th. Whether you want/need this is another question.


In a Peugeot 3008 GT, I don’t think I would bother. And I certainly wouldn’t get it done by a guy who turns up on your drive with a laptop, based on my own, albeit anecdotal, evidence.
 
I think the fuel saving thing is a bit of a myth that comes from how cars usually calculate their MPG, they do it based on air flow not usually from actual fuel injector so with a remapped engine consuming more air throws off the calculations so it tends to read as if you're getting better MPG on the dash. I know the F4R engines in the Clio Sports did this, they would go very optimistic after a remap, when you worked it out properly at the pump though it was a different story.

As for a remap itself, i've had a map on my Subaru but that was done on a rolling road so i trusted the fuelling was ok all through the rev range and that was excellent gained pretty much 50bhp, on a diesel i probably would go for it but only from a reputable mapper, not some lad on Facebook who got a laptop and suddenly thinks he's 10 men. But do expect to sometimes significantly shorten the life of your clutch and other components, OEM maps are designed with longevity in mind so a map with massive dump of torque at 1500rpm will do the drivetrain no favours.
 
thank you all so far, very insightful and i'm learning quite a bit from you guys.
I'm leaning towards NOT having it re-mapped now :)

Oh and to be clear, i wouldn't have used the guy down the road. It just got me thinking about it is all. There's a proper place not too far from me that does the full works, but still......not convinced yet.
 
Banzai_Joe said:
I've just booked in for my MOT and service with my local (and trusted) garage and asked the guy there, he wasn't a fan and said if they "know" its mapped they cannot perform an MOT on it.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure I’d trust a garage that comes out with that utter tosh.
As for a DPF that’s obviously been opened and either gutted or had a new filter fitted, it’s down to the person presenting the car for its MOT to show evidence, i.e a receipt that it’s had a new filter or been cleaned or whatever, or as Andy says, it’ll fail.
 
My current Volvo is mapped, from 150bhp to 180bhp, it's the official "polestar" map, official Volvo software, done at a Volvo dealership which doesn't void any warranty (not that my car had one anymore anyway).

LVE insurance are pretty modification friendly and I still get cheap mainstream insurance through them even declaring the remap and alloy wheels. Admittedly Tesco wouldn't insure me anymore, and most other mainstream won't, but LVE are pretty competitive on price, my comprehensive annual renewal this year was just over £200, so whilst I'm pretty much tied to them now, they are pretty good (on price) anyway.

I will say though, 150 to 180 on a relatively heavy Volvo is barely noticeable and it was expensive £700.

I probably wouldn't bother again, and I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't the official stuff through Volvo.
 
So, got an a reply from the guy in the village doing it and tbf to him he said i'd probably not experience a great deal of benefit and advised not to bother. So........... i think i'm done with this venture.

Thanks for all your input folks
 
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