The hidden dangers of remapping:
A few things to consider before purchasing a remap.
Having been in the business of recalibrating O.E Engine management systems for over ten years, we have been watching the market change with a mixture of disappointment and dismay. It is an unfortunate fact of life now that there are many products on the market that give anyone with a little computer knowledge access to the engine run calibration stored within a vehicles ECU.
This was always going to happen as all the manufacturers now allow ECU recalibrating via computer so that faults can be ironed out at dealer level and options can be added to the car without factory intervention.
The problem is, you can easily go online and buy yourself a relatively cheap programmer that will both read and write the file in your engine management system, which means if you had the means and know how to edit it, you could alter the way the engine runs. This is where the problems have started to arise as not only can you buy the hardware, you can also buy files on a CD that claim to offer the same as the professionals do. These CD's often have some 10,000 modified ECU's files on them, and all for only £4. Does that sound like a professional has made them to you?
Generally speaking, these files have been stolen from one or another tuner over the years and been compiled onto CD/DVD. Are the files good? Nobody knows... will they kill your engine? Well, we sure wont be finding out as we wouldnt dare use one on your expensive engine, but sadly hundreds of these people have and the manufacturers are likely selling ECU's, Engine's and transmissions like hot cakes as a result!
We feel it was worth writing this page to make you aware that the reason for the sudden drop in market price of this product is due to the sheer amount of companies that have suddenly popped up claiming to be experts at remapping engine management systems! Its usually quite easy to spot them, just start asking some searching questions about how the maps work and you will soon find out if you are talking to a man who knows a little bit about computers and will change the file in your ecu for one he found on a CD he purchased from some online shop, or if your talking to an industry professional who has been doing this successfully all his life and actually calibrates the file for your particular car and as a result can tweak it to perfection and ensure all security and chassis coding is retained.
At the end of the day, this is a high technology industry that requires constant re-investment in tooling ad skills due to the sheer pace of the technology utilised on modern vehicles. Anyone remapping at OE level like we are needs to be constantly retraining and have access to the best tooling and software that money can buy, and it cannot be bought with mere tens of thousands, you need hundreds of thousands. When a professional does the work he will start with you OWN original file and modify that one so that all imobiliser and chassis information is retained, as well as any updates you have had installed from the factory such as bug fixes etc. The "Cheap File Fitters" normally install files with no imobiliser software and no factory bug fixes so at best you get a car with more power and a lot of bugs, or at worst one with an imobilised ECU that nobody can access.
It is prudent to ensure you are getting good backup and after sales support. Simple things such as:
. 7 day no quibble trial period so you can test in your own time.
. Lifetime warranty on the product against corruption or other product.
. Easy access to your original calibration file if you need it.
. Power and torque improvement guaranteed.
. Fuel economy improvements guaranteed if Turbo Diesel powered.
Finally, your installer should be able to give you the telephone number of the actual file calibrator if it isn't he himself.
That way you can call him and get some information as to his credentials. Please take care out there... don't be the next customer whom comes to us to get their ECU working again after someone has damaged it with cheap tools and inexperience. Remember, tools are cheap, knowledge is invaluable.
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