Eco remapping aka chiptuning

[euromodder]

Has anyone had their car's engine software remapped to improve fuel efficiency rather than gain more power ?

Rica in the Netherlands claim up to 15% increases in FE for the 1.6D engine in my car with an E-power upgrade !
RICA Engineering - Performance and Economy Tuning for Volvo, BMW, Audi, VW, Mercedes and most other makes and models

The FE numbers shown are not the official European testcycle ratings, but rather the results of their own (outsourced) testing.


Considering it's actually less (!) expensive as having my rear windows professionaly tinted, I'm tempted to give it a try.

[cfg83]

euromodder -

I think it depends on the car you own. If the "subculture" exists, then I think remapping the ECU/PCM should be affordable. I have also been curious about such products like Megasquirt (see here and here, but ICE only, ). What I like is that they modify the fuel-injector maps without going "inside" the car-puter, so they should work on most ICE drivetrains.

CarloSW2

[saand]

Hi Euromodder
I looked into this idea myself a month or so ago and didn't have much success due to my car's age and I wanted to do it myself so I could continue to tune the best parameters

The thread I started is here. It has some good responses
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ion-13824.html

The concept is definitely a good idea, the ECU configuration and design for the whole car is set up for the worst case conditions and some things are set up for drivability at the expense of wasted fuel.

Unfortunately the implementation can be difficult. For my car in particular I have a car that doesn't have the programming connection instead it has inbuilt configuration values. From what I have read you can usually change out the eeprom or connect up a daughter board which will override settings but I personally wasn't willing to spend that much on the modification and there is a risk of killing your car completely so if your doing it yourself I highly recommend getting a second ECU from a wrecker or something like that.
If your getting a chip tuning place to do the work for you there is the disadvantage of you might not understand what they are tuning out so you may not get the best efficiency or they might cause damage to the car (running too hot or something like that)
You can also go down the path of replacing your whole ECU with a customizable version which is often done in racing however it can cost a lot of money for a customizable ECU.

If you have a bit of a search on google you will find some chip tuning web sites and instructions which might help.

As for my solution I will just be "fooling" the ECU by either overriding its outputs or changing its inputs so it does what I want.

Good luck.

[Piwoslaw]

I've been thinking about eco-tuning, but all the ads I've seen were performance mods claiming that lower fuel consumption was a by-product of greater power and torque. I really don't need a power summit around 4000 rpm since I almost never go above 3000 rpm. What I need is more torque around 1500 rpm, since that's where I'm sitting most of the time. I'm more than willing (depending on the price, of course) to sacrifice high-end performance for lower fc as long as low-end performance doesn't suffer.

Originally Posted by euromodder

Considering it's actually less (!) expensive as having my rear windows professionaly tinted, I'm tempted to give it a try.

How much, more or less? I couldn't find the price on their page.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by saand

I looked into this idea myself a month or so ago
The thread I started is here. It has some good responses
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ion-13824.html

Thanks saand, I'll look into that thread.

The concept is definitely a good idea, the ECU configuration and design for the whole car is set up for the worst case conditions

Volvo used this concept on their DrivE-models fitted with the same engine - apart from the usual ecomods (LRR tyres, lowering, wind deflectors), they also have a remapped ECU that makes them use less fuel.
Actually, these eco-versions also have a better driveability than the original version of the car that I have

Their official FE went from 5 L/100km on my car to 4.5 L/100km on the first DrivE version, then to 3.9 L/100km (with a start/stop function) - that's a 22% change !
If anyone got that sort of FE improvement just from applying the usual ecomods and switching off the engine more often, I think they'd be very happy

Unfortunately the implementation can be difficult.
From what I have read you can usually change out the eeprom or connect up a daughter board which will override settings

The upgrade I'm looking at is fully reversible, and is done over the OBD2 port.

In a worst-case scenario, I could have the Volvo dealership overwrite the upgraded software.

If your getting a chip tuning place to do the work for you there is the disadvantage of you might not understand what they are tuning out

I doubt I'll ever understand exactly what they're doing

But these E-Power remaps are specificly meant to improve FE, not so much the output power (though their is a slight power and torque gain at low RPM)

If you have a bit of a search on google you will find some chip tuning web sites and instructions which might help.

Most of what's out there, is about pure power upgrades, with better FE claimed as a by-product. I don't care about the extra power.

As for my solution I will just be "fooling" the ECU by either overriding its outputs or changing its inputs so it does what I want.

That's the sort of upgrade I'd not do - but it may be the only option for your car.
That way you're fooling the logic in your car into thinking some parameter is different from what it actually is.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

I really don't need a power summit around 4000 rpm since I almost never go above 3000 rpm. What I need is more torque around 1500 rpm,since that's where I'm sitting most of the time.

Exactly - and where the engine is a bit lacking and struggling in my V50.
Engine load is often above 90% or even maxed-out in that region.

Rica's E-power upgrade claims 41 Nm (16%) more torque at only 15 rpm more than now, and a 15 HP increase @ 4000 rpm.

I'm more than willing (depending on the price, of course) to sacrifice high-end performance for lower fc as long as low-end performance doesn't suffer.

According to their published claims, top end power is higher than stock, no need to make sacrifices there even though we'd seldom go there

How much, more or less? I couldn't find the price on their page.

Use RICA Engineering - Performance and Economy Tuning for Volvo, BMW, Audi, VW, Mercedes and most other makes and models to select your car.
Price info is in the text on the left of the power curves.
Price : €580.00 EUR + VAT (€435.00 EUR + VAT for cars over 3 years old)

Looks like they only have a power upgrade for your Svietlana though.


The E-power upgrade on my car is €363.75 EUR + VAT as it is over 3 years old - so with VAT (state tax in the US) it's still under 450 euro (and more) I got quoted for the tinted windows

[EdKiefer]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Exactly - and where the engine is a bit lacking and struggling in my V50.
Engine load is often above 90% or even maxed-out in that region.

Rica's E-power upgrade claims 41 Nm (16%) more torque at only 15 rpm more than now, and a 15 HP increase @ 4000 rpm.



According to their published claims, top end power is higher than stock, no need to make sacrifices there even though we'd seldom go there



Use RICA Engineering - Performance and Economy Tuning for Volvo, BMW, Audi, VW, Mercedes and most other makes and models to select your car.
Price info is in the text on the left of the power curves.
Price : €580.00 EUR + VAT (€435.00 EUR + VAT for cars over 3 years old)

Looks like they only have a power upgrade for your Svietlana though.


The E-power upgrade on my car is €363.75 EUR + VAT as it is over 3 years old - so with VAT (state tax in the US) it's still under 450 euro (and more) I got quoted for the tinted windows

Are you sure the engines are exactly the same ?

OEM generally will try its best to met high MPG, not sure how much they would lean out and any ignition advance would probably mean higher octane .

Now, if like above poster you want to lower the sweet spot of power band you could say use a camshaft with less duration and lift . That and slight tuning if necessary should help .
I haven;t checked in long time but many camshaft makers had eco/low rpm efficiency profiles available .

Edit : I was referring to you post on DrivE-models .

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by EdKiefer

Are you sure the engines are exactly the same ?

At least skin deep - their easily checked statistics are the same except for FC and emissions.

As their FC figures are very different and they also drive differently, there have to be some differences - ECU mapping certainly is one of them, but I can't tell if they also put in different camshafts and the like.

[EdKiefer]

Originally Posted by euromodder

At least skin deep - their easily checked statistics are the same except for FC and emissions.

As their FC figures are very different and they also drive differently, there have to be some differences - ECU mapping certainly is one of them, but I can't tell if they also put in different camshafts and the like.

Checked the site, looks interesting , the gas versions seem to address more ignition timing to optimize FE as they say 98 fuel recommended .
The E-power being TDI looks good ,though not sure what they do to achieve that .

[Vekke]

If you add too much torgue to low revs like below 1500 rpm the cluth will broke and after it has been upgraded the transmission gears will broke more easily... In my 1.9 tdi engine you cannot add about much more torgue just move it little bit more towards 1000 rpm range. sligth increase is still ok