Diesel Chips / Diesel Tuning - How Its Done

[trevt]

chip post

best and most informed post ive read in a while!! very interesting, i can see youve tried to be as neutral as you can . There is a company in California ATS designs (i thing) who do custom conversions , who now do a lot of diesel tweeks and very interesting add ons?
I am very keen on LPG injection into diesels as a way of increasing efficiency and burns , but am weary of Over injecting and over capitalising?(spending a fortune) is there a economic way of having selective "Boost"
trev

 

[johnbritto]

do you have any info or recomendations on the no-limit chip from germany. I have one of these on my cr 2.5 d22 currently on setting 9 with egr mod and snorkel fitted, any advice would be apreciated
john

 

[dezzdash]

what chip do you use mate? and what vehicle?
why did u choose it?

 

[Connaught]

ok i have possibly a stupid question about tuning the engines here.

why can't you connect a laptop into your obd2 compliant port and flash your engines ECU directly - obviously after backing ever thing up etc etc etc, and save the cost of buying a chip

while i understand this question is an over simplification of the process, at the base level its what i am curious about

surely seeing as the tuning chip is just messing around externally with the ECU software; surely you can just do it directly with the ECU

 

[Old.Tony]

The car's ECU is a computer. This computer is similar to the one you're using to use the internet - it runs programs designed to achieve a goal, and these programs are stored in a special area.

The ECU's area for storing the programs is READ ONLY and there's no mechanism within the ECU to allow those programs to be written to or overwritten. We used to call the chips "EPROMS" back in the day I was mucking about with that stuff - Electronically Programmable Read Only Memory. You put the chip in a special writer, load the program and/or data onto it, then remove it and place it into the computer.

It's a reasonable safeguard to ensure the integrity of the programs, which they'd need to do for predictable and relatively reliable operation of the car.

Would it be nice to muck around with it? Absolutely. Give me a screwdriver, a hammer and let me loose on my CAT and DPF just before I comment out the lines that inject fuel into the exhaust stroke. Bonus fuel savings for me!

 

[gazza414]

Tony , what you have posted is not correct..The ECU can be reflashed--actually a company posted here with the info.
I have posted what I do on my Hayabusa's, Triumph's and late model Ford...all reflash the OEM ECU.

Piggy backs as stated many times before re limited..as the previous "poster" suggested --its the way to go.

 

[Old.Tony]

Oh you can re-flash them, but not as they are in the car, hence:

there's no mechanism within the ECU to allow those programs to be written to or overwritten.

Take it out, sure you can play with it. But the ECU won't allow it, so hooking up a PC to the OBD port won't work on a stock ECU.

All of the mobs that offer reprogramming services require you to send the ECU to them - so they can pull the chip out, rewrite it and put it back in.

External chips are something else, covered by Northside in his first few posts, and not something Connaught was talking about - unless I read his question wrong.

 

[Connaught]

Tony, correct i was looking at flashing the eprom chip - something i know in other cases can be done. IE - i have flashed the bios of my motherboard in my computer, so i was just curious as to why it couldn't be done to the ecu in a car (not just a nav),

surely there must be software to do it out there somewhere, i do know from a degree of research that you can fit a 'carputer' in your vehicle and connect an obd2 compliant plug and have a live feed of all the sensors that are monitored by the ecu (i thought this was kinda a neat idea myself) so i was wondering why i coudn't also mess around with the settings

keep in mind that at this stage i am talking purely hypotheticals, i've got way too much to do to my truck to start thinkin about messin around with its computer

 

[KraftyPg]

There is of course software that can talk and play with your ECU if there wasn't car manufacturers would have a fun time finding errors and changing parameters when the car was in for repairs or servicing but getting that software may not be easy. I doubt there are many Nissan dealers who would give you the software and while there is third party software out there it's not often cheap.

I have a copy of ProScan floating around which promised all sorts of changes to the ECU and at the time I got it (09) it was worth about $800US and you still had to buy the dongle to make the software work properly. I got lazy and never bothered to play with the software but yes there is software than can play with any ECU.

 

[rabbit-chop]

Bookmarked. Great thread.
Is there any way of cleaning the gunk out of the inlet without disassembly?

 

[Old.Tony]

As for reading the info from the ECU, you can buy a Scangauge for $200 which has a limited LCD readout that looks like a pocket calculator readout or you can get a bluetooth OBD adapter (must be ELM327-compliant) and for $5 get Ian Hawkin's Torque (Android app) on your smartphone. It reads SO much info from the ECU it's amazing. There's a thread on that somewhere - I think a search for 'bluetooth' will provide the results. We should leave this thread for talk about add-on chips!

 

[Navie Oiler]

Gawd, that is all needed. A proper layout of the traps installing a chip into my 04 Navara. I have decided to stick with the 04 Navara because I managed to pull out a 16 ton Franna that my mate in his new Colorado just wheel spun.... Now all I have to do is find the RIGHT chip...
Again, a very well set out article. I'll cut and paste it into Word for future reference. (that is if you don't mind)

 

[KraftyPg]

Cutting and pasting it is up to you, but I doubt it will be deleted from here so you'll have future reference here as well.

 

[Swell]

Great write up!!

Thanks for the effort. Being better informed will help me in future decisions as I upgrade and mod my car.

 

[choppa71]

Hi I've just joined the forum and I have just had a Diesel Power chip installed on my 05 Navara 3ltr and i must say i am very impressed. I was following a semi on a country road and on approach to a hill that I would normally have to wait i pulled out and was impressed by the power, it just powered up the hill and I thought i might have been in the wife's car. Would Highly recommend a chip.

 

[ben85]

the info on the common rail chips are easy to understand, but im none the wiser on the Di (pre common rail) spill valve chips.

how do they work, just add more fuel?

who makes them, are they all the same or do they have differ from brand to brand?

 

[Chip Tuning]

Northside, great post.

Just add injector tuning for the Chip It Chip as well (as an option) please.

Cheers

 

[zed]

brilliant work- great post for all the beginers like me ! soooo how do you feel about setting mine up and tuning it ,') seriously ? Do you have to do the exhaust before you chip ? where abouts are you? please tell me you in victoria !

 

[Chip Tuning]

no need for after market exhaust ... especially with EGT Controlled Chipping. Exhaust does help but on a Auto D40 with DPF it will blow smoke in the morning if you fit an aftermarket cat.

Parts are sent via post for DIY installation.

Hope this helps

Cheers

 

[johng]

Chip settings

My DPchip has 7 settings and came with the jumper on the middle pair of pins.

Can someone please tell me what chip setting is generally used when manufacturers/resellers state dyno figures? I'm presuming it would be at maximum setting, which may not be good for longevity??

Secondly, under what circumstances is a dyno tune suggested when the rest of the vehicle is standard, well except for a race pipe.

Thanks,
John