Quote:
Originally Posted by TTDegs
welcome Ian 
just bear in mind that in theory, a box could invalidate your warrenty too...
Without wanting to get into the whole debate about false claims under warrenty if your engine goes pop, these are some things you might want to consider.
Remap
There is apparently a 'counter' somewhere in the ECU which keeps a record of how many times the ECU has been changed.
Some companies claim to be able to reset the counter, so that the new map doesn't show here. Not sure if Celtic or SuperChip do this.
The map can be taken off (by the company) at any time (but see above about counter)
SuperChip include their own warrenty in the price of the map, but obviously you woulld need to see the small print and decide if this is of any use to you.
Box solutions:
typically increase power by increasing the amount of fuel being delivered.
Unlike the remap option, these boxes do not, and can not affect the turbo.
This is why they 'only' give 15-20bhp increase instead of the 40-45bhp a map can give.
Whilst you can indeed remove the box yourself (instead of the tuning co having to remove the map), it has not been proven whether or not a dedicated technician could spot the signs of one having been fitted.
horses for courses  |
Hello mate,
Thanks for welcoming us onto the forum.
Oh yes, as you say a box could easily invalidate any warrenty as well. My thoughts are with it being so easy to remove, come service time just whip it off and the car reverts to normal again.
As you point out the remap is by far the better option, in this case the changes are made to suit your specific car rather than a broad range of cars a box could be fitted to for instance.
Also as the way the turbo repsonds is alterted as well your effectively making sure of a more efficient running engine at the same time.
The possability of an inbuilt counter in the ECU is worrying with making changes in the warrenty period, ok we all hope for a pleasant time in ownership of a new car but there is always the possability of problems and hence the need to keep the warrenty intact.
In an ideal world the best thing to have would be one of those hand held Blue-Fin style devices which allows the owner to revert between fuelling maps in their ECU at any time.
I dont think anything like this is available for the Civic although I may be wrong.
It's a catch22 situation as you say, better performance gains doing it the proper way and definetly invalidate any warrenty as physical changes have been made. Or use the lesser box method and hope to keep your warrenty.
Thanks.
Ian