Ebay does it again

I am going to get my 156 2.0ts remapped, in all probability it will be by Red dot.

However, while trawling through ebay whilst soaking my brain cells in Stella :xmas: I came across this little gem.


ebay link


So now i'm thinking I can save myself £200 and do it myself................


............excuse me while I remove my tongue from inside my cheek.


Happy bidding people

OK for reading codes, wouldn't trust the maps enough to put one on my car though. I would, however, start mapping Saxas and Corsos in Maccy D's carpark on a friday night for fifty quid a pop - soon make a load of money and take some chav-mobiles off the road as an added benefit!

Originally Posted by Pud237

OK for reading codes, wouldn't trust the maps enough to put one on my car though. I would, however, start mapping Saxas and Corsos in Maccy D's carpark on a friday night for fifty quid a pop - soon make a load of money and take some chav-mobiles off the road as an added benefit!

Coming to a supermarket car park near you soon!!!

I suspect it doesn't do the later bosch edc 16's in the 2004 0n diesels, which probably have the most to gain. Cheap enough to see what the maps contain.

only about getting the right maps and flashing the ecu, I have flashed my bios mem enough times now on my pc, same thing really.

Originally Posted by Enzo156

only about getting the right maps and flashing the ecu, I have flashed my bios mem enough times now on my pc, same thing really.

until it goes wrong and your left with a £600 repair bill...

there is a good reason remapping is left to the pros mate, im all for trying things yourself but there is some things you really dont want to risk.

my advice would be go to red dot if your close enough, if not i have had no problems with angel tuning and have heard good things about celtic tuning. i would much rather fork out an extra 200 quid then risk turning my ECU into a toaster

oh and as for the 'ecu tuning disk' they mention, i have a copy of that, i can email you the alfa maps if you really wanted them, they are not what i would call trustworthy tho!

im not saying anyone should do this, but lets not make it out to be something its not... these guys will tell you loads of stuff to boost up there profit margin when really all it is a pre set map flashed into the ecu which actually doe snot take long as they have the preset maps already!

running it on the rollers after and testing and getting it right, now thats money well spent if it costs the same

right, this stuff, kwp2000 is not for reading fault codes.

It is for re-flashing the ECU.

35,000 tuning files!!!

I have used this on a few cars, last on my alfa, some files are better than others, but you DO NOT KNOW what you are putting in your ECU.

As it happens, I used a few files to get the boost right up (over 2.3bar spike) on my 140bhp 2.4JTD - merely for testing boost pipes, that they would withstand increased pressure etc.

I then went down to RED DOT, I left one of the milder (or so I thought) tuning files in the ECU, it went on the rollers with 192bhp and 270ish lb/ft torque.

It was impressive (the map from the CD) and Augusto described it as 'Lairy'

I think he had a job in topping it, but he did and it came off the rollers with 202bhp and 311lb/ft torque at the wheels!

It isn't without a glitch though, I have just assembled a fuel cut defender circuit board to stop the ECU seeing overboost - but this was all agreed (OK) at the time as I was happy to take this small project on in pursuit of power. that will be fitted tomorrow which will then allow me to use full throttle!

For me, DIY tuning can be fun but you can't see what the map is, and for best results take it to RED DOT.

In my case I had the stuff to hand anyway, I wouldn't buy it, your better using Red Dot.

As for all the scare stories, I have not had a problem in the years I have had access to this equipment, but saving the cars file first is always a good idea, and be careful if you do decide to do it.

Originally Posted by jasons

It isn't without a glitch though, I have just assembled a fuel cut defender circuit board to stop the ECU seeing overboost - but this was all agreed (OK) at the time as I was happy to take this small project on in pursuit of power. that will be fitted tomorrow which will then allow me to use full throttle!

More info

Originally Posted by Pud237

OK for reading codes, wouldn't trust the maps enough to put one on my car though. I would, however, start mapping Saxas and Corsos in Maccy D's carpark on a friday night for fifty quid a pop - soon make a load of money and take some chav-mobiles off the road as an added benefit!

now that has got me thinking

Originally Posted by kgb

More info

OK, went to fit today but encountered a slight technical problem, I have wired the chip pins 5-8 in reverse!

So just put that right and bench tested.

The idea of it is this...

Run too high boost, and the ECU (after a couple of seconds) will cut the fuel, as in the engine stops, key off for 5 secs or so and re-start, and this can happen at speed.

Basically the MAP sensor is a 2 bar sensor, it has a 5+Volt feed in, and on idle output 1.9V, this increases (linear) as the boost
increases, but if the ECU see over 4.5 (ish) volts it sees an overboost, therefore cuts the fuel.

So the FCD is simply a little circuit board that clamps the voltage, this can be adjusted via a POT for fine tuning, anywhere from 0-5volts.

I will install again tomorrow with it set for 4.5volts and then fine tune it from there, the idea being the ECU never sees above that voltage and does not kill the fuel.
Boost gauge essential!

This way I can finally give the thing full throttle without the worry of keeping 1 eye on the boost gauge to make sure boost does not go over 1.9bar. - it spikes at 2.3/2.4 bar.

Thanks for the info...it helps solve the problem for some cars:xmas:

BTW can't you just increase the boost limiter, or probably you have already done that.

ps: I was hitting 2.3--2.4Bar with the faulty solenoid valve that controls the vanes of the Turbo...the second I fitted the BMC-CDA...before that with the stock filter no more then 1.7Bar was possible...so no limp home mode with stock filter.

ps2: what bhp/torque are you running with 1.9Bar? and on what turbo?

Originally Posted by kgb

Thanks for the info...it helps solve the problem for some cars:xmas:

BTW can't you just increase the boost limiter, or probably you have already done that.

ps: I was hitting 2.3--2.4Bar with the faulty solenoid valve that controls the vanes of the Turbo...the second I fitted the BMC-CDA...before that with the stock filter no more then 1.7Bar was possible...so no limp home mode with stock filter.

ps2: what bhp/torque are you running with 1.9Bar? and on what turbo?

What I didn't know untill today was the edc15c ecu on the 2.4jtd runs overboost, this is why they spike high for a few seconds then lower the boost to (stock) 1.2ish bar.

The red dot map spikes at 2.3/2.4bar then settles at around 1.5ish.

What I found with the FCD (clamping the voltage) was if you clamp at 4.2/4.3volts, then the ECU does not try to settle the boost lower, it runs over boost all the time as the ecu never sees the overboost in the first place, so never limits it.
This means the turbo will run 2bar pretty much all the time, more at lower revs, slightly less at high revs.

On the rolling road it ran 312lb/ft torque at the wheels, that was 29psi, 2bar. Different conditions to road use though as the car runs in overboost during the RR sprint, so I wonder if JTD's on the rolling road come out with higher figures than they would on the road - where load is different, 5th gear uphill etc, overboost for a few secs, then drops to a lower boost level also dropping power?

Anyway, turbo is stock, GT2249V, I am going to let it be for a while on overboost all the time, as it drives more like a petrol now, but with huge torque.
When it blows I may well look at a GT2256 or similar?

would i be correct in saying tho that this piece of kit could copy the remapped parameters on another engine the same as yours, then you could replace your own map and put in the one you copied?

Originally Posted by Decky

would i be correct in saying tho that this piece of kit could copy the remapped parameters on another engine the same as yours, then you could replace your own map and put in the one you copied?

this is the case for the majority of cars.

You also need a program that can calculate the checksums, as you can not copy the map of one car and write it directly to another...maybe for some of the older cars you can, I don't know