Over the last few weeks, my car has been hunting at idle, until it’s up to operating temperature and then it seems fine. Poking around under the bonnet with the engine running, I fiddled with the wiring looms and the hunting stopped. Looking at the wiring, I decided it didn’t look genuine, so investigated further and found sensors plugged into this non genuine looking loom and then a black box dangling down the back of the engine. So I’m guessing this is a tuning chip box thingy the previous owner fitted. Must be a cheap eBay special as it’s got nothing written on it. 

Now I'm a bit worried, as my thoughts are to remove it, but I’ve been so pleased with the performance that I think I’ll be disappointed once it’s gone and I’ll be looking to replace it. I’ve also read about the gearboxes on these being close to their limit on torque. What’s the general thought about this, Chuck it out ASAP or leave it alone until it really causes me problems. 

The pics to me at the moment  are low res due to bad internet signal.. but it almost looks like someone's shifted the OBD port? Are there any markings to go by?

Apologies, it could be anything but from what I currently see! Lol

Sorry, those pics were a bit dark, I was trying to juggle an iPad in one hand and a torch in the other, which was very difficult considering one of my hands was in the picture.🤣

Possibly obvious from the first picture, one of the units plugs goes to this sensor here, which I’m guessing is the MAP/boost pressure sensor and the other one disappears down towards the gearbox, where I believe the fuel rail pressure sensor is.

Unplug it .and plug original connector back on  . See how it drives

@iantt just saw your reply come though as I was about to post. 👍 It’s going in the bin now, unless anyone wants it for that placebo effect?😂

 

Took the box off, as predicted it’s a cheap eBay special, does literally nothing to the car, except the bad connection causing my hunting problem. The wires going to the “tuning box” are just bridged inside it. The red and black wire going from the MAP sensor just end at pins. All looks very impressive with that mass of pins, but most of them aren’t connected to anything.

So it drives better now? 

Well no hunting at idle, so yes.😁 

Been doing a bit more research and it turns out this wasn’t quiet as bad as it looked. Turns out it’s part of a Racechip tuning box which I think is a fairly well established company. The box fitted to mine is designed to return the car to stock without having to remove all the wiring when the car is sold. The proper tuning box can then be returned to racechip to be reprogrammed for your next car. 

They do a box that they say would give me 156hp and 349Nm of torque, sounds fun, but also sounds like a gearbox killer.

I had a Racechip unit on my previous car which was an Astra 2.0 cdti. It worked fine in the beginning (maybe 10% increase in power at a push despite the Racechip claims) but eventually the DPF sensor failed and then it was never the same after that so I removed it completed. 

I decided to go the Bluefin route on my 1.5 cdti. Plugs into the OBD to install new map. (15-20hp and 50nm at 2000 rpm)

I am very happy with the Bluefin unit after 14k. Much better performance 3rd thru 6th gear. 

Easy to revert to standard map for services.  

@Reddamper I’d be really tempted to do something like this, but I worry about what I’ve read about the gearboxes, wish they were rated a bit higher. At the moment I’m quite happy with the way it pulls so I’ll leave alone.

On 4/28/2019 at 7:47 PM, Matt92 said:

@Reddamper I’d be really tempted to do something like this, but I worry about what I’ve read about the gearboxes, wish they were rated a bit higher. At the moment I’m quite happy with the way it pulls so I’ll leave alone.

I don't now if it's true but I've also seem comments suggesting the manual box in the 1.5 TDCi MK3.5 is close to it's limit at factory power levels.

Yes, I’m only going on what I’ve read on around on the internet, so I don’t know the source of the information or if it’s true. As far as I know, the gearbox is rated to 285Nm while the car has 270Nm as standard. I also understand that cars with automatic gearboxes have 300Nm as they can take the higher torque. I also read that some tuned diesel fiestas where eating synchros, so it all sounds about right.

I’d hope that there is a slightly higher safety margin than 15Nm, but I don’t want to test it out.😅

2 hours ago, Matt92 said:

Yes, I’m only going on what I’ve read on around on the internet, so I don’t know the source of the information or if it’s true. As far as I know, the gearbox is rated to 285Nm while the car has 270Nm as standard. I also understand that cars with automatic gearboxes have 300Nm as they can take the higher torque. I also read that some tuned diesel fiestas where eating synchros, so it all sounds about right.

I’d hope that there is a slightly higher safety margin than 15Nm, but I don’t want to test it out.😅

I'm sure one of the boxes fitted to the MK1 C-Max had a similar issue (it might have been an auto) it was right on the edge of what the box could take in terms of torque at factory settings....you can guess the rest 

Hi, new to Ford Owners Club. Always thought about remapping/tuning my 2015 Ford Focus Zetec S TDCI but not sure what's best. I have looked up this RaceChip and they seem well developed... but after reading the comments above re the gearbox, I'm slightly cautious about buying and installing the RaceChip. Any suggestions or general views about tuning my specific engine?