Tuning Boxes

[Drich290195]

That age old question I want to but heard bad things does anyone use one

[Drich290195]

Anyone got ne

[lewism]

Im wondering the same thing. My mate has just stuck one on his 1.6 cee'd and he has noticed the difference. His used to be a bit slower than mine but now he seems to pull off from me on the straights. He has said that he seems to get a bit more MPG from his car now as well but im going to leave it for a month or two and see if he has anything go wrong with it.

[Drich290195]

That's my worry people always go on Bout problems but never seen anything specific

[Mike77]

I very much doubt that your friend will be seeing better mpg figures with a tuning box, as all these do is trick the cars ecu into thinking there is more air being pulled through, making the ecu react by forcing through more fuel to compensate. Although more expensive you'd be far better off with a custom remap, you would see much "safer" and better results, and actually see some real life increases in mpg too.

[Pidu]

I had owned previously Astra 2.0 DTI (101HP). With tuning box (manufacturer website: http://www.tuningbox.com/en/home.htm) I did about 30 000 miles, then sold the car. After installation (took about 10 minutes, simple plug and play) instant increase of power and torque, dyno showed +22HP and +67Nm. It is hard to drive the same way like before, you simply enjoy the power and at that time consumption increased max 0.5l/100km (with very little smoke when I pushed to the limit). When this time was over and I started driving like before - fuel consumption was about 0,3l/100km lower than before box installation, I think the reason was that power was available at lower revs.

Of course box increases the amount of fuel, but proper box does not cheat ECU with amount of air intake. Mine couldn't, it was placed between diesel high pressure pump and ECU, there is no air intake signal in this place. But there are cheap "boxes" on eBay that cheat air intake temperature sensor etc., but they are wired differently in the car, most of the time they are universal.

The only thing I did not like was a lot of torque from low revs, this could kill the clutch, but if you are aware of that and drive the right way - all will be fine. When you do remap this will not happen.

I was lucky to get this box very cheap, in other case I would probably do the remap.

After 30 000 miles everything was OK with engine and transmission. During this time I had to replace coolant temperature sensor and clean pressure sensor, so it was nothing connected with box. I removed the box and sold it separately. It was the best modification I did with this car, and I did a lot :)

[DaveD]

I can hear the insurance company's rubbing their hands in glee. More money for them ££££ haaaa. Dont forget to declare that tuning box now.

[Pidu]

I can hear the insurance company's rubbing their hands in glee. More money for them ££££ haaaa.

This is nothing new, they try to make money on every kind of modifications, so do not understand what you really mean.

Dont forget to declare that tuning box now.

If it is about me then you have not read carefully. Both car and box are gone, sold last year (car was registered outside UK). The good thing about box is that you can remove it within 2-10 minutes (depending on car) and there is no single sign of it. Why then should anybody bother declaring it?

[Mike77]

This is nothing new, they try to make money on every kind of modifications, so do not understand what you really mean.

If it is about me then you have not read carefully. Both car and box are gone, sold last year (car was registered outside UK). The good thing about box is that you can remove it within 2-10 minutes (depending on car) and there is no single sign of it. Why then should anybody bother declaring it?

A remap wouldn't need to be removed, or declared, its invisible. What if you had a bad accident and the fuzz are involved, they take your car, and find the tuning box, if the accident was found to be anything to do with speed, then you'd really be in trouble. And insurance would be voided. Extreme example I know, but safer with a remap IMO. Each to their own I guess

[Pidu]

Extreme example indeed. You might be right, UK rules are new to me, still learning. And of course I agree and said it before that remap is the best because of many reasons.