Digital Plug-in Tuning System for my Volvo D4! Good idea/Bad Idea??

[kennyh]

Hi all

I was looking on eBay for Volvo Penta parts and I came across a Digital Tuning Box solution for my Volvo Penta D4.

The one in question is from Chips Express and claims to take it from 260hp to at least 313hp and from 610Nm to at least 712Nm of torque.

So, assuming that the thing actually works, is that a good thing to use on a 7 year old engine (circa 300hrs). Will the engine be put under too much additional stress? And does it actually work/ would that performance gain be noticeable on a 30 motorboat (Jeanneau prestige 30s)?

Finally the key question: Is it worth £400?

 

[[2068]]

Bad Idea.

The cooling system / cylinder head is upgraded on a D4-300.

 

[Divemaster1]

As FP state ... probably not a good idea ...

Bigger bang in the combustion chamber = more heat to disperse of, so you ought to upgrade cooling system as well ...

Then there is the standard piece ... "propellers move boats" .... so no point in more HP, if you cannot transfer it into the water ... so new propellers are needed..

So, by the time you have played with cooling system and new propellers etc., you probably will find that your £400 is more like a couple of thousand pounds and you will have a higher stressed engine with a "home-made tuning kit" .... which I cannot see selling well if you in the future are considering selling the boat...

 

[kennyh]

Bad Idea.

The cooling system / cylinder head is upgraded on a D4-300.

That's all I need to know.

I'm certainly not wanting to risk causing damage to my engine!

 

[volvopaul]

Props move boats not engines, unless you increase the rpm you won't increase the boat speed , you will need to increase the prop size to gain anything.

 

[kennyh]

Thanks all

My initial thoughts were that whilst not necessarily increasing top speed, an increase in torque may increase pick-up / acceleration for those times when I'm heavily loaded, and thus my potential interest in the "improvement".

However, if being chipped/tuned resulted in increased load/stress on the engine or stern gear that was beyond the designed specifications, then I'll pass on that.

 

[wakeup]

Thanks all

My initial thoughts were that whilst not necessarily increasing top speed, an increase in torque may increase pick-up / acceleration for those times when I'm heavily loaded, and thus my potential interest in the "improvement".

However, if being chipped/tuned resulted in increased load/stress on the engine or stern gear that was beyond the designed specifications, then I'll pass on that.

So this is a prop issue not a torque/HP issue. You could replace your props or have them modified for a pitch to increase time to plane.

 

[spannerman]

This has been discussed many times and I would point out that all of these devices work the same way on a common rail diesel. They push the injection system to operate outside its tried and tested parameters, so you are running your High pressure pump harder to generate higher injection pressures. VP say on a new engine your guarantee will now be invalid, period. On an older engine, well you are now your own test pilot, the built in safety limits above which you get error codes are now operating in unknown territory.
A customer once wanted a Mercruiser D320 chipping, I had to drive the RIB while the chipping guy tried loading new software, he tried 4 versions with no positive result, either we got lots of black smoke, or under way the drive wouldn't trim out unless you throttled back, or we got overspeed and limp home. In the end he sold the RIB and bought another one with a Mercruiser V8 HO 496 which then gave him the 50 kts he wanted, the diesel only made 46kts!