Extra Power for your deisel

J

jadeflyer

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I have come across this on another forum I use (very informed) and wondered what folks think about it. I have made enquiries about suitability for a Volvo D4 with positive vibes. Basically any common rail deisel is suitable.

If, like me, your car has the "Common Rail" diesel injection fitted, you can now benefit from a new and relatively inexpensive tuning technology. A 'plug and play' box is fitted to the common rail connector and works by increasing rail pressure.

An explanation of common rail technology can be found here but basically the common rail acts as an accumulator for fuel at very high pressure. A computer then sends signals to the injectors, which are all plumbed into the rail itself. There can be as many as five pulses of fuel sent in per cycle.

I have fitted a tuning box to my BMW530d (yes the one with the new engine ) and the result is very impressive. The mpg on my first run to LHR has gone from 39 to 44 using the same driving style. The autobox changes up earlier with the higher torque. If you floor it, the acceleration is markedly improved. Higher torque is delivered for a given throttle position.

Fitting is easy, just unplug the common rail connector from the end of the rail, snap in the unit and that's it. I had to undo 5 bolts to take off the engine cover, but on some cars the cover can merely be lifted off.

The unit looks like this: (6cm x 4cm x 1.5cm, harness 30cm long)



How do you know if your car has common rail? It's fitted to all new BMWs, Jeep CRDs, Ford TDCi, all GM CDTi, Honda's i-CTDi, Hyundai-Kia's CRDi, Land Rover's TD5, Suzuki's DDiS, Mazda's CiTD, Mercedes CDI, Mitsubishi's DI-D, Nissan's dCi, Peugeot/Citroën's HDI or HDi, Renault's dCi, SsangYong's XDi, Subaru's Legacy TD (as of Jan 2008 ), Toyota's D-4D. Volkswagen Group: The 4.2 V8 TDI and the latest 2.7 and 3.0 TDI (V6) engines featured on current Audi models use common rail, as opposed to the earlier unit injector engines. The 2.0 TDI in the Volkswagen Tiguan SUV uses common rail, as does the 2008 model Audi A4. Volkswagen Group has announced that the 2.0 TDI (common rail) engine will be available for Volkswagen Passat as well as the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta.
Volvo 2.4D and D5 engines, Skoda TDI

they are £150 inc VAT.
 
... and here was me thinking that common rail pressure was determined by the map and the high pressure fuel pump!

dv.
 
o your such a cynic ,you don't think he sell's them do you,mm1. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
They sound marvellous!

But I would have thought that BMW, Volvo, Audi, Jeep etc. would have been able to have worked this aout for themselves, surely??? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

If the item retails at £150 then the manufacturer would be able to maximise performance and supply such a unit as standard at a far lower price, all included. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

There are several people re-mapping chip technology for Volve D6 but the extra power can create cooloing problems and certainly kill off warrantys' so is it really worth persuing as reliability on a cruising Mobo has gotta be more important than performance! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
If it smells like spam and looks like spam, usually it's spam when you taste it.

I'm sure jadeflyer will put us right soon enough if he has no commercial interest in this thing.

And I think we can guess what BMW will say about his warranty when they find he's modified his fuel system to increase the pressure . . .
 
No, I don't sell them, I know nothing about them, nor have I any knowledge of how common rail works. That's why I asked on this forum for USEFUL comments. Also I thought there may be people out there who might be interested in such a product. One of the great virtues of these forums is to spread useful info to others. The other forum I refer to is used by highly professional, technically orientated professionals (not boaters) and there is a long string of interested parties.

I assumed folks on this forum MAY have a slight interest in their machinery and how to improve it. I was always taught that if I had nothing useful to add to a discussion keep quiet!

Meanwhile, is there anyone out there who may have something useful to add to this discussion?

Regards.
 
Being serious, there is a problem here.

You can "turn up the wick", either by remapping (electronic) or changing pump settings (mechanical pump), installing devices that "fool" the ECU into delivering more fuel

BUT

In all these cases, you are generating more power than the manufacturer intended. That means more strain on the cooling system, greater combustion pressures, increased EGT.

If your name is "Col" and you know what you are doing, then fine. But most forumites don't fall into this category, and will just end up blowing a head gasket / melting an exhaust pipe / dropping a valve.

Bear in mind that car engines spend only a small proportion of their time under high load. Marine engines don't.

Also, as Roger says, reliability is the most important factor for most cruising motorboats. Not trying to extract the last 2kts with an increased risk of going "bang".

dv.
 
Sorry, I meant Diesel

A very valid point, but IS this always valid. The Volvo D4 is produced from 180 hp to over 300. Most of these parts are common, would say increasing a 180 D4 to produce 220 hp or a 210 hp to 250 if Volvo produce them to over 300 anyway cause a problem? I bet there's a few out there that struggle to get planing who could use a little extra power. We do have gauges to keep an eye on temps and pressures. If extra power not needed 20% better fuel economy sounds good to me.

I have revisited the said forum. They are reporting 20% more power and fuel economy. As for the question 'why don't the manufacturers do it?' the answer is they do. They don't tell you, just charge you more for a more powerful engine which is the same engine as the unchipped one with less power.

One problem can be the quality of the fuel. EU diesel (car) is good quality as opposed to some countries so this box may have problems. Is our red diesel from a reliable supplier good enough for a performance car?

Regards
 
Some parts are common between the most powerful and least powerful versions. E.g. blocks, cranks.

But, some parts are different. E.g. D4-300 has a different cylinder head, different injection pump, map calibrated for the supercharger etc.

dv.
 
[ QUOTE ]
In all these cases, you are generating more power than the manufacturer intended

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes but sometimes not for technical reasons. Car manufacturers do restrict the power output from their engines to cope with lower grade fuel in other countries but we have relatively high grade fuel in the UK. But the main reason is usually marketing. It wouldn't do, for example, for BMW's 3.0litre diesel engine to produce more power than the 3.0litre petrol engine and manufacturers need to leave themselves headroom to increase engine power over the life of a particular model to keep attracting buyers. BMW's 3.0litre diesel started off with about 185hp and it now produces about 245hp and it's basically the same block. Engine remapping companies will simply do now what manufacturers will do in a few years time anyway. I've had several diesel cars remapped and never had any mechanical probs
One company I know of is moving into marine engines now and have certainly remapped Volvo and VW marine engines for more power
 
In fact, it's quite common for manufacturers to "place" the outputs of their engines in the market, so for example the Porsche Caymens pour output falls exactly between the Boxter and the 911 because Porsche want it to not because that's all it can produce...

VW produce 2.0TDi engines with multiple outputs because that way they can justify charging more for the 170hp version than the 140 version and often they simply design it, find what power it will produce (say 200hp) turn down the wick a bit for the top one and then turn it down a LOT for the entry level.... Then if Ford produce a 2.0TDi with 180hp watch to see how long it will be until their 190hp version comes out!
 
I agree you can get much increased power from tweaking the mapping/software (and it's not intrinsically limited to CR engines, btw) but the claims of 20% better fuel economy are nonsense. The sort of thing that is often put on forums (not this one) but just defies the laws of physics. Where was the 20% more fuel going before the tuning chip was added? In unburnt fuel out of the exhaust? You'd have seen the black smoke. Where was it going?
 
In fairness, if they adjust the pressure properly, so the fuel goes in at a much higher pressure for a shorter time, they can get the same amount of fuel in at a better time, it burns better and cleaner and then rather than only 70% burning completely, perhaps 80-90% will burn completely. Also tweaking boost pressure, and making the engine burn leaner will get more power out of the same fuel - BUT only if they are very very good....... If not the way they get the extra power is just by turning up the boost and putting more fuel in - in these cases then yep I'm afraid the claim of better economy is rubbish
 
Agreed, but BMW and the like are already maximising effciiency by already squirting in the fuel in the right format and getting the leanness-richness right. They're not missing a 20% trick there!
 
With cars, surely you must tell your insurance company that you have 'tweaked' it or else your insurance will be invalid? You are supposed to tel them even if you put 'go faster stripes' on!
 
All modern common rail marine engines are certified to Tier II as well as the completely worthless RCD.

Car engines diesel engines are at Euro 5. Not easy to compare emissions levels as test cycles are different, however a quick and dirty comparison is that Tier II is roughly eqivalent to Euro 3.

The plug in power modules on cars can pull a few levers to make the engine produce more power, generally by fooling some of the sensors. They do not change the fuel map. For example just messing with the EGR control makes a big difference to fuel economy.

Now to cut to the chase, a Tier II marine engine is already running on a far more advanced timing table than a Euro 5 automotive engine, it also has no EGR, so fewer levers to pull.

Yes all manufacturers charge for Hp, same base hardware for a range of engines. However they are not 'chipped' as you put it, each calibration is individually mapped, if you look at the engineering curves they are often quite different. Marine power curves are also optimised to match specific transmissions.

If you purchased say the lowest rated motor in a hardware range and had it chipped to say the highest rating offered by the manufacturer, curve could be all screwed up and EGT could easily be way out of engines comfort zone, hey presto you are into valve drop.

On the subject of Red, put anything over 50 PPM sulpher fuel in an Euro 4 onwards automotive engine and you will poison the Cat which will then plug leading to worse fuel consuption and performance.

Remember, marine engines are optimised for steady state running, unlike automotive engines, which are certified on the ETC (European Transient Cycle) so loadings are quite different.

Manufacturers have to meet production conformity as well as certification compliance so there may be a small margin to be gained by nibbling away at the production conformity, however how do you find out where the boundries lie, chip tuners do not have resources to find find out, so you are in their hands.

Sounds like making an expensive hobby a potentially very expensive business.
 
I can't beleive people are taken in by these claims for more horsepower with lower consumption. The basic laws of physics require that you burn 'X' amount of fuel with 'X' amount of air to get 'X' amount of horsepower for a given motor type.
To get more horsepower from a D4/6 means you have to burn more fuel 'Fact', so any claims for lower consumption are Bulls**t. The only way to save 20% fuel is pull the throttle back! a boat doesn't coast like a car, its always going uphill.
I was with Volvo last week on a D4/6 engine management course, and the Volvo guy said first and foremost your guarantee is toilet paper as far as VP are concerned if you fit any after markey gizmos, also raising the rail pressure on these engines is a no-no, the ECU is mapped for a rail pressure of 400-1600 bar.
The volvo system has a high pressure pump with a Mprop (magnetic proportional valve) on the inlet side of the pump, its a throttling valve and its this that determines the rail pressure by controlling how much fuel goes INTO the pump. This valve is controlled by feedback from the rail pressure sensor, changing this sensor for a 'snake oil' version throws all the mapping out, which in turn fools the ECU fuel consumption calculation figures and runs the high pressure pump harder and nearer to the max allowed pressure of 1900 bar, when the over pressure valve will open. Volvo say this valve will never open under normal usage and when it has it will need replacing as they usually don't seat properly again after the hammering they've had.
When will people realise you never get something for nothing as far as performance in engines is concerned.
Don't they think that the millions invested by Volvo, BMW, and others in research have already got the engines running at their optimum as regards fuel economy.
How you drive is then up to the owner, you can make any boat/vehicle drink fuel if you want to.
 
Thanks, lateboater has a very good explanation, as does spannerman, though I don't agree with the fact you can't get better fuel consumption at the same time as more hp. Modern engines are both more powerful with better economy than old engines, usually partly achieved with clever engine management sytems which this 'box' can help with.

Anyway we have achieved the aim of a good discussion on the subject and concur that this gadget should be left to car owners as, as I suspected, marine engines have different properties. It was definitely worth an ask.

Regards.
 
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