Welcome to Carprogrammer professional Car Remapping company located in London in Kingston upon Thames.
Getting the most from your car - by ecu remap - in terms of performance and economy is a great way to improve your overall driving experience and save money on your fuel costs over the months and years. While auto chip tuning a car for optimal performance may sound daunting and complicated to many casual motorists, you may be interested to hear that it can be done in as little as 30 minutes, by remapping the engine electronic module ECM or DME. In this guide, we’ll explain what the term ‘remapping’ means, and what happens when you remap a car.
ECU Car Services we are offering
ECU remapping - electronic module software modification:
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Stage 1
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Stage 2
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Economy
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DPF Removing​ - physically and from software
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ECU cloning - once original device becomes faulty.
ECU Programming - required dealer level equipment
Immobiliser Removing - for older car once impossible to recover original software.
Ecu Chip tuning
Chipping turbodiesel engines can increase economy by seven to 10 per cent, because it adds torque lower down the rev range. This means the engine doesn’t have to work as hard as before. It's these turbo diesel engines (often known as TDI, HDi, CDTi depending on the manufacturer) that are cornerstone of the car chipping industry because an engine chip or software upgrade can cheaply add so much to the performance.
There are two primary reasons for wanting a remap, and they’re called power and torque. When your car left the factory there’s a very good chance its performance was deliberately muted in order to meet product planning objectives or economy and efficiency targets.
These days the power and performance of most cars is limited, not by any particular mechanical factor, but by the software running in the engine control unit (ECU).
Computer algorithms running behind the scenes while you’re driving a modern car affect all sorts of parameters, such as ignition timing, air/fuel ratio and turbocharging boost pressure.
So if you want greater performance and pulling power from your car, or alternatively if you’re seeking mpg improvements, the first place to look is the little black box under the bonnet. Here at Auto Express we receive plenty of emails asking advice about ECU software changes, and we've compiled this guide to explore the pros, cons and costs.
Remapping Car Software
"Remapping is a software change within a vehicle’s electronic control unit (ECU). We modify the operating parameters within the code (or ‘map’) to increase the vehicle’s performance and/or economy, without the need to change or add any hardware.
In many cases the map stored within the ECU can be accessed via the onboard diagnostics port (OBD) which is always situated within one metre of the driver’s seat. In some newer models the ECU needs to be removed for the modification to be carried out on the bench.
Once your IMI professionally certified Quantum dealer has taken a read of the ECU, they will upload it to our file writing team who will adjust the original calibration to maximise the vehicle’s performance, fuel economy, or a clever blend of both. Depending on the vehicle and ECU type the process normally takes less than an hour, although bench programming takes slightly longer.
Quantum Tuning works to the highest standards in all aspects of operation, including our business ethics. You can be assured of the following:
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We will not overstate our figures to make them appear better than our competitors
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We will not quibble over our 30-day money back guarantee
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We will not raise your expectation of fuel savings to an unreasonable level
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We will tell you if the improvements on your car are minimal and therefore not worth doing
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We will never pass on or sell our customer data
When a manufacturer develops a new car, they have to take into consideration all of the conditions it may be subjected to in all the regions of the world in which they intend to sell the model. This means that instead of optimising the ECU’s program, or ‘map’, to deliver the best performance or fuel efficiency, they have to make compromises to the map to take into account differing operating conditions. These could include sub-standard fuels, extreme temperatures and altitude, differing emission laws and even the possibility that vehicle may not be serviced on a regular basis, in accordance with the manufacturers recommended instructions. An ECU remap takes a reading from the ECU’s processing chip of the vehicles standard compromised map and adjusts various parameters within the map. These include fuel pressure, boost pressure (on turbocharged applications), ignition advance and throttle pedal control, amongst others, to release the true performance from the engine. It is a completely safe process, as it is just allowing the engine to perform as it should have, before all the compromises were applied to the original programming.
Every engine has its own unique map. By adjusting this we can fine-tune the characteristics of the engine; unleashing more power and in many cases reducing fuel consumption too. There are also different ways of mapping a vehicle. All petrol cars sold within Europe since 1st Jan 2001, and diesel cars manufactured from 2003, must have On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) systems to monitor engine emissions. These systems were introduced in line with European Directive 98/69/EC to monitor and reduce emissions from cars. However, OBD systems have been fitted to many vehicles since the early 1990s, and therefore OBD remapping can be carried out on many vehicles that were manufactured prior to the 2001 legislation.
Ecu Cloning and update
Engine control module requires cloning usually original module becomes faulty and throwing out many different errors making our journey not very pleasant. Securely updating ECUs in the field is becoming more complex. Criminals are getting more sophisticated and we regularly see YouTube videos of cars getting stolen or reprogrammed. To combat this automotive bootloaders are becoming much more sophisticated too. Embed are at the forefront of delivering sophisticated, cyber secure multi-image bootloaders for automotive clients. Plus our bootloader aids reprogramming over-the-air to make your ECU a difficult moving target for hackers.
A bootloader is a piece of software used to reprogram an ECU over a network connection. In automotive applications, the network is usually CAN but may also be Ethernet, FlexRay, GSM or LIN. In other industries, we have seen UART, DBUS and WiFi.
Every OEM has a slightly different download process. Here at Embed we have dealt with many different processes and developed a generic bootloader that can be easily customised to accommodate you.
Reprogramming an ECU over-the-air with a traditional bootloader puts it out of action for a short while. This is because the bootloader erases the application to reprogram the ECU. Now the ECU has no application to run. If the ECU in question is important (and which ones aren’t?) then the car is dead.
To overcome this the Embed Bootloader has the option of double imaging the application. Where the ECU hosts two applications. During the reflash process the bootloader erases and programs one half of the application memory space. After the new application has been security checked it is marked as the default application. It is then ready to run; so at all times the ECU is available and the car is never out of action.
Full saving economy
When we remap a vehicle, especially when fuel saving is the priority, we focus on improving the low end torque and widening the power-band as far as we can.
This increase in low end torque will mean less throttle pedal input is required to maintain cruising speeds, when fully laden or when on a gradient. It will also mean that the vehicle will be more comfortable in higher gears at slower speeds as well requiring fewer gear changes overall. If you combine these factors with adjusting your driving style to make the most of the extra low-end torque you will see an improvement in fuel consumption. This is most effective on turbo-diesel engines, where the savings could be as much as 20%.
Hardware Mods
We have a fully equipped workshop to carry out all types of servicing, maintenance and modifications to your vehicle, with access to the latest main dealers’ technical and servicing information. We can fit anything from lowering springs to hybrid turbo chargers, or even engine transplants!
As well as our industry leading remapping and DPF services, we can also improve your vehicle with premium aftermarket performance parts from Wagner, Milltek, Scorpion, Ram Air, Powerflex, Airtec, Forge and K & N.
As authorised dealers for the manufacturers listed above, the leading names in performance parts, we can supply and fit a huge range of parts to your vehicle for less than RRP, either to compliment one of our custom remaps, or as a standalone service.
Our extensive range starts from a simple DE-cat pipe to a full stainless-steel exhaust system, from a panel filter to a full intercooler upgrade. These performance parts can all be fitted by our experienced Tuning Consultants at our main tuning facility. Contact us with your registration number and the performance parts you are looking for, we will be happy to provide you with a bespoke quote.
DPF Regeneration or removal
A Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), also known as FAP on some French vehicles, is a device fitted to the exhaust system of modern diesel vehicles to reduce emissions and meet European emission standards. It does this by trapping soot (Particulate Matter – PM) from the exhaust gasses while letting the gasses flow through the system.
As with any type of filter a Particulate Filter needs to be cleaned regularly to function properly. With DPF’s this is done by a process known as Regeneration which involves a combination of a catalyst function in the system and burning the soot to gas at a very high temperature leaving behind an ash residue within the DPF. Regeneration should be an automatic process taking place in the normal use of your vehicle. You may have noticed this in the form of a blast of white smoke form the exhaust on occasions.
DPFs have been in common use in passenger cars and light commercials from around 2003 in preparation for Euro 4 regs (2005), with Peugeot, Renault and BMW being early takers. Euro 5 (2009) made it compulsory for diesel cars and light commercials to have a DPF fitted and Euro 6 2014 will tighten this up further.