Racechip GTS tuning box

[Rapidph]

My t6 150bhp is coming up to 18 months old (12mth ownership) with 11k miles. On some uphill sections and straight roads the van lacks a bit of power. I have search the Internet for some tuning boxes and a proper engine remap (pendle performance) for my t6. A remap is my prefer choice and seems what everyone's recommendation. BUT this will or may effect my vehicle warranty and i still have a service plan in place, if they do an update to my software then my map maybe wiped. So i have gone for a racechip gts(their top of the range) tuning box for now and see how they perform whiles the van is new ish.
There arent much info about these tuning box being installed on a t6 or others not sharing their experience online. So i thought i could give it a go, if thing didnt work out then i just remove it.


Cost: they cost a bit cheaper than a remap £299 (racechip got offers on at the moment @£299 normally£399)
+£60 (some dyno runs for differnt settings on the tuning box at my local garage next week).


First impressions:

Ordered my tuning box 3 weeks ago and Racechip sent it from they german hq and it took about a week to arrive. I got it installed the same day i received it. Fairly simple installation took me 30mins. There are 7 settings on this tuning box and i have left it at standard factory setting 5. I took the van out for a short drive. Straight away i can feel there's a bit more torque and power.

Fast forward 600 miles, a tank of fuel n 2 weeks later. Been driving it as normal and just occcation hard accelerations. No warning lights n everything seems normal. Managed to get 600 to a tank that seem alright, a slight mpg improvement. Today i have changed the setting from 5 to 7. Took it out for a quick spin there arent much difference upto 3000rpm but from 3k rpm onward there are definitely more power on setting 7. I have booked in next monday for a dyno so lets see how much power it makes at different settings.

 

[colinsunbeam]

I would personally remove it as it will possibly eventually destroy your high pressure fuel pump.

 

[Rapidph]

I would personally remove it as it will possibly eventually destroy your high pressure fuel pump.

Thanks for the advice. Like i said the vehicle is still under warranty n the racechip tune box comes with £4000 n 2 yrs engine warranty. I am only going run it as an experiment till i can get pendle to remap it properly when its 3yrs old. Since there arent any info out there i may well as trying it out meself and see if all the myths are ture, over fuel, block dpf etc.
Going to a dyno next week lets see whats it does n check the fuel mixture ect.

 

[colinsunbeam]

Just to give you an idea if the pump goes it’s around a £6k repair bill. I had a TDl tuning box fitted to my last van and the pump failed about 8 months later.

 

[Rapidph]

How many miles was ur vehicle on when it happened? Do they need to replace all the injectors as well for that price?

 

[colinsunbeam]

I had done around 7000 miles with it and the van had around 33000 miles. Yes new injections, timing belt and loads of other bits. It just stopped dead on the M25 luckily I whipped it out and it was repaired under warranty.

 

[Rapidph]

That's whole point of a tune box really, if anything happens i can just remove it and hopefully left no trace. Have u got ur van on a dyno and see if the map on the tuning box is a nice curve ect? A tuning box only controls the fuel flow and air flow, how did it cause all those things to fail? Anyway i have booked in for a dyno run next week. I will update u with some graphs.

 

[Phil_j89]

As a vw dealer, we / vw can see when a tuning box has been fitted - usually as fuel / boost are higher than they would be on a factory vehicle.
Just something to keep in mind!

 

[dubber36]

As a vw dealer, we / vw can see when a tuning box has been fitted - usually as fuel / boost are higher than they would be on a factory vehicle.
Just something to keep in mind!

Are you saying that you can see if a tuning box has been fitted previously, but removed before it comes into you?

 

[Wills]

Unless you’re able to clear the history, the data will be available to the technician when analysing / diagnosing. Therefore, if your screw up your motor and VW investigate then........

 

[Phil_j89]

Are you saying that you can see if a tuning box has been fitted previously, but removed before it comes into you?

Yes. Because everything is logged at the point of a fault code being logged in the engine ecu.

In a situation relating to fuel / turbo faults it would be the first thing technical want to know.

 

[The Bear78]

I would also be sceptical of the Race Chip warranty. I can't see them just giving you £4000 if your engine goes pop and if they start digging and want an expert (VW) opinion you're going to be in a world of pain.

 

[Mooncat]

As a vw dealer, we / vw can see when a tuning box has been fitted - usually as fuel / boost are higher than they would be on a factory vehicle.
Just something to keep in mind!

There is a flaw in that though - the tuning box adjusts the values sent from the sensors to the ECU which is how the ECU is fooled to operate the engine on a different part of the calibration than it would normally be on. e.g. if the actual intake manifold pressure is 0.8 bar, the tuning box intercepts and adjusts this reading to 0.7 bar before it gets to the ECU.

That said, I'd still be putting the tuning box in the bin!

 

[Rapidph]

Heres an update about racechip tuning box. I had high hope that it would work but i was very disappointed yesterday on a dyno run. I had it removed today lol! The map was shocking. Power did increased by 6bhp (standard 154. Tuned at max 160bhp) and torque delivery was early which i mentioned at the top but very poor. So its going to be a proper map after 12mths when the warranty expires.

 

[colinsunbeam]

A proper map is definitely the way to go if you want more power over a tuning box.

 

[JOG]

What did your insurance company say about the tuning box? I reckon mine would load my premium

 

[Rapidph]

What did your insurance company say about the tuning box? I reckon mine would load my premium

Didnt even tell them. I had it remove now as it was useless.