ECU Remapping FAQ - Northwich - Quantum Tuning
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Frequently Asked Questions - Northwich - Quantum Tuning

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Our technicians link to the vehicles ECU or ‘brain’ with a laptop PC through the vehicles diagnostic socket and read the current engine management file which is then sent to our files office and custom optimised for you vehicle. The technician programs the new Quantum optimised file into your vehicle and you then have opportunity for yourself to experience the amazing results. On some vehicles it is not possible to carry-out this function be the diagnostic socket so in this case the ECU is removed and either a chip change or boot loading function is carried out, direct into the ECU. The final effect is exactly the same, only the process is different. Depending on the vehicle, the remap normally takes less than 1 hour to complete the re-map. You can choose to visit one of our dealers, our head office in Iver or, dependent on area we can visit you at your home, office.

Our Quantum re-mapping process enhances and optimises the power of the engine within safe limits, not beyond them. Extra power will also result in fewer gear changes. Manufacturers have to build in a tolerance for the parts in the engine, to manage the effect of wear and tear, production variations, and to ensure their warranty claims during their warranty period normally 3 years, are kept to a minimum.

Most race and rally engines are pushed for every last bhp, and thus they more common to fail, whilst normal car/van/lorry engines are limited back, well away from probability of multiple failures. Each individual engine is different as in how much it can be pushed in a remap, but a good remap from a quality tuner will never get close the limits of component failure.

You will see that the top companies within the market place have all develop vehicle improvements to similar outputs. Beware of tuners who claim significantly more, it’s either lies hoping that the average customer wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, or the engine is being pushed too hard and will quickly become unreliable.

Manufacturers generally sell one vehicle that covers various markets, with different tax and emissions regulations; different climates with extremes of heat, cold, humidity; different fuel quantities; different operating altitudes, etc. A manufacturer has to take all of these factors into consideration and make substantial compromises in the vehicles operation.

Sales and marketing also have a big affect on the way an engine is mapped. If you look the in manufacturer brochure at the engine specs, the torque graph will rise, then flatten out on a straight line, and then drop off. This obviously isn’t how an engine breathes, and it’s the request of sales and marketing to produce this flat lining of the torque. Why? Well it’s about having better torque figures than the competition and about local market taxation laws.

A professionally tuned engine will not cause technical faults with a well serviced and maintained the engine. In the extremely unlikely event of a problem we will 100% stand by the quality of our product, should any fault be assessed to have been caused by the upgrade.

If you want to tune your diesel vehicle and still keep the vehicles safety and durability functions for the engine/transmission/ESP intact, the only way to tune a diesel vehicle is to make changes in the existing control system of the engine.
That is exactly what we offer with a Quantum remap. Our tuning process has total control over all parameters at any moment, and we don’t disturb the safety functions of the car, by deceiving the system.
Apart from an obvious power, torque and fuel economy benefits you get the following advantages with a Quantum remap:

  • The Quantum Remap is installed within the hour, normally without lifting the bonnet
  • Nothing needs to be connected to the vehicle after tuning to get the benefits
  • No loose boxes and wiring flexes in the engine compartment
  • Torque comes soft and smooth
  • Torque is adjusted/limited on lower gears (to avoid damage on the transmission)
  • Boost pressure and air flow is optimised
  • The original settings can be reinstalled if required
  • On board computer shows correct fuel consumption
  • Anti skid program (ESP) function is fully retained
  • Torque reduction when shifting gear (for comfort and durability) is retained
  • Regeneration (emptying) of diesel particle filter (DPF) is retained optimal
  • Correct calculation of exhaust temperature
  • Correct calculation of service interval
  • The diagnostic system is retained
  • No enlarged NOx, HC, CO, CO2, Soot emissions compared with original when going for MOT and servicing

We are very confident that your Quantum ReMap will both improve your driving experience and save you substantially on fuel. But, don’t take our word for it, try the upgrade for 30 days and if you are not delighted with the results we will take it off and give you a full refund.

We advise that it is your responsibility to inform your insurance Company of any modification to your vehicle. We are finding that more and more insurance companies are not penalising their customers for saving fuel and recognise our economy upgrades. We can provide a certificate of conformity if required.

Yes, in secure archival storage, should you ever require your vehicle to put back to original.

Some manufactures diagnostic equipment may detect a remap. Additionally many forward thinking manufacturers turn a blind eye to a quality remapping service , knowing that a properly enhanced vehicle can only ever benefit them. The official line from most manufacturers is that if a modification causes a problem with the vehicle, then the part of the vehicle affected will not be covered under warranty, this does not mean a unilateral cancelling of the whole warranty.

A full Quantum engine remap alters the fuel, boost and torque characteristics of the engine. By controlling the fuel pressure, injected fuel quantity, maximum permissible visible smoke limit, boost pressure from the turbocharger and the torque characteristic.

A Quantum remap offers a fully controllable change to the engine characteristics, whilst still operating with full engine feedback control and within all the preset engine sensor limits.

We do not fit add-on tuning boxes, which normally just interfere with engine management signals to trick the injectors into adding more fuel. Our service is a custom re-map of your ECU, specifically for your vehicle.

These differ from how a remap works. A tuning box relies on the principal of more diesel fuel = more diesel power. That theory is correct and boxes do increase power, but they can’t control the amount of black smoke (maximum permissible visible smoke limit) coming out the exhaust.

Too much smoke is undesirable, both environmentally and visually. More importantly, the black smoke is un-burnt diesel fuel attached to combustion chamber, with deposits exiting straight out the exhaust pipe, thus wasting fuel which hasn’t had any effect on power gain. The results are raised emissions, a higher thermal load on the engine (i.e. exhaust temperature) and frequently defects such as "bucking" are often the result. It should be clear what this means for your engine.”

In a modern engine there are complex engine control systems that cooperate with each other to make everything work perfectly. A diesel box manipulates some signals in order to either increase the injection time or fuel pressure. Unfortunately this manipulation is done entirely without the engine control system’s knowledge. This means that a diesel box tricks the engine control system of the vehicle and the consequence is that a large amount of values and control data will be incorrect, resulting in:

  • The on board trip computer shows improved fuel consumption, but the real amount left in the tank is less, as fuel is being injected without any of the sensors detecting the additional amount entering the cylinder.
  • The anti skid program (ESP) is disturbed because of incorrect torque value
  • No loose boxes and wiring flexes in the engine compartment
  • The automatic gearboxes get incorrect torque value
  • Torque reduction when shifting gear (for comfort and durability) is not retained
  • The regeneration (emptying) of particle filter will not be optimal
  • The calculation of exhaust temperature is disturbed
  • The calculation of service interval is disturbed
  • The diagnostic system is disturbed

Torque is the twisting force created in an engine by rotating parts; horsepower is the measurement of how fast torque is being used. Horsepower and torque work hand-in-hand, as horsepower is calculated from torque.

For the average buyer, torque shouldn’t be a deciding factor unless you know you’ll be towing or hauling heavy loads. And that’s where high-torque vehicles will do well, driving while towing a trailer or maxing out cargo capacity. It will be easier to accelerate and sustain speed with a high-torque car in any situation, but especially with heavy loads.

High performance cars can also produce gobs of torque that greatly aid in acceleration. That feeling of your eyeballs being sucked into the back of your head in a fast car during heavy right-foot pounding is an example of excessive torque.

Brake horsepower (BHP) is the measure of an engine's horsepower before the loss in power caused by the gearbox, alternator, differential, water pump, and other auxiliary components such as power steering pump, muffled exhaust system, etc. Brake refers to a device which was used to load an engine and hold it at a desired rotational speed. During testing, the output torque and rotational speed were measured to determine the brake horsepower. Horsepower was originally measured and calculated by use of the "indicator" (a James Watt invention of the late 18th century), and later by means of a De Prony brake connected to the engine's output shaft.

More recently, an engine dynamometer is used instead of a De Prony brake. Although the output delivered to the driving wheels is less than that obtainable at the engine's crankshaft, a chassis dynamometer gives an indication of an engine's "real world" horsepower after losses in the drive train and gearbox. This gives a reasonably accurate indication of how a wheeled vehicle engine will perform once on the road.

Background Debug Mode (BDM) interface is an electronic interface that allows debugging of embedded systems. What this means within the tuning environment is to program and ECU in BDM mode the ECU needs to be removed from the vehicles and programmed on the bench.

The interface allows a Host to manage and query a Target. Specialized hardware is required in the target device. No special hardware is required in the host; a simple bi-directional I/O pin is sufficient.

A newton metre is a unit of torque (also called "moment") in the SI system. The symbolic form is Nm or N•m. One newton metre, sometimes hyphenated newton-metre, is equal to the torque resulting from a force of one newton applied perpendicularly to a moment arm which is one metre long.