Frequently Asked Questions

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What is it that Dundee Remaps does?

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. Once read, it is then sent to our specialist and custom optimised for you vehicle. The technician programs the new mapping optimised file into your vehicle. On some vehicles it is not possible to carry-out this operation through the diagnostic socket. When this is the case, the ECU is removed and either a chip change or boot loading program is loaded into the ECU. The final result is exactly the same, only the process is different.

Is remapping safe for the vehicle?

The re-mapping process enhances and optimises the power of the engine within safe limits, not beyond them. Extra power will also result in less gear changing. Manufacturers have to build in a tolerance for the parts in the engine, to manage the affect 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 often fail, whilst normal car/van/lorry engines are limited below maximum performance. Each individual engine is different as in how much performance can improve, our remaps are designed to maximise performance and economy within safe operating limits.

Why are vehicles not delivered with high-performance ECU map?

Manufacturers generally sell one model that covers many markets e.g. Europe, Middle East, Africa, 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 strategies also have an impact 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.

Is there a warranty with the remap?

Every remap is guaranteed to ensure your complete peace of mind and continued service.

We offer a lifetime warranty against software faults. If the installation becomes faulty, we will re-install it free of charge.

What is remapping?

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 remap. Our tuning process has total control over all parameters at any moment.

Apart from an obvious power, torque and fuel economy benefits you get the following advantages with a remap:

• Torque becomes soft and smooth
• Torque is adjusted/limited on lower gears (to avoid damage on the transmission)
• Boost pressure and air flow is optimised
• 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

Do you offer a trial period?

We are confident that your 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.

What about insurance?

It is your responsibility to inform your insurance Company of any modification to your vehicle. We can provide a certificate of conformity if required.

Do you keep a copy of the original tuning file?

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

Will the remap impact vehicle warranty?

The remap is invisible to manufacturer’s diagnostic equipment. Additionally, some manufacturers turn a blind eye to a quality remapping service, knowing that a properly enhanced vehicle can only ever benefit them.

How does a remap improve the vehicle?

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

A 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.

Would I get the same results with an add-on tuning box?

We do not fit add-on tuning boxes, they interfere with engine management signals to trick the injectors into adding more fuel. Fitting of this type of equipment puts your vehicle at serious risk of engine damage. Our service is a custom remap of your ECU, specifically designed for your vehicle.

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 torque, improve throttle control or emissions.

Add-on boxes tend to increase smoke from the exhaust. More importantly, this 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 increased defects. 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

What is torque?

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 most motorists, 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 additional torque that greatly aids 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.

What is BHP (break horsepower?

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.

What is an NM (Newton metre)?

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.

It is also used less commonly as a unit of work, or energy, in which case it is equivalent to the more common and standard SI unit of energy, the joule. In this very different usage the metre term represents the distance travelled or displacement in the direction of the force, and not the perpendicular distance from a fulcrum as it does when used to express torque. This usage is discouraged by the SI authority, since it can lead to confusion as to whether a given quantity expressed in newton-meters is a torque or a quantity of energy.