Remap just for fuel efficiency

[MB-BTurbo]

Can you get one?

Curious at the moment but I believe that a lot of remaps offer increased power and efficiency, so can you get remaps that focus on just increasing the MPG to its maximum?

 

[toni_007]

Can you get one?

Curious at the moment but I believe that a lot of remaps offer increased power and efficiency, so can you get remaps that focus on just increasing the MPG to its maximum?

I think when an engine is tuned to do better in terms of performance it means it will do best on MPG provided that you do not step hard on the accelerator.

It does this by pushing the engine to its best/max limits (fuel/air mixture and temperature among other factors).

When you get the maximum power out of an engine size you increase its efficiency (i.e. MPG, HP, TQ) but if you accelerate hard then you will loose the fuel efficiency as more power is lost on drive train, heat, drag, etc.

In other words get it tuned but do not step too hard on accelerator. Teach your foot and find the best suitable acceleration for your car that will get the highest MPG (it takes a few fuel tanks to do this and monitoring).

 

[MB-BTurbo]

Thanks very much. Never knew thats how it worked but that makes sense.

I think I will struggle with my wife as a named driver getting a remap, especially as they dont offer discounts to female drivers - Ive gone through all my life paying a higher premium for being a male and for the first time get the benefit of having a female driver on my policy and they go and change the law - lol.

What sort of premiums do people pay for a 20% remap?

 

[Benzowner]

Why tell the insurance company? A remap is virtually impossible to detect, unlike adding a chip box to the car. Many many years ago, we raced cars with rebuilt engines using stock items but measured for tollerance, you would be surprised how much more power could be had, but the engine was absolutely bog standard. In essence, the BHP of your current car alongside a similar model could be 15% or more different, up or down.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

I remember this was hotly debated on scoobynet when I had my Impreza as everyone on there wanted to remap theirs and the conclusion was that the insurance companies could detect deviances in the ECU as each map had some sort of coding that could be read.

 

[LTD]

You also have to factor the cost of the remap against the fuel saving and your mileage to determine if it is going to be cost-effective.

You will probably be better off buying lighter shoes.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

I think it would be worth it. I have seen some for £199. Its the additional cost of the insurance hike that would be more significant.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Which car are you looking to remap?

 

[MB-BTurbo]

My B200 Turbo

 

[toni_007]

My B200 Turbo

They would not have the ability to find the ECU remapping unless they ask you to send the vehicle to MB and the dealer could check the mappings if they match with stock.

I mean here in Canada the insurance company is mostly concerned about hardware modification such as bigger turbo, enlarged bore, and other significant changes to engine performance sepcs that will make you car go from 7 sec to 4.5 sec for 100kph.

 

[gIzzE]

Why tell the insurance company? A remap is virtually impossible to detect, unlike adding a chip box to the car.

It is very easy to tell these days, BMW, Audi and a few others have already got checksums built into their latest software, as soon as you hook up it tells them. BMW computers now talk back to Germany and they are scrapping warranty on any related parts when it comes back as 'fiddled with'.

Even the decent remappers who keep the correct checksums and roll back the ecu counter are struggling at the moment.

And insurance inspectors are definitely checking the ecu for mods when they get called out, it takes them 5 mins and may save them a massive payout. Why wouldn't they?


I think the best way round it is tell your insurer and say there is a 10% increase in power, proving it is mapped is really easy, proving the gains is very hard and something they don't do.

I am with LV and they charged another £60 on a £600 policy.

 

[markjay]

It is very easy to tell these days, BMW, Audi and a few others have already got checksums built into their latest software, as soon as you hook up it tells them. BMW computers now talk back to Germany and they are scrapping warranty on any related parts when it comes back as 'fiddled with'.

Even the decent remappers who keep the correct checksums and roll back the ecu counter are struggling at the moment.

And insurance inspectors are definitely checking the ecu for mods when they get called out, it takes them 5 mins and may save them a massive payout. Why wouldn't they?


I think the best way round it is tell your insurer and say there is a 10% increase in power, proving it is mapped is really easy, proving the gains is very hard and something they don't do.

I am with LV and they charged another £60 on a £600 policy.

When I asked Aviva about remapping they wanted proof (in the form of a copy of the invoice etc) of the BHP increase, so not sure if they actually rely on your verbal statement only.

They only seemed to to care about the BHP increase figure - which for me was a bit of a drawback, as the particular mapping I was looking at claimed unrealistic BHP improvement, and at any rate I was just hoping to get a slightly 'flatter' engine response at the lower rev range and did not care much for any BHP increase (which, at any rate, would have probably not materialised).

I did not actually go ahead with the remapping at the time, and I don't regret it because the particular company I was considering later became the subject of some bad reviews on this forum....

I do wonder however is upgrading the engine firmware with the latest official MB firmware for the particular engine model through STAR would consist a modification that needs to be declared to the insurer?

 

[gIzzE]

It will vary very much with every insurer.



When Mercedes do anything it is considered 'Maintenance' not a 'modification' but does make you wonder how they 'know' if all checksums and counters are taken care of properly.

 

[markjay]

It will vary very much with every insurer.



When Mercedes do anything it is considered 'Maintenance' not a 'modification' but does make you wonder how they 'know' if all checksums and counters are taken care of properly.

It does not have to be done by a Mercedes dealer - an indie with real STAR and subscription should be able to upgrade the firmware on your car with one downloaded from MB.

Come to think of it, if my experience with Aviva is anything to go by, then it should be fine because the official MB firmware upgrades do not alter the engine's BHP.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

I had my Impreza remapped by the dealer as part of a recal to prevent lean running. It produces marginal more power but I didn't declare it as I genuinely don't see why I should have had to considering it was something that owners of that car had to do to prevent issues.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

They only seemed to to care about the BHP increase figure - which for me was a bit of a drawback, as the particular mapping I was looking at claimed unrealistic BHP improvement,

Could you not get a rolling road rest before and after?
In in the same position, the reaps I've seen claim 250bhp. In reality it will be more like 230bhp

 

[MB-BTurbo]

When I asked Aviva about remapping they wanted proof (in the form of a copy of the invoice etc) of the BHP increase, so not sure if they actually rely on your verbal statement only.

They only seemed to to care about the BHP increase figure - which for me was a bit of a drawback, as the particular mapping I was looking at claimed unrealistic BHP improvement, and at any rate I was just hoping to get a slightly 'flatter' engine response at the lower rev range and did not care much for any BHP increase (which, at any rate, would have probably not materialised).

I did not actually go ahead with the remapping at the time, and I don't regret it because the particular company I was considering later became the subject of some bad reviews on this forum....

I do wonder however is upgrading the engine firmware with the latest official MB firmware for the particular engine model through STAR would consist a modification that needs to be declared to the insurer?

Who are they? I am getting mine remapped next week, it would be good not to find out after its too late.

 

[Dieselman]

Who are they? I am getting mine remapped next week, it would be good not to find out after its too late.

I could hazard a guess at it beginning with a D.

Make sure you perform some stopwatch timed runs both before and after your remap.
That way you will know just how disappointed to be.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

Anything to do with a scientific bedtime activity by any chance?
Why will I be disappointed?