W202 C230K. Remap or Chip change?

[John Jones Jr]

Guys,

Can anybody advise me on having my C230K remapped?

There seems to be plenty of remap places that list the car but after a phone call many no longer facilitate the W202's or they're unsure if it's a remap or a an actual chip change required. Any ideas etc? Cheers in advance.

 

[streethawk]

Guys,

Can anybody advise me on having my C230K remapped?

There seems to be plenty of remap places that list the car but after a phone call many no longer facilitate the W202's or they're unsure if it's a remap or a an actual chip change required. Any ideas etc? Cheers in advance.

A few years ago I was talking to a chap on holiday about my c230k about remapping or chipping and he said he used to work for amg. Said as there an old type ecu chipping was not really an option or mapping! He said just puting a smaller supercharger pulley on was the best bet. I know pulley method works but not sure if what he said about ecu is correct but sure some tuning guru will be along shorty but I had no doubt not to believe this chap as he now maps motors for a job.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Cheers, steethawk. It seems it's an accepted that either a remap (by reprogramming the ECU) or a chip change to the ECU will give a bit more power to the a standard engine, usually around 12-39hp and similar torque depending on who does it and who's figures are correct. I'd imagine 12-15bhp wouldn't be an unreasonable gain to expect plus better driveability too from what I've heard.

In my case I need a remap or chip change as I've a larger crank pulley and want to overcome the issue of the S/c disengaging at sudden WOT. And most importantly, I want to make sure that the AFR's are corrected to suit the new pulley. So, a remap/chip is required which I hope I'll get sorted soon, fingers crossed.

 

[streethawk]

Cheers, steethawk. It seems it's an accepted that either a remap (by reprogramming the ECU) or a chip change to the ECU will give a bit more power to the a standard engine, usually around 12-39hp and similar torque depending on who does it and who's figures are correct. I'd imagine 12-15bhp wouldn't be an unreasonable gain to expect plus better driveability too from what I've heard.

In my case I need a remap or chip change as I've a larger crank pulley and want to overcome the issue of the S/c disengaging at sudden WOT. And most importantly, I want to make sure that the AFR's are corrected to suit the new pulley. So, a remap/chip is required which I hope I'll get sorted soon, fingers crossed.

Has the pulley made a big difference?

 

[flango]

I've done mine on a 230k engine and its a chip swap or mod with the ECU out of the car. TBH it's not worth bothering with, I was chasing every last bit of bhp and the chip swap gave it an extra 7 bhp although we expected 12 - 15 bhp and mine was done by one of the best motorsport tuners and mappers in the business.

An overdrive crank pulley or undersize Kompressor pulley will give you all you need without having to touch the ECU which is a PITA job.

I have the smaller Kompressor pulley and bigger intercooler from Brabus, from memory I think that gave just over 30 bhp. If you change the pulleys though its best to change the intercooler as the extra heat generated is considerable and under bonnet temperatures increase significantly.

If you search the forum there's details of all my mods and I'm now running 278 bhp which is about as far as I can go.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Has the pulley made a big difference?

Yes, for sure. Admittedly that's a seat of the pants yes, but it's a different car to drive and all good too, so far. Once I get the ECU sorted, I should be happy for a while. Then, all going well I'll look at better inter cooler.

 

[John Jones Jr]

An overdrive crank pulley or undersize Kompressor pulley will give you all you need without having to touch the ECU which is a PITA job.

F, as I mentioned in the above post, I have the pulley fitted which caused the issue with the S/c disengaging at sudden WOT, thus an ECU upgrade is required as the MAF doesn't like the larger & sudden volume of extra air pressure. Well, that's my understanding.

 

[flango]

F, as I mentioned in the above post, I have the pulley fitted which caused the issue with the S/c disengaging at sudden WOT, thus an ECU upgrade is required as the MAF doesn't like the larger & sudden volume of extra air pressure. Well, that's my understanding.

Mines still on the original MAF running as high boost as I dare with no issues, the ECU on our cars is an EEPROM and theres really sod all you can do with it apart from tweak the fuelling tables and a few other parameters which is why you cant get big BHP gains from a remap. Its not like the modern ECU's that came in from 2000 onwards where you can go in and remap or refine a whole myriad of settings, the 230k ECU is about as basic as it gets.

When I did my mods I was convinced I would have to swap out the ECU for a new stand alone unit which was far more programmable, however this has never proven to be the case. Don't know if the MAF and ECU were part of the Brabus upgrade package which could be the reason I have never had to change them but they look pretty standard to me.

You sure yours is not down to higher under bonnet temps if you have not changed the intercooler? Would be worth looking at IAT if you have any data before and after the mod or putting a cold air feed from the front grill straight to the filter to see if that cures it. My filter has a front direct cold feed. Higher IAT can really upset these cars when they are under pressure on full chat.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Mines still on the original MAF running as high boost as I dare with no issues, the ECU on our cars is an EEPROM and theres really sod all you can do with it apart from tweak the fuelling tables and a few other parameters which is why you cant get big BHP gains from a remap. Its not like the modern ECU's that came in from 2000 onwards where you can go in and remap or refine a whole myriad of settings, the 230k ECU is about as basic as it gets.

It's just a few tweaks I'm after

When I did my mods I was convinced I would have to swap out the ECU for a new stand alone unit which was far more programmable, however this has never proven to be the case. Don't know if the MAF and ECU were part of the Brabus upgrade package which could be the reason I have never had to change them but they look pretty standard to me.

I'm willing to go down the route of a piggy back ECU if necessary

You sure yours is not down to higher under bonnet temps if you have not changed the intercooler? Would be worth looking at IAT if you have any data before and after the mod or putting a cold air feed from the front grill straight to the filter to see if that cures it. My filter has a front direct cold feed. Higher IAT can really upset these cars when they are under pressure on full chat.

No data, as the problem only arose on my last outing in the car. It could be higher IAT's rather than the extra boost causing it (mind the new pulley was blowing off the boost pipes until I fitted t-clamps), thus getting the ECU tweaked and an RR run to see what's what. Wouldn't mind seeing a photo of your car's CAI if poss.

All fun & games but it's interesting and can't wait to have it sorted, along with peace of mind as it's actually a quick car for a small 90's saloon

 

[flango]

No data, as the problem only arose on my last outing in the car. It could be higher IAT's rather than the extra boost causing it (mind the new pulley was blowing off the boost pipes until I fitted t-clamps), thus getting the ECU tweaked and an RR run to see what's what. Wouldn't mind seeing a photo of your car's CAI if poss.

All fun & games but it's interesting and can't wait to have it sorted, along with peace of mind as it's actually a quick car for a small 90's saloon

If its blowing the pipes off that sounds very high boost, mine is running just short of 11 psi and thats a 50% overboost as stock they are 7 psi.

Will take some photos this weekend of the CAI, I'm really interested to see how you get on with the ECU tweak and RR session

I agree they are a quick and underrated, car my CLK is now 17 years old and it still puts a smile on my face.

Good luck

 

[streethawk]

If its blowing the pipes off that sounds very high boost, mine is running just short of 11 psi and thats a 50% overboost as stock they are 7 psi.

Will take some photos this weekend of the CAI, I'm really interested to see how you get on with the ECU tweak and RR session

I agree they are a quick and underrated, car my CLK is now 17 years old and it still puts a smile on my face.

Good luck

Yeah I'd like to see pics of your mods as I can't for the life of me suss out how to see your posts on your upgrades .

 

[John Jones Jr]

If its blowing the pipes off that sounds very high boost, mine is running just short of 11 psi and thats a 50% overboost as stock they are 7 psi.

Will take some photos this weekend of the CAI, I'm really interested to see how you get on with the ECU tweak and RR session

I agree they are a quick and underrated, car my CLK is now 17 years old and it still puts a smile on my face.

Good luck

I don't think it's running more than 10psi @ max judging by the feedback I've received from other owners who fitted the same diameter pulley.

I'll update this thread when I get the ECU looked at etc. Cheers for now.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Just a little update on getting the car remapped. I've been in touch with several remap places and have had little luck in making progress - the usual crap, non replay to emails, don't phone back when they say they will or haven't really got a clue if they can actually do the job.

One company I contacted, AmD, West Thurrock said they need to see the car (as did one or two other companies but they were just too far away), fair enough I reckoned, so went over this morning to AmD and unfortunately they couldn't remap it either but were helpful and checked the AFR's to be on the safe side, and all is good in that it's not running lean , it's actually running too rich which we suspect is due or partly due to the 4bar FPR I fitted as a 'just in case' band aid. All in all, it was worth the effort, at least I know I'm not going to melt a piston!

Edit: Next step is to actually get the car remapped with another company and at present all is looking good for Tuesday morning.

 

[poormansporsche]

Have you got a link for your pulley ? as id be interested ! Ive got LPG so got a bit more scope for fuelling faffing about !!

whats WOT mean btw ?

 

[V12]

WOT = wide open throttle.

 

[John Jones Jr]

There you go.

@@ Mercedes Kompressor 200K & 230K Tuning Kit @@ | eBay

 

[poormansporsche]

thanks, will wait and see what happens with yours and will give that a go as its cheap as chips. All im after really is a bit more oompth that the lpg has probably taken away !

 

[John Jones Jr]

Yes, indeed it is great value. I got my local engineering shop to inspect it and they were happy that it was fully balanced and didn't see any issues mounting it on the original crank pulley - three thousand miles so far and I'm unaware of any issues. If you do fit one I'd recommend bolting it to the crank pulley rather than using the supplied grub screws.

 

[John Jones Jr]

You sure yours is not down to higher under bonnet temps if you have not changed the intercooler? Would be worth looking at IAT if you have any data before and after the mod or putting a cold air feed from the front grill straight to the filter to see if that cures it. My filter has a front direct cold feed. Higher IAT can really upset these cars when they are under pressure on full chat.

Well, I've mulled over the problem of sudden loss of boost while I had the car out for a spin today. It was annoying the hell out of me but has only occurred twice and that is actually the important point why only twice, if it's the higher boost pressure causing the S/C clutch to disengage, the clutch should disengage all the time @ sudden WOT put it doesn't, in actual fact it only disengaged once today even though I was in the same gear and reving it 5000 before changing up - it happened after driving the car for 45 mins in very slow to slow London traffic which would generate plenty of heat soak to in the engine bay.

After the car cooled down and a blast on the motorway for twenty miles no boost loss, even pulling max rev's while changing gear. I'm now fairly certain it's the intermittent high IAT's that are causing problem, not excessive boost pressure.

Edit: I must check the exterior condition of the I.C., very possible it may require a good power wash.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Out in the car again today as I had a bit of time to spare but this time hooked up the Autel code reader to get the IAT's. In light traffic, the temps ranged from around 26-35C, OTG showing 17C, hit the motorway IAT'S varied between 24 & 28C and no loss of boost pressure even after driving for a 40 miles and pulling 5000+rpm several times. Later and back in heavy traffic IAT's ranged between 35 & 55C. When at 55C and the traffic clears temp's drop straight away all the way down to 35C.

I don't really know what to deduce from the above other than these temp's seem fairly
normal for super charged engine. So, I'm at a bit of a loss as to why the S/c clutch diengaged losing boost pressure on the previous occasion?