The Difference Between ECU Remapping and Chip! (Performance Tuning)

Today, i am going to introduce to you about the difference about ECU remapping and ECU chip tunning, maybe there are  still a lot you don't know about them, but don't worry. Here i will explain all to you

 

To begin with one of the questions you may have is. ‘If ECU Remapping tool or chipping is so much better, why don’t manufactures include it on the car as standard?’

Well the best answer for this is that manufactures have to ensure their cars will perform well and meet emissions standards in countries all over the world. The biggest problem is the climate conditions change where ever you are in the world. Things like humidity, altitude and temperature make a massive difference to the way an engine runs and consumes fuel.

So the manufactures have to make a decision Go for all out performance under certain climate conditions or make a decent performing car across many different climates. The answer is usually the later and manufactures come to a compromise.

The thing is though if you know the climate and operating conditions of the engine, it is possible to achieve better performance and fuel economy.

So which is better ECU remapping or performance chips. To understand the answer we first need to look at what each on does.

ECU Remapping is all about change the software inside of the ECU. This is achieved by either writing your own software for the cars ECU, or more commonly changing the manufactures software.

Performance chips on the other hand fit in between the engines sensors and actuators, altering the data that the ECU either receives or sends.

An example of what a performance chip does is this:

 

car performance chip OperationSo you can see the fuel pressure is now 2 bar higher than what it should be.

This is the major draw back for Performance chips. This added pressure increases wear and tear on components (Injectors and pressure regulator).

An ECU Remap on the other hand, is far more fine tuned. Fuel delivery for example can be adjusted to suit air temperature or humidity due to the fact that extra humidity will displace more oxygen from the engines cylinders.

To be honest price isn’t really a factor when comparing these methods of tuning. A BMW X5 performance chip costs about £395 for a good quality one, whereas an ECU Remap for the same vehicle is around £350 for a well written remap.

You can also achieve similar performance and fuel economy using either method.

It is a case of personal preference and available for your car, as not every car is remap-able and not every car has a performance chip available.

If i had to choose though i would go for a well written ECU Remap every time because of the fact that performance chips can cause an increased wear rate on its associated components.